Funny, this is exactly what #China is saying to the #Philippines over bases being built on *our* northern territory. Maybe the experts are right, we are the "Romania" of Asia.

According to Klimov, the larger the 'anti-Russian' #MilitaryBase and the 'closer it is to #Russia's borders, the more likely it is to be among the first targets for retaliatory strikes”. #Ukraine #Taiwan

Russia warns #Romania over building “largest #Nato military base” in #Europe
http://www.intellinews.com/russia-warns-romania-over-building-largest-nato-military-base-in-europe-317479/

The rebirth of the ‘#WeimarTriangle’ suggests that Franco-German tensions are on the mend and a common agenda on arming Kyiv is possible.

Could #Poland’s promotion to #Europe’s top table be a turning point for #Ukraine? | Paul Taylor
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/20/poland-europe-top-table-ukraine-weimar-triangle-france-germany

Sanction efforts have slowed and in some cases stopped shipment of goods that could have military uses through countries such as #Turkey, #Serbia and the #UnitedArabEmirates.

#Russia is now increasing focus on #HongKong, #China as the source of these products. Western production hubs in #SoutheastAsia are also possible sources of supply. #Ukraine

#EU, #US discussed how to address China’s role as conduit for goods to Russia
https://www.euractiv.com/section/china/news/eu-us-discussed-how-to-address-chinas-role-as-conduit-for-goods-to-russia/

Since #Russia’s invasion two years ago, #Ukraine has revolutionized warfare with its use of #drones in the #air and at #sea. Now it wants to do the same with unmanned ground vehicles, or #UGVs, aiming to replicate the low-cost, do-it-yourself approach that it has used to such deadly effect. #UGV

#Robots Are Entering the Ukraine Battlefield
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/robots-are-entering-the-ukraine-battlefield-fab195d2?mod=RSSMSN

MSN link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/robots-are-entering-the-ukraine-battlefield/ar-BB1kjYmB

Empires start unraveling at the edges first.
------
At the invitation of the American side, the Kazakh Foreign Minister, #MuratNurtleu, will visit the #USA, where he will hold talks with several high-ranking officials. On his way back, he will make a two-day visit to #China.

Chinese journalists found it strange that there is no trip to #Russia planned in the Kazakh minister's schedule. #Ukraine

China Believes #Kazakhstan Is Drifting Further Away from Russia
https://www.dagens.com/news/china-believes-kazakhstan-is-drifting-further-away-from-russia

The Ukrainian air force said #Russia had launched 88 missiles and 63 Iranian-made #ShahedDrones. Of them, 37 and 55 respectively were shot down, but others hit the country’s largest dam and caused blackouts in several regions, it said.

Over 1m Ukrainians without power after major Russian assault on energy system | #Ukraine
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/22/over-1m-ukrainians-without-power-after-russias-largest-assault-on-energy-sector

Despite pressure from the West over the past two years, #India’s government has relied on cheap #RussianOil to help curb inflation. Last month, Bloomberg reported that India was becoming a key global player in the #OilMarket as it was refining its cheap Russian #CrudeImports and then exporting it to #Europe and the #US. #Ukraine

India Stops Accepting Russian Oil Delivered By US-Sanctioned #Tankers
https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2024/03/22/india-stops-accepting-russian-oil-delivered-by-us-sanctioned-tankers-reports-say/

Triggered by shifts in the security landscape, the project aims to erect a barrier designed to deter unauthorized crossings. The wall, featuring #SteelMesh construction, surveillance enhancements, and #barbed wire, is targeted to span approximately 200 kilometers of critical border areas by the end of 2026. #Ukraine

#Finland Accelerates Construction of #BorderFence with #Russia
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/finland-accelerates-construction-of-border-fence-with-russia/ar-BB1kkPcp?ocid=emmx-mmx-feeds&PC=EMMX01

With Russia's internal security apparatus concentrating on suppressing dissent, this was bound to happen. They took their eye off other internal and much deadlier threats - this won't be the last one.

#MOSCOW, #Russia – At least 40 people were killed and 145 wounded on Friday, March 22, when camouflage-clad gunmen opened fire on concertgoers near Moscow, with #IslamicState claiming responsibility for what was one of the deadliest attacks on Russia in decades. #Ukraine

https://www.rappler.com/world/europe/russia-concert-terror-attack-updates-march-23-2024/

At least 60 people have been killed and 145 wounded in #Russia’s worst #TerrorAttack in years, as #gunmen in combat fatigues opened fire and detonated explosives in a major #ConcertHall on the outskirts of Moscow. The #IslamicState claimed responsibility. #CrocusCityHall #CrocusCityMassacre #Russia #Ukraine

At least 60 killed and scores wounded in Moscow concert hall attack
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/22/moscow-concert-hall-shooting-blast

Back toot: https://noc.social/@Norobiik/112142539055888217

#TerrorAttack #IslamicState #Russia #CrocusCityHall #CrocusCityMassacre #Ukraine

Image source: https://aje.io/pjv4lm?update=2791785

Back toot: https://noc.social/@Norobiik/112144297453295031

While #ISIL’s attack in #Moscow is a “tactical shift”, it highlights grievances with #Russia that have been there since the armed group’s founding, says Kabir Taneja, a fellow at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation think tank, and the author of The ISIS Peril. #Russia #IslamicState #CrocusCityHall #CrocusCityMassacre #Ukraine

ISIL views Russia as ‘crusading power against #Muslims’
https://aje.io/pjv4lm?update=2791830

Back toot: https://noc.social/@Norobiik/112144341267458420

#TerrorAttack #IslamicState #Russia #CrocusCityHall #CrocusCityMassacre #Ukraine

Photos: Russians place flowers at makeshift memorial as death toll rises
https://aje.io/pjv4lm?update=2791826

Back toot: https://noc.social/@Norobiik/112144355400603273

Excellent updates summary by Al Jazeera on the #TerrorAttack by the #IslamicState on the #CrocusCityHall in #Russia. Be sure to take whatever the FSB says about any link to #Ukraine with at least 3 tons of salt 🧂#CrocusCityMassacre
----
"If you’re just joining us it is just after 12:35pm (09:35 GMT) in Moscow, the day after an attack on a Moscow concert hall killed at least 93 people and injured 187.

Here are the latest developments:"

https://aje.io/pjv4lm?update=2791922

Back toot: https://noc.social/@Norobiik/112144387685245655

#Russia’s Investigative Committee has announced that the death toll for Friday night’s terror attack at the #CrocusCityHall on the outskirts of #Moscow has risen to at least 115, including three children. #TerrorAttack #IslamicState #Ukraine #CrocusCityMassacre

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/mar/23/moscow-concert-attack-crocus-city-hall-shooting-russia-live-updates?page=with:block-65fea74c8f088fb0ae5c08e0#block-65fea74c8f088fb0ae5c08e0

Back toot: https://noc.social/@Norobiik/112144408566509085

Photos: First images from inside burnt #CrocusCityHall #CrocusCityMassacre

#TerrorAttack #IslamicState #Russia #Ukraine
https://aje.io/pjv4lm?update=2792015

Back toot: https://noc.social/@Norobiik/112144460186650209

Fire and chaos after mass shooting at Russian concert hall – in pictures
[Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing]
#TerrorAttack #CrocusCityHall #CrocusCityMassacre #IslamicState #Russia #Ukraine
https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2024/mar/22/moscow-concert-hall-shooting-photos

Back toot: https://noc.social/@Norobiik/112144531432187282

#TerrorAttack #IslamicState #CrocusCityHall #CrocusCityMassacre #Russia #Ukraine

Image source: https://aje.io/pjv4lm?update=2792085

Back toot: https://noc.social/@Norobiik/112144596878185637

#Putin suggests – without evidence – that #Kyiv may have been involved in attack, claiming attackers planned to flee to #Ukraine.

#TerrorAttack #IslamicState #CrocusCityHall #Russia #CrocusCityMassacre

Moscow terror attack: Putin says all four gunmen held as death toll reaches 133
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/23/russia-fsb-tries-to-link-ukraine-to-moscow-attack-despite-is-claiming-responsibility

Back toot: https://noc.social/@Norobiik/112144672211296848

Tom Richter, a former #USMarine pilot who flew the jets
when in the #NationalGuard,
told Politico that the #F16 is "a
sensitive beast" compared with
the Soviet-era aircraft that
#Ukraine is used to.

"It is a prima donna, and it is very sensitive and needs high maintenance," he continued, adding that Ukraine's Soviet-era #MiG jets are more "rough and tumble" and require less maintenance.

https://www.businessinsider.com/prima-donna-f-16s-hard-work-ukraine-ex-marine-2024-3

A makeshift memorial has been set up outside the #CrocusConcertHall where people have been lighting candles, laying flowers and paying their respects to the victims of the shooting that has claimed the lives of at least 133 people.

#TerrorAttack #IslamicState #Russia #Ukraine #CrocusCityMassacre

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/mar/24/moscow-concert-hall-attack-russia-vladimir-putin-mourning-latest-news-updates?page=with%3Ablock-65fffa638f08214a6461a7ac#block-65fffa638f08214a6461a7ac

Back toot: https://noc.social/@Norobiik/112146307914366920

Unfortunately for #Putin, the IS will not allow him to credit the #TerrorAttack to #Ukraine 🤷🏻‍♂️
---
The videos, which were published by #IS’s news agency #Amaq, showed the gunmen filming themselves as they hunted concertgoers through the lobby of the #CrocusCityHall and fired at them from pointblank range, killing scores of people. #CrocusCityMassacre

New #IslamicState videos back claim it carried out Moscow concert hall attack | #Russia
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/24/new-islamic-state-videos-back-claim-it-carried-out-moscow-concert-hall-attack
Back toot: https://noc.social/@Norobiik/112150377402150210

Responsibility for the attack was officially claimed by the Afghan branch of #ISIL, also known as the #IslamicState in Khorasan Province or #ISKP. Four suspected men, all #Tajikistan citizens, have since been arrested but #Russia has not confirmed whether they are linked to ISIL. #CrocusCityMassacre #Ukraine

Fear stalks Russia after #Moscow massacre as Putin’s allies play blame game
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/25/fear-stalks-russia-after-moscow-massacre-as-putins-allies-play-blame-game

Back toot: https://noc.social/@Norobiik/112150979024804426

In the days since the mass killing at the #CrocusConcertHall near #Moscow, blameless #TajikMigrants across #Russia have been subjected to #threats, #VerbalAbuse and increased #harassment from law enforcement. #Russia #Ukraine

#Tajik diaspora in Russia living in terror following #CrocusCityMassacre
https://eurasianet.org/tajik-diaspora-in-russia-living-in-terror-following-crocus-city-massacre

Back toot: https://noc.social/@Norobiik/112156344068542390

The final #DeathToll from the #Moscow concert hall terrorist attack could be much higher than the 140 confirmed dead, with Russian state investigations saying they have received 143 reports about people who were missing.

#IslamicState (IS) has claimed responsibility for the attack, its deadliest on European soil and the deadliest by any group in #Russia since the 2004 #Beslan school siege. #CrocusCityHall #Ukraine

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/27/moscow-concert-hall-attack-fears-death-toll-higher-reports-100-missing-people

#PaymentDelays reduce revenue to the #Kremlin and make them erratic, allowing #Washington to achieve its dual policy sanction goals - to disrupt money going to the Kremlin to punish it for the war in #Ukraine while not interrupting global energy flows.

Exclusive-Russia struggles to collect oil payments as #China, #UAE, #Turkey raise #BankScrutiny
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/exclusive-russia-struggles-to-collect-oil-payments-as-china-uae-turkey-raise-bank-scrutiny/ar-BB1kD6Rv?ocid=emmx-mmx-feeds&PC=EMMX01

Three strikes. Two so far: #Navalny"s death and the #CrocusCityMassscre. Just one more.
----
Boyes said that #Putin's propagandists had "overreached" in trying to link #Kyiv to #IslamicState and are now "talking vaguely about western puppet-masters."

"That's when you know a narrative has failed." #Russia #Ukraine

#Putin Is 'Losing Control' in #Russia: Dictator Expert
https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ukraine-putin-hitler-boyes-mistakes-1884115

The #UnitedStates imposed sanctions on #Alrosa, the world's largest producer of rough #diamonds by volume with 30% of the market, in 2022. #EU sanctions followed this year. #Ukraine

#Russia confirms deal to buy part of diamond producer Alrosa's output
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/russia-confirms-deal-to-buy-part-of-diamond-producer-alrosa-s-output/ar-BB1kHW5V

The base is a working complex of corrugated-iron housing and laboratories, machinery, tanks and radio masts. A wooden church, with the dimensions and bright colours of a beach hut, overlooks the generator building. When the research team at #VernadskyBase are not defending their homeland, they are on the frontline of the #ClimateCrisis.

‘He took five bullets and returned to work on plankton’: the double lives of #Ukraine’s #AntarcticScientists | #Antarctica
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/29/ukraine-antarctic-scientists-climate-crisis-vernadsky-base

The Ukrainian spy agency behind these drone strikes has its eyes on another target: the 12-mile long #KerchBridge connecting occupied #Crimea with #Russia. It is plotting a third attempt on the bridge, after two previous attempts to blow it up, claiming its destruction is “inevitable”. #Russia

‘No choice’: #Ukraine eyes Kerch bridge in Crimea for #DroneAttack
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/03/ukraine-eyes-kerch-bridge-crimea-drone-attack

With Russian forces pushing hard in the east and vital #US #MilitaryAid held up by months of Republican resistance in 2Congress, the urgency has mounted.

President Volodymyr #Zelenskiy has warned that #Russia may plan to mount a new offensive this spring or summer. #Ukraine

Ukrainian soldiers, engineers toil round the clock to build defences
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ukrainian-soldiers-engineers-toil-round-the-clock-to-build-defences/ar-BB1l3HcP?ocid=emmx-mmx-feeds&PC=EMMX01

#Russia has already learned how to counter #F16s in a way that would minimize their #BattlefieldPotential, said the unnamed officer, who, per Politico, worked under former Ukraine armed forces head #ValeryZaluzhny. #F16

Russia's adapting air defenses means #Ukraine's new F-16s are an example of weapons that are 'no longer relevant:' senior Ukrainian officer
https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-new-f16s-arriving-late-no-longer-relevant-officer-2024-4

The Finnish Interior Ministry said in a statement that the Nordic country's #NationalSecurity and #PublicOrder would come under serious threat if the estimated hundreds of third-country nationals were to continue to attempt to enter from #Russia without proper documentation. #NATO #Ukraine

#Finland will keep its border with Russia closed until further notice over #MigrationConcerns
https://apnews.com/article/finland-russia-border-migrants-european-union-nato-c9ef64887912e07a92b3f3217101ddd5

Military leaders had put pressure on politicians to ditch a draft amendment that allowed troops who had served for more than 36 months in war a chance to be discharged

Outcry in #Ukraine after #Kyiv scraps #demobilisation plan for long-serving soldiers
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/11/ukraine-demobilisation-plan-long-serving-soldiers-military-war-russia

The news comes as domestic fatigue against the long-running war has set in after a failed summer assault and the country’s forces being outnumbered and outgunned by #Russia. #Ukraine

Ukrainian #parliament passes bill broadening civilian mobilisation to boost fledgling military manpower
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/apr/11/russia-ukraine-war-live-russian-strike-in-north-eastern-kharkiv-region-kills-three-people?page=with:block-6617a72b8f08a1e6c6fcd728#block-6617a72b8f08a1e6c6fcd728

#China is helping #Russia undertake its biggest #MilitaryExpansion since Soviet times, ramping up sales of #MachineTools, #Microelectronics and other technology that Moscow is using to produce #missiles, #tanks, #aircraft and other weaponry for its war against #Ukraine, according to a #US assessment.

China supporting Russia in massive military expansion, US says
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/12/china-supporting-russia-in-massive-military-expansion-us-says

Fresh protests against a Russian-inspired #SecurityLaw are roiling #Georgia—a small but strategically located nation in the #SouthCaucasus—as the #BlackSea nation struggles to chart a strategic path between its massive northern neighbor and its own Euro-Atlantic ambitions. #Ukraine

#Putin Faces New Rebellion in #Russia's Back Yard
https://www.newsweek.com/putin-new-rebellion-russia-georgia-1891207

A hammer-wielding assailant attacked #LeonidVolkov, a #Navalny aide, outside his home in #Vilnius, #Lithuania, in March, breaking his arm and pounding his leg with a series of blows.

Lithuania's counter-intelligence service accused #Russia's intelligence services of being behind the attack. #YuliaNavalnaya #Ukraine

Widow of Russia's Alexei Navalny hires bodyguard after hammer attack on activist
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/widow-of-russia-s-alexei-navalny-hires-bodyguard-after-hammer-attack-on-activist/ar-BB1lNgJV?ocid=emmx-mmx-feeds&PC=EMMX01

A #Belarusian national has been detained in #Poland on suspicion of ordering the attack on a top Russian opposition leader, #LeonidVolkov, on #Moscow’s behalf, the Polish prime minister, #DonaldTusk, has announced. #Ukraine

Belarusian held in Poland suspected of ordering hammer attack on #Navalny ally
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/19/two-polish-citizens-detained-over-hammer-attack-on-navalny-ally-leonid-volkov#img-1