peter pomerantsev

Senior Fellow, Agora Institute Johns Hopkins Uni Author: How to Win an Information War; This is Not Propaganda ; Nothing is True and Everything is Possible

[Yaroslav Trofimov @yarotrof]

Russian-occupied Crimea is now officially out of fuel. As of this morning, gas stations are only allowed to refuel vital-services government vehicles.
The recent campaign of Ukrainian strikes on ferry crossings, bridges, fuel depots and roads to Crimea has turned into a de-facto blockade.

[Tymofiy Mylovanov @Mylovanov]

Ukraine's Defense Minister Fedorov: "Ukraine aims to enter the world’s top 3 by 2030 in integrating AI into public administration and defense tech.

Every company must become an AI company and every government - an AI government"

Ukraine is building its own LLM, Siaivo - EP.

1/

[Frank Luntz @FrankLuntz]

Brilliant announcement by Ukraine’s minister of defense.

[Dalibor Roháč 🇺🇦 @DaliborRohac]

A $1B Russian flagship cruiser, sunk by a missile Ukraine built itself.
That's not just a war story. It's the future of naval power — and a warning to anyone who thinks they can choke the world's shipping lanes.
My latest piece in @EngelsbergIdeas with @oleksiireznikov 🧵/1

[Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum]

Ukrainian drone strikes on the Moscow refinery didn't happen by accident. That billowing black smoke is the result of years of planning, plus European money. I wrote about Ukraine's long-range drone project last September:
https://t.co/IglpzzgIPS

[Mykhailo Fedorov @FedorovMykhailo]

Ukraine launches TrophyLab: we are opening access to captured Russian weapon technologies for our global partners. Every missile, drone, and vehicle seized on the battlefield is now a source of knowledge for the free world.

Through this secure platform, allied governments, labs, and defense tech manufacturers gain access to deep technical data, reports, and vulnerabilities. Users can also request physical equipment for testing, significantly shortening the development cycle for countermeasures.

What was meant to be the enemy's secret advantage is being dismantled to defend democracy. Join the platform:
🔗 https://t.co/xoeCfXsIy3

[Michael McFaul @McFaul]

Wow. The first time I saw this video I thought it was AI.

Ukraine is winning. Russia is losing.

[Tatiana Stanovaya @Stanovaya]

If you haven’t read Alexandra Prokopenko @amenka new paper, I strongly recommend making time for it. In my view, it is one of the most consequential studies of Russia’s wartime elite to appear since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
It is a historically significant study of how the Russian ruling class has evolved under the pressure of war, repression, sanctions, and prolonged confrontation with the West. Drawing on exceptional evidence, unique factual material, and a remarkably informed view from within the system, Alexandra offers insights that are simply unavailable elsewhere.
Anyone interested in contemporary Russia should read it.
https://t.co/JLEOQPxVWs

[Jay Nordlinger @jaynordlinger]

I know people who hate his guts -- people who live in a peaceful, free, and democratic country. I think I know why. He makes them "hold their manhoods cheap," to use Shakespeare language. They can barely tie his shoes, and they, somewhere, know it.

[Rebeccah Heinrichs @RLHeinrichs]

Great WSJ essay by @peterrough and Tom Duesterberg.

“The moment is ripe for a pressure campaign that pushes the Russian economy toward exhaustion and forces Mr. Putin into a meaningful peace.”

[peter pomerantsev @peterpomeranzev]

Blast from the past!

[Michael Weiss @michaeldweiss]

Buried in the BBC writeup of the Russian-sponsored arson attack on Keir Starmer's home is the following nugget. The attackers' handler, Evgeny Lyukshin, the son of a Russian diplomat, studied at Moscow State University's diplomatic academy, which has a Rybar-run media school. Ryber is a sanctioned organization which seeks "to sow discord, promote social division, stoke partisan and racial discord, and encourage hate and violence," according to the U.S. government.

Tutors at the media school's program on "information warfare" include SVR illegal Colonel Andrey Berzukov, or "Donald Heathfield," as he was known in Cambridge, Massachusetts, before the FBI arrested him as part of Operation Ghost Stories.

Another tutor is Sergey Nalobin, formerly the first secretary in the political section of the Russian Embassy in the UK, but so much more than that, too. Nalobin's father's was a general in the KGB who then went on to serve as Alexander Litvinenko's boss in the economic crimes division of the FSB. Nalobin's brother was also FSB. So, well... yeah.

When he was stationed in London, Nalobin (seen at right with Boris Johnson) helped found a pro-Russian front group called Conservative Friends of Russia, to which @lukeharding1968 and I devoted some attention fifteen years ago. Sir Malcolm Rifkind was the honorary president at one point before he cottoned onto what he'd signed up for and quit.

Nalobin's diplomatic credentials expired and he was subsequently posted to Tallinn. (My informed guess is the Estonians let him in to keep an eye on him.)

Looks like Sergey's time in the West wasn't wasted, however.

He's now helping to instruct a bright young generation of Russian operatives how to foment race war and remotely recruit gig saboteurs from an elite institution of higher learning in Moscow. A whole gaggle of Tories can say they knew him when...
https://t.co/spYguiw4QC

[Michael Weiss @michaeldweiss]

“Tulsi Gabbard and her staff promulgated Russian intelligence products as American work.”

Yes, and she did this before joining ODNI and again on her way out the door, which should probably tell you where she’ll wind up next. Senators who voted to confirm her should think on their sins.

[Peter Kreko @peterkreko]

Russia threw the kitchen sink at Hungary’s election: bots, deepfakes, “Maidan” paranoia, anti-Ukraine hysteria, and the full Kremlin-friendly propaganda machine. GRU, SVR, the Social Design Agency - all tried to interfere. Pro-Fidesz propaganda amplified anti-Ukraine hysteria.

And still failed.

The lesson is: Russia is dangerous - but not omnipotent. The myth of an all-powerful Kremlin is itself Russian disinformation.

My comments to @Telexhu @stuthnagyniki
#authoritarianinflation

https://t.co/wzL39jwFPN

[Christiane Amanpour @amanpour]

In Kyiv, a new opera is tackling one of the most traumatising aspects of Russia’s invasion: the abduction of Ukrainian children. In the new work called “Mothers of Kherson”, music tries to give voice to that unspeakable pain, here’s my report:

[Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum]

There is no natural liberal world order, and there are no rules without someone to enforce them. Unless democracies defend themselves together, the forces of autocracy will destroy them.
My essay for the May print edition of @TheAtlantic https://t.co/efWUZvHXXx

[Michael Weiss @michaeldweiss]

Good stuff from @cjcmichel. Armenia's election flew under the radar here, but it was no small thing given what Moscow put into making it go the other way.

"Other countries in Russia’s “near abroad” are charting their own paths. In Moldova, the Russian-occupied region of Transnistria is suffering economic collapse and growing more supportive of reintegration with the rest of the country. In Armenia, the national government is moving along a pro-Western path, recently hosting its first bilateral summit with the European Union. Even after Mr. Putin threatened Yerevan with a 'Ukrainian scenario,' the government there didn’t waver—a far cry from the behavior of a Russian vassal." https://t.co/oiMqowZVw6

[Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum]

Amazing: KPMG wrote a report describing the successful use of AI by businesses. But the case studies turned out to be AI hallucinations.
https://t.co/s3LE8vedNi

[Christopher Miller @ChristopherJM]

Ukraine's Fire Point company is racing to build a cheaper alternative to Patriot missiles for air defense against Russia's ballistic missiles. First tests have been "pretty sucessful." European and Ukrainian officials say it has had discussions with Germany’s Hensoldt and Thales for radar, Italy’s Leonardo for tracking and target acquisition radar, and Norway’s Kongsberg for command and control technology.
w/ @charles_clover @fabrice_deprez @FT
https://t.co/WMGsKQp4Gu

[Vasyl Myroshnychenko @AmbVasyl]

Russia’s war machine is under growing strain.

In my latest op-ed in The Australian, I argue that Ukraine’s resilience, innovation and long-range drone campaign are changing the dynamics of the war. By striking Russia’s oil infrastructure—the financial lifeblood of the Kremlin’s aggression—Ukraine is demonstrating that technological ingenuity can offset a larger adversary’s advantages. 

For the first time in many months, Ukraine is regaining the initiative in key areas while Russia faces mounting economic and military pressures. The war is far from over, but the narrative of inevitable Russian success is increasingly disconnected from reality. 

Australia has every reason to pay attention. The lessons emerging from Ukraine—from drone warfare to national resilience—will shape the future of security far beyond Europe. 

Read my article in @australian today. 
https://t.co/kDqWkamp49

[Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum]

The details about the Tate brothers in this @newyorker profile are as sick as anything you will ever read. They are rapists, pornographers, traffickers - and heroes to the "conservative" MAGA movement
https://t.co/Zv2l52b9Id