A mine reportedly washed near shore and detonated against a pier in the Romanian resort town of Costinesti. No injuries reported, but another mine in the area is suspected. Could be scattered, displaced Black Sea mines.

Alertă pe litoral. O mină marină s-a lovit de dig în Costinești și a explodat

O explozie puternică a avut loc în zona digului din fața Hotelului Forum din Costinești. Din primele date, ar fi vorba despre o mină marină. ...

Russia's Transportation Ministry has proposed lifting requirements that travel information be duplicated in English. Moscow's subway system apparently stopped announcing stations in English back in 2021 when the pandemic killed tourism & people allegedly "complained."

Коммерсантъ

Язык до выхода доведет

Дублирование информации на английском на указателях в метро станет необязатель...

“Everyone knows what they do with ‘traitors’ and Putin hasn’t done that. He wants to see him dead. He can’t do that yet. In six months Prigozhin will either be dead or there will be a second coup. I’m agnostic between the two but I can’t see neither of these happening.” https://archive.is/20230812221047/https://www.ft.com/content/03f220e1-6a7e-4850-bf4e-4b0f521d8f8c

a thrilling conclusion to an epic story

They're apparently filming something in St. Petersburg that's set in the Nazi era...

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Probably a bad idea: The Russia Guy podcast returns, kinda.

Spotify for Creators

E136: Returning After a Long Absence for No Good Reason by The Russia Guy

Kevin returns to run his mouth about recent events in the Russia-Ukraine world, and other stuff. Topics discussed here: Twitter ad revenue shari...

In German court, Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov is challenging the constitutionality of last year's raids on his property, including his yacht. He argues that requirements to report all his assets after being sanctioned violates his right against self-incrimination.

DIE WELT

Sanktionen gegen Russland: Oligarch Usmanow klagt in Karlsruhe - WELT

Der usbekische Oligarch Alischer Usmanow steht auf der europäischen Sanktionsliste – und legt nun in Deutschland Verfassungsbeschwerde ein. Er s...

"But for at least the next decade, European allies lack the clout to repel a Russian attack. Everything, as always, depends on the Americans," writes @npub162d3...kxft.

CEPA

Get Ready, Europe: Trump(ism)'s Coming

Europeans were unprepared for Donald Trump’s first term. They are adopting the same hopey-dopey approach ahead of the US 2024 elections.

Russian mobile Internet users are reporting widespread loss of access to Google today. The federal censor recently escalated its campaign against VPNs. Feels like the start of a new phase in Russia's Internet crackdown.

Telegram

Код Дурова

🤔 Проблемы с Google // Российские пользователи массово жалуются на нестабильную р�...

Looks like another attack at the Crimean Bridge. Road traffic has been suspended.

Navalny has been thinking a lot about where it all went wrong in the 1990s, and how liberal pragmatists offer only the same old cyclical problems for Russia.

Meduza

‘I can’t stand the goat, but I hate those who let it get the cabbage’ After receiving a 19-year prison sentence, Alexey Navalny lays into the liberal opposition and independent media for legitimizing the regime they should have resisted — Meduza

Alexey Navalny, the opposition politician sentenced to 19 years in prison last week, has released his first extended piece of writing since the tri...

"I hate the 'independent media' and the 'democratic society' that provided full support for one of the most dramatic turning points in our new history — the fraudulent presidential election of 1996."

BBC News & Mediazona, working with a team of volunteers, have used open sources to confirm the identities of 30K Russian soldiers who have died in Ukraine. And those are just the ones who showed up in cemeteries and obituaries.

Meduza

BBC and Mediazona confirm 30,003 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine — Meduza

Journalists from BBC News Russian and the independent outlet Mediazona, working with a team of volunteers, have used open sources to confirm the id...

Kyiv is considering canceling the visa-free regime with Israel and will request the country be excluded from Ramstein meetings due to its “unfriendly actions towards Ukraine and pro-Russian position on the international arena,” Kyiv Post has been told.

Kyiv Post

Ukraine Plans to Cancel Visa-Free Regime with Israel and Request Its Exclusion From Ramstein

Sources told Kyiv Post they believe there is a “real danger” that information discussed with Israel at the Ramstein meetings “will probably f...

Good news for Russia's I.T. geeks: the Finance Ministry wants to raise the age ceiling on deferment for employees in the tech industry from 27 to 30, to keep pace with the recent hike to the age limit on conscription.

Interfax.ru

Минцифры готовит увеличение до 30 лет возраста отсрочки от армии для айтишников

Интерфакс: Минцифры готовит изменения в указ президента для увеличения до 30 лет ...

The guy charged w violating safety standards that allegedly caused the huge blast that ripped through Sergiyev Posad on Wednesday says it must have been sabotage. Sergey Chankaev is the technical director of the pyrotechnics company that was leasing the warehouse that blew up.

Interfax.ru

Техдиректор фирмы "Пиро-Росс" не признал вины и объяснил взрыв диверсией

Интерфакс: Сергиево-Посадский городской суд Московской области приступил к рас�...

Google has reportedly started blocking access to its Workspace services for some Russian companies sanctioned in the West. The only named business so far is the notorious facial-recognition developer NTechLab.

РБК

Google начал блокировать сервисы для российских компаний под санкциями

Среди столкнувшихся с блокировкой — недавно попавшая под санкции ЕС компания NT...

Some employees at Russian firms say they've been locked out of their Google accounts. A lot of Russian corporate data is stored with Google, also. A source at Google, however, says the new restrictions aren't intentional. Hmm.

Sweden Is Not Staying Neutral in Russia’s Information War: The country has empowered a government agency to openly combat online disinformation coming from foreign adversaries, and especially the Kremlin.

Sweden Is Not Staying Neutral in Russia’s Information War (Published 2023)

The country has empowered a government agency to openly combat online disinformation coming from foreign adversaries, and especially the Kremlin.

Russia’s oil-export revenue rose last month to the highest since November, as the country’s crude exceeded a price cap set by Group of Seven nations, according to the International Energy Agency. https://archive.is/20230811083015/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-11/russian-oil-revenue-at-eight-month-high-as-price-cap-breached#xj4y7vzkg Still, Russia’s oil revenues were down by more than a fifth from a year earlier. Available data also show exports eased to China and India, but those countries still accounted for about 80% of Russian shipments.

Why are spacecraft covered in aluminum foil? Are they potatoes at a BBQ? (The answer is clearly yes — don’t bother responding.)

Unfortunately, this isn’t the only rocket Russia is firing today. “From the Earth to the Luna: Believe it or not but Moscow is returning to the Moon with its first research mission in almost half a century”

Meduza

From the Earth to the Luna Believe it or not but Moscow is returning to the Moon with its first research mission in almost half a century — Meduza

Russia is back in the space race. At 10 a.m., local time, on Friday, August 11, a Soyuz-2.1b rocket launched from Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Amur...