Russia

[Volkonski]

[Volkonski]

[raison de arizona]

Yesterday, multiple Russian state media published an extremely shocking, even for Kremlin standards, essay: it presumed "Putin solved the Ukrainian question for ever" - i.e. it presumed Russia took over Ukraine and essentially annexed it into a forever-new--old-union. But...
..this essay was apparently written for a scenario where Russian armed forces had taken over Kyiv and subjugated the country...Which didn't actually happen. So, what did state news agency do? They deleted the article, as if the plan had never been published in the first place.

More details and links to the original Russian articles at link.

[MN-Skeptic]

Very long, very good twitter thread -

[W. Kevin Vicklund]

Yesterday, multiple Russian state media published an extremely shocking, even for Kremlin standards, essay: it presumed "Putin solved the Ukrainian question for ever" - i.e. it presumed Russia took over Ukraine and essentially annexed it into a forever-new--old-union. But...
..this essay was apparently written for a scenario where Russian armed forces had taken over Kyiv and subjugated the country...Which didn't actually happen. So, what did state news agency do? They deleted the article, as if the plan had never been published in the first place.

More details and links to the original Russian articles at link.

[Notaperson]

Little Marco steps up, and hits one out of the park.

[Slim Cognito]

Russian Chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, reportedly fired today. ..

From a cannon?

[Volkonski]

[Volkonski]

[MN-Skeptic]

[Lani]

It's offline. I posted this a couple of hours ago from from a website that checks to see if a website is down. I got this: "~1 day 10 hours Down For:Moex.com is DOWN for everyone. It is not just you. The server is not responding..."

[poplove]

It's offline. I posted this a couple of hours ago from from a website that checks to see if a website is down. I got this: "~1 day 10 hours Down For:Moex.com is DOWN for everyone. It is not just you. The server is not responding..."

Anonymous has taken credit for shutting it down. They are quite busy.

[Suranis]

https://twitter.com/steve_hanke/status/ ... 5875635200

Steve Hanke
@steve_hanke
The Russian Ruble sank to a new all-time low, trading at 117.62 RUB/USD. Since Jan. 1, 2022, the ruble has depreciated by as much as 47.33% against the USD. Conflict in Eastern Europe is fueling the currency's destruction. At present, I measure Russia’s inflation at 69.4%/yr.

Tweet is over 3 hours old, for whatever that's worth.

[Lani]

Another effect of war against Ukraine?

Britain widens Russian 'dirty money' crackdown with new law
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britai ... 022-02-28/

LONDON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Britain will intensify a crackdown on what Prime Minister Boris Johnson called "dirty money" by introducing the government's Economic Crime Bill to parliament on Monday, a step brought forward in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The much-delayed legislation comes as many opposition lawmakers and those in the governing Conservative party have called on Johnson's government to do more to stop the flow of Russian cash into London, dubbed by some as 'Londongrad'.

"There is no place for dirty money in the UK. We are going faster and harder to tear back the facade that those supporting (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's campaign of destruction have been hiding behind for so long," Johnson said.

"Those backing Putin have been put on notice: there will be nowhere to hide your ill-gotten gains," he said in a statement.

[RVInit]

The Russian Central Bank is raising interest rate from 9.5% to 20%, more than double.

[Uninformed]

I’ll believe the UK actually enforces strict money laundering etc laws / regulations when there’s proof. Been hearing the same message for decades.

[johnpcapitalist]

Ruh roh. Looks like sanctions might actually be having some effect. Not sure this is enough to deter Putin or to make him more paranoid but it seems like they're at the level of sanctions on Iran, but for a much larger economy.

NYT out with a story (behind paywall but may give you a freebie): https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/28/busi ... ruble.html

• People draining ATM's across the country. Not sure what that will accomplish for them, but it's a sign of panic and lack of trust in the banking system.
• Inflation is spiking, and could be high double digits this year.
• Targeting the central bank's ability to move money seems to be more aggressive than previous sanctions. According to various experts quoted, this is really unprecedented.
• Nothing yet about freezing Russian assets in the West but it could be devastating if it were to happen. That's because most of Russia's FX reserves are not held in Russia but in the West, so they wouldn't be able to defend the ruble if needed. The central bank only has a few billion of cash that is protected against Western sanctions out of over $600 billion in reserves. The question is whether Putin is sane enough to understand the danger this represents for his country.
• Russia doubled the discount rate from 9.5% to 20%, as noted up-thread. Pity the Russian business looking to invest in new factories, which creates jobs, potentially drives exports, etc.

WaPo has a good article (also paywall, but possible freebies) that explains the bad options available and the consequences of each. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... ens-react/

[raison de arizona]

Why is RT still free to spew disinformation like this on the platform?

Russia state-affiliated media
'Russia did not begin these hostilities, they were unleashed by Ukraine against residents of Donbass' — Russia's UN envoy

They are seriously spewing a lot of stuff.

Russia state-affiliated media
Putin calls the West an 'Empire of Lies' following imposed sanctions

[pipistrelle]

But 3 million followers seems low.

[Slim Cognito]

Baghdad Bob or SNL's Pathological Liar?

[Volkonski]

[Volkonski]

[Volkonski]

Reuters
@Reuters
·
17m
Putin says Ukrainian neutrality key to any settlement http://reut.rs/3pm1My8

Clearly the west has not imposed enough sanctions on Russia if Putin thinks he can dictate settlement terms.

[Chilidog]

What an asshole

[raison de arizona]

We have received requests from a number of Governments and the EU to take further steps in relation to Russian state controlled media. Given the exceptional nature of the current situation, we will be restricting access to RT and Sputnik across the EU at this time.

We will continue to work closely with Governments on this issue.

Nick Clegg is now the VP of Global Affairs @Meta.
He was formerly UK Deputy PM; leader of the Liberal Democrats; member of Parliament.