By Riley Waggaman, Substack, 2/26/25

Riley Waggaman is an American writer and journalist who has lived in Russia for close to a decade. He has contributed to many websites, including Anti-Empire, Russian Faith, Brownstone Institute, Unlimited Hangout, and Geopolitics & Empire. He worked for Press TV, Russia Insider, and RT before going solo.

In a fiery speech marking three years since the start of Russia’s Special Military Operation in Ukraine and Kursk, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed hope that Moscow could “cooperate” with American companies to extract rare-earth metals in Russia and the “new territories” in East Ukraine:

[W]e would be ready to offer [cooperation] to our American partners – when I say partners, I mean not only administrative and government structures, but also companies – if they showed interest in working together.

We certainly have an order of magnitude – I want to emphasize this – an order of magnitude more resources of this kind than Ukraine. Russia is one of the undisputed leaders in reserves of these rare and rare-earth metals. We have them in in Murmansk in the North, in Kabardino-Balkaria in the Caucasus, in the Far East, in the Irkutsk region, and in Yakutia, in Tuva. These are quite capital-intensive investments, capital-intensive projects. We would be happy to work together with any foreign partners, including American ones.

Yes, by the way, regarding new territories, the same thing: we are ready to attract foreign partners, and our so-called new historical territories, which have returned to the Russian Federation, there are also certain reserves there. We are ready to work with our foreign partners, including the Americans, there.

On the same day that Putin gave his rousing speech, a civilian in one of Russia’s “new historical territories” was killed by a Ukrainian munition most likely supplied, or paid for, by Moscow’s “American partners”:

But that’s water under the bridge.

(You might be wondering how it’s possible, after three years of special military operations to “protect the people of Donbass”, that a town located less than 60 km from Donetsk is still being shelled by the Ukrainian military. You and me both, friend.)

Putin’s final warning to the Unipolar Globalists (“Would you be interested in strip-mining Donbass and Russia’s Far East, just like old times??”) came just a few days after Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, issued a chilling threat to US oil majors:

Dmitriev said he believed US oil majors that had “very successful business in Russia” would “at some point” return.

“Why would they forgo these opportunities that Russia gave them to have access to Russian natural resources?”

Dmitriev is taking part in ongoing negotiations with Washington and was present at the recent powwow in Riyadh.

For those unfamiliar with Mr. Dmitriev, here’s his bio—compliments of the World Economic Forum’s website:

BA (Hons) in Economics, Stanford University; MBA (Hons), Baker Scholar, Harvard Business School. Began career at Goldman Sachs and McKinsey & Company. Formerly, managed large private equity funds and completed a series of landmark transactions for Russia. Since 2011, Chief Executive Officer, RDIF. Member: BRICS and APEC Business Councils; Supervisory Board, ALROSA; Boards of Directors, Transneft, Rostelecom, Gazprombank, Mother and ChildMDMG and Russian Railways; Board of Trustees, Mariinsky Theatre, and Moscow State University, Russian Institute of Theatre Arts GITIS and National History Fund. Vice-President, Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum (2009). Recipient of honours and awards, including: named among “100 most influential private equity professionals of the decade”, Private Equity International (2011); Order of Alexander Nevsky and the Order of Honour for valuable contribution to international investment projects and the socio-economic development of Russia; Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honor for paramount contribution to strengthening cooperation between Russia and France; King Abdulaziz Second-Class Order of Merit for contribution to strengthening cooperation between Russia and Saudi Arabia; Commander of the Order of the Star of Italy for special achievements in the development of friendly relations and cooperation between Italy and Russia; Order of Friendship for special achievements in the development of friendly relations and cooperation between Kazakhstan and Russia.

Stanford, Harvard, Goldman Sachs, McKinsey & Company, and then groomed by Schwab before returning to Russia to promote “international investment projects”. The kind of Multipolar Freedom Fighter that the Globalists fear most.

(Coincidentally, Dmitriev was instrumental in financing and promoting Russia’s most famous clot-shot, Sputnik V.)

Apparently Dmitriev has been doing exemplary work, because on February 23 Putin appointed him “special representative of the Russian president for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries”.

Three years of slaughter. For business as usual.

Everything went according to plan?

Active Measures, 2/26/25

Calin Georgescu, the populist frontrunner in Romania’s annulled 2024 presidential election, was arrested today while en route to register his candidacy for the upcoming May election.

He has been accused of spreading “disinformation,” “anti-Semitism,” and improper campaign financing, with charges that carry a prison sentence of 20 years.

Romanian authorities conducted 47 raids across multiple counties.

According to Romanian media outlet G4Media, sources say the raids targeted a private security firm hired by Georgescu. Are they targeting his contractors to take down their real target – Georgescu?

The militarized, SWAT-style raids and arrest of Georgescu come just months after the presidential election he won was canceled over evidence-free allegations of “Russian interference.”

Is this what is now meant by “European-style democracy?”

YouTube link here.

***

Romanian prosecutors charge Georgescu on six counts in criminal case rocking the country

Euronews, 2/26/25

Prosecutors in Romania have opened criminal proceedings against ultranationalist politician and 2024 presidential election candidate Călin Georgescu on six counts, including anticonstitutional acts and misreporting his finances, authorities said on Wednesday.

The charges also revolve around his support for sympathisers of the Iron Guard, a pre-World War II fascist and antisemitic movement and political party, which is illegal under Romanian law.

Georgescu, known as “The TikTok Messiah,” has also been barred from leaving the country and is not allowed to create new social media accounts on top of the ones he already owns, according to Euronews Romania sources.

The authorities have stopped short of arresting him, however.

“We are the people, we are the power. We will not kneel before anyone. This was expected. The whole world knows what is happening in Romania now. It’s the despair here combined with that of Brussels,” Georgescu said after leaving the Public Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday evening.

Earlier in the day, Georgescu was picked up by police officers from a traffic stop and taken to the Prosecutor General’s Office for questioning.

The prosecutors questioned Georgescu as part of an investigation reportedly looking into “zero expenses” declared by Georgescu for last year’s electoral campaign, sources said.

He was initially asked to provide information over two counts: “false statements regarding funding sources” and “communicating false information,” Euronews Romania reported in their live coverage.

Prior to his questioning, prosecutors gathered all the documentation used by Georgescu to sign up for the presidential race, sources in the judiciary told Euronews Romania.

Georgescu was on his way to file his candidacy for the presidency when he was stopped in traffic, a statement issued by his team on Facebook claims.

“About 30 minutes ago, the system stopped him in traffic and he was pulled over for questioning at the Prosecutor General’s Office. Where is democracy, where are the partners who must defend democracy,” the statement said.

Contrary to Georgescu’s team’s claims, sources at the Electoral Commission told Euronews Romania that the candidate registration process has not opened yet.

Supporters of the far-right Party of Young People (POT), which splintered from another far-right party, AUR, and is among Georgescu’s most vocal backers, announced they would protest in front of the Prosecutor General’s Office. Some 200 people have gathered since.

“The judiciary has the duty to present extremely solid proof to the public (…) so that this criminal investigation is not hijacked into an election manifesto by a certain candidate,” Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said in a statement.

“The judiciary is independent and the law must be applied regardless of the persons involved, respecting the fundamental rights and freedoms of the citizens,” Ciolacu added.

Raids in five counties

Georgescu’s questioning was part of a nationwide police action that also involved raids against a total of 27 individuals under investigation for a number of crimes, including anti-constitutional actions, possession of illegal weapons caches, instigating racism, fascism and xenophobia and “promoting a cult of personality accused of genocide and war crimes”.

The sweeping raids, taking place at more than 40 locations across five Romanian counties, also included Horațiu Potra, a mercenary previously linked to Georgescu.

Potra, who owns a private military company and is a former member of the French Foreign Legion, was detained in mid-December over allegations of planning large-scale protests in favour of Georgescu.

Potra was investigated on illegal possession of weapons and ammunition charges, as well as public incitement to unsanctioned gatherings, but was ultimately released.

Related

• Declassified Romanian intelligence suggests ‘state actor’ behind Georgescu’s campaign
• Romania’s Georgescu slammed over links to controversial former mercenary

Georgescu came out on top in the first round of Romania’s presidential elections in December, which the country’s constitutional court annulled following the declassification of intelligence reports showing Russian involvement in influencing voters through social media to support the then-relatively unknown candidate.

In recent times, Romanian politics have suddenly come to the fore among top allies of US President Donald Trump, with his Vice President JD Vance, Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr all backing Georgescu or criticising Bucharest for annulling the December vote.

The South African-born billionaire has reacted to news of Georgescu’s questioning, labelling it as “messed up”.

“They just arrested the person who won the most votes in the Romanian presidential election,” he said on his platform X on Wednesday.

You can follow Euronews Romania’s live coverage of this developing story here.

BNE Intellinews, 2/5/25

Russia’s services and manufacturing sectors expanded at their fastest pace in a year in January, driven by improved demand conditions and a sharp rise in new orders, according to the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data from S&P Global. However, rising input costs and supply chain pressures weighed on business margins. (chart)

The seasonally adjusted S&P Global Russia Services PMI Business Activity Index rose to 54.6 in January, up from 51.2 in December, marking the strongest expansion in output in a year. The upturn was linked to “a sustained rise in new orders and more favourable demand conditions,” according to S&P Global.

The services sector’s performance was mirrored by Russia’s manufacturing industry, where the PMI increased to 53.1 in January from 50.8 the previous month, just above the 50 no-change benchmark. S&P Global report described the improvement as “significant overall”, noting that “the growth rate was the fastest since July 2024 and above average.”

Taken together the S&P Global Russia Composite PMI Output Index, which tracks both services and manufacturing, climbed to 54.7 in January from 51.1 in December. The overall expansion was the sharpest in a year, underpinned by “a faster rise in new orders” and “solid growth in private sector output.”

The strong January results come as a surprise in the context of predictions that Russia’s economy is cooling and many pundits have been predicting a wave of bankruptcies that could begin in the second quarter of this year. However, other pundits have argued that Russia’s economy is a lot more robust than it first appears, despite sky high interest rates and very sticky high inflation rates.

New business at service providers increased for the seventh consecutive month, with growth accelerating to its fastest pace in a year, reports S&P Global’s panelists. Companies attributed the rise to “a general improvement in demand conditions”, as well as a diversification of service lines.

The upturn in activity encouraged firms to increase staffing levels, with job creation recorded for a third successive month. However, employment growth was only marginal overall, as firms struggled with mounting backlogs of work. “The level of incomplete business rose at a solid pace,” S&P Global reported, citing ongoing pressure on capacity due to a strong influx of new orders.

High inflation remains a problem, despite the Central Bank of Russia (CBR)’s efforts to cool price growth using non-monetary policy methods. However, the regulator reported some successes in reducing borrowing, a major source of inflation in its January banking update. Tighter macroprudential restrictions have led to the first fall in consumer borrowing – mainly credit cards – where retail creditors paid off more loans than they took out in January for the first time in a year. Likewise, corporate borrowing fell by almost third (31%) in December, which is expected to reduce inflationary pressures as well. Mortgage lending is also down sharply after the sector was rocked by the end of a generous subsidy scheme last summer.

Nevertheless, despite robust demand, cost pressures continue to intensify in the service sector. Input prices rose at the fastest rate in a year, driven by higher supplier and transportation costs, as well as increased wage bills, according to surveyed firms.

Companies responded by passing higher costs on to customers, with selling prices rising at the joint-fastest pace in a year, alongside July 2024. “Firms commonly noted the pass-through of higher costs to customers,” the report stated.

However, managers remain optimistic on the outlook for this year, which is expected to be the toughest since the war in Ukraine began three years ago. Service providers reported the highest level of confidence since September, buoyed by expectations of stronger demand conditions and planned investments in new service lines and advertising, reports S&P Global.

Businesses continued to navigate inflationary pressures, with firms in both sectors raising prices to protect profit margins. “Selling prices increased at the sharpest rate since November 2023,” S&P Global said.

By Ben Aris, Intellinews, 2/21/25

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on February 21 that Western sanctions have played a “stimulating role” in Russia’s economic development, rather than bring it to its knees.

Domestic companies increasing relied on local scientific and technological expertise after they were cut off from technology sanctions that have largely failed. He noted that Russian firms had found domestic solutions that were often “more effective than their foreign counterparts”.

“External problems, sanctions, with all the challenges and difficulties, played an important, stimulating role for us. Russian companies are now increasingly turning to our scientists and receiving such assistance from them. Moreover, domestic solutions often turn out to be more effective than foreign analogues,” Putin said at the plenary session of the Future Technologies Forum, TASS reported.

Putin also announced that science funding will be increased to 2% of GDP. “It is critical to channel all additional resources to support exactly promising, breakthrough areas,” he said.

A VTsIOM poll this week found that most Russians agree and believe the war in Ukraine has reduced social inequality and made Russian society fairer for the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Since the launch of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, attitudes have shifted partly thanks to the surge in state spending that has disproportionately benefited Russia’s poorest regions. In order to entice regular Russians to sign up for military service, average incomes have jumped and regional governments have been paying out enormous sign up bonuses that are several times higher than the average income. A study by the Bank of Finland institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT) showed that regional retail deposits have grown fastest in Russia’s poorest regions.

At the same time, despite the high rates of inflation of about 10%, nominal wage increases have been rising even faster by around 12% a year, leading to a record growth in real disposable income that has fuelled a consumer boom in the last few years and created a new War Middle Class. Bank deposits and savings have swelled as a result.

While many Russians were against the idea of the invasion of Ukraine at the start of the war, now that it has started, most believe that at Russia should not lose what is widely seen as a proxy war with Nato. Patriotism is at an all-time high and Putin’s personal trust rating is currently at 80%, according to a survey conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM).

“When asked directly if they trusted Putin, 80% of participants responded affirmatively (no changes). The majority also endorsed of the president’s job performance (80%, no changes),” the service said, reports TASS. A total of 53% of those polled said they approved of the Russian government’s handling of the country (no changes), while 56% approved of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s performance (a 1% decrease).

Russia’s economy put in a better than expected 4.1% growth and growth for 2023 was also upgraded to 4.1%, Mishustin told Putin last week. However, the economy is now cooling and growth is expected to slow sharply this year.

Shortly after the extreme Western sanctions were imposed in the first month of the war three years ago, Central Bank of Russia (CBR) governor Elvia Nabiullina warned Russian companies that they would have to go back two or three generations of technology to keep their production lines running. However, that did not come to pass.

Russia’s economy was rescued by the “accelerated adaptability” of private companies, top Kremlin policymakers told St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) last summer.

“Russia has developed antibodies [to the sanctions] and it has a perfectly healthy body. All we have to do now is develop some more muscles,” was how Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov described the situation.

Part of this success was Russia quickly found trade partners willing to act as middle-men to bypass sanctions and the import of technology fell only 2% by value in 2023 from the pre-war levels. But it was also due to Russian enterprises boosting investment and re-tooling their production lines, using technology from places like China that was not under sanctions. Russia is Europe’s manufacturing powerhouse and the level of technology needed is not the highest and so does not have to be exclusively sourced in the West.

“Accelerated adaptability” was the mot du jour at SPIEF. A CBR survey conducted in the autumn of 2022 found that only a tiny share of companies had found no solution to replacing banned goods. Trade via friendly third countries means that most of the products that disappeared in the first half that year were back in the stores by the end of the year. In March 2023, Putin remarked that “every cloud has a silver lining”, describing the restrictions as a step towards strengthening Russia’s economic and financial sovereignty.

In one example, Russian Deputy Health Minister Sergei Glagolev said earlier this month that the share of domestic production among drugs registered in Russia neared 80% in 2024, Interfax reported.

In recent weeks, reports have emerged suggesting the potential return of Western firms to Russia as a result of the unexpectedly warm tones at the opening session of the Russo-US ceasefire talks in Riyadh on February 18. Against this backdrop, Russian officials have signalled a selective approach to the re-entry of Western companies.

Western companies will be admitted to be in sectors without risks for the national economy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on February 21, but they need not be “discouraged from the Russian market,” the foreign minister added.

On February 20, First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov announced that Russia would permit only companies it deemed beneficial to return to its market. He added the following day that he would be willing to consider allowing US company Boeing to restart purchases of Russian titanium, reported Interfax.

Speaking at the Future Technologies Forum the following day, Putin instructed the government to regulate the process for companies seeking re-entry, a sharp volte-face from the Kremlin’s previous policy of de facto appropriating leading Western business still operating in Russia.

By Uriel Araujo, InfoBrics, 2/6/25

Uriel Araujo, PhD is a writer and anthropology researcher with a focus on international and ethnic conflicts.

An Estonia court has recently convicted members of a neo-Nazi terrorist group called Feuerkrieg Division, which is known to plan attacks. Meanwhile the Slovak police issued a warning about a Nazi group plotting violent attacks. According to the Internal Security Service, such extremism has the potential to escalate and has been spreading over the last years.

Meanwhile, just last week the Slovak police issued a warning about a Nazi organization named “Valhalla” connected to violent attacks. I’ve written much about the reality of neo-Nazism and its role in post-Maidan Ukrainian politics, but there is a larger context: National-Socialist (Nazi) ideology and its variants remain a real problem in post-Soviet states in Eastern and Central Europe (including Baltic nations). This international far-right network has a presence in Western Europe, too, although it is particularly active in Central and Eastern Europe.

For instance, this year once again, as has been the case every February, hundreds of neo-fascist and neo-Nazi activists will soon gather in Budapest to commemorate the Nazi German 1945 failed attack against the Soviet army, calling it the “Day of Honour”. On that day German and Hungarian forces battled against Soviet troops. The event involves a music festival with various far-right bands, and the revenue is said to fund extremist organizations, including terrorist groups, as is often the case with such concerts.

In December last year a neo-Nazi musical event in Budapest co-organized by a “Nordic Sun Cultural Foundation” was raided by Hungarian authorities. One of the bands invited is named Der Stürmer, after the infamous anti-semitic German tabloid of the Reich period. It is part of the NSBM (National Socialist Black Metal) movement.

There is a recurring theme in all such groups and events, namely anti-Soviet speech, which translates itself into Russophobia. In a number of countries there are of course historical grievances involving some Soviet measures, and such politics of memory is employed to mobilize anti-Russian discourse and to fuel national and ethnic chauvinism.

In this context, Third Reich forces and its allies as well as Nazi collaborators are typically glorified as heroes in a sacred struggle against communism or Russian (and Jewish) domination, the way they often phrase it. The Soviet Union is thus equated with the Russian Federation.

In this context, monuments honoring Soviet soldiers of forces who fought against the Third Reich have been often vandalized. This happened recently in Kosice, for instance – Slovakia’s second-largest city. Such Slovakian monuments have also been painted with Ukrainian flags, interestingly enough. One could go on and on with similar cases.

The matter goes beyond radical groups, sometimes reaching state and official level. Such has been the case in Latvia, for instance, for many years. Every March 16, many Latvians parade the streets of Riga to celebrate their veterans of Second World War Two, who fought alongside Nazi forces against the Soviet Union. Albeit shocking to most of the Western world, this is rather common across Baltic countries: in 2019, for example, Cherrie Daniels, US diplomat, called on Lithuania to not glorify Holocaust collaborators. Such Waffen SS veterans were not just anti-Communists: they took part in massacring Jews.

It has been a huge controversy in Canada, as well. In 2018, Canadian public opinion was urging its government (which has soldiers based there) to denounce Latvia for such parades. Ironically enough, as recently as 2023 the Canadian parliament honoured Yaroslav Hunka, an elderly Ukrainian Canadian who fought in SS Division Galicia (Waffen-SS) of the Nazi Party. He proudly described having taken part in the struggle against Russia, drawing parallels with the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and got a standing ovation. The affair became a scandal.

The glorification of Nazi forces and collaborators and the attacks on the memory of those who fought against the Third Reich (including monuments) played a large part in the development of the tensions which escalated into the Donbass War, since the 2014 nationalist Maidan revolution in Ukraine. Ukraine in fact is an extreme case, where the far-right and even neo-Nazis, albeit a minority of voters, hold tremendous power, politically and also in the military and paramilitary realm (the Azov regiment being merely the most famous one).

The situation is contradictory to the point that a native Russian-speaking Jewish President, Volodymyr Zelensky, is literally hostage to ultra-nationalist militias and military, including Nazis, who are on the record stating, like Dmytro Yarosh, that Zelensky would end up “hanging on a tree on Khreshchatyk” if he ever “betrayed” Ukrainian nationalists by negotiating with Moscow to end the (Donbass) conflict.

It is no wonder Ukraine became a new hub for the far-right globally, as TIME magazine reported back in 2021. Moreover, the SITE Intelligence Group, a private organization that tracks extremist organizations, has warned about far-right militias in Europe joining Ukrainian nazis in their struggle. All the Nazi regalia and SS helmets routlined caught on camera among Ukrainian soldiers are quite real: those are not just fashion statements.

Post-Maidan Ukraine does not only fuel and promote neo-Nazism internationally – it also invites antagonism from competing ultra-nationalist forces. The chauvinistic nature of the current Ukraine regime, as I wrote, alienates its national minorities (not just ethnic Russian and pro-Russian ones) and thereby enhances tensions with neighboring countries such as Poland and Hungary, who in turn have their own problems with their own strands of irredentist ultra-nationalism.

To sum it up, radical anti-Russian feelings today are largely connected to an “alternative” pro-Nazi reading of World War II key events. If unchecked, these forces could unleash the total “maidanization” of Europe, a trend one can already see.