Reading view

Russia's plan to advertise on rockets and spacecraft takes off

It's difficult to know the true state of the Russian economy, both because the country's financial reporting is sparse and because official figures are unreliable. But things probably aren't great.

This week, Sweden's minister of foreign affairs, Maria Malmer Stenergard, shared her country's assessment that the Russian economy has likely contracted over the last five years amid the war in Ukraine. Inflation is also high, and international sanctions have cost Russia $450 billion since the onset of the war in February 2022. Russia's economy is currently smaller than that of Texas, Stenergard said.

By most measures, then, the economy is not in tip-top shape. Moreover, the war is draining a large amount of the country's financial resources, with defense spending reaching a post-Soviet record of about 7 percent of government spending.

Read full article

Comments

© Roscosmos

  •  

Why $1bn in Balkans energy contracts are going to an obscure company connected to Donald Trump

Guardian investigation shows how US presidency blurs line between policy and enrichment of American ruling family and those around it

On a graffitied Sarajevo backstreet, a path leads past an overgrown patch of garden to a white door. Beyond is the registered office of a company that is on the brink of winning contracts worth more than $1bn.

AAFS Infrastructure and Energy is close to securing a concession to build and operate a pipeline across the Balkans to allow fossil gas shipped from the US to replace supplies that come from Russia. “This could be the most important infrastructure project ever in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” says one of the country’s top officials, who, like others, asks to remain anonymous to discuss sensitive negotiations.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

  •  

Former Ukraine official calls for stricter restrictions on Russian use of Starlink

Kateryna Chernohorenko, previously Ukraine’s deputy minister of defense, during her fireside chat with Space Exchange Global’s Duncan McKenize on May 26. Credit: SpaceNews

AMSTERDAM – A former senior Ukrainian defense official called on SpaceX to tighten controls on Starlink terminals that she said are reaching Russian forces through third-party countries or intermediaries. Kateryna […]

The post Former Ukraine official calls for stricter restrictions on Russian use of Starlink appeared first on SpaceNews.

  •  
❌