Latest news with #WorldofTanks
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia accuses World of Tanks executives of 'extremist activities,' moves to seize assets of Russian publisher
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Top executives at the companies responsible for World of Tanks are facing pressure from the Russian government, which a RIA Novosti report (Google translated, via Eurogamer) says has accused Wargaming owner Viktor Kisly and Lesta Games owner Malik Khatazhaev of "extremist activities" related to Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The Russian government has reportedly seized Lesta Group assets as a result of the charge, and is also seeking to seize all of Khatazhaev's holdings in the company. World of Tanks developer Wargaming was founded in Minsk, Belarus, in 1998, but relocated its headquarters to Cyprus in 2011, and has opened numerous other studios around the world in the years since. In 2022, following the the launch of Russia's unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it pulled out of Belarus and Russia, transferring control of World of Tanks to Lesta Games, a Russian studio Wargaming had acquired in 2011. Wargaming said it was "no longer affiliated" with Lesta as of March 31, 2022. That separation doesn't seem to matter much to the government of Russia. The RIA Novosti report says the Prosecutor General's Office believes Khatazhaev and Kisly "are part of an association that carries out extremist activities," a claim it supported by citing reports about Wargaming's opposition to the invasion and fundraising efforts for Ukrainians. The opposition and fundraising claims are true. In 2022, shortly after the invasion began, Wargaming fired creative director Sergey Burkatovskiy after he voiced support for the attack, and in 2023 the company raised more than $1 million through the sale of Ukraine-themed bundles in six of its games to purchase ambulances. Those are hardly what I would call "extremist activities," but you can at least understand where it's coming from: A corrupt, criminal government trying to justify (or at least camouflage) its illegal activities for at-home consumption is nothing new, after all. What's more baffling is how Lesta got wrapped up in all of this. Wargaming's Ukrainian fundraiser came well after the split between it and Lesta, for instance, and according to a separate RBC Group report (Google translated), Lesta issued a statement at the same time indicating that it was not involved in the effort. The move against Lesta may simply reflect the fact that Russia really can't do much about Wargaming. It's clearly not happy with the company's pro-Ukraine behavior: In 2022, for instance, the Belarusian KGB added Wargaming's chief business development officer Nikolai Katselapov to its terrorist watchlist, a largely symbolic move, assuming Katselapov has enough sense not to go back. But because Wargaming no longer has operations in Russia or Belarus, asset seizure isn't really an option like it is for Lesta. Wargaming essentially confirmed that state of affairs in a statement provided to PC Gamer. "Wargaming made a strategic exit from the Russian and Belarusian markets three years ago," a representative said. "The company disposed of its business in Russia and Belarus to the local management at zero cost and on a debt-free, cash-free basis, with no consideration to take it back. Wargaming doesn't have any assets or business interests in Russia and Belarus." The RIA Novosti report says the assets of the Lesta Group have already been seized; the company said in a statement posted to Telegram that it is in full compliance with the law in Russia and Belarus, and is "providing full assistance to law enforcement agencies to resolve all issues that have arisen as quickly as possible." I've reached out to Wargaming for comment and will update if I receive a reply.
Irish Daily Star
28-04-2025
- Business
- Irish Daily Star
Anthony Scaramucci says Donald Trump has 'already declared WW3'
Donald Trump's former communications director Anthony Scaramucci says people need to "understand" the President has "already triggered a war" - it's just not in the form people might have expected. Scaramucci, who has become an outspoken critic of Trump since his time in office was cut short in a matter of days for criticizing cabinet members, is now a the Rest is Politics US host. Speaking to Saxo on behalf of the Irish Star, the 61-year-old explained despite Trump saying he wants to see a permanent ceasefire in Russia after his previously lax stance, the world war is already underway. Read More Related Articles Karoline Leavitt's presser with new media overshadowed by 'disgusting' comment on English-speaking Uber drivers Read More Related Articles Russia accuses World of Tanks developer of 'extremist activities' as assets seized Scaramucci said: "He's already triggered a war. So you have to understand something - he's triggered tariff war one. And so he's Admiral Yamamoto, he's the one who declared war on the United States by attacking Pearl Harbor. And so he's now declared a world war." Risks are high the global economy will slip into recession this year, according to a majority of economists in a Reuters poll, in which scores said Trump's tariffs have damaged business sentiment. Just three months ago, the same group of economists covering nearly 50 economies had expected the global economy to grow at a strong, steady clip. Anthony Scaramucci at "The ABC News Presidential Debate: Race for the White House" held at the National Constitution Cente (Image: Getty Images) As China leads the way while the rest of the globe scrambles to make sense of the tariffs, Trump's supposed enemy number one looks to come out on top. Scaramucci said: "It is an economic war. And we are now in tariff war one, but will it go kinetic? I don't think it needs to go kinetic. I think that there are very smart adversaries in this war. The Chinese don't need to go kinetic. I think Trump has missized the Chinese. "If you study the famine that took place in the 1960s during the Cultural Revolution and you study the history of Xi Jinping, he doesn't care." Indeed, as China reacted to the latest round of Trump's inflation of Tariffs to 125 per cent, now 145 per cent, on all American goods, vice president of the Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization, Victor Zhikai Gao, told Channel 4's Cathy Newman : 'We don't care! China has been here for 5,000 years. Most of the time, there was no US, and we survived.' Scaramucci said: "His people will hold tight. If anything, what Trump is doing to China, even though there's weakness economically in China, what he's doing to China will galvanise those people. "So Trump has managed to **** off the Canadians, the Chinese, the Europeans, the citizens of the UK, and most industrial countries by declaring tariff war. But I don't see a reason why it would have to go kinetic. For Scaramucci, the threat is not in a physical war, but a cyber war. He said: ""If you're telling me that there's a missile strike in Iran and they attack one of the eastern, western European cities or something like that, could there be a regional war? "I don't see why, because remember, you can fight cyber war, you can fight an economic war, you could shut down each other's electrical information grids. It's not clear to me that we need to be dropping nuclear bombs on each other at this point to gain whatever the interests are for the various state leaders."
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Emigration and war hit once-booming Belarus tech sector
A project manager in Belarus's once-flourishing tech industry, Andrei Dorin admits his sector is in "crisis". Thousands of programmers have moved abroad because of stepped-up political repression and President Alexander Lukashenko's support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Dorin told AFP that out of around 400 engineers at his software development company Qulix, some 25 percent have moved abroad over the last five years. "It's a lot," the 42-year-old said. Tech has been one of the few relatively liberalised sectors in ex-Soviet Belarus's state-dominated economy. It experienced a boom until 2020, particularly for app and software development and maintenance. The "Hi-Tech Park" in Minsk -- a cluster of buildings on the outskirts of the capital -- was one of the symbols of this success and was quickly dubbed the "Silicon Valley" of Belarus. The Viber messaging service and the video game "World of Tanks" were developed here. But the bloody repression that followed authoritarian leader Lukashenko's re-election in 2020 pushed many tech workers to emigrate. - Exports plunge - The turning point came in September 2020 when police raided the software company PandaDoc and arrested several employees, after the group's boss voiced his support for anti-Lukashenko protests. Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 accelerated the exodus after Belarus was hit by Western sanctions for allowing Russia to use its territory to launch the attack. Kirill Zalessky, deputy director of Hi-Tech Park, said the number of employees in the cluster has fallen by nearly 30 percent since 2022 to 56,000 people. Exports also fell by 45 percent from $3.2 billion in 2021 to $1.8 billion in 2023. But Zalessky said he preferred to "see the glass as half full", pointing out that there are still 1,000 companies at Hi-Tech Park benefiting from tax breaks. He said the departure of tech workers "broadly stopped more than a year ago" and "many developers want to come back". Zalessky also said Belarusian tech companies affected by Westerns sanctions are finding new markets in Asia. - Regional stability - Stephan Hoffmann, the German head of the European-Belarusian Business Association, said he was hopeful about the future although his work had become more "uncomfortable" because of sanctions. Instead of direct flights to Germany, the 39-year-old business owner takes long bus journeys to Lithuania. Another difficulty is bank payments. "It is more and more expensive and takes more time," he said, since sanctions have taken four Belarusian banks out of the SWIFT financial messaging network which underpins global payments. But he said exiled Belarusians and those who stayed in the country could "still work together", albeit remotely. "There are still connections," he said. Zalessky said he was "cautious" about what the future might hold, citing the need for "a stable regional situation". rbj/dt/jc/lth
