1/ In a further sign of an economic slump in Russia, the giant vehicle manufacturer AvtoVAZ will shut down production entirely for 17 days due to falling demand and overcrowded warehouses. Its vehicles aren't selling and storage facilities are overflowing.
2/ The Russian news outlet Mash reports that AvtoVAZ will shut down its assembly lines for almost the entire period from 27 April to 17 May, with the workforce sent on mandatory leave.
3/ Workers will be sent to do maintenance work between 27-30 April, 12-13 May will be covered by a postponement of vacation days from December, and staff will be paid at two-thirds their normal salary on 14-15 May.
4/ Those who refuse will remain on the job with reduced pay (2,648 rubles ($33) per day instead of 4,000 ($50)).
AvtoVaz has already moved to a four-day week, cut wages, and implement mass lay-offs, but it is still producing too many vehicles to sell.
5/ The company claims that the shutdown is needed to adjust production lines in advance of the new LADA Azimut vehicle, which is scheduled to launch in September 2026.
The Russian economy ended February with a fall, follows from the data of Rosstat and the Ministry of Economic Development.
After a decrease of 2.1% in January, the GDP of the Russian Federation decreased by another 1.5%, and the accumulated total for two months was 1.8% lower than the same date a year earlier. As a result, by March, the economy lost all the growth shown last year: Rosstat estimated it at 1%.
Venemaa duuma on vastu võtmas seadust, mis lubab relvajõududel ekstraterritoriaalset sekkumist välisriikide kohtute poolt vahistatud või kinni peetud Venemaa kodanike vabastamiseks. Valitsuse seadusandlik komisjon on just vastava seaduseelnõu heaks kiitnud.
Seaduseelnõu keel on tihe vene bürokraatlik keel, kuid kui see dešifreerida, on selle tähendus selge. See legaliseeriks relvastatud rünnakud lääne õigusasutuste, sealhulgas kohtute ja kinnipidamiskeskuste vastu. Võib-olla kõige selgem motivatsioon on Vladimir Putini hirm sattuda Haagi kohtusse, kui ta vahistatakse Rahvusvahelise Kriminaalkohtu (ICC) 2023. aastal välja antud vahistamismääruse alusel.
Kreml eeldab, et välisriikide kohtute korraldusel peetakse üle maailma kinni ja antakse kohtu alla rohkem Venemaa ametnikke ja operatiivtöötajaid Venemaa riigi toime pandud kuritegude eest.
Jällegi näib Kreml eemalduvat ad hoc operatsioonidest ja eelistavat järjepidevat poliitikat. Venemaa strateegilises mõtlemises tooks uus seadus pärast vastuvõtmist kaasa ressursside ja personali alalise eraldamise asjaomastele asutustele – eriüksustele, sealhulgas spetsnazile ja SSO-le, mis on sõjaväe eriüksused – ning pinnase ettevalmistamist vangistatute röövimisoperatsioonideks riikides, mis võiksid olla Venemaa ametnike kinnipidamisel kõige aktiivsemad.
Tänapäeval on selliste riikide nimekiri juba üsna pikk, ulatudes Balti riikidest Poola, Ühendkuningriigi ja Prantsusmaani.
Teisisõnu, Moskva ei valmistu mitte üheks päästeoperatsiooniks, vaid süsteemiks.
The United States is not a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The American Service-Members' Protection Act (ASPA) authorizes the U.S. President to use "all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any U.S. or allied personnel being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of the International Criminal Court". This authorization led to the act being nicknamed the Hague Invasion Act
"Pihkva oblasti matuseteenuste hinnatõus on viimase nelja aasta jooksul keskmiselt 8 korda ületanud ülejäänud teenuste hinnatõusu piirkonnas
PskovStati andmetel kasvasid aastatel 2021–2025 telerite remondi hinnad 10%, külmiku remont 33%, keemilise puhastuse hinnad 31%, juukselõikuse hinnad 40,7%. Samal ajal kasvasid kirstude valmistamise hinnad samal perioodil 292%, haudade kaevamise hinnad 252%."
Russian President Vladimir Putin scolded his top officials after the economy contracted by 1.8% in the first two months of the year, and asked them to come up with new measures to boost economic growth
Putin: "...come up with new measures to boost economic growth..."
Officials: "Yeah... about that...we in a war, under sanctions, have stagnation, high inflation, have no economic partners and Ukraine took out a lot of our refineries"
Suht raske supp mida süüa. Järgmised 10+ aastat ei lähe venemaal paremaks ka siis kui sõda homme lõppeks. Esialgu läheb palju hullemaks.
Sa ei saa ennast juukseid pidi soost välja tõsta.
Ainus reaalne päästerõngas venemaale oleks, kui euroopa jääb nii energianälga, et EU ametnikud võtaks seepeale kõik venemaa sanktsioonid maha ja paneks nafta jälle voolama.
Aga see ei ole venelastele mingi uus idee, seda trummi on nad koguaeg tagunud.
Putin: "...come up with new measures to boost economic growth..."
Officials: "Yeah... about that...we in a war, under sanctions, have stagnation, high inflation, have no economic partners and Ukraine took out a lot of our refineries"
Suht raske supp mida süüa. Järgmised 10+ aastat ei lähe venemaal paremaks ka siis kui sõda homme lõppeks. Esialgu läheb palju hullemaks.
Sa ei saa ennast juukseid pidi soost välja tõsta.
Ainus reaalne päästerõngas venemaale oleks, kui euroopa jääb nii energianälga, et EU ametnikud võtaks seepeale kõik venemaa sanktsioonid maha ja paneks nafta jälle voolama.
Aga see ei ole venelastele mingi uus idee, seda trummi on nad koguaeg tagunud.
Venemaa oma analüütikud ütlesid aasta alguses, et isegi see ei aitaks. Majandus on üle "point of no return" liikunud ja isegi rahajõgi enam ei päästaks. Tarneahelad on katkenud, kliendid on kaotatud. Tööjõud on kadunud. Kõik on kõigile võlgu. Siseriiklik majandus ei koosne ainult naftast ja gaasist. Saaki ei saa koristada kui see ei ole külvatud.
Drone deliveries to Ukraine: Russia publishes locations of European arms companies
Moscow has published locations of European drone producers – as a warning.
The Russian Defense Ministry has published a list of locations of Ukrainian companies in Europe and foreign companies that, according to the Russian statement, manufacture drone components “for attacks on Russian territory.” Such activities "increasingly draw European countries into a war," Moscow said.
The background is that several European countries such as Germany, Norway and Italy have signaled to Ukraine in recent days that they want to significantly ramp up the production and delivery of drones – including locations in the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Israel and Poland. Specific addresses were also mentioned.
The Russian side has explicitly formulated the publication as a warning: the European public must not only understand the “true causes” of the security threats, but also know where the corresponding production facilities are located, it said.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy head of the national security council, added: The list could be understood as a potential target list for the Russian armed forces, he wrote on Platform X. “When blows become a reality depends on what happens next. Sleep well, European partners!” said Medvedev.
"Viimasel ajal on sagenenud Ukraina droonirünnakud Venemaa vastu Soome ja Balti riikide kaudu. Selle tagajärjel kannatavad tsiviilisikud ja tsiviilinfrastruktuurile tekitatakse märkimisväärset kahju," ütles Šoigu oma kommentaaris. Tema sõnul "võib see juhtuda kahel juhul: kas lääne õhutõrjesüsteemid on äärmiselt ebaefektiivsed, nagu see on juba juhtunud Lähis-Ida ajal, või pakuvad need riigid tahtlikult oma õhuruumi, muutudes seeläbi avatud kaasosalisteks Venemaa-vastasele agressioonile."
"Viimasel juhul jõustub rahvusvahelise õiguse alusel ÜRO harta artikkel 51, mis sätestab riikide loomupärase õiguse enesekaitsele relvastatud rünnaku korral," rõhutas Venemaa Julgeolekunõukogu sekretär.
_________________ All it took was for a lot of seemingly decent people to put the wrong person in power, and then pay for their innocent choice.
Sweden had intelligence indicating that Russia was systematically manipulating data to fool Ukraine’s western allies into believing its economy had withstood the strain of its lavish war spending and western sanctions, Nilsson said.
A RUSSIAN minister has secretly fled to the US after dodging Vladimir Putin’s feared security forces, reports say – marking the first escape of a top Kremlin official.
Denis Butsaev, 49, has reportedly abandoned the Russian tyrant’s regime after being fired from his post as Deputy Minister of Natural Resources.
Russia has stepped up security protocols for President Vladimir Putin amid fears of assassination as he grows more isolated and absorbed by his war in Ukraine.
In recent months, Russia’s Federal Protective Service (FSO), which guards top officials, has sharply tightened security around the president. He spends more time in underground bunkers micromanaging the war and has grown more detached from civilian affairs, according to people who know Putin in Moscow and a person close to European intelligence services.
Putin’s isolation has increased in recent years, particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic. But as of March, the Kremlin’s concern over a coup d’état or an assassination attempt, specifically involving drones, has intensified sharply, said the person close to European intelligence.
“The shock of Ukraine’s drone Operation Spiderweb is still there,” a person familiar with Putin told the FT. Last year, Ukrainian drones attacked Russian airfields beyond the Arctic Circle. Security fears were additionally fuelled by the US’s seizure of Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro in January, said a second person also familiar with the president.
In response, the FSO has further tightened stringent security measures. Putin has cut down his visits and security checks for people meeting him in person have been tightened further, said the person close to European intelligence.
The president and his family have stopped going to their residences in the Moscow region and in north-western Valdai. Putin is spending more time in bunkers, including in the Krasnodar area in southern Russia, working from there for several weeks, while state media use recorded footage to project normality.
Staff in the president’s immediate circle, including cooks, photographers and bodyguards, have been barred from taking public transport and using mobile phones or internet-enabled devices around him. Surveillance systems have been installed in their homes.
People in Russia who know Putin said recent internet shutdowns in Moscow are also at least partly related to the president’s security and anti-drone protection.
FSO agents now conduct large-scale checks with the help of dog units, and are stationed along the banks of the Moscow river, ready to react in case of drone attacks, according to European intelligence.
The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Security concerns are not limited to Putin. According to the person close to European intelligence, security service representatives at a meeting with the president late last year blamed one another for failures to protect Russia’s top military personnel, including the killing of Fanil Sarvarov, a lieutenant general — the latest in a series of Ukraine-linked attacks.
Alexander Bortnikov, head of the FSB, the federal security service, blamed the defence ministry, which, unlike other agencies, lacks a unit dedicated to protecting senior officials. Viktor Zolotov, head of the National Guard and Putin’s former bodyguard, denied responsibility, citing limited resources.
Ultimately, the president called for calm and tasked the FSO with ensuring the security of 10 senior generals, including three deputies, to Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff, who until then had been the only officer under such protection.
The tightening of security measures has coincided with Putin, who traditionally has been more absorbed in geopolitics, dropping domestic policies to concentrate on the war, said two people who speak to him.
The president holds daily meetings with military officials, focusing on operational details such as the names of small Ukrainian settlements that are changing hands. Non-war-related officials, in contrast, are typically granted an audience only once every few weeks or months.
“Putin spends 70 per cent of his time running the war and the other 30 per cent meeting [someone like] the president of Indonesia or dealing with the economy,” said one person who knows him, adding that the only way to get more access is through “doing more war”.
Andrei Kolesnikov, a Moscow-based political analyst, said: “Putin is like the new Banksy sculpture in London [a man carrying a flag that covers his face], he does not want to see or hear. He listens only to the security services, which now run all spheres of life, and hopes that people will adapt to this as the new normal.”
The president’s remoteness has fuelled frustration among Russians as they are growing tired of the war and grapple with mounting domestic issues.
According to state-backed as well as independent pollsters, Putin’s approval ratings have slipped to their lowest level since autumn 2022, when he announced a partial mobilisation, prompting hundreds of thousands of young men to flee the country.
Social media is filled with videos of ordinary Russians and influencers criticising the authorities over internet crackdowns, taxes for small businesses and livestock culls in Siberia.
The most prominent has been Viktoria Bonya, a Monaco-based lifestyle blogger. In an 18-minute video address to Putin last month, she said that “people are afraid of him”. The clip gained more than 1.5mn likes.
While Bonya made it clear that she does not oppose the regime, the scale of the video’s reach forced the Kremlin to acknowledge it had seen it.
After Bonya’s speech, Putin publicly addressed internet crackdowns for the first time, urging officials to “inform citizens” properly and not to “focus solely on bans”.
On April 27, Putin made his second public appearance this year, visiting a sports school in his native St Petersburg. A video released by the Kremlin shows him in a brief exchange with a group of girls in black leotards, at the end of which he kisses one of them on the forehead.
The Kremlin has long used such staged interactions with ordinary people to demonstrate Putin’s approachability.
“A sure sign that Putin is worried about his falling approval ratings: he’s publicly kissing children again,” said Farida Rustamova, independent Vlast newsletter founder and political analyst, referring to similar instances, such as when Putin kissed a boy on the stomach in 2006, apparently in an attempt to portray the president as closer to the masses.
The president’s few trips and meetings so far this year, compared with at least 17 in 2025, are another sign of tighter security and a diminished focus on domestic affairs. Last year’s engagements included visits to the Kursk region bordering Ukraine and to military headquarters where he appeared in uniform at least five times.
“The gap between what Putin is willing to deal with and what is expected of him is widening,” said Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, adding that this was unlikely to change any time soon.
The public’s “bursts of discontent will only become more frequent”, she added.
sa ei või postitada uusi teemasid siia foorumisse sa ei või vastata selle foorumi teemadele sa ei või muuta oma postitusi selles foorumis sa ei või kustutada oma postitusi selles foorumis sa ei või vastata küsitlustele selles foorumis sa ei saa lisada manuseid selles foorumis sa võid manuseid alla laadida selles foorumis
Hinnavaatlus ei vastuta foorumis tehtud postituste eest.
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Spoiler 