Not that I'd want to fly on any Russian plane these days.

Pro-Ukraine hackers launch massive cyber attack on Russia's Aeroflot airline, forcing dozens of delays.

Russia's national airline Aeroflot has been forced to cancel dozens of flights, disrupting travel across the world's biggest country, after two pro-Ukraine hacking groups claimed to have inflicted a crippling cyber attack on the carrier.

The Kremlin said on Monday that the situation was worrying, and Russian politicians have called it a wake-up call for the country.

Prosecutors also confirmed the disruption was caused by a hack and opened a criminal investigation, while senior politician Anton Gorelkin said Russia was under digital attack.

"We must not forget that the war against our country is being waged on all fronts, including the digital one," Mr Gorelkin said.

"I do not rule out that the 'hacktivists' who claimed responsibility for the incident are in the service of unfriendly states."

Another member of parliament, Anton Nemkin, said investigators must identify not only the attackers but "those who allowed systemic failures in protection".

Aeroflot did not say how long the problems would take to resolve, but departure boards at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport turned red as flights were cancelled at a time when many Russians take their holidays.

The company's shares were down by 3.9 per cent on Monday, underperforming the wider market, which was 1.4 per cent lower.......

This is even better than drones. It doesn't endanger passengers. The jets simply stay on the tarmac.

Russians on their way to vacation spend days in overcrowded terminals. When your government is conducting a special military operation, you can no longer fly on vacation... or anywhere else.

Russia's excessive war spending fuels inflation.
Russia's proficient central bank governor Nabiullina limits inflation by means of excessive interests rates.
These interest rates (until recently: 21%) are crippling Russia's regular economy outside the arms industries.
Putin, called to help, intervened, forced Nabiullina to reduce interests rates somewhat to currently 18%.
This will speed up inflation and increase the problems among Russia's poor pensioners and in rural regions.

Rumours say printing presses are turning faster to output more Ruble banknotes...

Communists and nowadays Russian Mafia have one thing in common: They don't believe in inevitable economic fundamentals that governments can't circumvent by a Tsar's Ukaz.

Russian Automakers Shift to 4-Day Workweeks Amid Market Slump

Gorky Automobile Plant (GAZ), based in Nizhny Novgorod, will switch to a shortened workweek starting in August, the company told the Kommersant business daily.

The move comes days after AvtoVAZ, Russia’s largest carmaker, revealed similar plans due to falling sales.

“With the current high interest rates and lack of affordable financing tools for buyers, demand fell nearly 40% for medium-duty trucks, 30% for light commercial vehicles and 60% for buses in the first half of the year,” GAZ’s press service told Kommersant.

Passenger vehicle sales fell by 26%, while AvtoVAZ’s own sales dropped 25% to 155,481 vehicles.

Putin planned for a worst case of two or three years of war. These stubborn Ukrainians destroyed the timeline. Now Russia's economic problems are accumulating fast; forcing radical reversal; otherwise economic meltdown or rampant inflation will follow. Or, less pronounced, both. Plague or cholera...

Russia's war-fueled economy is running on empty, Central Bank chief warns

An anonymous Russian analyst told Novaya Gazeta Europe that government technocrats are effectively telling Putin it's time to choose between "war or economy."

Kamaz Trucks: 60% year-on-year drop in demand for commercial trucks >14 tons.

Russia's railways cargo volumes (key indicator to economy health) already on 15-years low in 2024; further fell 7% in first quarter of 2025.

PooTin is still upset that his spy house in Canberra that got canned.

Legal stoush between Russia and Australia over embassy site near Parliament House reaches the High Court.

There may be a touch of the Cold War in the air in Canberra today as Russia and Australia go into battle in the High Court over a new embassy.

The dispute is over a law passed in 2023 which cancelled Russia's lease on the block, which is only 300 metres from Parliament House.

At the time, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the law was needed on national security grounds.

But a Russian spokesperson characterised it as a hostile action, showing "Russophobic hysteria".

Now, the fight has arrived at the High Court of Australia......

He maybe lucky to get some $'s back on the land, but then again......

Russia can't afford to continue the war for years. They can't afford to stop the war either. A contradiction? Reducing the excessive war spending or arms procurement would all out crash the Russian economy.

Can Russia’s Militarized Economy Ever Return to a Civilian Model?

Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine has lasted almost as long as the Soviet involvement in World War II and seems endless. But it must end sooner or later. Then Russia will face the task of putting its entirely militarized economy back onto a civilian footing and redistributing demand from military to civilian industries.

Even if Putin wanted to return to a peacetime economy, the Kremlin has staked everything on the military sector and the mobilization model over the past three years, resulting in Russia becoming caught in a stagnation trap with low growth rates and chronic internal imbalances. Any attempt to rapidly cut spending will result in collapse. But nor can the military machine be fed indefinitely.

The economy has already become entrenched in a model where military rent essentially performs the same function for some businesses and categories of people as oil and gas superprofits did in the 2000s.

Investments are concentrated in the military-industrial complex and often in low-tech import substitution projects.

The current budget framework is crying out for spending cuts.

A sudden collapse in demand amounting to hundreds of billions of rubles would be a shock to military enterprises. [...]

After 2022, the structure of the Russian economy changed dramatically. The budget became the main source of demand. Military spending rose to 6–8% of GDP and began to account for up to 40 percent of the budget, creating a war rent effect.

In this configuration, a painless return to the civilian model is impossible: no amount of fortune can override the unchanging laws of economics.

In other words, it will lead to yet another economic crisis — the fifth in the quarter-century of Putin’s reign.

This is what Eisenhower warned the Americans in 1961: a military-industrial complex that, if it grows too large, too important for the whole economy, will start to influence politics; in the end dictate government's foreign policies to prevent economic crash.

I wonder how much PooTin blew there.

Pro-EU party wins majority in Moldova election in setback for Russia.

Moldova's pro-European ruling party has won a resounding victory over its Russian-leaning rival in a key parliamentary election in a major boost for the country's bid to join the European Union and break away from Moscow's orbit.

The surprisingly strong performance on Sunday, local time, by President Maia Sandu's Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) against the Patriotic Bloc was a relief for the government and its EU partners, who accused Moscow of seeking to influence the vote.

"This is not just a party's victory — it is Moldova's victory. The European path is our way forward," Ms Sandu said on X.

With all votes counted on Monday, local time, PAS won 50.2 per cent versus 24.2 per cent for the Patriotic Bloc, which had sought to steer Moldova — a small former Soviet republic lying between Ukraine and EU member Romania — closer to Russia......

I wonder how much PooTin blew there.

The Moldovan government, that is, President Maia Sandu, stated Russia invested 100M euros into propaganda for the pro-Russian bloc.

EU aid money for economic development, just this year, amounted to 300M euros.

The pro Russian faction in this country claim they won. They argue the votes casted within the country's borders resulted in a defeat for President Sandu. It's the many young adults abroad who casted their ballots in embassies, consulates all over Europe who won the election for Sandu.

Are these illegitimate votes? I'd say they are legal. Why?

It's the most impoverished country in Europe. The economy is so backward (mostly agrarian; but fertile lands and warm sunny climate) due to decades of Soviet rule, then Russian influence on economy; corruption, embezzlement. It's the norm for young Moldovan adults to live illegally abroad in Europe, working hard, saving money. They don't enjoy the EU freedoms of movement, work permits, social insurance, etc. just tourist visas... Different than refugees from Asia or Africa, if arrested they are promptly send back to Chisinau by plane because they obviously have no grounds for political asylum; Moldova's government cooperates. So, it's the norm for Moldovan kids to grew up with their grandparents meeting their parents once a year or less.

Journalists hinted that the country faced hard past years du to the war in Ukraine and two years of droughts which affected the economy heavily. Russia's war forced Sandu to replace Russian gas supplies with more expensive European suppliers.

In the Russian propaganda all difficulties are due to the pro-Europeans, urging the people to vote pro Russian.

French Navy Boards Russian 'Shadow Fleet' Ship, Arrests 2

France has detained two senior crew members of a tanker linked to Russia [...]

The Boracay, a Benin-flagged vessel blacklisted by the European Union for being part of Russia's sanction-busting "shadow fleet" of aging oil tankers, was stationed off Denmark from Sept. 22 to 25, according to ship tracking data analysed by AFP.

French military personnel were Wednesday on the deck of the tanker, now stationed off the coast of western France [...]

A military source [...] told AFP the vessel had been boarded on Saturday, with a government source confirming the boarding.

[...] Brest prosecutor Stephane Kellenberger told AFP that two crew members — who presented themselves as the ship's captain and his first mate — had been taken into custody.

[...] the 244-meter (801-foot) vessel is suspected of being involved in mystery drone flights that disrupted air traffic in Denmark in September.

The probe was launched over the crew's "failure to justify the nationality of the vessel" and "refusal to cooperate," Kellenberger, the prosecutor, told AFP.

Too much vodka?

Russia’s first humanoid AI robot was meant to showcase the nation’s tech prowess. Instead, it ended in spectacular disaster.

..AIdol – Russia’s first AI-powered, humanoid bot – was supposed to impress the crowds during its official presentation in Moscow, but instead left the developers red-faced.

Hilarious footage shows the machine wobbling onto the stage with the triumphant Rocky Theme blaring in the background.

It is flanked by two handlers from its developer, Idol, who watch on nervously.

The bot raises its right hand to give a wave to the crowd, and this action almost topples it over.

Then the machine lurches forward with several clunky steps – and this proves too much.

AIdol falls flat on its face, as the two operators scramble to pick it up off the floor and dozens of people pull out their phones to record the blunder.

In a bid to curtail the embarrassment, two more staff run onto the stage and guard the action with a black sheet, but it’s too late to hide the failure......

Too much vodka?

The 21st century edition of the Potemkin village.

In Photos: The New Year’s Traditions of Russia’s Indigenous Peoples

[...] Russia’s Indigenous and minority communities made an effort to revive their ancestral traditions of greeting the new year, many of which fall outside the winter season.

Here is a look at some of the Indigenous and minority New Year’s celebrations from across Russia:

Russia to Tap National Wealth Fund at Record Pace as Oil and Gas Revenues Slump

Russia will sharply increase sales of foreign currency and gold from its National Wealth Fund (NWF) to offset a steep fall in oil and gas revenues, which sank last year to their lowest level since the pandemic and halved in December year-on-year.

From Jan. 16 to Feb. 5, the Finance Ministry will sell Chinese yuan and gold from the fund worth 12.8 billion rubles ($165 million) per day, or a total of 192.1 billion rubles ($2.48 billion), under the budget rule.

The pace of disposals will rise more than twofold compared with December, when daily sales amounted to 5.6 billion rubles ($72 million).

The average price of Urals oil fell to about $39 per barrel in December, well below the $59 assumed when the 2026 budget was drafted.

The fund held 4.1 trillion rubles ($52.9 billion) in liquid assets -- unspent funds in the form of foreign currency and gold held at the Central Bank -- at the start of the year.

The government has sold around 60% of the fund’s gold in the nearly four years since, reducing holdings to 173 metric tons as of Dec. 1, 2025.

Fund: $52.9B; selling on avg.: $165M/day = 320 days.

Russia needs significantly higher oil prices... Now. Or money... lots of.

What about selling the useless, frozen Chukotka peninsula, vis-à-vis Alaska, to the Americans? This worked well the last time. Their President is also known for his cravings for cold, arctic ice deserts.