Notices by Meduza in English (meduza_en@masto.ai)

Meduza spoke to strategic weapons expert Maxim Starchak to learn about the origins of Russia's Oreshnik missile system, its potential strike power, how the USA might respond, and why Putin tries to terrify the West with such weapons. https://buff.ly/4fEyeDW

On November 21, the U.S. Treasury Department expanded sanctions on Russia, targeting Gazprombank and six of its foreign subsidiaries.
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Russia often promotes stories of foreigners moving to the country for ideological reasons. Many of these expats turn to YouTube to share their experiences and push “traditional values” — often relying on sexualized portrayals of Russian women to draw in viewers.
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Russia’s State Duma has passed a law that will allow overdue loans of up to 10 million rubles ($100,254) to be written off for participants in the war in Ukraine.
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Today marks 1,000 days since Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine. In that time, we’ve gathered a wealth of data that’s allowed us to track the war’s stages and identify significant trends. Here’s what we’ve learned.
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At a plenary session of the State Duma on Tuesday, Russian Central Bank head Elvira Nabiullina denounced calls for freezing savings deposits and withholding interest payments on these accounts as “utter nonsense." https://buff.ly/40TN8BK

Since the start of the full-scale war, over 1,000 soldiers from the Russian military’s 20th Motorized Rifle Division have gone AWOL, according to a new report from iStories. That's enough to fill an entire regiment.
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According to The Insider, social taboos in Ingushetia about acknowledging sexual violence against children have made it more palatable for the local authorities and many in the general public to accept a fabricated medical malpractice story over the truth. https://buff.ly/3ZgFmkg

In his daily video address on Sunday, Zelensky commented on the news that the U.S., France, and the U.K. had authorized Ukraine to carry out missile strikes deep into Russian territory: "The missiles will speak for themselves."
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If a photo circulating online this week is accurate, Russia has deployed North Korean artillery systems in Krasnoyarsk. Meduza reviews what we know about these weapons and their potential impact on Russia’s invasion campaign in Ukraine. https://buff.ly/48ZOZac

Apple users registered in Russia suddenly cannot access several podcasts produced by independent journalists. It's the latest instance of the tech giant's apparent (and unofficial) compliance with Russia's federal censor. https://buff.ly/40MviR9

North Korean troops have begun fighting alongside Russian troops in the Kursk region, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday, according to Reuters. (Zelensky said last week that North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region had already sustained losses.)
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Donald Trump spoke over the phone to Vladimir Putin last week. Trump's team did not inform Kyiv about the conversation beforehand, and he engaged Putin without the support of the U.S. State Department and without government interpreters. https://buff.ly/4hHKc0U

The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that the Russian state is developing plans to merge its biggest oil companies into a “single national champion,” creating a crude-producing behemoth second only to Saudi Arabia’s Aramco. https://buff.ly/3Z0nHNB

It turns out that getting wounded in Ukraine and finishing your contract service is no gaurantee against being conscripted back into the military after you get home. https://buff.ly/3ULnKdl

Russia’s police will soon be responsible for "preserving and strengthening traditional Russian spiritual and moral values.” How they're supposed to do that and what those actually are is still unclear. https://buff.ly/3O6Y2fz

Several points of Volodymyr Zelensky’s “victory plan” were specifically aimed at Donald Trump and the Republican Party, Ukrainian lawmaker Yevheniya Kravchuk told RBC Ukraine. https://buff.ly/40CEAiA

In a statement on Tuesday, the FBI confirmed that polling locations in several U.S. states have received bomb threats, “many of which appear to originate from Russian email domains.” https://buff.ly/4fdAtOm

Russia is facing a major shortage of engineers, the newspaper Vedomosti reported on Tuesday. About one in five companies in the country is reportedly seeking engineering personnel.
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With 99.73% of the ballots processed, incumbent President Maia Sandu has triumphed in Moldova’s runoff election and secured another term in office, carried to victory by diaspora voters. https://buff.ly/4fyBUXw