The Insider in English

24/03/2025

The return of Europa: Trump’s antagonism towards Ukraine offers EU leaders the chance to decide Kyiv’s fate — and their own

Donald Trump’s eagerness to rid himself of the “problematic” Ukraine issue has created an opportunity for Europe to strengthen its own geopolitical position. European leaders are beginning to recognize that Ukraine is a crucial element of collective security, says political analyst Dmitri Stra...

21/03/2025

No good options: Why Israel resumed military operations against Hamas

After a two-month pause, Israel has resumed intense attacks on the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials hope the pressure will help secure the release of hostages held by Hamas, who have been detained in Gaza for almost a year and a half. Hamas continues to hold 24 people. At the same time, critics of Benj...

20/03/2025

▪️The Kremlin continues to wage an information war across Europe, with German intelligence reporting that Moscow spends up to €2 billion per year on disinformation campaigns in Germany alone. Nevertheless, according to polling and election data, the influence of Kremlin propaganda appears to have declined since Russian channels were taken off the air.

Almost immediately after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the European Union banned the distribution of major Russian propaganda channels — including Russia Today and Sputnik — in all its member states. The Kremlin continues to wage an information war across Europe, with G...

20/03/2025

“Given the clear determination of the U.S. president and his team to improve relations with Russia at any cost — regardless of whether Putin makes any concrete concessions on Ukraine — the prospect of the Trump administration lifting sanctions on Russia is becoming increasingly real.
If Washington does reduce its economic pressure against Moscow, whether by lifting sanctions or simply by weakening the enforcement of whatever measures remain in place, what would the likely consequences be?”

Economist Vladimir Milov believes, that other countries are likely to keep their sanctions in place — a critical fact given that Russia’s main trading partner is Europe, not the U.S.

The Trump administration will discuss the possible easing of sanctions against Russia only after a ceasefire is established, U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff told Bloomberg on March 19. However, not even a thaw in relations between Putin and Trump can solve the myriad problems that plague the R...

19/03/2025

▪️Pogroms, beatings, threats: A wave of antisemitism unseen since World War II sweeps Europe

Antisemitism is being normalized to the point of becoming part of the mainstream, bringing together the far right, the far left, and Islamic radicals.

Exactly ten years ago, The Insider published an alarming report that exposed a rise in antisemitic sentiments and hate crimes in Europe so severe that it had caused many Jewish families to emigrate. Today, against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, Europe has been hit by a wave of antisemitism unparal...

17/03/2025

❗️Russia has launched a criminal case against The Insider’s investigative journalist Sergei Ezhov for his alleged “failure to comply with obligations as a foreign agent.” Law enforcement searched his parents' apartment in Ryazan on Monday morning

Russia has launched a criminal case against The Insider’s investigative journalist Sergei Ezhov for his alleged “failure to comply with obligations as a foreign agent.” Law enforcement searched his parents' apartment in Ryazan on Monday morning, Ezhov told The Insider.

17/03/2025

🤥Since Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter in 2022, the platform has been flooded with bots posting fake news, including AI-generated content, much of it originating from the Kremlin.

In recent years, Musk’s rhetoric has increasingly echoed Russian propaganda, and he has actively amplified Kremlin-backed falsehoods to his vast audience — something that has not gone unnoticed in Moscow. Here are some of the most striking examples.

Since Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter in 2022, the platform has been flooded with bots posting fake news, including AI-generated content, much of it originating from the Kremlin. In recent years, Musk’s rhetoric has increasingly echoed Russian propaganda, and he has actively amplified Kremlin-ba...

16/03/2025

Introducing The Insider Sunday Digest!

In store this week:

How Russian oil exports sail past the G7’s price cap — with European help — and more

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https://theins.press/en/subscription

14/03/2025

Russia has successfully found ways to bypass the $60 price cap on oil set in December 2022 by the G7 countries, earning an extra $53 billion from this strategy in just the first three quarters of 2024.
Oil is being purchased above the cap by intermediary companies from the UAE and Hong Kong, as well as by national oil companies from India, Turkey, and China.
Moreover, as The Insider has discovered, ships leaving Russian oil terminals in the Baltic are being lightened in European waters — despite a ban on importing Russian oil into Europe by sea. European ship owners are also involved in these schemes.

Russia has successfully found ways to bypass the $60 price cap on oil set in December 2022 by the G7 countries, earning an extra $53 billion from this strategy in just the first three quarters of 2024. Oil is being purchased above the cap by intermediary companies from the UAE and Hong Kong, as well...

10/03/2025

Russia’s state security forces face shortage of smartphone hacking equipment due to sanctions

Russian state security agencies are experiencing a shortage of smartphone hacking equipment due to international sanctions, according to a report by the business publication RBC released earlier today. The issue has worsened since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, when foreign manuf...

08/03/2025

⚡️A jury at the Old Bailey, London’s Central Criminal Court, had found six of his compatriots—citizens of Bulgaria—guilty of conspiring with the Kremlin to kidnap and possibly murder Christo Grozev and his colleague and friend, Roman Dobrokhotov, editor in chief of The Insider.

The jury acknowledged that the Bulgarians had been recruited and run by former Wirecard COO Jan Marsalek, who first came to Christo’s attention when he investigated Marsalek’s disappearance from Austria and subsequent re-emergence in Moscow in 2020.

For years, while no one seemed to be watching, Marsalek had quietly siphoned off billions from the publicly traded German company where he worked as a top-level executive, leaving a gaping hole in its balance sheet.
In parallel, he had equally quietly volunteered his services to Russian intelligence — including to the same FSB unit that Grozev and Dobrokhotov had proven was behind the August 2020 poisoning of Alexei Navalny.

A jury at the Old Bailey, London’s Central Criminal Court, has just found six of my compatriots — citizens of Bulgaria — guilty of conspiring with the Kremlin to kidnap and possibly murder me and my colleague and friend, Roman Dobrokhotov. The Bulgarians, the jury acknowledged, had been recrui...

05/03/2025

Ever since Russia unleashed its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, universities across the country have dramatically ramped up expulsions of students over their political views. Even those who managed to keep their places have faced psychological pressure and reprimands. Repression doesn’t only target those who take part in protests, but also those who post social media stories in support of Ukraine. The Insider spoke with students who were expelled for their anti-war actions and uncovered how they were forced out of universities with the help of pro-war activists and pro-Kremlin media.

Ever since Russia unleashed its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, universities across the country have dramatically ramped up expulsions of students over their political views. Even those who managed to keep their places have faced psychological pressure and reprimands. Repression doesn’t only targe...

04/03/2025

Following the rapid collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime this past December, Russia’s primary espionage hub in the Middle East shifted from Syria to Iran. However, Moscow’s deepening ties with Tehran had already begun in 2022, as evidenced by a surge in flights to Iran by Russian intelligence operatives.
The Insider has uncovered who runs the GRU’s residency in Tehran, which banks and shipping companies profit from the supply of combat drones bringing death to Ukraine, and why Russian spies in Iran owe their drinks to the FSB’s Fifth Service.

Following the rapid collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime this past December, Russia’s primary espionage hub in the Middle East shifted from Syria to Iran. However, Moscow’s deepening ties with Tehran had already begun in 2022, as evidenced by a surge in flights to Iran by Russian intelligence ...

24/02/2025

After Volodymyr Zelensky declined to sign a draft agreement that would have granted the U.S. half of Ukraine's mineral resources, Donald Trump began accusing the Ukrainian president of every imaginable — and unimaginable — act of wrongdoing. Below is a brief list of the American president's false claims.

After Volodymyr Zelensky declined to sign a draft agreement that would have granted the U.S. half of Ukraine's mineral resources, Donald Trump began accusing the Ukrainian president of every imaginable — and unimaginable — act of wrongdoing. Below is a brief list of the American president's fals...

21/02/2025

Statistics confirm that Russia's war economy has had a different impact on the poor and the rich. While the poor suffer from debt overload as skyrocketing prices outpace their social benefits, Putin-friendly oligarchs have inflated their income thanks to government contracts and the redistribution of property, while “ordinary millionaires” with sizable savings are profiting from high interest rates. As a result, the income gap in Russian society is rapidly widening, exacerbating social tension.

Statistics confirm that Russia's war economy has had a different impact on the poor and the rich. While the poor suffer from debt overload as skyrocketing prices outpace their social benefits, Putin-friendly oligarchs have inflated their income thanks to government contracts and the redistribution o...

13/02/2025

U.S. intelligence shake-ups and Trump’s rhetoric strain trust in “Five Eyes” alliance, ex-CIA officer says

Donald Trump and his team have begun their new presidential term by intervening in the domestic affairs of America’s closest intelligence and security allies. At the same time, Trump has launched a purge within U.S. intelligence agencies — a move that some experts describe as an overhaul of the ...

12/02/2025

U.S. President Donald Trump and his team have seriously proposed expelling two million residents of the Gaza Strip to neighboring Middle Eastern countries — or even relocating them to Indonesia — while the war-torn region is rebuilt. Though the chances of these plans being implemented are extremely low, as none of the proposed countries are willing to accept Palestinian refugees, the very normalization of discussions about forced relocation is a direct consequence of Palestine’s lack of statehood.
Despite widespread opposition from both sides, a one-state
solution might offer the only way out.

U.S. President Donald Trump and his team have seriously proposed expelling two million residents of the Gaza Strip to neighboring Middle Eastern countries — or even relocating them to Indonesia — while the war-torn region is rebuilt. Though the chances of these plans being implemented are extrem...

11/02/2025

Vienna has seen another protest against the results of parliamentary elections that were held back in September 2024. A crowd protesting the victory of the right-populist Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) marched through the center of the Austrian capital on Feb. 4. The protesters carried banners “Human rights instead of right-wingers” and “Nazis, out!” Meanwhile, the far-right Freedom Party of Austria, which indeed won the election, is close to forming a coalition government with the conservatives. Austria has experience with the far-right in power: they have been invariably present in parliament since the mid-1950s, sometimes entering coalitions with the ruling parties. However, this is the first time for them to become the core of the coalition. In reality, FPÖ will not be able to realize most of its loudest slogans, including those concerning the EU, as coalition partners and European mechanisms will not allow it. But at the same time, Austria, along with Hungary, Slovakia, and likely the Czech Republic, could become a joint pro-Russian and pro-Trump battering ram in the EU.

Vienna has seen another protest against the results of parliamentary elections that were held back in September 2024. A crowd protesting the victory of the right-populist Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) marched through the center of the Austrian capital on Feb. 4. The protesters carried banners “H...