London: Russia can no longer finance war alone
12:41 p.m.: According to British intelligence services, Russia is making preparations to receive financial aid from allied countries. According to the short report by the British Ministry of Defence, the Russian leadership probably sees the issue of government bonds in foreign currencies as a measure to plug holes in its own budget.
With this interpretation, the British refer to an announcement by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, who had spoken about plans to issue bonds in yuan, among other things. This is almost certainly an indication that Moscow is expecting money from countries it considers benevolent, according to the intelligence services.
In such a scenario, foreign investors could then compensate for deficits in the Russian budget in the future and thus indirectly help finance the war of aggression in Ukraine. However, it is unclear whether Moscow can successfully implement the issue of government bonds in foreign currencies, according to London sources.
Kiev accuses Russian children’s commissioner of new crimes
10.50 a.m.: At her most recent press conference, the Russian Children’s Commissioner Maria Lwova-Belowa admitted to another “kidnapping” of a Ukrainian youth, according to Kiev. “This story is the next public confession of war crimes – the kidnapping of Ukrainian children!” wrote the Human Rights Commissioner of the Ukrainian Parliament, Dmytro Lubinets, on Telegram on Wednesday night.
It is about a 17-year-old who was brought to a foster family in Russia from Russian-occupied Mariupol in the Donetsk region. “The child has a sister in Ukraine!” Lubinets emphasized. In addition, the boy was prevented from returning home to Ukraine independently. Having “actually” arrived in Belarus, the teenager was arrested and taken back to Russia.
Kiev has accused Moscow of “deporting” Ukrainian children since shortly after Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine began. Most recently, Kiev spoke of 19,514 affected children, 4,390 of whom were orphans. Moscow denies this and speaks of evacuations. The International Criminal Court in The Hague recently issued an arrest warrant for both Lvova-Belova and Russian President Vladimir Putin. They are accused of “kidnapping” children.
Prigozhin at the scene of the attack: was the Wagner boss the actual target?
9.50 a.m.: After the attack on the Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in a St. Petersburg café on April 2, speculation continued as to who was behind the attack – and why Tatarsky had to die. The head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has now traveled to the site of the attack and hinted that he could have been the real target of the attack.
