Huge payments are no longer so effective in motivating russians to go to war against Ukraine, so the russian authorities are inventing new ways to recruit soldiers. In particular, due to the introduction of payments to police officers who force marginalized citizens to sign a contract with the ministry of defense of the russian federation….
Amid declining oil and gas revenues in the first half of 2025, russia’s real VAT income fell by 2.1%, despite a nominal increase of 7.3%. As a result, the collected 6.999 trillion rubles ($89,7 billion) do not cover the inflation rate, which stands at 9.4%. ▫️ According to russia’s ministry of finance, the government plans…
russia and belarus have started talking about creating a “traditional” artificial intelligence. At a conference in vitebsk held within the framework of the “slavianski bazaar,” plans were announced to develop a joint AI system for russia and belarus — one “based on traditional values” and “understandable to citizens.” In reality, this is not about technological…
russia has officially acknowledged the collapse of the main symbol of its mythical “naval greatness.” The country’s only aircraft carrier, admiral kuznetsov, is being prepared for decommissioning. According to media reports, the russian ministry of defense has halted the modernization of the “morally and physically obsolete” ship and plans to send it for scrapping. ▫️…
Due to massive losses in the war against Ukraine, russian state statistics service has decided to classify information on the demographic situation. Since March, statistics on population decline, migration dynamics, and mortality rates have been kept hidden from the public. russian propaganda persistently promotes the narrative of supposedly limitless resources and the ability to wage…
russian dictator vladimir putin has signed a decree allowing foreigners to serve in the Russian army during the mobilization period. ▫️ At first glance, this may seem like nothing new — foreigners have previously signed contracts for military service in russia. However, a closer look at the legal details reveals the true purpose of this…
The fuel oil that leaked from the sunken russian tankers in the Kerch Strait has reached the shores of russian-occupied Abkhazia. An environmental monitoring laboratory detected elevated levels of petroleum products in the Black Sea waters. ▫️The accident occurred back in December last year, but the scale of the pollution is still increasing. russian authorities…
In the first quarter of this year, state support for small and medium-sized businesses in russia dropped by 43% — from 127.8 billion to 72.3 billion rubles (approximately $1.6 billion to $0.9 billion USD). This is even lower than in 2022, the year russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine. Starting in 2025, the russian…
Problems continue to escalate in russia’s agro-industrial sector. In particular, there is a growing threat of a shortage of late-season vegetables, the sowing of which is currently underway. The situation is especially critical when it comes to carrot, beet, and potato seeds. ▫️Almost all of russia’s seeds were previously imported, primarily from the Netherlands, which…
Amid a labor shortage caused by the war against Ukraine, russian companies are actively seeking translators fluent in the North Korean dialect of the Korean language. russians are aiming to bring in as many North Korean workers as possible to construction sites in moscow, st. petersburg, and other regions. Job postings explicitly state that translators…
▫️Local authorities in russia’s rostov region claim that slowing down the internet on a permanent basis will help protect against “Ukrainian drones.” They argue that “security is more important than inconvenience.” In recent months, restrictions—and even full shutdowns—of mobile internet have been regularly implemented by russian authorities across multiple regions of the russian federation. The…
the special representative of the president of the russian federation for international cultural cooperation, former minister of culture mikhail shvydkoy, has called for a return to “professional censorship.” In his view, this would be a “more honest way of regulating the creativity of cultural figures” than the current bureaucratic control, where officials themselves do not…
