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United News of India
3 days ago
- Politics
- United News of India
Putin mandates intelligence clearance for all foreign vessels entering Russia
Moscow, July 21 (UNI) Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an executive order today, mandating all foreign vessels entering Russian ports will need authorisation from the country's domestic intelligence agency - the Federal Security Service (FSB) – to dock. "The entry into seaports of Russia by vessels arriving from foreign ports shall be permitted by the port captain, subject to coordination with an official of the Federal Security Service," the decree read, as per The Moscow Times. Authorities have not yet commented on the reasoning behind the new restrictions. However, the move comes amid heightened security measures following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and an increase in Ukrainian attacks inside Russia, including recent drone strikes on military airfields and bombings of rail infrastructure. The move is expected to have significant implications for international maritime operations, and industry experts are closely monitoring the situation for further developments. UNI ANV SSP
LeMonde
6 days ago
- LeMonde
Secondhand medals reveal the existence of Russian intelligence cyber units
The insignia features a key, undamaged despite three menacing lightning bolts placed just above. Produced for employees of the "ST department" of the 16 th Center of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation, this simple piece of metal reveals the existence of a previously unknown unit tasked with protecting communications within Russia's domestic intelligence agency. This is one of several key findings in a report published Thursday, July 18, by Checkfirst, a company that specializes in the fight against disinformation. The organization collected and analyzed several hundred photographs of medals, insignia and decorations, found on manufacturer websites or shared on specialized platforms for collectors. Russian security forces have a strong affinity for commemorative decorations and medals – a tradition inherited from the Soviet Union and one that remained particularly prevalent after the fall of the Berlin Wall. For the equivalent of a few dozen euros, these specialized websites allow former officers and soldiers to sell their insignia, which may commemorate a unit, an anniversary or an event.
Novaya Gazeta Europe
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Novaya Gazeta Europe
Hanging on the telephone. A Russian reservist has begun an 18-year prison sentence for treason after trying to visit his mother in Ukraine — Novaya Gazeta Europe
One October morning in 2023, Olga Leonova's phone rang in the central Russian city of Dzerzhinsk. It was her mother-in-law calling from Ukraine to ask why her son, who normally called her every morning, hadn't been in touch and wasn't answering his phone. Olga said she'd check, and assured her that he probably either had no reception or his battery was dead. What she didn't know was that at that very moment, her husband, 57-year-old Gennady Artemenko, was being beaten up nearby in the back of a van by agents of Russia's notorious Federal Security Service (FSB), and that he wouldn't be calling his mother any time soon. Almost two years have passed since then, during which Olga has repeatedly assured her mother-in-law that her son is fine, but chose to leave Russia and has been stuck in a European refugee camp where his processing has been achingly slow due to him holding the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Russian military. She came up with the story so that her 84-year-old mother-in-law, Lydia Vasilyevna, could cling to the hope that she'd see her son again one day. But Olga is in fact now living in exile herself, and her husband, who was convicted of treason and justifying terrorism last month, has now begun an 18-year sentence in a high-security prison. Gennady Artemenko was born, grew up and went to school in the Dnipropetrovsk region of central Ukraine, then part of the USSR, where his childhood was indelibly marked by the death of his sister from leukaemia at the age of 12. Though his family had no military tradition, Gennady honoured his father's wish for him to become an officer in the Red Army, moving to study at an artillery school outside Moscow in 1985. After graduating with top marks, Gennady was given a plum first posting in East Germany, where he served until 1993, by which time the Soviet Union had collapsed. Gennady and Olga in Kyiv. Photo from family archive Returning to an independent Ukraine, Gennady initially attempted to find work with the Ukrainian military, but after being told that there were too many artillerymen and too little demand, he decided to try his luck in Russia. There, he was able to find work in his field of expertise, and was posted to the Russian Far East, and later to Tajikistan, where his service earned him early retirement. At the age of just 34, having attained the rank of lieutenant colonel, Artemenko left the army and moved to Dzerzhinsk where he became a reservist. 'All our friends and all the neighbours we'd known for at least 10 years dropped us when Gena was arrested.' 'We would go to visit Gena's mother in Ukraine every year,' Olga says. 'My mother-in-law had already buried her husband and daughter and lived for her son.' But in 2014, the war in Donbas began. Artemenko, a Russian citizen, nevertheless had an overseas Ukrainian certificate intended for those of Ukrainian origin who are citizens of other countries. According to a Ukrainian law signed in 2004, certificate holders enjoy almost all the same rights in Ukraine as citizens. On one of their annual visits to Ukraine, Olga even managed to track down relatives she had in the country's northern Chernihiv region. 'My cousin and her family know about my situation and are very supportive. The only family I have in Russia are my parents. All our friends and all the neighbours we'd known for at least 10 years dropped us when Gena was arrested,' Olga says. Gennady Artemenko. Photo from family archive The Gang of Three Olga woke up on the morning of 24 February 2022 to find her husband sitting with his head in his hands. When she asked him what had happened, he replied: 'They're bombing Kyiv.' He tried to call his mother, but was unable to get through. Having spoken to his mother once a week before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Gennady 'started calling twice a day, in the morning and the evening, on the way to work, and on the way home from work,' Olga recalls, adding, 'They always spoke Ukrainian. … Maybe someone reported him?' Later that year, the pair travelled to Kyrgyzstan to apply for a visa at the Ukrainian Embassy in Bishkek. In 2021, at the height of the pandemic, Gennady had applied to the Ukrainian Migration Service for a residence permit. He worried that closed borders combined with the lockdown might prevent him from helping his seriously ill mother whenever necessary. But Gennady and Olga could never have imagined that it would be war and prison, not quarantine and the pandemic, that would keep them apart. Gennady Artemenko. Photo from family archive The Artemenkos' visa application was turned down. According to Olga, the Ukrainian consul was sympathetic to their situation and tried to help, but told them that during wartime it was the Security Service of Ukraine that granted visas, not consuls. Gennady wrote to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Migration Service and Presidential Administration. On each occasion, he received the same pro-forma answer: 'We understand, but there is a war going on. We will consider your case after the war.' However, Artemenko persevered, planning another trip to Kyrgyzstan in 2023, which he was ultimately unable to take, as the Russian intelligence services had come for him by then. On the day of his detention, FSB officers lay in wait for him outside his house, and after beating him up in a van parked around the corner, they searched his home. They brought him back inside and said they had found 60g of explosives in the kitchen radiator. 'They locked Gena out on the balcony and supposedly searched the apartment. Then they brought him back inside and said they had found 60g of explosives in the kitchen radiator,' Olga recalls. Olga understood immediately that the charge against Gennady for the 'illegal possession of firearms or ammunition by a group of people' had been prepared in advance, and that the explosives had been planted. 'The group of people must have been me, my husband and the cat,' Olga says wryly. Circumstantial evidence The charges for a group of people possessing weapons were eventually dropped, only to be replaced by charges of treason and justifying terrorism. Olga and Gennady. Photo from family archive 'Planting explosives is a standard FSB move,' according to Yevgeny Smirnov, a lawyer with Russian human rights NGO First Department, who knows the Artemenko case. 'They needed to place Gennady in detention to have time to open a criminal case on other charges.' The charges against Artemenko for treason and justifying terrorism were based principally on his membership of Telegram channel Civil Force, which is run by the Crimean Tatar Atesh movement, an underground guerilla group that aims to free Crimea from Russian occupation. The terror charge was added to his rap sheet when the Atesh movement was recognised as a terrorist organisation by the Russian government late last year. When leaflets similar to a banner frequently used by Atesh began appearing around Dzerzhinsk saying 'Let's stop the war together!' alongside the Atesh logo, Artemenko was accused of posting them due to his subscription to the channel. As far as the court was concerned, Artemenko was subscribed to the Atesh channel, and that was all the proof it needed. Investigators looking into the incident claimed to have seen surveillance footage implicating Artemenko, though they also conceded that it hadn't been sufficiently clear to identify the perpetrator with any certainty. During Artemenko's trial, his lawyer asked to see the footage, but the court turned down the request, as it did nearly all other requests made by the defence. As far as the court was concerned, Artemenko was subscribed to the Atesh channel, and that was all the proof it needed. The prosecution also presented the leaflet itself as evidence, though the sample they submitted for expert analysis was oddly pristine, as if it had just been downloaded and printed off, and had never been stuck up anywhere in the city at all. The prosecutors said that a psychological and linguistic analysis had revealed 'a desire to stop the war' in conjunction with Atesh. As if being charged with wanting to stop the war was not absurd enough, Artemenko was also charged with communicating with Atesh members, though no evidence of this was provided, and no correspondence was presented in court. Atesh leaflet in Dzerzhinsk, Russia. Photo: Civil Force / Telegram Running out of time The trial lasted for four days, after which the court convicted Artemenko on both counts and handed him a sentence of 18 years in a maximum-security penal colony and a fine of 360,000 rubles (€3,900). 'There have already been over 1,000 treason and espionage cases since the start of the war,' Smirnov told Novaya Gazeta Europe. 'The defendants are mostly not public figures, but completely ordinary people who for various reasons at some point or other have found themselves in the FSB's crosshairs.' 'I believe Gennady Artemenko came under surveillance when he attempted to seek permission to enter Ukraine. … That's a trigger for the FSB. They might have thought he was planning to commit treason by changing sides,' Smirnov continued. Gennady and Olga in Kyiv, holding a Ukrainian flag. Photo from personal archive, used as case material Evidence of Artemenko's anti-Russian position was provided in the form of a 2018 photograph of Gennady and Olga in Kyiv holding a Ukrainian flag. They had taken the trip to celebrate his 50th birthday, and Olga had bought tickets to a concert by Ukrainian rock band Okean Elzy. 'We were tired, but loved the concert. It was our favourite band, it was his birthday in Kyiv, and we had so many happy years ahead of us still to look forward to.' Seven years later and reserve lieutenant colonel Gennady Artemenko is in detention, waiting to be transferred to a maximum-security penal colony. Now 57, he has a long list of serious health issues, including hypertension, hernias and pancreatitis. Factoring in time served, he will be 73 when he is finally released, if he serves his full term. Olga now lives outside Russia where she works as a nanny and cleaner, but she hopes she'll soon be allowed to travel to Ukraine to see and reassure her mother-in-law. To this day, Lydia Vasilyevna knows nothing about the fate of her son, and Olga puts on a brave face every day when she calls her to say: 'Gena is fine, Lydia Vasilyevna! He just can't contact you right now as he's in a refugee camp. But he will soon. Trust me.'
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Two sworn enemies unite against Putin
The collapse of relations between Russia and Azerbaijan came in a series of quick-fire blows. It began with the arrest of seven nationals from the former Soviet republic last month in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg. They were held as part of an investigation by Moscow into mafia-style killings dating back 25 years. Within days, two suspects – both ethnic Azerbaijanis – died in custody. Others appeared in court visibly bruised and beaten. Azerbaijan responded with fury. Russian cultural events were cancelled, the Baku bureau of the Kremlin-owned Sputnik news agency was raided, and a group of Russian IT workers was arrested and accused of drug-trafficking and cybercrime. Then came the threat, on Russian state TV, that Baku could be 'taken in three days', echoing rhetoric used before the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. War is unlikely. But the rift is real – and dangerous for Moscow because Armenia, after fighting a series of brutal wars with Azerbaijan over 30 years, is aligning with its old enemy to push Putin out of the South Caucasus. On July 10, Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan's president, met Nikol Pashinyan, the prime minister of Armenia. Their direct talks focused on the Zangezur Corridor, a proposed route linking Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave via southern Armenia. The corridor would fulfil a pan-Turkic dream of physically connecting Azerbaijan with Turkey and would form part of the 'Middle Corridor' trade route from China and Central Asia to Europe. Under the 2020 ceasefire agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the route was to be monitored by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB). But that arrangement is now under threat, with Mr Aliyev wanting to cut Moscow out of the deal and have it fully under Azerbaijani control. 'This is Russia's last big card in the region,' said Neil Melvin, director of international security at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi). 'It allows them to control trade routes and leverage relationships with both Armenia and Azerbaijan. Losing it would be a major blow.' Although the talks on July 10 were inconclusive, momentum is shifting. Mr Pashinyan visited Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the president of Turkey, in Istanbul last month, a significant meeting given Armenia and Turkey have no formal diplomatic ties. Afterwards, Mr Erdoğan said Armenia was showing a 'more flexible approach' to the Zangezur Corridor, despite having previously opposed it. The West, meanwhile, has floated the idea of putting the route under neutral international control, such as a Swiss or American firm, effectively excluding Russia altogether. Like Azerbaijan's, Armenia's ties with Moscow have frayed – especially since 2023, when Russian peacekeepers largely stood aside during Baku's lightning offensive to retake the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Nearly the entire Armenian population fled, and Azerbaijan was accused of ethnic cleansing. Since then Mr Pashinyan has leaned towards the West and sought reconciliation with Baku, believing that Armenia's long-term future is threatened if it maintains hostile relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey. This is far from popular in Armenia. Mr Pashinyan has one of the lowest approval ratings of any leader in the world and a recent spat with the Armenian Apostolic Church saw two archbishops arrested on charges of plotting against the government. However, Nurlan Aliyev, a senior researcher at the College of Europe, said Mr Pashinyan's geopolitical reshuffling has pushed Baku and Yerevan together regarding their position on Russia. Mr Aliyev said: 'Both countries understand that they need to create a South Caucasus security architecture without Russian participation, one that regional states will support themselves. 'We have not yet seen a final peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia, but there are positive signs. A final peace agreement would be a major blow to Russia's position in the South Caucasus.' For the president of Azerbaijan, the days of taking orders from Moscow appear to be over. Analysts say he is using the Yekaterinburg incident to not just demand justice, but to assert independence. 'The problem in relations with Baku is serious,' a former high-ranking Russian diplomat told The Telegraph. 'President Aliyev bared his teeth, as any authoritarian leader would. He now sees himself as a triumphant figure. Moscow no longer dictates terms.' Bashir Kitachayev of the Carnegie Centre in Berlin said Baku is taking advantage of the incident to push back against Moscow. 'The deaths of two Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg served merely as a convenient pretext,' he said. 'They [the Azerbaijani authorities] are using the situation to bolster their position at home and abroad by escalating tensions with Moscow.' The shift was underlined by a publicised call between Mr Aliyev and Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, in which they discussed forming closer ties. It was a pointed signal from Azerbaijan, a country long seen as aligned with Moscow. The Kremlin, meanwhile, is trying to reframe the standoff as a Western plot. 'The scriptwriter and conductor of disagreements with Azerbaijan is located outside the post-Soviet space,' said Grigory Karasin, chairman of Russia's international affairs committee. Vladimir Dzhabarov, a Russian senator and former KGB officer, went further by accusing MI6 and Turkey of stirring unrest. In truth, the cracks began long before Yekaterinburg. Last Christmas, Russia mistakenly shot down an Azerbaijan Airlines jet. Baku refused to move past the incident, ultimately forcing Putin to apologise and offer compensation, in a rare diplomatic climbdown. Now fully aware of the power of public confrontation, Baku did not hesitate to retaliate in the wake of the arrests in Yekaterinburg. The fallout also threatens Russia's prized North-South Corridor – a trade route linking Moscow to Iran and India that runs through Azerbaijan. Losing access to the corridor could deliver a real economic blow, especially as Russia seeks ways to get around Western sanctions. Arkady Dubnov, a post-Soviet affairs expert, wrote on Telegram that Moscow's main concern was preserving that corridor. It knows, he said, that alienating Baku completely could threaten those plans. For now, Russia will continue blaming the West while working behind the scenes to try to salvage its relationships. But for Azerbaijan and Armenia – nations once treated like Soviet satellites – they are setting their own course and increasingly, it does not involve Russia. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
The Hindu
13-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Ukraine says suspected Russian FSB assassins killed in Kyiv region
Ukrainian intelligence agents on Sunday (July 13, 2025) killed members of a Russian secret service cell wanted on suspicion of having shot dead a colonel in Ukraine's SBU security service last week, the SBU said. The intelligence agency said in a statement that the operation had sought the arrest of the agents of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), who it believes were behind the killing of SBU colonel Ivan Voronych in Kyiv on Thursday (July 10, 2025). 'This morning a special operation was conducted, during which the members of the Russian FSB's agent cell started to resist, and therefore they were liquidated,' the statement on the Telegram messaging app said. Russian authorities made no immediate public comment on Sunday's (July 13, 2025) operation, which mirrored past assassinations of senior Russian military officials by Ukraine during the three-year-old war - a source of embarrassment for Moscow's vast intelligence agencies. The SBU said two people - a man and a woman - were suspected of having killed Voronych. It did not say how many suspected FSB agents had been killed on Sunday (July 13, 2025). According to the SBU, the alleged assassins were told by their handler to survey their target and track his movements. They were eventually given the coordinates of a hiding place where they found a pistol with a suppressor, the SBU said. It said they had tried to 'lay low' after Thursday's (July 10, 2025) killing but were tracked down by the SBU and police. The agency's remit covers security and counterintelligence, but since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, it has also played a prominent role in special operations against Moscow, including assassinations and sabotage attacks.
