Back in 2020, when he was on the run after fleeing Moldova, Plahotniuc and his wife were chilling out in Miami (under still-not-fully-clear circumstances). The
@state-department.bsky.social later yanked his visa.
www.rferl.org/a/moldova-mo...
Moldovan oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc was sentenced to 19 years in prison today for his role in the "theft of the century" -- billions of dollars stolen from Moldovan banks (~15% of the country's GDP) 12 years ago. He was extradited by Greece in Sept.
moldova.europalibera.org/a/33737806.h...
Dutch military intelligence estimate on Ukraine war casualties since 2022:
_ Russia: 1.2 million permanent losses (incl. more than 500,000 dead)
_ Ukraine: about 500,000 permanent losses
_ Trend lines are bad for Ukraine: "it is unable or barely able to replenish the losses."
‘Donnyland’? Ukraine Proposes Renaming Part of the Donbas in Trump’s Honor
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/w...
Russia's top military officer, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, has declared the capture of the entirety of Ukraine's Luhansk region ... for the fifth time (as Agents_media helpfully points out). Gerasimov has a habit of doing this...
t.me/agentstvonew...
The Atlantic responds to Kash Patel's $250 million lawsuit:
"We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit."
Photos of the Russian oil refinery at Tuapse; Black Sea complex was hit by Ukrainian drones for the second time in 4 days. Reports that oil is drizzling from the cloud onto the city and surrounding districts.
(source: t.me/WarArchive_ua)
Ukrainian drones hit the Russian oil export facilities at the Black Sea port of Tuapse for the second time in less than a week. At least 1 person killed, per local governor. Firefighters had reportedly just managed to control the blaze from last week's attack.
Pete Hegseth is quoting Quentin Tarantino (thinking it is the Bible) and the Pope is channelling Bob Dylan.
FT Exclusive: Stockholm’s military intelligence head said Moscow is systematically manipulating data to fool Ukraine’s western allies into believing its economy has withstood the strain of its lavish war spending and western sanctions. ft.trib.al/uloekqX
Gusinsky's legal and financial woes were very tangled; at one point they involved the daughter and son-in-law of late President Boris Yeltsin, and also drew the attention of the FBI, interested in his relationship with former FBI agent Charles McGonigal.
www.rferl.org/a/russia-gus...
It's part of a bigger extraordinarily messy saga that includes a bitter divorce from his longtime wife, Elena. The divorce was granted last year (in the ruling, the judge was inspired to quote from the Bulgakov novel The Master and Margarita).
www.rferl.org/a/33503187.h...
Vladimir Gusinsky, the (maybe) bankrupt ex-Russian oligarch and media magnate, has lost his latest legal battle: a bitter years-old fight over a Greenwich mansion that's been occupied by (former) friend Vladimir Lenskiy. Gusinsky had hoped to sell the house to pay massive debts
is it common knowledge that the position of second secretary at the British Embassy in Moscow is always an MI6 officer?
New satellite imagery of the Russian oil refinery/storage facility in the Black Sea city of Tuapse, which was hit by Ukrainian drones overnight. 📸 @vantor_tech. Image 1: March 18. Images 2-4: April 16.
Grinex is the successor entity to another sanctioned cryptocurrency platform called Garantex that, per @USTreasury, was one of the world’s largest darknet marketplaces, and permitted a notorious cryptocurrency launderer to move money across borders. home.treasury.gov/news/press-r...
A7A5 is a joint project of fugitive Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor and the sanctioned Russian bank PSB (whose CEO is the son of Russia's former PM and foreign spy director) Experts say it's a massive sanctions-evasion scheme.
www.rferl.org/a/russia-cry...
👀Grinex, a cryptocurrency exchange closely affiliated with the ruble-backed stablecoin A7A5, says it's suspending operations after it was hacked, and 1 billion rubles ($13 million) stolen from user wallets. Grinex blames "foreign intelligence agencies."
t.me/grinex_offic...
Russian Central Bank chair Elvira Nabiullina gave a bit of a response a day after being dinged by Putin. She criticized those who blamed the bank's tight monetary policy and said "for the first time in modern history, our economy is colliding with labor shortages, restrictions."
except he's wrong about Putin (and Russia's managed democracy)
Ukraine's Dnipro was also hit badly by Russian strikes (in addition to Kyiv and Odesa). Emergency officials say death toll stands at 4 (in Dnipro), more than 4 dozen people wounded.
Here's Putin scolding his economic advisers yesterday on why the Russian economy is underperforming forecasts: "Below the forecasts not only of experts and analysts, but also of the government, as well as those of the Central Bank."
Dmitry Medvedev (former president, now Kremlin attack dog):
The ministry statement "should be taken quite literally....Whether the possibility of a strike becomes reality will depend on how the situation develops. Sleep well, European partners!"
tass.ru/politika/271...
Russia's Defense Ministry publishes a "hit list" of European factories where Ukrainian drones/technology being produced. (incl. precise addresses). "The creeping transformation of these countries into Ukraine's strategic rear" will lead to "unpredictable consequences."
Ukraine's military says Russia launched more than 630 drones and a couple dozen cruise and ballistic missiles in two waves of barrages. (that's an unusually high number, relative to recent weeks).
Brutal night in Kyiv, Odesa, other Ukrainian cities pounded by Russian drone (and probably missile) attacks. 4 killed in Kyiv; 48 wounded; 8 killed in Odesa; 16 wounded.
Amid growing fears that Ukraine’s long-range drones could strike deep into northern Russia, military authorities have decided to cancel one of the country’s most symbolic displays of military power: the 9 May Victory Day parade.
