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Russia Tag

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 14, 2016 26 Comments
Russian government hackers have attacked the Democrat National Committee (DNC) and stole their research on presumptive GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump. The attack went on for over a year. DNC officials and security experts said the hackers read emails and chat traffic. They believe they did not gain access to donor's private information, leading them to call it "traditional espionage" and not "criminal hackers." From The Washington Post:
“It’s the job of every foreign intelligence service to collect intelligence against their adversaries,” said Shawn Henry, president of CrowdStrike, the cyber firm called in to handle the DNC breach and a former head of the FBI’s cyber division. He noted that it is extremely difficult for a civilian organization to protect itself from a skilled and determined state such as Russia. “We’re perceived as an adversary of Russia,” he said. “Their job when they wake up every day is to gather intelligence against the policies, practices and strategies of the U.S. government. There are a variety of ways. [Hacking] is one of the more valuable because it gives you a treasure trove of information.”

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 07, 2016 4 Comments
Russia has moved soldiers to their border with Ukraine as NATO launches the largest war games in Eastern Europe since the Cold War went to sleep over 20 years ago. From Reuters:
A Reuters reporter who visited the Russian town of Klintsy, about 50 km (30 miles) from Ukraine, saw a makeshift army camp, large numbers of newly-arrived servicemen and military vehicles. Two soldiers in camouflage gear who were manning a checkpoint in a forest turned the reporter away, saying they were guarding a "special military site". Last year, Reuters also reported on construction of two other bases further to the south on Russia's border with Ukraine. The defense ministry has not acknowledged the deployment of troops to Klintsy, which usually serves as a stop for truck drivers traveling between Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
Mother Russia apparently feels threatened since NATO allies, including non-member Ukraine, have pulled off Anaconda-2016 in Poland. The Kremlin said these drills "do not contribute to an atmosphere of trust and security." Someone needs to remind the Kremlin that they started this mess in March 2014.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 01, 2016 6 Comments
Twitter has lost one of the funniest accounts in a long time due to possible pressure from the thin-skinned officials in Russia. The social media platform suspended five accounts that parodied Russian officials, including the popular @DarthPutinKGB, who regularly mocked Russian President Vladimir Putin. They have reinstated a few, but the Putin one remains suspended. Good news: The famous @DarthPutinKGB has returned, but showed much displeasure: Screen Shot 2016-06-01 at 11.26.24 AM Unfortunately, this is only one of many cases over the past four years that have shown the Kremlin will unleash its power across the world to silence its critics.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 26, 2016 1 Comment
Portuguese intelligence officers have decided to search for other moles after they discovered one of their own passed NATO secrets to Russia. Italian police arrested Frederico Carvalhão, a senior officer in Portugal's SIS intelligence service, along with an alleged Russian SVR intelligence agent. However, SIS believe others helped Carvalhão extract confidential and sensitive information. The Telegraph reports:
Augusto Santos Silva, the Portuguese foreign minister, confirmed on Wednesday that there was “an ongoing judicial investigation” into the case. The focus is believed to be on discovering who helped Mr Carvalhão extract top-secret documents from Ameixoeira Fort, the SIS headquarters in Lisbon. The use of USB sticks is prohibited inside Ameixoeira, access to all printed documents is registered and those classified as secret have an invisible watermark to allow for the detection of anyone who has removed them. Yet Mr Carvalhão was allegedly caught while handing over six "top secret" documents covering Nato defence systems, the communication infrastructure between member countries and military bases.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 25, 2016 2 Comments
The Kremlin has officially pardoned Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko after two years of imprisonment and a farce trial in exchange for two Russia Special Forces servicemen. The Ukrainian and Russian governments did not offer any details about the exchange. But journalists in Ukraine "noted that a Ukrainian presidential aircraft had flown to the airport of Rostov-on-Don, a southern Russian city close to the Ukrainian border." It came back at 3PM local time with Savchenko on board.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 17, 2016 8 Comments
The Department of Justice has decided to investigate the massive Russia doping scandal. U.S. courts ruled that prosecutors may charge foreigners abroad if they have connections to the U.S. The New York Times reported that the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York. The officials have targeted "Russian government officials, athletes, coaches, antidoping authorities and anyone who might have benefited unfairly from a doping regime, according to the people, who did not have authorization to speak about the inquiry publicly." Possible charges include conspiracy and fraud. The Times did not elaborate on which connections qualify. They only mentioned "the connection can be limited, such as the use of an American bank."

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 15, 2016 8 Comments
A few Russian officials have demanded a Ukraine boycott after singer Jamala won Eurovision with her song "1944," which is about the USSR deportation of the Crimean Tatars. Well, maybe if Russia did not invade east Ukraine or annex Crimea, people would not hate them so much. Jamala, a Crimean Tatar, drew inspiration for the song from her great-grandmother. USSR dictator Josef Stalin deported over 200,000 Crimean Tatars to central Asia on suspicion of corroborating with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. The 72nd anniversary of the deportation falls on May 18.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 14, 2016 2 Comments
The United States and Poland have broken ground on the site of the new defense missile site, which will probably anger Mother Russia. But what else is new? Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work tried to assure by reminding them the site will only protect NATO members:
"Today we stand at a strategic inflection point and a change in the strategic landscape," Work said at this Polish military base situated in a northern village. Europe and NATO face a range of new and complex security challenges, he said. Addressing those challenges will require a "more capable NATO alliance, one that continues to evolve and adapt to threats," he said. In efforts to protect the alliance, NATO is making important investments, including in missile defense, he said.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 13, 2016 7 Comments
The new U.S. missile defense system in Romania has sent Russia into quite a tizzy. So much so that the Kremlin mentioned nuclear war. Andrey Kelin, a senior official in the Russian Foreign Ministry, said the actions "by NATO can only exacerbate an already difficult situation." Tensions have risen between the West and Russia since the latter invaded east Ukraine and annexed Crimean in March 2014.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 10, 2016 9 Comments
Europe and Russia spent the last few days celebrating the 71st Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) to mark the end of World war II. https://twitter.com/CuriosityStream/status/729504694834331648 The German military surrendered on May 7, 1945, in Reims, France and then again on May 8 in Berlin, Germany, a week after the Red Army overtook the capital.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 04, 2016 2 Comments
A judge in Spain's National Court has sent out international arrest warrants for Russian citizens, including some close to President Vladimir Putin, allegedly linked to the mafia. Judge Jose de la Mata, who investigates organized crime, found "very serious facts" against each of the men stemming from the Troika operation. The court opened that investigation in in 2008 two mafias in Eastern Europe: Tambov and Malyshev. "(The Tambov group) maintains strong links with political, economic, legal and security powers in Russia and also with members of other international criminal organizations," he said in his report.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 02, 2016 5 Comments
Gen. Philip Breedlove, the top military commander of NATO, has warned the organization they need to focus on Russia before he leaves his position at the end of May. “We see that Russia has not accepted the hand of partnership but has chosen a path of belligerence,” he stated. “We need to readdress where we’re heading.” Breedlove leaves his position "this month after three years in the top military job at NATO." His statements come after NATO announced they will send 4,000 troops to the Baltic States - Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia - and Poland. “The Russians have been doing a lot of snap exercises right up against the borders, with a lot of troops,” Robert Work, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, told The Wall Street Journal. “From our perspective, we could argue this is extraordinarily provocative behavior.”

Posted by Mike LaChance on April 14, 2016 15 Comments
Vladimir Putin is acting out aggressively again. On Tuesday, Russian military jets flew extraordinarily close to a U.S. Navy ship in the Baltic Sea. This wasn't an isolated incident, either. According to various reports, the Russians carried out this maneuver multiple times over two days and American defense experts are stunned. This report from the Military Times puts the incident in perspective:
Russian attack aircraft just flew within 30 feet of a U.S. Navy ship In one of the most aggressive actions in recent memory, Russian warplanes conducted “simulated attacks” on the a U.S. Navy vessel in the Baltic Sea on Tuesday, repeatedly flying within 30 feet of the ship, according to a defense official.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on March 16, 2016 5 Comments
In a rather surprising move, Russia's president Vladimir Putin announced Monday that he would begin withdrawing troops from Syria the very next day.  Those of us watching the Middle East carefully were not only surprised by the move but also intensely curious about possible motivations and what the move will ultimately mean in the region, particularly with regard to Israel. Tuesday, retired U. S. Army lieutenant colonel Ralph Peters offered a compelling analysis of Putin's move and of what it means not only in the Middle East but, ultimately, for the United States. Positing that Putin has quickly seen—Russia's been in Syria only since September—that the power that will emerge in the region will be Iran's, not Russia's, Peters concludes that Putin's decision was based in cold, hard reality. In his article, "The Syrian War Just Taught Putin to Worry About Iran," for the The New York Post, Peters writes:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 14, 2016 16 Comments
This is actually a big deal, if for real. The Russian air force and associated troops manning the airfield and anti-aircraft systems have been responsible for many of the recent gains by Syrian, Hezbollah, and Iranian-backed foreign militias fighting to keep Assad in power. Russia Today, generally perceived as pro-Putin, reports:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu to start the withdrawal of forces from Syria starting Tuesday. “I consider the objectives that have been set for the Defense Ministry to be generally accomplished. That is why I order to start withdrawal of the main part of our military group from the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic starting from tomorrow,” Putin said on Monday during a meeting with Shoigu and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. To control the observation of ceasefire agreements in the region, Moscow will keep its Hmeymim airbase in Latakia province, Putin said.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 03, 2016 9 Comments
In the midst of the political circus, I missed this important testimony by the U.S.Commander of NATO about how ISIS has thoroughly infiltrated refugees, and how Russia is using the refugee crisis to undermine Europe. The Guardian reports:
Refugees from the Middle East and north Africa are “masking the movement” of terrorists and criminals, Nato’s top commander told Congress on Tuesday, despite the protests of human rights groups who say that refugees overwhelmingly have no ulterior motive but escape. In testimony to the Senate armed services committee, US general Philip Breedlove said that the Islamic State terror group is “spreading like a cancer” among refugees. The group’s members are “taking advantage of paths of least resistance, threatening European nations and our own”, he added. Breedlove also blamed Russia’s bombing campaign in Syria, in support of autocratic leader Bashar al-Assad, for having “wildly exacerbated the problem”.

Posted by edgeofthesandbox on March 01, 2016 13 Comments
When Bernie Sanders honeymooned in the Soviet Union in 1988, Andrei Sakharov had already been released from internal exile, Refusniks were allowed to leave the country, the press were discussing the legacy of Stalinism and the state was allowing elements of the free market to take hold. The country was in the midst of perestroika, which generated excitement both in the Soviet Union and abroad. Many foreigners came to visit, among them my future brother-in-law, (more about that later) and we were clamoring to meet them, Americans especially.  And sure, it was still the Soviet Union and the GULAGS were still functioning, but without a doubt, things were going in the right direction.  I don't fault the then-Burlington mayor for visiting USSR, it's his ego, his intent and his conclusions that I find problematic. Sanders took his new bride on a trip to Yaroslavl, a historic city on the Golden Ring of Russia, a region known for the quiet exotic charm of onion-domed churches and ornate wooden cottages.  Avert your eyes from the glib Soviet projects --and you got yourself a perfect backdrop for a radical chic honeymoon circa 1988. Bernie played up the radical chic aspect in his book boasting of "a very strange honeymoon". Strange it was because, lets face it, not all  newlyweds surround themselves with an entourage of 10, hob-nob with provincial nomenclatura and tour Lenin's tomb.

Posted by David Gerstman on February 22, 2016 7 Comments
If you receive Morning Insurrection, you would have seen Prof. Miriam Elman's recommendation to read Jonah Goldberg's piece on the importance of foreign policy in the upcoming election. (If you don't currently read Morning Insurrection see the signup box in the upper right-hand corner of Legal Insurrection.) Goldberg wrote:
We can debate how much blame Obama deserves for Syria’s civil war, but almost no one outside his paid staff disputes that he’s only made things worse. The conflict there has set off the worst humanitarian crisis in Europe since the end of World War II — that’s John Kerry’s own assessment — which may yet tear the European Union asunder. The instability closer to the fighting is even more dangerous. Russia and Turkey may soon go to war with one another, as Russia mercilessly and indiscriminately massacres anyone standing in the way of its pet, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. The Jordanian monarchy may crumble, in part for a lack of assistance from the United States.
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