All posts tagged: Russian

Trump didn’t accuse Ukraine of election interference after strikes on Russian ‘bot farms,’ despite claims

Trump didn’t accuse Ukraine of election interference after strikes on Russian ‘bot farms,’ despite claims

Published by José Betancourt

Claim: U.S. President Donald Trump accused Ukraine of midterm election interference after it struck “bot farms” in Russia in October 2026. Rating: A rumor (archived) that U.S. President Donald Trump accused Ukraine of midterm election interference after it struck “bot farms” in Russia spread in October. For example, a Facebook user shared an article on The Betoota Advocate website on Oct. 14 that made this claim. The article was titled, “Trump Accuses Ukraine Of Midterm Election Interference After Russian Bot Farm Strikes.” The article also spread on X (archived). Some users appeared to view The Betoota Advocate as a credible news source. The rumor about Trump’s alleged accusation spread alongside unproven claims that Ukrainian strikes on the Russian technology giant Yandex’s servers had caused right-wing or MAGA social media activity to decrease. Ukraine struck Yandex’s servers in Sasovo, Kaluga (archived) and Vladimir from Oct. 7 to 11. Work to restore services affected by the strikes continued on Oct. 15. The rumor that Trump viewed these strikes as election interference because they took Russian bots offline that worked in …

Francesco Bonami Named Artistic Director of Vast Russian Art Complex

Francesco Bonami Named Artistic Director of Vast Russian Art Complex

Published by Jenni Sidey

Francesco Bonami, a widely regarded curator whose achievements include curating the 2003 edition of the Venice Biennale, has been named artistic director of the GES-2 House of Culture, the Moscow art space sited across a river from the Kremlin. Opened in 2021, not long before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the 440,000-square-foot GES-2 House of Culture is run by the V-A-C Foundation, which was established by the Russian-Israeli billionaire collector Leonid Mikhelson. The owner of one of the largest natural gas providers in Russia not managed by the state, Mikhelson became one the first individuals to be sanctioned in the UK shortly after the war’s onset. He appeared on the ARTnews Top 200 Collectors list between 2013 and 2021. Related Articles Even before the conflict began, the GES-2 House of Culture faced controversy. Teresa Iarocci Mavica, the museum’s cofounder, resigned at the end of 2021 for reasons that were unclear at the time. Some speculated that Mikhelson was personally unhappy with a monumental Urs Fischer sculpture sited outside the museum. Others drew attention to the fact …

Ukraine to resume strikes on Russian refineries, Zelenskyy says

Ukraine to resume strikes on Russian refineries, Zelenskyy says

Published by Sam Flores

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine will resume attacks on Russian energy infrastructure after Moscow failed to uphold its end of an “energy ceasefire” deal proposed by President Donald Trump.  “The block [on attacking refineries] is out. We’re done,” Zelenskyy told the Financial Times after Ukraine paused strikes on energy targets for three days at the request of Washington. On Sunday, Trump announced an “energy ceasefire” between Ukraine and Russia in an effort to put an end to the countries attacking each other’s power facilities and thereby lower the price of oil and diesel ahead of the U.S. midterm elections next month.  Despite Ukraine’s pause, officials in Kyiv said the country has been stripped of advance warnings of incoming ballistic missiles, as Starlink connectivity services had been restricted across the country, disrupting military operations. The restrictions apply to the sister service Starshield.  Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Zelenskyy on defense technology, said Wednesday that SpaceX has implemented a speed limit on Starlink terminals in motion without notifying Ukrainian defense forces.  “It is clear that this …

Kyiv power plant hit by Russian missile without warning from allies

Kyiv power plant hit by Russian missile without warning from allies

Published by Sam Flores

A Russian ballistic missile struck a power plant in Kyiv on Tuesday evening without Ukraine receiving advance warning from its Western allies, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. Ukraine relies heavily on Western, particularly US, intelligence to detect incoming Russian attacks and help identify targets of its own. Kyiv, which is home to some three million people, has come under increasing attack from Russian drones and missiles, with energy infrastructure a key target. “A Russian ballistic missile attack on Kyiv. Once again, no early warning from our partners,” Zelensky wrote on Facebook. “The main target was energy infrastructure, specifically the CHP-4. Unfortunately, it was hit.” AFP journalists in the Ukrainian capital reported hearing several blasts. Read moreRussia pounds Ukrainian cities, spares energy targets for first time since Trump ‘ceasefire’ Zelensky said Ukraine’s systems picked up the missiles only as they were nearing the city. “This is absolutely unjust: when they are destroying our infrastructure, and Ukraine is not even receiving early warnings about ballistic missile launches,” he added. At least two people were killed in the same …

A Russian Journal by John Steinbeck

A Russian Journal by John Steinbeck

Published by Jenni Sidey

Two thirds of the way through A Russian Journal by John Steinbeck the travellers reach Stalingrad, and behind their hotel there is a garbage heap with a small mound beyond it, like the mouth of a gopher hole. Every morning a girl crawled out of it. She was filthy, barefoot, long-legged, and when she lifted her face it was one of the most beautiful faces the two men had ever seen. Her eyes were not quite human. She ate melon rind and sucked other people’s soup bones for two hours, then slept in the weeds. One morning a woman gave her half a loaf of bread and she snatched it and watched the woman until she had gone. While she ate, her shawl slipped, and her free hand came up automatically and put it back over her breast. A Russian Journal by John Steinbeck contains about four pages of that quality, and they are the reason to read it. The Rule They Imposed on A Russian Journal In March 1947 Steinbeck was in a hotel …

Politics Home | Andy Burnham Says Brexit Result Was Legitimate Despite Russian Interference

Politics Home | Andy Burnham Says Brexit Result Was Legitimate Despite Russian Interference

Published by Sam Flores

8 October | Andy Burnham attends business forum in Berlin (Alamy) 2 min read51 min Downing Street has said that Andy Burnham does not think Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum affected the result. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said it was “inconceivable” that the Kremlin had not sought to use the referendum to their benefit, but said the Government did not believe it had succeeded. “Given everything we know about Russia, it is inconceivable they did not seek to use the referendum to their benefit. But as the minister [Stephen Doughty] said this morning, we do not believe they have succeeded,” he said.  Downing Street said the Prime Minister “absolutely accepts the referendum result” and, after several attempts at asking, said: “Yes, we do believe the referendum results to be legitimate.” Over the weekend, Burnham appeared on The Rest Is Politics podcast where he claimed that upon entering Downing Street he was told that Russia had interfered with the Brexit vote.  He told the podcast: “I asked the question …

‘Energy ceasefire’: What’s behind Trump’s love-hate ties to Russian oil? | Explainer News

‘Energy ceasefire’: What’s behind Trump’s love-hate ties to Russian oil? | Explainer News

Published by Sam Flores

US President Donald Trump has announced an immediate “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine, days after easing sanctions on Russian fuel to tackle soaring domestic and global fuel prices. The energy truce, announced on Sunday, marks another shift in Washington’s approach to Russian energy, as the Iran-US war and recent Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy facilities disrupted global oil supplies and pushed up fuel prices. Trump has even asked Ukraine not to attack Russian oil facilities, as Moscow remains a major exporter of diesel. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list The spike in diesel prices in recent weeks has particularly put pressure on Trump’s Republican Party ahead of November’s midterm elections. Surveys show Americans hold the Trump administration responsible for the soaring fuel prices amid the unpopular US war on Iran. “Attacks on refineries and energy facilities have taken capacity out of an already stretched global fuel market, pushing up costs for transport, agriculture and businesses, with the pain ultimately passed on to consumers,” Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, told …

NATO Country Detains, Expels Popular Russian Military Blogger

NATO Country Detains, Expels Popular Russian Military Blogger

Published by Jenni Sidey

A prominent and influential Russian military blogger has been detained by a NATO country, and the Kremlin is urgently seeking answers. Montenegro detained Mikhail Zvinchuk, the founder of the Rybar Telegram channel, setting off a diplomatic showdown with Russia amid international headlines. Mikhail Zvinchuk, the creator of the Rybar channel, via TASS His wife was also arrested in a local raid on where Zvinchuk was staying while he was reportedly engaged in a film project. The West has long labeled him a ‘propagandist’ related to the Ukraine war, with connections to the defense ministry and a huge base of readers and followers. Local police and the state security agency said he was expelled from Montenegro’s territory after his Friday apprehension. Reuters reported that “Rybar, one of the most popular blogs on Russia’s war in Ukraine, with more than 1.5 million subscribers, posted a message saying Zvinchuk and the others had been in the country legally and were planning to film at a monastery there.” Russian sources are emphasizing that he had permission to be in …