Goldman, JPMorgan Among Banks Offering More Russia-Linked Trades
Both banks have reached out to investors in recent weeks offering ruble-linked derivative contracts — a trade that's allowed under Western sanctions because there's no physical Russian asset and it doesn't involve any Russian nationals, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Business Insider
12 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov reveals the 3 pieces of advice he got from his dad, an expert in Ancient Rome
Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram, shared three pieces of advice his dad gave him for leading the messaging app. "A month ago, my father — a leading expert in Ancient Roman literature — turned 80. I asked what advice I should pass to the next generation," the Russian entrepreneur wrote in a post on X on Thursday. Valery Durov was head of classical philology — the study of language in historical sources — at St Petersburg State University until 2013, the year Pavel cofounded the encrypted messaging service with his brother Nikolai. Durov shared his father's advice on the 12th anniversary of Telegram's founding. He said his father's first tip was to lead by example because, "People — especially kids — follow what you do, not what you say." "Watching my father work tirelessly on numerous books and scientific papers showed me and my brother the meaning of dedication and inspired us to work hard too," Durov added. Durov said his father's second piece of advice was to focus on the positive. "Growing up in post-war Leningrad, my father learned to control emotions to be a positive force for his family, colleagues, and society," Durov wrote. "He taught me to frame thoughts in ways that bring the most good, even in hard times." The tech billionaire said his father's final advice stemmed from his study and translation of figures like Julius Caesar and Seneca. Valery Durov advised prioritising conscience, his son wrote on X, because he believed a person's moral compass, "unlike intelligence or creativity, is the ultimate human quality that will not lose value even in the age of AI," he said. Durov said in March that the app has a billion active users and called WhatsApp "a cheap, watered-down imitation of Telegram." Durov was arrested in France last August over claims Telegram was being used by criminals to facilitate money laundering, drug trafficking, and other offenses. He later said the app had faced some "growing pains" that made it easier for criminals to abuse but added, "Claims in some media that Telegram is some sort of anarchic paradise are absolutely untrue."
an hour ago
Ahead of summit with Trump, a look at Putin's notable meetings with 5 US presidents
Vladimir Putin is no stranger to superpower summits. Over the decades, as president or prime minister, he's held high-stakes meetings with five American presidents. His encounter with Donald Trump on Friday in Alaska will be the first of Trump's second term and maybe the most significant since their controversial 2018 meeting in Helsinki, Finland. This time, war and peace are urgently at stake as Trump has made it a priority to end the war in Ukraine. Trump's Aug. 8 deadline for Putin to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine or face severe sanctions has come and gone without any peace deal. The expected one-on-one meeting in Alaska marks Putin's first trip to the U.S. since 2015 and his eighth overall as president -- a post the former KGB officer has held since late 1999, apart from 2008-2012 when he served as prime minister. Although he's met with every U.S. president since Bill Clinton, the meetings have been less frequent in recent years as he's been considered something of an international pariah, following the Kremlin's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, military actions in Syria in 2015 and Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election. No U.S. president has traveled to Russia since 2013, when Barack Obama attended the G20 economic summit in St. Petersburg. Here's a look at memorable moments between the Russian president and his American counterparts. Bill Clinton The two leaders had previously met while Putin served as prime minister, though their first summit came as Clinton's presidency was coming to an end and the new Russian president was just coming into power. The two met in Moscow in June 2000, nearly a decade after the end of the Cold War, and largely discussed arms control. On his assessment of Putin, Clinton said at a press briefing, "I think he is fully capable of building a prosperous, strong Russia while preserving freedom and pluralism and the rule of law. It's a big challenge. I think he's fully capable of doing it." On Clinton, Putin called him a "very experienced politician." "In my mind, we've established now not only good business ties, but also personal relations. For me, President Clinton is a person who is a very comfortable and pleasant partner in negotiations," Putin said. George W. Bush Bush and Putin held their first summit in Slovenia in June 2001. Following two hours of meetings, Bush said it was an "important step in building a constructive, respectful relationship with Russia." When asked whether he could trust Russia, Bush famously said of Putin that he "looked the man in the eye" and "found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy." "I was able to get a sense of his soul; a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country," Bush said. On their meeting, Putin said he had a "very interesting and positive" discussion with Bush, who "as a person who has studied history, proposed a very global, wide-scale approach and view to history." Bush would go on to meet with Putin in Russia multiple times throughout both terms of his presidency, including a 2002 visit to Moscow where they signed a treaty to reduce the number of nuclear warhead arsenals held by both countries. Putin also visited the U.S. several times, including traveling to Bush's ranch in Texas and family home in Kennebunkport, Maine, which often hosted heads of state during the Bush administration. Their relationship seemed to grow more strained, including following the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which Moscow opposed. During an informal meeting, the two had a more tense exchange during Bush's historic trip to Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympics, where Bush confronted then-Prime Minister Putin about Russia's ongoing attack on its neighbor, Georgia. Barack Obama Putin continued to serve as prime minister during the first few years of Obama's presidency -- during which he and Obama met for the first time along with then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow in July 2009. During that visit, Obama said his interest was in dealing with his counterpart, though said he wanted to reach out to Putin "and all other influential sectors in Russian society so that I can get a full picture of the needs of the Russian people and the concerns of the Russian people." "Our interest is dealing with the Russian government as a whole in order to achieve the improved bilateral relationship that I think can be accomplished," Obama said. Putin returned to the presidency in 2012. A year later, the White House canceled a planned summit with Putin in Moscow, citing Russia's "disappointing decision" to grant asylum to national security leaker Edward Snowden and a lack of progress in the U.S.-Russia bilateral agenda. Russia's invasion and illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom the U.S. had called to be removed, continued to strain relations. Obama and Putin had their first formal meeting in two years in September 2015 at the U.N. General Assembly in New York City, in what was Putin's last visit to the U.S. until the planned Alaska summit. Donald Trump - 1st Term Trump and Putin met for the first time as presidents in July 2017 during a G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. Though one of their more notable summits came a year later, in Helsinki in July 2018, when they talked behind closed doors for nearly two hours. In an extraordinary press conference afterward, while standing next to Putin, Trump seemed to accept the Russian president's denial of election interference over the findings of U.S. intelligence. (Earlier this month, Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered a Justice Department investigation into the Obama administration intelligence community's handling of claims Russia interfered in the 2016 election.) "[Putin] just said it's not Russia. I will say this. I don't see any reason why it would be," Trump said. "I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today," he later said. Asked why Trump should believe Russia's denial of election interference, Putin said during the briefing, "You can trust no one," and called the U.S. intelligence agencies' findings "utter nonsense." He said he wanted Trump to win "because he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal." Following significant bipartisan criticism back home, Trump walked back his comments the next day, saying he misspoke and that he meant to say, "I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be Russia." The summit also drew concerns for the lack of aides or other government officials, only interpreters, in the room with Trump and Putin. Later that year, Trump abruptly canceled a planned meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina, citing Russia's refusal to release Ukrainian Navy ships and sailors it seized near Crimea. Joe Biden Biden met with Putin once during his presidency, in Geneva in June 2021. He had called for the high-stakes meeting with Putin, alarmed about ongoing Russian military aggression toward Ukraine. Biden said the summit was "positive" and that he "did what I came to do." Putin called the over three-hour talk "quite constructive," though he contended that Russia's military aggression toward Ukraine was not the business of the U.S. Less than a year later, in February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, a war that has been waged ever since.
American Military News
an hour ago
- American Military News
5 Things To Know Ahead Of The Trump-Putin Summit
This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission. As US and Russian Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin meet face-to-face for the first time in six years, here's what you need to know. What Does Putin Want? Many analysts see a meeting with Trump as a victory in and of itself for Putin, as the leader seeks an end to his international isolation. In other words, it's all about the photo op. 'No major Western leader has met with [Putin] since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Now he gets a summit with the US president, without any concessions on his part,' said Jana Kobzova, who was foreign policy adviser to former Slovak President Zuzana Caputova. Beyond that, Putin's goals remain largely unchanged since the beginning of the war. 'The Kremlin feels that it has the upper hand on the battlefield right now, so if it can't extract concessions diplomatically, it can just continue to plough forward on the battlefield,' said Kobzova. For this reason, Putin is expected to resist being pushed into accepting a cease-fire. What Does Trump Want? Trump has said that he wants to use the summit to 'set the table' for a follow-up meeting that would involve Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 'I think it's going to be a good meeting, but the more important meeting will be the second meeting that we're having. We're going to have a meeting with President Putin, President Zelenskyy, myself, and maybe we'll bring some of the European leaders, maybe not,' Trump said on August 14. Trump has also made it clear that he wants to achieve a cease-fire as soon as possible, as a first step toward a lasting settlement. But some analysts say Putin will try to muddy the waters by offering other prizes. Jim O'Brien, who served as US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs in the Biden administration, says Putin is likely to suggest financial incentives to Trump as a way to avoid agreeing to concrete details for a cease-fire. 'Bilateral arrangements may emerge, especially about commercial deals benefiting a few American businesses,' he said. What About Zelenskyy? Zelenskyy wants a seat at the table. Ukraine's president is notably excluded from the talks and has warned that decisions made in his absence will be meaningless. The topic of territorial concessions is something Zelenskyy has repeatedly pushed back against. Trump said ahead of the summit that he will not force Kyiv to surrender territory, but his suggestion that Putin and Zelenskyy could 'divvy things up' is causing alarm in Kyiv. Such demands are not just hard to swallow for Zelenskyy, but could be incredibly difficult for him to sell to the Ukrainian public. He will hope Trump and Putin do not agree to something he cannot agree to, making it appear to the White House that he is the obstacle to peace. Where Do Things Stand On The Battlefield? Russia occupies about one-fifth, or 114,500 square kilometers, of Ukraine's land. The front line stretches some 1,000 kilometers through the regions of Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson. Both sides continue to suffer heavy losses, but earlier this month Russia began to make key gains on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine, advancing about 10 kilometers as it concentrated forces around Toretsk and Pokrovsk. It embodies a Russian strategy that military analysts say has involved trading heavy casualties on the battlefield in exchange for small but sustained gains. What Happens Next? Trump has suggested a second, trilateral meeting could happen quickly — and possibly also take place in Alaska. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke on August 14 about the conditions that would need to be met to achieve a lasting peace. 'I think we all recognize that there'll have to be some conversation about security guarantees. There will have to be some conversation about, you know, territorial disputes and claims and what they're fighting over,' Rubio said. Russia will continue to insist that what it calls the 'root causes' of the conflict need to be addressed, which is Kremlin code for putting an end to Ukraine's hopes of NATO membership and steps to effectively disarm the Ukrainian military. Each side's aims collide with the other's red lines. Peace won't come quickly or easily.
