How much longer can Russia's economy last before it starts folding right over?

PooTin's pivot to China is Backfiring.

Russia's pivot to China has faced multiple setbacks this year as Chinese banks, wary of U.S. sanctions imposed over Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, are rejecting transactions, forcing Moscow to raise fees on yuan (RMB) transfers.

Heavily sanctioned Moscow has benefited from the world's second-largest economy since the Ukraine war began, with bilateral trade rocketing up by 26 percent to a $240 billion high last year, and Russia becoming China's top source of oil.

Last month, Russian media reported that some 98 percent of Chinese banks now reject RMB-denominated settlements. First major, and now also more local, Chinese banks have stepped up compliance with the Biden administration to shield themselves from the secondary sanctions. This limited ability to use RMB has caused a liquidity squeeze, which seems to have driven the recent fee hikes by Russian banks.

Russian companies doing business with China began facing additional hurdles this month, this time from domestic lenders.

Russian commercial bank Expobank JSC dramatically raised its fee for money transfers in RMB last week from 1.2 percent with a minimum 350 RMB ($49) fee to 6.5 percent, Russian financial news portal Frank Media reported on Monday........

Well I bet that that dents PooTin's ego, again.

Satellite Images Reveal Russia's Failed Nuclear Missile Test.

Satellite imagery has revealed that a recent Russian test of the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) ended in failure, according to open-source intelligence analysts.

The test, which took place on Saturday at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northwest Russia, appears to have resulted in the missile exploding in its launch silo, leaving a massive crater and causing significant damage to the test site.

An open source analyst active on X, formerly Twitter, @MeNMyRC, first reported the incident on Saturday. "As is readily apparent, the RS-28 Sarmat test was a complete failure. The missile detonated in the silo leaving a massive crater and destroying the test site," the user posted, alongside satellite imagery provided by Planet Labs.......

Profitable business in Putin's Russia: war monuments.

Russia is mass producing new war memorials that glorify death for the motherland
wrote:

Like the many hundreds of memorials currently erected all over Russia, the new soldier statue in the far northern town of Lovozero embodies aggression and continued war.

It shows a soldier with a raised machine gun pointing straight against the local village. On an arch surrounding the warrior are written the names of all regional capitals of Russia, including the partly occupied regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia [...]

The new monument design is firmly rooted in Soviet tradition. But many of the new memorials that now pop up across Russia express a new kind of militarism. And they are made in the middle of a war, not afterwards, as was mostly the case with two world wars.

Hundreds of thousands of young Russian men are either killed of crippled and Moscow is ardently seeking to justify the mass losses. The memorials glorify battle and death for the motherland and are actively used in the authorities’ war propaganda.

Moscow’s accentuated memory policy has led to a boost in the demand for war monuments and dozens of production companies are opening new manufacturing lines.

Preparations for... for what?

Lawmakers greenlight governors’ establishment of regional militias

Legislators in Russia’s State Duma have signed a bill that will allow regional leaders to establish armed structures that are to protect against “extraordinary situations.”

Behind the bill stands Andrei Kartapolov, the hardline Chair of the State Duma Defence Committee. Kartapolov, himself an Army lieutenant general, wants the governors to have the power to establish the militias. They are to help strengthen public law and order and be authorized to carry weapons.

Among the members of the new regional militias could ultimately be many veterans from the war against Ukraine. [...] New members will be offered rewards for participation in raids [...]. They will also take part in street patrolling and provide protection in connection with rallies and events

Russia is a centralized state with a Tsar. All power comes from the Kremlin. There never was a regional military structure or even just a police force without central command authority. These militias should ensure public order in case of... what? Collapsed central authority... a 1991 scenario of rapid disintegration? Or civil war like 1917?

Will such militias, controlled by governors, be more powerful than the dozen private military companies (PMC's) controlled by Russia's oligarchs?

Interesting... NO... frightening times ahead.

Cryptocurrency Exchange Network Accused of Helping Russia Hit with Sanctions

A network of people and virtual currency exchanges associated with harboring Russian cybercrime were hit with sanctions on Thursday, in a government-wide crackdown on cybercrime that could assist Russia ahead of President Joe Biden’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

U.S. Treasury sanctioned alleged Russian hacker Sergey Ivanov and Cryptex — a St. Vincent and Grenadines registered virtual currency exchange operating in Russia. Virtual currency exchanges allow people and businesses to trade cryptocurrencies for other assets, such as conventional dollars or other digital currencies.

Treasury alleges that Ivanov has laundered hundreds of millions of dollars worth of virtual currency for cyber criminals and darknet marketplace vendors for the last 20 years, including for Timur Shakhmametov, who allegedly created an online marketplace for stolen credit card data and compromised IDs called Joker’s Stash. Ivanov laundered the proceeds from Joker’s Stash, Treasury says.

The State Department is offering a $10 million reward for information that would lead to the arrest and possible conviction of the two men and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Virginia has unsealed an indictment against them.

PooTin to take yet another hit.

Blow to Putin's War Machine As Saudi Arabia Ramps Up Oil Production.

Saudi Arabia is set to ramp up oil production in a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin's war machine and his invasion of Ukraine.

Saudi Arabia is prepared to abandon its $100-a-barrel crude oil price target as it moves to increase output, signaling its acceptance of lower prices, according to the Financial Times.

This decision comes despite earlier production cuts by OPEC+ members, which sought to keep prices high. Brent crude prices dipped below $70 earlier this month, the lowest since December 2021.

Despite this, officials plan to boost production starting December 1, potentially extending a period of reduced prices. This marks a shift from Saudi Arabia's previous focus on price stabilization.

Saudi Arabia's ramp-up in oil production, especially if paired with lowered prices, is likely to hurt the Russian economy......

PooTin to take yet another hit.

A dangerous weapon.... one of the main factors leading to the collapse of the USSR was the low oil price in the late 1980s due to global overproduction:

1980: 2nd oil crisis/Iran revolution: $40 per barrel; then... 1986: ~$10 a barrel.

Uhh.... btw. when did the Soviets started to credibly negotiate mutual nuclear disarmament treaties? In 1986/87. One can learn alot from the 1980s.

Did PooTin blow off again or was there a blockage at the Kremlin that needed clearing?

180-Foot Fountain of Feces Erupts From Sewer in Dramatic Video.

A powerful geyser of sewage has reportedly erupted from an underground pipeline in Russia, blasting wastewater and debris more than 180 feet into the air, a video posted to a Russian Telegram channel and shared online shows.

The clip shows a "fountain" surging for several minutes, spraying apparently contaminated water and debris over buildings, vehicles, and public spaces. It looked to occur near a busy intersection and reached up to the 17th story of an adjacent high-rise building, and higher than a nearby crane.

Residential buildings and those under construction were doused by the rupture in the Novaya Moskva district of Moscow, The Mirror reported.......

Really?!

With that pressure...?

Much more likely that is a drinking water main with the water jet pulling in earth/debris to make it look muddy...

Wastewater/sewerage is not normally pumped to anything like that sort of pressure...

Still, makes for some good gutter press sensationalism...


Keep searchin',
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Gazprom said in a statement that the incident happened due to a routine "air fumigation" clean-out procedure.

Sounds like a gas pipeline popped while they had if full of some kind of cleaning solution.

I hope that PooTin holds his breath while waiting for that.

Russia fines Google 20 decillion dollars.

Russia has ordered Google to cough up money than exists in the entire world in response to the internet giant blocking Russian YouTube channels.

The bizarre fines were issued by a Russian court this week, which ruled the US tech giant owed 17 Russian media outlets the unlikely amount two undecillion roubles, or a two followed by 36 zeros.

That equates to $US20 decillion, or $US20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

That’s a touch more than the company’s $US2 trillion value or its $US306 billion in annual revenue.

According to the World Bank, the total annual gross domestic product of the planet is about $US105 trillion.........

There's a fool born every minute.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1976701/russia-economy-crumbling-food-prices-putin

• potatoes at least 73% more expensive than in January,
  
• butter more than 30%,
  
• 64% rise in inflation
  
• mortgage rates: >28%
  
• interest rates: ~21%
  

Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov has ordered an investigation into price increases and has pledged to provide a response to placate growing public disquiet.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev has also acted and demanded a daily monitoring of the food market and measures to stabilize the situation.

Eventually, it will be the Russians who will end Putin's reign soon...

American-Russian Memorandum of Understanding on Notifications of Missile Launches (PLNS MOU) signed: 2000-12-16:

This agreement will reduce the nuclear danger to our nations, by establishing a Pre- and Post-Launch Notification System (PLNS) for launches of ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles, and by providing for the voluntary notification of satellites forced from orbit and certain space experiments that could adversely affect the operation of early warning radars.

[...] For ballistic missiles, each Party shall provide a notification [...] when the planned flight range is in excess of 500 kilometers or the planned apex altitude is in excess of 500 kilometers.

[...] Such a pre-launch notification shall be provided no more than 30 days, but no less than 24 hours, prior to the start of the launch window.

Ukraine claims today, Russia attacked the Ukrainian City of Dnipro with a ballistic missile from Astrakhan, Caspian Sea which is a distance of >1,000 kilometers.

The interesting question now is... do Russian authorities still adhere to the PLNS memorandum? Have they informed the U.S. accordingly 24 hours before?

... And did the USA successfully track the launch?...


All in a very deadly war...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Russia warned the United States 30 minutes before the launch of the "Hazel Tree" [IRBM "Oreshnik"] in safe mode -- Peskov

"The center operates automatically and maintains constant communication with a similar system of the United States of America. The warning was sent in a clear automatic mode 30 minutes before the launch", Peskov told TASS.

"The Russian side did not inform the United States about the launch of the Oreshnik in accordance with the agreements on the launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles, because the Oreshnik is not such, it is a medium-range weapon", Peskov noted.

"Russia should not have informed anyone, because we are talking about a medium-range missile. Russia has no such obligations", Peskov said, quoted by RIA Novosti.

How do you know Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov is lying? He opens his mouth.

The "Memorandum of Understanding on Notifications of Missile Launches" (PLNS MOU) that Russia signed 24 years ago, declares:

[...] launches of ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles [...]

... independent if it is a SRBM, IRBM, SLBM, or ICBM... If you are going to launch any *BM with a range exceeding 500 km, you are obliged to inform all signees 24 hours before. So simple, isn't it Peskov?

Russia clearly disregarded the PLNS memorandum... another breach... the same way Russia has violated every other bilateral or international treaty in respect of Ukraine.

International treaties, signed by Russia, have an invisible expiration date. After ten years they can safely be considered no longer binding. That's why no sane nation on earth would voluntarily join a confederation (what the USSR should have formally been) or a defense alliance led by Moscow.

...forgot to mention... Eurasia Daily (linked article) is a Moscow based pro-Russia channel. The article quoted Putin's spokesman Peskov word for word, so I believe that's exactly what he said.

Russian Aircraft Manufacturer Ousts Top Executives Amid Production Setbacks

Russia's United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) announced Monday the dismissal of the CEOs of its subsidiaries Yakovlev and Tupolev, amid challenges in ramping up domestic aircraft production under Western sanctions.

Yakovlev, responsible for the SJ-100 — formerly the Sukhoi Superjet 100 — and Tupolev were recently merged into UAC under an order from President Vladimir Putin. The SJ-100 program is central to Russia’s efforts to develop a domestic fleet.

The shake-up also follows a high-profile incident in which one of the company’s flagship jets, the SJ-100, caught fire after landing in Turkey on Sunday night. [...]

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin reportedly ordered Boginsky’s dismissal over what was described as a “collapse” of the country’s civil aviation program, [...]

The government has pledged over $2.7 billion to develop domestic aircraft, including Yakovlev’s SJ-100 and the MC-21, a narrow-body jet comparable to the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320. However, the MC-21's rollout has been repeatedly delayed, with entry into service now expected no earlier than 2025.

Moscow aims to produce more than 600 planes by 2030 to replace its [EDIT: mainly stolen] aging Western fleet, but questions remain over production capacity and timelines.

They will order Chinese made Comac planes... if they will still have the money to pay for them... If not... the Tsar built the Transiberian Railway a 100 years ago... It's a modern and environmental friendly mode of transportation. Russia has vast space... and Russians the time to enjoy it.

Streets in St. Petersburg flooded by boiling water when a heating pipe bursts:
[In Russian only... photos and video]

Residents said that [...] they heard a bang and saw the entire street was in steam.

At 3 a.m. on Marshal Zakharov Street [edit: in St. Petersburg], a hot water pipe burst. People in a car were hit and had to be rescued from the car's hood.

Three injured, two men and a woman, were taken to the [edit: hospital] [...] all received burns on their legs, 2-6% of their body surface.

"There was a curtain of steam. [...] No escape from here. The water came in really fast. I get out of my car through the roof... then onto a Gazelle [edit: 'GAZelle', a van/minibus] - the only way to save myself, but still I scalded my legs,"

[...] Residents of 29 residential buildings are left without heat.

"This worn-out section of the heating pipes [...] is included in an investment program. Design and survey work on reconstruction will begin next year," [...]

Uuuha... Reader's comments to the previous article:

"Overall, no deviations. The breakthroughs will become snow drifts and "Beglov ridges" [edit: Alexander Beglov, Governor of St. Petersburg] piled up on embankments. Then the season smoothly transitions to falling icicles. When this will end, spring and flooding begins. I can't speak for the SVO [edit: 'special military operation' (in Ukraine)], but in St. Petersburg everything is going according to plan [edit: well-known phrase from Communist times], without deviations.

Actually, why only in St. Petersburg? Planned utility accidents have already covered the country. Half of Barnaul [edit: City in Southwestern Siberia, 630K inhabitants] is left without water right now, and hopefully they manage to hammer a couple of wooden plugs into the leaky pipe by morning - then there will be water until the next breakthrough. The number of accidents is no longer in houses, but in entire cities. And winter has not really begun yet."

I nikakoy Oreshnik ne nuzhen --- and no "Hazel tree" is needed [edit: ballistic missile "Oreshnik", launched against Dnipro in Ukraine days ago]

Unfortunately, there'll be no meaningful repercussions until a large swathe of Moscow and the Oligarchs suffer such inconveniences...

Meanwhile... The Oligarchs are uncaring of having the Peasants die, freeze, drown, starve, or otherwise suffer for the comforts of the Oligarchs...

And the Russian propaganda machine rolls on... Until suddenly it doesn't.


All in a very deadly political world...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)