Russia sent diplomatic notes to all countries delivering weapons to Ukraine pointing out unpredictable consequences of such actions, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Vedomosti. Earlier, the Washington Post reported on this note addressed to the Department of State.
On April 13, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby announced the details of a new package of US military aid to Ukraine to the tune of $800 mln which for the first time included armored vehicles and artillery.
Dmitry Stefanovich, a research fellow at the International Security Center with the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economy and International Relations, notes that the restrictions on arms supplies to Ukraine currently have an exclusively technical nature. The first obstacle is the limited amount of functioning Soviet armaments and military equipment. The second one is the necessity of training to use Western equipment. According to the expert, logistics is the third obstacle, since the number of ways to deliver the arms and equipment to Ukrainian territory is limited.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Ukraine operation not preventing Russia from supplying arms to India
The India Today TV channel reported that Moscow delivered a second batch of S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems to New Delhi ahead of time. India views this as a confirmation of Russia’s course to support friends despite sanctions over Ukraine. Commentators in New Delhi assert that Russian missiles are designated to deflect China’s threat amid the territorial dispute between the two countries. Allegedly, India has already started to deploy the new weapons. According to other sources, the delivery of the second batch has been postponed.
Associate Professor at Moscow State University’s Institute of Asian and African Studies Boris Volkhonsky told the newspaper that "India is under heavy pressure from Washington. First, US President Joe Biden told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the undesirability of purchasing arms from Russia. And then the same demand was put forth by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the head of the Pentagon during the 2+2 meeting with Indian officials in the US capital. Yet, they didn’t dare to impose sanctions on India, since Washington wants to make New Delhi its strategic partner in its confrontation with China."
Timofey Borisov, Editor-in-Chief at Arms Exports journal, told Nezavisimaya Gazeta that India had begun moving towards import substitution for a while now but its implementation takes time, so it will continue to make purchases abroad. As for US sanctions, India will make decisions taking into account its own interests and not the external influence, the expert concluded.
Kommersant: Food producers fear further restrictions
Food manufacturers are worried that Russia’s authorities would block entry to European trucks in response to EU sanctions. They are asking the government not to undertake such a decision, otherwise the food industry, which is already reeling from the impact of the EU’s restrictions will ultimately be left without imported ingredients that have not been banned. Such a prohibition would imply a break in production chains since time is needed to replace the suppliers of raw materials and create new logistics corridors, the market players warn.
The production of drinks is one of the most import-dependent segments on the food market, concentrated juices, including those for baby food, and the ingredients for non-alcoholic drinks are brought from abroad, Maxim Novikov, President of Soyuznapitki says. According to Vyatich’s Vladimir Mamatov, the brewing industry so far cannot make it without imported hops, malt and yeast.
General Director of Soyuzmoloko Artyom Belov added that the EU’s fifth sanctions package involved over 700 groups of products for the food industry including equipment, spare parts, expendable supplies and packaging components.
Managing partner of Agro & Food Communications Ilya Bereznyuk commented that "the situation is changing once every two-three days and the worries of the food market players regarding counter-sanctions are quite justified."
Kommersant: Phishing attacks on Russian residents declining
Since the onset of the military operation in Ukraine, the number of phishing attacks on private citizens in Russia has plunged, according to cybersecurity companies. The majority of scammers are located abroad and it became more difficult for them to siphon any money off due to the Visa and MasterCard systems suspending their operations in Russia, experts explain. However, they think that the lull is temporary until the perpetrators optimize their channels to steal funds.
The decrease in attacks under Russian company name brands was particularly obvious. From February 24 to March 23, the drop in phishing attacks almost halved (by 42%) compared to the January 24 - February 23 period, according to Alexander Kalinin, head of the CERT-GIB center for response to information security incidents.
Earlier, phishing attacks originated in CIS states, for the most part, in Ukraine, as well as in China, the US and India, according to the co-founder of StopPhish Yury Drugach. Until early March, the fraudsters used proxy accounts to get the money out, moving the funds from one account to another and getting them out abroad, adds Fedor Muzalevsky, head of RTM Group’s technical department. According to him, the criminals need time to get adjusted to the new circumstances. "As soon as technical issues are resolved, the phishers will go back to their old schemes again," he thinks.
If in March, the number of their calls to the clients of Russian banks decreased, then since early April, it has begun to grow again, Director of the Informzashchita company’s center on counteracting fraud Pavel Kovalenko noted. "The majority of scamming call centers worked from Ukraine, and we presume that now they moved to other countries, in particular, to the Baltics," he said.
Izvestia: Tickets to connecting flights from Russian regions to the Mediterranean and Asia already on sale
Russian airlines are getting ready to launch 246 new routes abroad from Russian regions with a layover in Sochi, according to their agreement with the Transport Clearing Chamber. This involved the further development of the Sochi hub that Rossiya Airlines started in early April. Its flights abroad on a Superjet will connect with the flights of other airlines from the regions, including Nordwind, Ural Airlines, Utair, Azimut and others. Passengers will be able to buy one ticket for the entire flight. There will be some inconvenience since there is no transfer of luggage in Sochi. The passenger will have to check it out and register for a flight abroad separately, experts say.
Executive Director of the AviaPort agency Oleg Panteleev thinks that this is not a particularly critical moment, while the bonus of this project is that such connecting tickets may turn out to be cheaper than buying two separate tickets for two flight segments.
According to him, the main problem of this project is its administration. This system was first implemented in Domodedovo Airport and a special manager worked there who helped organize the flights, coordinate the schedule and interact with the airlines. Many regional airports where similar projects were launched lacked such resources. Additionally, such flights were not adequately advertised, therefore, demand was moderate, the expert concluded.
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