The Insider in English

13/01/2025

Ukrainian forces capture Neapolitan pizza chef who fled to fight for Russia after sexually assaulting a minor in his home country.

Ukrainian forces have captured 51-year-old Gianni Cenni, an Italian volunteer fighting for the Russian army. The initial report came from the Italian publication Today.it and was later confirmed by the Telegram channel of Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces. According to a report by the newspaper Libero,...

10/01/2025

❗️US slaps sweeping sanctions on major Russian oil companies, shadow fleet, and key figures from The Insider’s investigations.
These include Denis Deryushkin, along with Latvian citizen Alexey Kholyavin. The two men are affiliated with the UAE-registered company Black Pearl Energy Trading LLC, and also with Conmar Maritime DMCC, an affiliate of Black Pearl. The U.S. Treasury’s explanation for the sanctions cites The Insider’s findings, which revealed that Black Pearl facilitated the sale of Russian oil to buyers at prices exceeding the Western price cap of $60 per barrel.

The U

08/01/2025

‼️ Afgantsy Redux: How Russian military intelligence used the Taliban to bleed U.S. forces at the end of America’s longest war

The GRU funded Afghan attacks on U.S. troops via a gemstone trading company. The Insider was able to ID the network's key players.

The GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency, spent years financing terrorist groups in Afghanistan to target U.S. and coalition forces. An investigation by The Insider has not only confirmed the existence of the program but also identified GRU officers responsible for its coordination. The Russ...

05/01/2025

In 2024, the third year of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin visited a record 11 countries.

Foreign figures also came to him: UN Secretary-General António Guterres traveled to Moscow, and in late December, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico met with Putin — then threatened to cut off his country’s electricity supplies to Ukraine. The Kremlin’s hopes now rest heavily on Donald Trump.
However, if peace negotiations fail, Putin seems destined to remain a global outcast, says Anton Barbashin, political analyst and editorial director of Riddle Russia.

In 2024, the third year of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin visited a record 11 countries. Foreign figures also came to him: UN Secretary-General António Guterres traveled to Moscow, and in late December, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico met with Putin — then threatened to...

31/12/2024

On December 24, Andrei Gilishev, a physician from Tyumen, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of having ties with the Freedom of Russia Legion. In his final statement, he said he did not consider the legion a “terrorist organization,” but rather a form of “armed opposition.”

Three Russian volunteers of the Freedom of Russia Legion told The Insider how the fighting force is organized, what they hope to achieve, and why they chose to take up arms on behalf of Ukraine rather than engage in peaceful protest back home.

On December 24, Andrei Gilishev, a physician from Tyumen, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of having ties with the Freedom of Russia Legion. In his final statement, he said he did not consider the legion a “terrorist organization,” but rather a form of “armed opposition.” Three...

28/12/2024

Prices in Russia are rising so quickly that even official statistics largely confirm the economic reality. In an attempt to curb inflation, the Russian Central Bank has repeatedly hiked the key interest rate, but this step alone has proven insufficient, as the amount of money in circulation is also increasing — fueling price growth and putting pressure on the ruble’s exchange rate. There are no signs that the Bank of Russia will take stricter control of the money supply, and other factors, particularly the Kremlin’s ongoing war in Ukraine, do nothing to foster economic stability. Inflation in December has been rising at rates that, if sustained, would amount to 29-30% annually, and although the Central Bank’s key rate currently stands at a record 21%, further increases are expected. Of course, some vested interests in Russia continue to benefit from the galloping price growth, but the longer the current situation persists, the more severe the eventual collapse will be.

Prices in Russia are rising so quickly that even official statistics largely confirm the economic reality. In an attempt to curb inflation, the Russian Central Bank has repeatedly hiked the key interest rate, but this step alone has proven insufficient, as the amount of money in circulation is also....

27/12/2024

❗️It’s raining men: How all-male voting “carousels” helped Georgian Dream hold on to power

Election analyst Roman Udot statistics revealing fraudulent voting in Georgia, estimating that a fair vote would have cost the ruling party its majority.

In Georgia's recent parliamentary elections, the decisive factor in the ruling Georgian Dream party’s victory was the use of “carousels”: a method of vote rigging in which voters cast their ballots at more than one polling station. In this case, those involved were predominantly male, allowing...

24/12/2024

Russia’s fall military draft is drawing to a close. The nearer the end, the harsher the methods employed by recruitment officers tasked with meeting quotas.
Law enforcement officers break into young men’s homes, dress in plain clothes to ambush them near buildings, and handcuff them in subway stations and shopping malls. Newly drafted conscripts are even apprehended during trips to other cities and dragged into police cars in the streets.

Conscripts and their families told The Insider how military enlistment officials, together with Russia’s National Guard (Rosgvardiya), tase prospective soldiers with electric shockers and threaten them with criminal charges in an effort to force them into uniform.

Russia’s fall military draft is drawing to a close. The nearer the end, the harsher the methods employed by recruitment officers tasked with meeting quotas. Law enforcement officers break into young men’s homes, dress in plain clothes to ambush them near buildings, and handcuff them in subway st...

21/12/2024

Russian disinfo network “Matryoshka” is migrating to Bluesky as exodus from X continues

A number of AI-altered clips spreading anti-Ukrainian narratives had circulated on X before appearing on the alternative Bluesky platform.

The Russian disinformation network “Matryoshka” has launched a new campaign on the Bluesky social network. Eliot Higgins, founder of the investigative journalism group Bellingcat, has been one of the first researchers to detect its activity. So far, four Russian-made fake videos have been identi...

20/12/2024

Assad state of affairs: Syria’s shattered, drug export-driven economy is placing its hopes in Turkey — and in the return of refugees

The new government in Damascus faces an uphill battle to secure foreign funding and get international sanctions lifted.

The French government has a new head: veteran centrist politician Francois Bayrou, who assumed office on Dec. 13 after an earlier no-confidence vote in parliament ended the three-month tenure of now-former Prime Minister Michel Barnier. The precipitating issue was the country’s draft “social” ...

19/12/2024

▪️Catastrophic oil spill from Russian tankers in the Black Sea.

On Dec. 15, 2024, two Russian oil tankers, Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239, were wrecked in the Kerch Strait during a severe storm, spilling 3,700 tons of fuel oil into the Black Sea.Environmental activists warn that Russia’s reliance on its “shadow fleet” of outdated, poorly maintained tankers to bypass sanctions is putting ecosystems at severe risk.Clean-up efforts involving thousands of volunteers are ongoing, but ecologists fear the region’s biodiversity will face lasting damage for years.

19/12/2024

▪️After a nearly three-week pause, U.S.-made ATACMS missiles were once again used against targets in internationally recognized Russian territory, with military facilities in the city of Taganrog being struck on Dec. 11. However, an initial assessment of ATACMS and Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG uses on Russian territory suggests their impact remains limited.
Many viable targets have been moved out of range, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine possess only a limited number of the missiles themselves.

At the same time, fears of an escalation from the Russian side have proven unfounded, with the Kremlin showing no concrete ability to retaliate against the strikes.

After a nearly three-week pause, U.S.-made ATACMS missiles were once again used against targets in internationally recognized Russian territory, with military facilities in the city of Taganrog being struck on Dec. 11. However, an initial assessment of ATACMS and Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG uses on Russia...

14/12/2024

Fake AI versions of world-renowned academics are spreading claims that Ukraine should surrender to Russia

A new campaign uncovered by is cloning the voices of Cambridge and Princeton professors to circulate pro-Russian disinformation.

The Russian disinformation network Matryoshka has launched a new campaign aimed at convincing social media users that scholars and professors from top global universities are calling for the West to lift sanctions against Russia. In the videos, well-known academics can purportedly be heard urging Uk...

13/12/2024

💡Fake AI versions of world-renowned academics are spreading claims that Ukraine should surrender to Russia.

The Russian disinformation network Matryoshka has launched a new campaign aimed at convincing social media users that scholars and professors from top global universities are calling for the West to lift sanctions against Russia. In the videos, well-known academics can purportedly be heard urging Uk...

11/12/2024

✔️ The new boss in Syria: Is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s evolution away from jihad for real?

What began as a radical jihadist movement now claims to champion the rights of women and religious minorities.
But despite these proclamations, the group's future direction remains unclear. Its leader, Abu Mohammad al-Julani, has offered little insight into potential plans for holding elections or building political institutions in Syria, and he has yet to address the issue of his personal grievances against Israel.

The organization currently known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which in the past has been both a key faction in al-Qaeda and a fierce opponent of ISIS, gained prominence last week as the driving force behind Syria's latest revolutionary events. In recent years, the group has undergone numerous transforma...

07/12/2024

✔️Weekly Russia-Ukraine war summary: Fighting near Pokrovsk, Russian forces encircling Kurakhove, Kherson becomes training ground for UAVs

The Insider's round-up of the main events on the front lines from Nov. 29 to Dec. 6.

The Russian Armed Forces have been set back by a ban on the use of personal vehicles at the front (1, 2, 3, 4) and a shrinking advantage in the weight of artillery fire over the AFU

07/12/2024

On Nov. 28, Ukrainian military scouts destroyed a rare Russian Podlet radar station in occupied Crimea.
This was just one of many operations carried out behind enemy lines by Ukraine's military intelligence agency, the HUR. Three active Ukrainian scouts spoke with The Insider to shed light on how, unbeknownst to the enemy, the Armed Forces of Ukraine prepared their incursion into Russia's Kursk Region. They also described what it’s like to do battle against Ramzan Kadyrov's Chechen troops and the late Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenaries, and explained the role of scouts in Ukraine's counteroffensive operations.

On Nov. 28, Ukrainian military scouts destroyed a rare Russian Podlet radar station in occupied Crimea. This was just one of many operations carried out behind enemy lines by Ukraine's military intelligence agency, the HUR. Three active Ukrainian scouts spoke with The Insider to shed light on how, u...