long time Russia reporter. ex Daily Telegraph moscow bureau, ex Banker/Euromoney contributing editor, 15 yrs freelance. founder & editor business new europe
Berlin, Germany
Joined July 2014
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BenAris retweeted
Voters in Switzerland will decide in a referendum this weekend whether to enshrine a stricter definition of the country's centuries-old neutrality into the constitution.
A “yes” vote would effectively prevent Bern from imposing sanctions on Russia.
politico.eu/article/swiss-vo…
BenAris retweeted
Russia launches thousands of Shaheds from “drone ports”: bases with runways, catapults, garages, fuel, warhead shelters, generators, EW and air defense.
They are hard to destroy. Russia spreads them out, buries key stores and rebuilds fast, Oboronka. 1/
BenAris retweeted
Latvia wants to buy low-cost American cruise missiles from Anduril, its president said after touring the company.
defence-blog.com/latvia-move…
BenAris retweeted
Russian Ministry of Defense:
Overnight—from 8:00 PM Moscow time on September 25 to 8:00 AM Moscow time on September 26—air defense forces intercepted and destroyed 645 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles over the territories of the Astrakhan, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kaluga, Kursk, Oryol, Rostov, Ryazan, and Tula regions, the Moscow region, Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai, and the Republic of Crimea, as well as over the waters of the Black and Azov Seas.
BenAris retweeted
AfD has submitted a Bundestag resolution to stop military and financial support for Ukraine and block EU membership.
It also wants to scrap sanctions as harmful to Germany and to get preferential access to Ukrainian rare earths, gas and other assets for loans already issued.
CDU, Greens and SPD accused AfD of pushing Russian propaganda and backing Putin. Wagner from the Greens called their speech a Kremlin-written lecture.
afdbundestag.de/keine-eu-mit…
BenAris retweeted
India is facing a coal supply crunch as dry El Nino weather curbs hydro power 🇮🇳⚠️
Coal power generation jumped this month, depleting inventories to a three year low. About 40% of the 196 plants surveyed by the government had critical low stockpiles
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
BenAris retweeted
As soon as elections have passed,
Russian Ministry of Economic Development has revised down their baseline forecast for 2027 from 2% to 0.2%
The Bank of Russia has likewise lowered its 2026 GDP growth forecast to 0−1%, from 0.5−1.5%
What comes next?
ridl.io/the-hangover/
BenAris retweeted
Des femmes en Ukraine 🇺🇦 ont commencé à recevoir massivement des convocations des centres de recrutement.
Récemment, il a été révélé que l'Ukraine avait acheté 150 000 vestes militaires pour femmes.
✍️ Jusqu'au dernier ̶U̶k̶r̶a̶i̶n̶i̶e̶n̶ Ukrainienne
BenAris retweeted
CHART OF THE DAY: Saudi oil exports -- so far in September, highest since the start of the war.
BenAris retweeted
There is fierce "skirmish" infantry fighting ongoing across the Lyman-Sloviansk front, mostly within the grey zone.
The AFU likely launched a clearing operation to relieve pressure on Mykolaivka, whose fall and consolidation by formed russian units would have made the defense of Sloviansk more complicated going forward.
This entire operation #Vivaldi appears to be Ukraine's 2026 equivalent of Kursk in 2024, and the timing is similar as well. The question remains, how will it turn out?
I will wait for the fog of war to clear before analyzing the situation in details.
#UkraineRussiaWar
Russian forces, as we speak, are carrying out emergency counterattacks trying to reverse the deteriorating situation south of the Siverskyy Donets river, east of Mykolaivka.
The situation is extremely confusing and complex. The Russian assault groups scrambled to this area have likely reentered Starodubivka and approached Mykolaivka again.
Russian infiltrators are also trying to get behind Ukrainian lines that they believe to be poorly consolidated east of Lyman.
Things are about to get extremely intriguing....
BenAris retweeted
Zelensky held talks with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly earlier in the week.
themoscowtimes.com/2026/09/2…
BenAris retweeted
Flight routes of the two Russian jet-powered glide-bombs and the Su-34 which launched them.
They impacted the town of Novooleksandrivka, just south of Dnipro.
BenAris retweeted
1/ What is the fate of Russian soldiers who infiltrate Ukrainian-held territory, either alone or in groups of two or three? A frank commentary from a frontline Russian warblogger says they are usually killed, captured, or desert to save their lives. ⬇️
Putin’s party wins a record number of seats in the State Duma
United Russia won 349 out of 450 seats — the party’s best result in its history. In addition, one in three deputies in the new State Duma is linked to the war.
According to the Central Election Commission, 46 war participants became deputies. In total, 148 future deputies are linked to the invasion of Ukraine.
They include not only direct participants in combat, but also Z-patriots who supply the army, engage in military propaganda, treat the wounded, or build military infrastructure.
Among the new deputies are commanders whom Ukrainian authorities accuse of war crimes.
In particular, General Alexander Lapin, Adam Delimkhanov, Alexander Borodai, and Vladislav Golovin were elected to the State Duma.
BenAris retweeted
Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation says Russian federal election chief Ella Pamfilova received a 237-sq-meter (2550-sq-ft) Moscow apartment from the state for free, then registered the property — valued at 200M rubles ($2.4M) — to her granddaughter. youtu.be/Mzo-bDmL70o
BenAris retweeted
Ukraine's steel industry is nearing collapse — and calling for help from abroad
Ukraine’s largest steel company, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, said on Sept. 25 that it cannot restart steel production amid a surge in Russian strikes on factories, as the embattled sector calls for more domestic and international support to prevent its total collapse.
kyivindependent.com/ukraines…
BenAris retweeted
❗️Ukrainian long-range drones struck the Ilsky Oil Refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai, with fires reported at the facility. The refinery has six primary refining units and capacity of roughly 6.6 million tons of crude per year, producing diesel, gasoline, fuel oil and bitumen. Its products support Russian military logistics in the Southern Military District and occupied Ukrainian territories. The facility has been repeatedly targeted during the war. #Russia
BenAris retweeted
⚡️ EU defense fund unblocked, and with it new support for Ukraine.
"That’s good news for Ukraine and bad news for Russia," said the EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas, after EU countries agreed on how to unblock new money for Ukraine.
kyivindependent.com/eu-defen…
Putin claimed Russia had been ready to resume talks with Kyiv after the elections, but accused Ukraine of attempting to strike Moscow and targeting polling stations.
He also claimed Russia had repaired damage from Ukrainian attacks and alleged that “aggressive circles” in Europe wanted to use Ukraine as cannon fodder to curb Russia’s development.
BenAris retweeted
Europe's rearmament is still too slow to meet its 2030 defense-readiness goal, the EU's defense agency warns. Meanwhile, Russia has intensified strikes on Ukrainian data centers, temporarily knocking about 100,000 Kyiv-area homes offline. meduza.io/en/feature/2026/09…
