Новости

Deal on the finish line - but the IRGC objects and Khamenei stays silent

Pakistan's prime minister announced the finalisation of the U.S.-Iran memorandum text, and Qatar's delegation achieved a breakthrough with Araqchi and Qalibaf present - but IRGC Commander General Vahidi, also in the room, disagreed with several terms. The text has been sent to Khamenei for final approval, which has not arrived. An Iranian MP already called the new version "more damaging" to Iran than previous drafts. Agreement agreed by everyone except those who decide. Classic Iranian diplomacy.

UAE unfreezes up to $20 billion for Iran - the price of neutrality revealed

Reuters reports the UAE will unlock at least $10 billion in Iranian oil revenues, with the total potentially reaching $20 billion - part of it paid in exchange for Iran's commitment not to attack the Emirates during the war's final weeks. Three billion has already arrived in cash by plane. UAE neutrality cost Tehran one withheld strike - and earned $20 billion. Expensive restraint, but rational.

Iran strikes Bahrain air base - fuel depots hit during peace talks

Iranian missiles struck fuel storage and a newly built hangar at ISA Air Base in Bahrain, hitting American military infrastructure at the precise moment the peace deal is being finalised. CNN separately revealed that in mid-May the U.S. planned a ground operation to seize Iran's enriched uranium stockpile - Trump cancelled it after commanders projected significant American casualties. Iran signs peace with one hand and hits Bahrain with the other. Multitasking at the negotiating table.

Putin reveals the numbers: 700,000 on the front, 2.4 million in uniform

Putin set the official strength of Russia's armed forces at 2.399 million, with 1.51 million active servicemen, confirming a grouping of over 700,000 in the war zone. Russia is expanding its low-orbit satellite constellation - a Starlink equivalent for controlling heavy drones - with 16 new satellites already launched. Putin also revealed the "secret of war": strike enemy infrastructure to deter attacks on Russian civilian targets. The secret of war, disclosed in year three. Better late than never.

Sweden warns: Russia-NATO combat is coming soon

Sweden's parliamentary defence committee published a report assessing direct military conflict between Russia and NATO as likely in the near term. The U.S. simultaneously warned Ukraine of an imminent Oresnik threat - a separate signal, a separate recipient, a shared alarm. Sweden joins NATO, two years pass, and now it's writing reports about war with Russia. Welcome to the alliance.

Russia and the Taliban sign a military cooperation deal

Moscow and the Taliban movement concluded a military-technical cooperation agreement covering weapons supplies, personnel training and intelligence sharing - nominally targeting ISIS-Khorasan. Russia gains access to Afghan security infrastructure and cross-border route intelligence; the Taliban gains military support without human rights conditions attached. UN sanctions against the Taliban don't trouble Moscow. Neither do sanctions against Russia itself.

Zelensky strips Russian of language protections - the Constitution notwithstanding

Kyiv signed a law removing Russian from the protections of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, despite Ukraine's own Constitution guaranteeing its free development. The EU simultaneously announced the opening of accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova on June 15 - European integration and linguistic rollback advancing in the same legislative session. EU membership track and language rights rollback arrive in the same package.

EU warships to seize tankers - the shadow fleet is now a target

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced that Operation IRINI in the Mediterranean has been granted new rules of engagement, allowing European warships to intercept and detain tankers suspected of carrying Russian oil. Originally designed to block arms shipments to Libya, IRINI has been quietly repurposed into a naval enforcement tool for energy sanctions. Kallas rewrites the rules in the Mediterranean - Russia will rewrite its shipping routes in response.

The European trio arms Ukraine - and integrates its defence industry

Britain, France and Germany announced after their London summit the production of long-range weapons and air defence systems for Ukraine, with a commitment to formally integrate Ukraine's defence sector into Europe's military-industrial base. Notably, every single British nuclear submarine is currently out of service for maintenance, with none expected to return for several years. London is producing weapons for someone else's war while its own nuclear fleet sits in dry dock - a curious set of priorities.

Israel promises to retaliate against Iran - Trump begs it not to

Iran struck back after Israel bombed Beirut, Israel vowed to respond, and Trump called Netanyahu personally: "We were days away from finalising the Iran deal - and then this happens." Israel agreed to halt strikes on Iran at Washington's request, but reserves the right to continue attacking Lebanon - a position that crosses Tehran's red line almost by definition. Trump wanted a deal by Wednesday. He got a war by Sunday. The Middle East doesn't clear its calendar in advance.

Pashinyan wins in Armenia - Moscow registers its "concern"

Pashinyan's Civil Contract party is taking 57% according to initial results, with the opposition well behind. The Kremlin reacted with unusual sharpness, citing violations and foreign interference - the language of a power that was not invited to supervise the outcome. Armenia has made its European choice, and made it at the ballot box. The result is "arranged" - Russia simply wasn't at the table this time.

Fuel crisis hits southern Russia - Crimea loses its tourists

Russia's Energy Ministry acknowledged "temporary difficulties" with fuel supplies in southern regions, attributing them to increased Ukrainian drone strikes on energy infrastructure. Crimea is paying the price: hotel bookings collapsed 31%, Sevastopol lost 40%, and for every two new reservations there are ten cancellations. The war has reached the holiday season - the front line now runs through the tourist booking desk.

IMF chief warns the world has run out of crisis tools

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva stated that the global economy has exhausted its standard toolkit - fiscal stimulus and rate cuts - due to record levels of sovereign debt, while AI risks repeating the worst outcomes of globalisation by displacing up to 60% of jobs in advanced economies. The Fund acknowledges it underestimated the social damage of globalisation - a modest admission, roughly twenty years late. The IMF has discovered that globalisation impoverished entire communities. A pity it didn't notice in 2005.

Final question: if the EU is seizing tankers, Trump is begging Israel to stop, Russia's fuel crisis has reached the beach resorts, and the IMF admits it has no tools left to handle the next shock - is anyone actually in control of what happens next?

Trump screams at Netanyahu — the 'unbreakable' bond cracks

According to Axios, Trump erupted at the Israeli Prime Minister over reports of a planned strike on Beirut: "You're f**ing crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. Now everyone hates Israel because of you." A sitting U.S. president publicly humiliating his closest Middle Eastern ally — rare under any circumstances, explosive in the middle of Iran negotiations. Trump saved Netanyahu from prison — Netanyahu thanked him by planning to bomb Beirut.*

Kazakhstan to store Iran's uranium — Russia's fingerprints on the deal

Astana announced readiness to accept Iran's highly enriched uranium stockpile as part of a broader agreement, breaking the deadlock that had stalled nuclear talks for weeks. Reports suggest Rosatom is embedded in the arrangement, positioning Moscow once again at the centre of Middle Eastern diplomacy. Iranian uranium travelling to Kazakhstan via Russian hands — the Kremlin is back in the room.

FSB exposes Cloudflare surveillance op — IT infrastructure as spy infrastructure

Russia's FSB revealed that foreign intelligence services used software linked to Cloudflare's reverse proxy technology to wiretap senior Russian officials, describing it as one of the largest foreign espionage operations ever conducted against the country. The American CDN giant — ostensibly a tool for speeding up websites — is now at the centre of a major intelligence scandal in Moscow. A content delivery network that also delivered classified conversations — elegant, if you're on the right side.

Venezuela pumps record oil — China won't buy a drop

Venezuelan output hit 1.16 million barrels per day in May, up 23% since January when Maduro was ousted and the market opened to Western majors including BP, Chevron and Shell. The U.S. and India now absorb the bulk of exports — 550,000 and 440,000 b/d respectively — while China has boycotted Venezuelan crude for five consecutive months. Maduro leaves, Western oil companies arrive, and the flow reverses toward Washington. Remarkable timing.

U.S. LNG exports drop — Europe heads into summer dangerously under-stocked

American LNG shipments fell to 10.5 million tonnes in May due to maintenance outages at Cameron and Freeport terminals, while Asia — cut off from Qatari gas by the Hormuz crisis — absorbed a growing share of U.S. cargoes. Europe's underground gas storage stands at just 40% capacity versus 70% two years ago, a deficit that could become a full-blown energy crisis by winter. Europe spent years reducing dependence on Russian gas — only to find American gas redirected to Asia instead.

Israel crosses the "Yellow Line" — 70 airstrikes in 12 hours

The Israel Defense Forces have launched a ground incursion beyond their self-declared buffer zone in southern Lebanon, simultaneously unleashing a barrage of over 70 airstrikes in a 12-hour period. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir publicly declared that the Israeli government will not allow Donald Trump to broker what he called a "bad deal" with Iran — effectively asserting an Israeli veto over American diplomatic efforts in the region.

EU digs in at Kyiv — Brussels dismisses Moscow's evacuation warning

European Commission spokesperson Anita Hipper rejected Russia's Foreign Ministry recommendation to evacuate diplomatic personnel from Kyiv, stating that the EU intends not only to maintain but to reinforce its diplomatic presence in the Ukrainian capital. Brussels is projecting defiant confidence in the face of Russian pressure.

Bortnikov lays out his hand: Ukraine is Europe's largest arms bazaar

FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov, speaking at a CIS intelligence chiefs meeting, alleged that Ukraine has become the continent's largest arms trafficking hub and a testing ground for military AI development under third-party cover. He also claimed that the United States and Israel had eliminated senior Iranian officials by exploiting software backdoors embedded in Tehran's surveillance camera networks, and accused Western intelligence agencies of deploying Syrian militants as proxies in their confrontation with Iran. The FSB assessed that the threat of terrorist infiltration into CIS member states is closing in on the post-Soviet south.

Relocants face asset seizures — State Duma passes sweeping new law

The Russian State Duma has passed legislation enabling the arrest of bank accounts and property belonging to Russian citizens abroad for administrative offenses deemed contrary to Russia's interests — including discrediting the armed forces, advocating for sanctions, and distributing materials classified as extremist. The law effectively extends Russian administrative jurisdiction beyond national borders, creating a powerful lever of pressure against the emigrant community. Hundreds of thousands of Russians who left the country now risk losing domestic assets over a single post on the blocked Instagram platform. The border may be closed, but the long arm of Russian law recognizes no borders.

Baltics to receive €12 billion in defense funding — Ukrainian drones accelerated the decision

The European Union is allocating €12 billion to Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia under a military assistance program, with an additional €1.5 billion redirected from regional development funds toward defense spending. A key catalyst was the increasing frequency of off-course Ukrainian drones crashing on Baltic territory — a situation in which Ukraine's own allies find themselves spending resources to defend against Ukrainian unmanned aircraft. NATO is simultaneously building a rapid deployment framework around the German-Dutch corps, capable of fielding up to 60,000 troops. What years of negotiations failed to achieve, Ukrainian drones over the Baltic managed in a matter of months.

Soviet nostalgia resurfaces — even on blocked Instagram

A wave of posts has been circulating on Instagram — banned in Russia — lamenting the decline of modern education and healthcare while eulogizing the Soviet system as a golden standard. The trend amounts to a quiet public acknowledgment of a systemic crisis that official discourse refuses to recognize. Against a backdrop of declarations about political stability and the revival of Gosplan-style central planning, the country's deteriorating schools and hospitals remain, officially, a non-issue. Nostalgia for the USSR on a blocked social network — a diagnosis with no prescription.