World News

12:29 13.06.2025

St. Petersburg Economic Forum to Feature U.S.-Russia Business Panel Текст: Next week’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) will feature a discussion panel on Russia-U.S. business relations, organizerssaidTuesday. “Business continues to find ways to interact even in conditions of limited political dialogue,” said Anton Kobyakov, a Kremlin adviser and head of the SPIEF 2025 organizing committee. The annual economic forum is set to take place between June 18 and 21. SPIEFdescribesthe June 19 Russia-U.S. discussion panel as a platform to “overcome barriers” and explore cooperation in investment, energy, technology and infrastructure. “Special attention is given to finding effective mechanisms for implementing promising projects, as well as exchanging experience and best practices that could serve as a foundation for sustainable economic growth,” the SPIEF website says. Kobyakov called the forum a “unique platform for pragmatic and open communication where Russian and U.S. business circles can discuss current challenges and build new areas of cooperation.” Robert Agee, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia (AmCham Russia), willmoderatethe panel discussion, according to the forum’s website. Agee and Kobyakovdiscussedthe possibility of U.S. businesses participating in SPIEF 2025 at a meeting in April. Scheduled guests at the Russia-U.S. panel include American musician and Soyuz Microphones co-founder David Arthur Brown, blockchain fintech executive Daniel Wolfe and Sibur Holdings CFO Peter Lloyd O’Brien. The Kremlin previously claimed that American and European companies remain interested in the annual economic forum despite sanctions and the war in Ukraine, but many prefer to keep their involvement out of the public eye. Agee estimated that roughly 150 U.S. companies have left Russia since the 2022 invasion, while about 150continueto operate in the country. President Vladimir Putin is expected to deliver his annual keynote address on SPIEF 2025’s final day, June 21. SPIEF is organized by the state-backed Roscongress Foundation.

Next week’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) will feature a discussion panel on Russia-U.S. business relations, organizerssaidTuesday. “Business continues...

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10:28 13.06.2025

‘The Fight for Souls and Minds’: Alex Jones, George Galloway, Errol Musk and More Attend Far-Right Forum of the Future in Moscow Текст: Leading Western far-right personalities have descended on Moscow for the “Forum of the Future,” atwo-day eventaimed at broadcasting Russia’s state ideology and an ultra-conservative, neo-imperialist vision for its future to audiences abroad. Sessions focused on topics ranging from “The Multipolar World of the 21st Century” and “Broadcasting Values to Generation Beta Through Content,” to “Harmonious Balance 2050. A Date with the Future. A Woman’s View,” “Greater Eurasia 2050” and “Ideology and Traditional Values.” Hosted by the Tsargrad Institute, the event’s speakers include Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, right-wing influencer Jackson Hinkle, American economist Jeffrey Sachs, British politician George Galloway and Elon Musk’s father Errol Musk. The Tsargrad Institute, which was founded by the magnate Konstantin Malofeyev and directed by ideologue Alexander Dugin,billsitself as a think tank for conservative policy prescriptions, blending right-wing political and Orthodox thought. ‘Only under the conditions of autocracy’ The forum coincides with the Tsargrad Institute’sreporton its vision for Russia in 2050, which lays out several extreme conservative policy suggestions to set Russia on a course more in line with its worldview. The report opens by claiming that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, marked “a new era of regional world order.” “By launching the Special Military Operation and openly challenging the hegemony of the West, Russia has entered the struggle not only for its sovereignty, but also for the right of every country to its own development, culture and religion,” it continues. The report explicitly states that Russia must be an autocracy if it is to succeed, using its interpretation of the reigns of Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Josef Stalin and other Russian and Soviet leaders to justify this assertion. The Russian idea The Tsargrad Insitute’s report states that Russia is a distinct civilization that has been entrusted by God with a spiritual and historical mission. “The idea of a nation is not what it thinks of itself in time, but what God thinks of it in eternity,” the report says, invoking 19th-century Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov. It invokes the tsarist-era concept of Russia as the “Third Rome” — which is used today to justify Moscow’s geopolitical aspirations for control of the “Russian World” — and calls for the “collection of historically Russian lands,” of which Ukraine is included. The report says that Russia must deconstruct the “artificially created ‘Ukrainian nation’,” and restore its historical memory as an integral part of Russian civilization. A higher purpose “Russian women should see the main purpose of their lives and the highest manifestation of their service in bearing and raising children,” the report says on family policy. In Tsargrad’s ideal future, 85% of children will be born to mothers under the age of 23, the divorce rate is under 10%, less than 3% of children are born outside of wedlock and abortion has been almost completely eliminated. As a part of the policy framework to encourage early childbirth, the report states that women should be exempt from childbirth if they have three or more children. The report cites the example of the Russian Empire, where, according to it, a woman’s main occupation was “marriage, motherhood and housework.” Musk, Galloway, Lavrov and the rest One of the main events on Monday was a panel discussion called “The Multipolar World in the 21st Century.” The panel included speakers like Lavrov, Galloway, Russian state TV presenter Dmitry Symes, former CIA and U.S. State Department analyst Larry Johnson and others. In his address to the assembly ahead of Errol Musk’s speech, MalofeyevthankedElon Musk for demonstrating to the world that “we can have a common future” based on “what is happening in space.” Malofeyev then ticked through several of Moscow’s typical anti-Western talking points: that the war in Ukraine would end with “a new Yalta” between Moscow and Washington; that the Russian and American peoples had a common future thanks to Donald Trump’s election, that Trump’s re-election prevented a world war; and that only the “corrupt” U.S. Democratic Party benefited from a confrontation between the two countries. Errol Musk, who has previouslyvoicedadmiration for Putin, heapedpraiseon Moscow. “Moscow is like Rome to me, the most beautiful city,” the elder Musk said. “I am extremely surprised that Russia is portrayed as an enemy, even though it is trying to be part of the European community. It is being denied this. Russia saved Europe twice — from Napoleon and from Hitler. How can you continue to paint Russia in a negative light? Musk also played down his son’s fallout with the U.S. president, saying that it stemmed from “fundamental disagreements between him and certain White House officials over federal spending.” The forum is set to continue on Tuesday with talks from Jackson Hinkle, George Galloway and Alex Jones.

Leading Western far-right personalities have descended on Moscow for the “Forum of the Future,” atwo-day eventaimed at broadcasting Russia’s state...

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08:26 13.06.2025

EU Approves New Tariffs on Russian Fertilizer Imports Текст: EU countries on Thursday gave final approval to new tariffs on fertilizer imports from Russia, a move aimed at cutting off revenue that could support Moscow’s war in Ukraine, despite concerns from European farmers. Justice ministers from the EU’s 27 member states signed off on the measure during a meeting in Luxembourg. The regulation, which also targets additional agricultural products and includes Russia’s ally Belarus, will take effect next month. “These measures increase our economic security by reducing dependencies on Russia,” said Michal Baranowski, Poland’s undersecretary of state for trade. “We are further reducing Russia’s export revenues and therefore its ability to finance its brutal war. This is united Europe at its best.” The new tariffs apply to nitrogen-based fertilizers and other farm goods not yet covered by earlier sanctions that went into effect last year. The levies will increase gradually until 2028, at which point they are expected to make Russian imports commercially unviable. European farming groups had opposed the move, warning it could raise fertilizer prices amid continued reliance on Russian supplies.

EU countries on Thursday gave final approval to new tariffs on fertilizer imports from Russia, a move aimed at cutting...

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