Aurimas Taurantas

Former LT ambassador to OSCE, UN in Vienna, Czechia, UK, Ireland, & CoE. Views expressed are my own. RT/follow doesn't mean endorsement.

[NEXTA @nexta_tv]

Russia has been spying on nuclear facilities in Europe by launching drones from its “shadow fleet”

Since the end of 2024, around 144 such incidents have been recorded in more than 10 countries, including the UK, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

The targets of the surveillance were strategic NATO facilities. The report comes from The Guardian, citing research by IISS.

Drones have been spotted near airbases and sites hosting nuclear weapons, including US and UK Air Force bases. None of the drones were successfully shot down.

Experts suggest the drones may have been launched directly from oil tankers belonging to the “shadow fleet” operating near military sites, as well as supported by other vessels used for signal relay and coordination.

The report describes a coordinated intelligence campaign that European defenses were not prepared for.

[Jürgen Nauditt 🇩🇪🇺🇦 @jurgen_nauditt]

Reuters reports the following attacks, destruction, and damage caused by Russian terrorists last night—targeting exclusively civilian sites:

Kindergartens/preschools, gas stations, a research institute, administrative buildings, and shops. Fires and damage to civilian energy and residential infrastructure.
A damaged clinic.
Over 20 residential buildings and apartment blocks.
Video footage of the fire at the Premier Palace Hotel in Kyiv, which was struck during a Russian attack overnight.

Civilian targets only.

[Visegrád 24 @visegrad24]

Russian shadow fleet oil tankers are now sailing closer to the German coast to stay far away from Swedish waters, as Sweden has boarded and seized several sanctioned Russian vessels in recent months.

The Russians are convinced that Germany doesn’t have the guts to seize a a Russian ships.

136 oil tankers have taken the new route since the start of March, even entering the twelve-mile zone of Germany’s territorial waters on 31 occasions.

🇸🇪🇷🇺🇩🇪

[SPRAVDI — Stratcom Centre @StratcomCentre]

All the hallmarks of a Russian hybrid operation now unfolding in Riga.

As reported by Nexta, a mass rally was announced in the Latvian capital for next Tuesday due to the decision to remove the Russian language from the signage, posters, programs, official website, and social media pages of the Chekhov Theatre.

At the same time, performances in Russian will continue to be shown.

According to various estimates, from 34% to 44% of Riga's residents are Russian-speaking, which creates a fertile ground for information manipulations around the topic of alleged "oppression".

Additional attention is drawn to the fact that in June, the Kremlin expanded Vladimir Putin's powers, allowing him to authorize the use of Russian troops to "protect" Russian citizens and "compatriots" abroad.

Such narratives have repeatedly been used by the Kremlin as a tool of hybrid pressure on neighboring states.

From Russians in the Baltics to LGBT: Kremlin propaganda operates according to the same template.

[Jürgen Nauditt 🇩🇪🇺🇦 @jurgen_nauditt]

Merz’s total failure on the Baltic Sea.

Sweden takes action—while Germany kowtows to Putin’s rust buckets!
What a pathetic, dangerous failure by Chancellor Friedrich Merz!

Since March 2026, Sweden has significantly tightened controls on the Russian shadow fleet, forcing the Russians to give the country a wide berth. Consequently, these dilapidated, uninsured, sanctions-busting Putin tankers simply shifted their routes closer to the German coast.

Sweden regularly warns German authorities.

And what does Merz’s government do? Nothing at all. No inspections. No seizures. The ships are simply allowed to sail on—31 tankers have even entered Germany’s 12-mile zone with impunity. This is not merely negligence; it is a direct violation of German sovereignty. These old scrap-heap tankers—which funnel billions into the war chest of the perverted dictator in Moscow—are ticking environmental time bombs. A single accident, and the Baltic Sea off Rügen, Usedom, or the Mecklenburg coast would be contaminated.
Then there is the terror threat: espionage, preparations for sabotage, and potential for blackmail.

During a visit to the Navy, Merz talks big about the "real threat posed by Russia"—yet simultaneously allows Putin’s shadow fleet to chug undisturbed through German territorial waters.
Sweden shows how it’s done.

Germany under Merz demonstrates only one thing: weakness, cowardice, and a total inability to defend its own interests and national security. Instead of acting decisively, the Chancellor allows Russia to bypass sanctions, exploit our waters, and make us look like a toothless tiger in the eyes of the world.

[toomas hendrik ilves @IlvesToomas]

Russia asks Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan to close their borders with Russia.

Mobilization coming.

Скоро наступит чёрный август.

По информаци�� от источника, Кремль провёл закрытые консультации с руководством нескольких соседних стран (в первую очередь Казахстан, в меньшей степени Грузия, возможно Азербайджан и другие) о временном закрытии въезда/выезда из РФ осенью 2026года.

Россия сама границы перекрывать не будет — официально всё останется открыто. Закрытие организуют именно соседние страны на своей стороне: «технические проблемы», «усиление контроля», «учения» или «санитарные меры». Таким образом, выехать из России станет крайне сложно или практически невозможно в нужный период.

Цель — обеспечение проведения какого-то крупного «события» внутри страны в условиях максимальной изоляции от внешнего мира и минимизации оттока населения/специалистов.

Пока это именно неподтверждённая информация, но несколько независимых друг от друга контактов в приграничных регионах начали намекать на «неприятные сюрпризы» в логистике уже с сентября-октября.

___

Запись #711, 01 июля 2026.

Дневник разведчик

[NEXTA @nexta_tv]

🇱🇻 Has Russia's hybrid operation in Latvia begun?

A mass rally in support of the Chekhov Theatre has been announced in Riga for next Tuesday. The protest was triggered by the authorities' decision to remove the Russian language from the theater's signs, posters, programs, official website, and social media pages. Russian-language performances, however, will continue.

According to various estimates, 34% to 44% of Riga's residents are Russian-speaking.

It's worth recalling that in June, the Kremlin expanded Vladimir Putin's powers, allowing him to authorize the use of Russian troops to "protect" Russian citizens and compatriots abroad under Russian law.

Just a coincidence?

[Jürgen Nauditt 🇩🇪🇺🇦 @jurgen_nauditt]

EU restricts steel exports from Ukraine; Russian semi-finished products unaffected. 🤮🤮🤮

Ukraine could lose up to 50% of its steel exports to the EU once the new EU market protection regulation enters into force on July 1, according to a market participant cited by NV.

Without a special arrangement for Ukraine, Ukrainian steel shipments to the EU could decline by 50% to 67%.

While Ukraine (a victim of the war and a candidate country) immediately feels the impact of strict quotas, Russia (the aggressor) is permitted to continue supplying semi-finished products and earning foreign currency.

[Roman Sheremeta 🇺🇸🇺🇦 @rshereme]

“Poles should be more careful about what they say regarding Ukraine and its history.” (Norman Davies)

I highly recommend reading Norman Davies’ latest interview.

Davies is not only one of the world’s foremost historians of Poland, but also the author of the monumental God’s Playground: A History of Poland. At a time when emotions are running high, he offers something that has become increasingly rare: historical nuance.

A few points that stood out to me:

“We should say this plainly: overall, the UPA was not a criminal organization.”

Davies does not deny the crimes committed in Volhynia. In fact, he says he has “no doubt” they fall within the spectrum of genocide. But he also insists on distinguishing between the crimes of specific factions and an entire national liberation movement.

He also warns that the current political escalation is a strategic mistake:

“This affair will cost Poland in the future… At precisely the moment when Ukraine is in its fifth year of war with Russia, the Polish president handed Russia a very useful pretext for propaganda.”

On President Zelenskyy’s decision to honor the “Heroes of the UPA,” Davies rejects the claim that this was about glorifying the Volhynia massacres:

“What the President of Ukraine did has nothing to do with Volhynia. Ninety percent of the UPA had nothing to do with Volhynia. Was President Zelenskyy supposed to refuse to honor ninety percent of the heroes of the UPA?”

Finally, Davies calls for perspective rather than political grandstanding:

“I believe Poles should be more careful about what they say regarding Ukraine and its history.”

Source: Onet News

[Igor Sushko @igorsushko]

🚨 The entire Poland-Ukraine fiasco was orchestrated by the Kremlin, and Nawrocki, the president of Poland, is their asset.
Polish investigative journalists traced the origins right back to the Russian state.
Nawrocki acted based on Kremlin's direction.
https://t.co/RoyhmZHN65

[Tymofiy Mylovanov @Mylovanov]

Russian forces massacred hundreds of civilians in Bucha during a month of occupation in 2022, leaving bodies in the streets and a mass grave by the church.

What happened there is why Ukrainians refuse to give up occupied land in any peace deal — Dominic Pino, Washington Post. 1/

[Giorgi Revishvili @revishvilig]

Thomas Nilsson, Chief of Swedish Military Intelligence:

The Russian regime is likely to remain a threat to its neighbors well after President Vladimir Putin’s time in office end. 1/8

[Jürgen Nauditt 🇩🇪🇺🇦 @jurgen_nauditt]

While Putin revels in his fantasies of victory, Russians assess the success of the “special military operation” with unprecedented precision:
“Another month or two, and we’ll be riding donkeys and horses. And China will take Siberia. Do you really think they’re our brothers?”

And what does “take” actually mean? It wouldn’t be a mere “taking”; rather, they would send in troops to protect the Chinese-speaking population—people living in territories that Russia had, after all, inadvertently ceded to someone or other—some drunkard—in the Treaty of Aigun.

https://t.co/XTvwGAU29F

[Tymofiy Mylovanov @Mylovanov]

Ex-Ukrainian FM, Kuleba on why Putin won't go nuclear: No guarantee Ukraine surrenders. If Ukraine doesn't break after a nuclear strike, it backfires catastrophically.

The rocket falls on Ukraine but the effect hits Russia. They used everything and Ukraine still didn't break. 1/

[Kate from Kharkiv @BohuslavskaKate]

APPLEBAUM: Putin doesn't want to end the war, he wants to win the war.

To him, winning means occupying Ukraine, changing government, turning Ukraine into Russia’s satellite.

It means there isn’t really a deal that can be made with Putin unless he's convinced that he can't win.

The only way to do that is through military pressure, sanctions, and similar measures. And Trump hasn't been willing to do that.

He's actually stopped aiding Ukraine. As a result, he has no leverage over Russia, and he's been unable to convince Russians to settle.

He could still send deadly weapons to Zelenskyy, that would do a lot of damage to Russia, but he chooses not to.

[Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 @IAPonomarenko]

You know, in the place where I grew up —on the Ukrainian Donbas — there has always been an old saying from the criminal underworld, which can probably be translated as: “Greed is what brings a sucker down.”

That saying has never been a more fitting description of the Russian war on Ukraine than it is today.

It applies to an awfully wide range of people, starting with Putin himself, who wanted a short sweet triumphant war and taking Kyiv in three days, only to end up watching Russia’s oil industry and military-industrial complex being dismantled in live on TV.

[NEXTA @nexta_tv]

🤡 Putin calls Ukrainian strikes on Russia "terrorist acts"
According to the dictator, Ukraine is "retreating along the entire front line," so it has "switched to open terrorist actions."
The man who started a full-scale war against his neighbor 4+ years ago is now upset about the consequences.
Classic Kremlin logic.

[Anna @AnnaDeMilanese]

APPLE LÖSCHT PUTINS STAATS-APP. KREML-PROPAGANDA VERLIERT BIS ZU 90% IHRER REICHWEITE. 📱🇷🇺

Am 3. Juni verschwand MAX — Russlands staatlich kontrollierter Pflicht-Messenger — aus dem Apple App Store.

Apple zitierte Sanktionen als Grund.

Über 20 Millionen Apple-Nutzer verloren damit den normalen Zugang. Push-Benachrichtigungen für Nachrichten und Anrufe funktionieren seither nicht mehr. (Pravda Deutschland)

Die Folge: Kremls Propagandamaschine kollabiert in Zahlen. RIA Nowosti: minus 55%. Medwedjews Kanal: minus 75%. Simonyjans Kanal: minus 64%. Solowjow: minus 50%. „Kremlin. News": minus 60%.
MAX war Russlands Antwort auf Telegram und WhatsApp — beide gesperrt, Nutzer zwangsumgeleitet auf die staatliche Überwachungs-App, die auf jedem in Russland verkauften Gerät vorinstalliert sein muss.

Der Plan: digitales Informationsmonopol.
Das Ergebnis: ein Messenger, den Apple mit einem Klick aus 20 Millionen Händen nimmt.

Wie viele Fronten kann Russland gleichzeitig verlieren?
👇
Quellen: https://t.co/yDJsaHvDW9, https://t.co/GCTqqQ2Qhf, Wikipedia/Max App, https://t.co/IX3gd9yojb (Juni 2026)

[NEXTA @nexta_tv]

The war is gradually returning to where it came from

NEXTA has noticed that since 2022, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and virtually all EU and NATO countries have advised their citizens to leave Ukraine because of Russian attacks.

Now, similar warnings are beginning to appear for Russia. The United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and a number of European countries are advising their citizens to avoid travel to Russia or exercise increased caution.

Following the drone attacks on Moscow, the Chinese Embassy in Russia also issued security recommendations.

Chinese citizens are advised to download offline maps in advance due to possible GPS disruptions and, in the event of conflicts with Russian law enforcement, to preserve evidence and protect their rights through legal means.

[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