“He’s not the first Tor node administrator whose IP address has led police to his door.”
Read more: https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2018/05/30/tor-exit-node-admin-acquitted-of-aiding-terrorism/
“Apple has prevented the Telegram messaging service from updating globally ever since Russia banned the service and ordered Apple to remove it from its online store.”
“The country has begun reversing military spending cuts and last year staged its biggest military exercises in nearly a quarter of a century, as well as voting to reintroduce conscription and unveiling joint plans with Denmark to counter Russian cyber-attacks and disinformation.”
“Reports indicate that the group was caught trying to harness the lab’s supercomputer to mine cryptocurrency.”
“A leading figure in the latter years of the Soviet government, Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev began his career as a Red Army officer and a Communist Party apparatchik, but he ultimately became a devoted and effective enemy of Soviet tyranny. He will be remembered as the architect of ‘perestroika’ (restructuring of the political and economic systems) in the late 1980s and its consequences: exposure of the heinous lies and crimes of the criminal Soviet regime and the inevitable demise of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). For most of his life, Yakovlev was a closet classical liberal in one of the most illiberal and collectivist societies in history.”
Read more: https://fee.org/articles/the-man-who-saved-russia-from-the-soviet-union/
“Switzerland has an open policy towards cryptocurrencies. Indeed, Sberbank has decided to open a cryptocurrency exchange in Switzerland and not in Russia because of the regulations and prohibitions. The report explains that Sberbank is not planning to offer its services to retail investors but it will be for institutional investors. That means that only legal entities will be able to use the cryptocurrency exchange.”
Read more: https://usethebitcoin.com/russian-state-bank-will-open-cryptocurrency-exchange-europe/
“The Russian government has purchased two-thirds of all the gold mined in country, buying it from local banks to add to reserves as the Kremlin sees the precious metal as a safe haven at a time of geopolitical turbulence. Russia is the largest gold buyer in the world, and purchases by Russian banks have increased substantially in recent years. The biggest buyers are VTB24, Sberbank and Gazprombank. All three banks have registered at the Shanghai precious metals exchange. In April, VTB announced plans to sell up to 100 tons of gold to China annually. Reserve diversification is one of the primary reasons driving Russia to buy gold, according to the Central Bank.”
Read more: https://www.rt.com/business/417592-russian-banks-gold-purchases/
“The Treasury Department warned in its report to Congress that Russia’s sovereign debt market is too important to sanction without risking global financial turmoil, Bloomberg reported on Friday. That note can be seen as a sign of relief for Russian debt. The State Department did not hint as to whether the classified portion of its sanctions memo to Congress called for fines against those holding or trading in Russian securities.”
“To defend his elites, the Russian president also announced a capital amnesty programme to incentivize wealthy Russians to repatriate their overseas assets. It is estimated that $200 billion in financial assets are held in offshore tax heavens, which constitutes 60% of Russia´s overall wealth. A ‘de-offshorization’ law, passed in 2014 before sanctions to encourage repatriation, had limited success among Russian tycoons, but under threat of blacklisting, they seem to be looking for new ways to bring cash home.”
Read more: https://globalriskinsights.com/2018/01/us-blacklist-oligarchs-russia-impact/
“The Foreign Ministry statement warns Russian citizens that when abroad they face a serious threat of arrest by other countries at Washington’s request, after which they could be extradited to the United States. The statement, published on Thursday, also warns Russian citizens that upon extradition they will face biased treatment at the hands of the U.S. justice system. The U.S. State Department declined to comment.”