Latest news with #Soviet-born
NBC News
05-04-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
What Putin's two-faced strategy says about his approach to Trump and Ukraine
To the casual observer, Russia seems to be marching in two opposite directions. President Vladimir Putin sent one of his close allies, Kirill Dmitriev, to Washington this week for diplomatic talks, the most senior Kremlin official to visit since Russia invaded Ukraine. At the same time, Putin ordered the mobilization of 160,000 troops, his largest in 14 years, as his drones continue their nightly bombardment of Ukrainian civilians and he plans a spring offensive — if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is to be believed. But these twin approaches perfectly illustrate Russia's strategy, according to some Western foreign policy specialists. They say that Putin is slow-walking talks with President Donald Trump so he can press his battlefield advance in Ukraine, while gambling on achieving normalized relations with a friendly White House. Putin 'thinks that time is on his side, and by dragging things out he'll put himself in an even better position to negotiate,' said Sergey Radchenko, a Soviet-born Cold War historian and professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Mixed messages Having once promised to end Russia's war in Ukraine in 24 hours, Trump has found the reality to be far thornier. His team has tried to broker a ceasefire, but so far even a partial or temporary truce has been blocked by the Russians. Putin and his envoys have said they will only accept a truce if Ukraine agrees to extreme conditions tantamount to surrender and subjugation. Many Western officials and experts say Russia knows these cannot be accepted. 'Putin continues to obfuscate, continues to drag his feet,' British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told reporters Friday at the headquarters of NATO in Brussels. 'We see you, Vladimir Putin. We know what you are doing.' That frustration has been felt in the White House, which under Trump has taken a far friendlier approach toward the Kremlin than previous administrations. Trump told NBC News on Sunday he was 'pissed off' when Putin reiterated his view that Zelenskyy should be ousted. Trump's inner circle is advising him not to hold a call with Putin until he commits to a ceasefire, two administration officials told NBC News on Thursday. Familiar envoy This growing dissatisfaction explains why Moscow dispatched Dmitriev, according to Oleg Ignatov, a senior analyst on Russia at the International Crisis Group in Brussels. 'Dmitriev has direct access to Putin; in the Russian system, this is the most important thing a negotiator can have,' Ignatov said. He also 'has his own connections in the United States.' Dmitriev, 49, was born in Kyiv when it was part of the Soviet Union and heads the Russian sovereign wealth fund responsible for investing and growing the country's cash pile. He has a close relationship with Putin, who in February appointed him special envoy on international economic investment. Dmitriev studied at Stanford and got his MBA at Harvard before working for Goldman Sachs and McKinsey & Co. After meeting with Trump's officials, he did a round of broadcast interviews in which he talked up normalizing relations with Washington, Arctic cooperation and a minerals deal. He even said the Kremlin could be involved in Elon Musk's plan to put humans on Mars. Ukraine was mentioned in passing, but he did not mention it in his social-media summary of the trip. 'Without doubt, we note a positive dynamic in our relations,' he told journalists in Washington. 'A series of meetings will still be needed for us to resolve all our differences. But the main thing we see is a positive, constructive attitude.' The significance of Dmitriev's visit may lie in the fact he is not a career diplomat. 'His apparent closeness to Putin makes him more than just a messenger,' said Pavel Baev, a research professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo, a think tank. 'He appears to be a person who can really engage in bargaining and compromise.' Asked about Dmitriev's trip, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that Moscow was 'cautiously optimistic.' Pressing ahead But, to be clear, Dmitriev's main task is clearly to re-establish links with Washington — rather than signal any drawdown in Ukraine ambitions, according to experts such as Robert Hamilton, a retired U.S. Army colonel and now head of research at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. Dmitriev's mission 'signals that the Kremlin is interested in broadening the discussions with the U.S. and steering them away from Ukraine,' Hamilton said. 'What the Kremlin actually seeks is to sideline the Ukraine issue and pursue a broader reset with the U.S. that leaves Ukraine and Europe out of the process and frees Russia to continue its war.' Some saw evidence of that this week in Putin's announcement that the annual spring conscription draft would take on 160,000 recruits, the largest in 14 years. 'A clear signal it wants peace (not!)' Tymofiy Mylovanov, Ukraine's former economics minister, wrote on X. Some experts point out the draft is only slightly higher than in previous years, and by law the recruits are barred from participating in what Russia calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine. But it is nonetheless a symptom of Russia's growing militarization, a shift that has seen the entire economy retooled toward its war effort. In the short term, there are few signs Russia is slowing its war. One drone attack on Ukraine's second city of Kharkiv late Thursday killed five people and injured more than 30 others, officials said. Meanwhile, Zelenskyy told the French newspaper La Figaro last week he believes Putin is preparing a spring offensive. Russia's 'ceasefire intentions are, as far as I can discern, nonexistent,' Baev added. 'Dmitriev is most probably sent in order to wriggle out of a tight corner.'
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Telegram CEO allowed to leave France amid investigation
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has returned home to Dubai, he said Monday, seven months after being arrested in France over charges that the platform was being used for criminal activity. 'I've returned to Dubai after spending several months in France due to an investigation related to the activity of criminals on Telegram. The process is ongoing, but it feels great to be home,' Durov posted on his Telegram channel Monday. A spokesperson for the Paris prosecutor's office told NBC News that Durov remains under investigation. 'I want to thank the investigative judges for letting this happen, as well as my lawyers and team for their relentless efforts in demonstrating that, when it comes to moderation, cooperation, and fighting crime, for years Telegram not only met but exceeded its legal obligations,' Durov said. Durov, an enigmatic Soviet-born tech entrepreneur who has long claimed to be a champion of free speech, was arrested in Paris in August. The Paris prosecutor's office said he had been detained as part of a larger investigation into the platform's 'complicity' in alleged crimes related to child sex abuse material (CSAM), among other accusations. Last fall, after being released by law enforcement but required to stay in France, Durov announced plans to 'significantly improve' Telegram's response to criminals who abuse the platform. Headquartered in Dubai, Telegram is rare among global social media platforms for not having overt ties to either the United States or China. It's particularly popular in the Middle East, eastern Europe and Russia, and in recent years has also become popular among some in the American far right. Thanks to its history of explicitly avoiding moderation, which Durov has equated with censorship, Telegram has long attracted terrorists, cybercriminals and people who traffic in child sex abuse material. As NBC News reported in August, Telegram was previously the only major social media platform to refuse to work with any of the major international child safety organizations to combat CSAM. In December, Telegram announced that it partnered with the U.K.-based Internet Watch Foundation to automatically flag and remove that material. Despite Durov's pledge to reduce abuse of his platform, it's still a preferred platform for some cybercriminals. An NBC News investigation into text message scams last week found that Chinese-speaking cybercriminals who sell software to fake credit card payments routinely use Telegram to advertise. This article was originally published on
NBC News
17-03-2025
- Business
- NBC News
Telegram CEO allowed to leave France amid investigation
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has returned home to Dubai, he said Monday, seven months after being arrested in France over charges that the platform was being used for criminal activity. 'I've returned to Dubai after spending several months in France due to an investigation related to the activity of criminals on Telegram. The process is ongoing, but it feels great to be home,' Durov posted to his Telegram channel Monday. A spokesperson for the Paris Prosecutor's office told NBC News that Durov remains under investigation. 'I want to thank the investigative judges for letting this happen, as well as my lawyers and team for their relentless efforts in demonstrating that, when it comes to moderation, cooperation, and fighting crime, for years Telegram not only met but exceeded its legal obligations,' Durov said. Durov, an enigmatic Soviet-born tech entrepreneur who has long claimed to be a champion of free speech, was arrested in Paris in August. The Paris prosecutor's office said he had been detained as part of a larger investigation into the platform's 'complicity' in alleged crimes related to child sex abuse material (CSAM), among other accusations. Last fall, after being released by law enforcement but required to stay in France, Durov announced plans to ' significantly improve ' Telegram's response to criminals who abuse the platform. Headquartered in Dubai, Telegram is rare among global social media platforms for not having overt ties to either the U.S. or China. It's particularly popular in the Middle East, eastern Europe and Russia, and in recent years has also become popular among some in the American far-right. Thanks to its history of explicitly avoiding moderation, which Durov has equated with censorship, Telegram has long attracted terrorists, cybercriminals and people who traffic in child sex abuse material. As NBC News reported in August, Telegram was previously the only major social media platform to refuse to work with any of the major international child safety organizations to combat CSAM. In December, Telegram announced that it partnered with the U.K.-based Internet Watch Foundation to automatically flag and remove that material. Despite Durov's pledge to reduce abuse of his platform, it's still a preferred platform for some cybercriminals. An NBC News investigation into text-message scams last week found that Chinese-speaking cybercriminals who sell software to fake credit card payments routinely use Telegram to advertise.
Voice of America
14-02-2025
- Sport
- Voice of America
Russian- and Soviet-born coaches still shaping US figure skating's future
The tragic deaths of Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov in a plane crash late last month in Washington have shone a spotlight on the role of Russian- or Soviet-born coaches in the world of competitive figure skating. Their influence has shaped a generation of American skaters, raising the question: Why have these coaches been so successful in the U.S.? Maxim Adams has the story. Video editor: Serge Sokolov, Anna Rice
