moscow bureau chief @FT. in soviet russia, news reports you: [email protected]
Joined August 2011
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At one of the tensest points in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, two Americans teamed up with a former GDR spy to stop nuclear war. They just needed to tell Putin.
On the cover of @FTMag this week, one of the most extraordinary stories I've ever reported:
ft.com/content/dcb57f30-bbfe…
North Korean labourers are being sent to work in factories across Russia’s agricultural and manufacturing heartlands, according to an investigation that sheds light on the deepening economic partnership between Moscow and Pyongyang.
ft.com/content/cd2d6011-3c25…
NEW: We got the list of “Business Deals” the US and Russia are discussing.
They include a potential return by US companies to the Russian oil market as part of wider talks to end Putin’s war, including JVs in Sakhalin and restoring the Druzhba pipeline:
ft.com/content/d703aaae-f607…
Also on the agenda:
– access for US airlines to Russian airspace for transit and overflights, which would reduce fuel costs
– US companies restart co-operation with Russia on producing and supplying titanium, a crucial component in civilian aircraft
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A lot of obstacles:
– ExxonMobil wants compensation for its seized 30% stake in Sakhalin-1 but hasn’t said it wants to go back
– Boeing suspended its Russian titanium joint venture and rejigged its supply chain
– The EU just banned importing Russian oil
ft.com/content/d703aaae-f607…
NEW: Vladimir Putin spent most of his call with the leaders of Finland and Norway ranting about Slavic history, underscoring Europe's tough task backing Ukraine in peace talks.
The planned 20-minute call dragged on for 90. A ceasefire barely came up:
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Finnish president Alexander Stubb and Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Støre spoke to Vladimir Putin as part of efforts to back Ukraine in upcoming peace talks with Russia, the first time Putin had spoken to any of Kyiv's European allies since last year:
ft.com/content/a384acd1-c90c…
In August, Donald Trump Jr went hunting in Mongolia with Umar Kremlev, the Russian businessman who paid for part of his wedding celebrations.
Kremlev has a criminal record – and close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s personal security service:
ft.com/content/f41fc704-c9e6…
max seddon retweeted
Regarding Russian conscripts, this is not the case. The overwhelming percentage of Russian forces fighting in this war are men well over 30 who accepted service contracts for money. They were not conscripted, or mobilized. For more on this topic: warontherocks.com/a-return-t…
max seddon retweeted
Must read from @FT weekend magazine
The Putin whisperers
as.ft.com/r/d6e24911-6b8d-4e…
Tucker Carlson thinks there’s a 50 per cent chance Putin will use a nuclear weapon in the next six months — “believe me, I talk to the Russians a lot”.
Great interview by @ahauslohner
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max seddon retweeted
Last month, I went up to Maine to have dinner with Tucker Carlson. Carlson had turned on Trump several months prior over Trump’s decision to launch a war with Iran, which Carlson saw as a betrayal of everything Trump stood for, and he believed it was the result of Trump succumbing to Israeli pressure. Criticism of the war and of the U.S. relationship with Israel has become a theme of Carlson’s popular podcasts this year, and I had watched it get under the skin of the president and the GOP, as they head nervously into a midterm election that they could lose because of the ripple effects of this war. I wanted to hear more about Carlson’s evolution—as he has criticized Israel and Trump, the controversial right wing commentator has also increasingly become a de facto defender of the Palestinians—and I wanted to know how he fits into America’s dynamic political landscape. Read the full piece here in FT’s weekend magazine:
ft.com/content/98417e57-fe7e…
The former CEO of a $25bn US gas venture has accused Russian energy giant Novatek of secretly controlling the project, triggering a mass resignation of company leadership over fears it is violating US sanctions.
A wild story with @JamieSmythF:
ft.com/content/e9cfbfbb-e65a…
max seddon retweeted
для тех, кому не хватило нового сезона «Дипломатки», написали о том, как сейчас живут в Москве дипломаты тн «недружественных» стран.
выплата зарплат рублями из чемодана, слежка, попытки вербовки сотрудников, изоляция — подобронее можно прочитать здесь!
bbc.com/russian/articles/cmd…
max seddon retweeted
If you find this interesting, here is a longer version. Pictured: pro-Kremlin activists holding signs saying “Traitors” as they greeted guests at the British ambassador’s reception. Guests were then questioned in police buses.
bbcrussian.substack.com/?utm…
max seddon retweeted
We often talk about diplomacy with Russia, but what about the diplomats themselves? I spoke to several ambassadors who have worked in Moscow since 2022 about the isolation, surveillance and extreme pressure that have become part of their daily lives
bbc.com/news/articles/cj75p1…
Prominent Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov told his viewers these developments showed the UK "as we knew it disappearing", adding: "It's wonderful. Whatever is bad for Britain is wonderful for us."
monitoring.bbc.co.uk/product…
“Expect listening devices, expect cameras in every single room of your house.”
Great new deep dive from @lizafokht on the rough lives of western diplomats in wartime Moscow:
bbc.com/news/articles/cj75p1…