Europe

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3478088

Archived version

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Four European intelligence officials told AP they’re worried the risk of serious injury or even death is rising as untrained saboteurs set fires near homes and businesses, plant explosives or build bombs. AP’s tracking shows 12 incidents of arson or serious sabotage last year compared with two in 2023 and none in 2022.

“When you start a campaign, it creates its own dynamic and gets more and more violent over time,” said one of the officials, who holds a senior position at a European intelligence agency. The official, like two others, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss security matters.

The Kremlin did not reply to a request for comment on the British case. Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov previously said the Kremlin has never been shown “any proofs” supporting accusations Russia is running a sabotage campaign and said “certainly we definitely reject any allegations.”

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When Russia’s disruption campaign started following the Ukraine invasion, vandalism – including defacing monuments or graffiti — was more common, said [one] senior European intelligence official.

“Over the last year, it has developed to arson and assassination,” the official said.

Other incidents linked to Russia with the potential to cause serious injury or death include a plot to put explosive devices on cargo planes – the packages ignited on the ground – and plots to set fire to shopping centers in Poland, Latvia and Lithuania.

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Shortly after the fire in London, [where this week a court found three men guilty of an arson in a March 2024 plot that prosecutors said was masterminded by Russia’s intelligence services] co-conspirators discussed what they would do next, according to messages shared with the court.

They talked about burning down London businesses owned by Evgeny Chichvarkin — a Russian tycoon who delivered supplies to Ukraine.

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In the messages, [one of the attackers] vacillated between saying they didn’t “need” any casualties and that if they “wanted to hurt someone,” they could put nails in a homemade explosive device. He noted there were homes above the wine shop.

That reflects a phenomenon the senior intelligence official noted: Middlemen sometimes suggest ideas — each one a “little better” and more dangerous.

While Russia’s intelligence services try to keep “strict operational control” — giving targets, deciding on devices and demanding recruits record the sabotage — sometimes “control does not hold,” said Lotta Hakala, a senior analyst at the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service.

That appears to be what happened in London.

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A judge in Madrid has ordered the closure of 10 tourist flats in a single building in the city centre after a landmark ruling that said “the illicit and unsanitary activities” taking place in them had inflicted psychological damage on a neighbouring family and violated their fundamental right to privacy.

The family, who have two children and who have not been named, said they had suffered stress, anxiety and sleep deprivation because of the loud, drunken, destructive and lewd behaviour of guests, which included vandalism, vomiting and having sex in the block’s communal areas.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/29506090 because the mods there killed conversation by turning off comments, cowards

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.07.08-151855/https://www.ft.com/content/52260769-3ca0-4bdc-8d16-a94803f32a55

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.07.08-153819/https://www.ft.com/content/45592d3f-c243-4108-9e9d-7c5ff0387d0e

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3465056

Archived version

TLDR:

• Aero-HIT, a Russian company, partnered with Chinese firms to build drones for the Russian military, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg.
• The documents show Aero-HIT has been working with Autel engineers since early 2023 to localize production of the Autel EVO Max 4T drone, which was originally designed for civilian use but has proven effective in combat.
• Aero-HIT claims its production plant in Khabarovsk will have the capacity to produce as many as 10,000 drones per month this year, and the company has grown rapidly into one of Russia's main drone suppliers for military operations in Ukraine.

Soon after President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale war on Ukraine, a little-known Russian company thousands of miles away hatched a plan to partner with Chinese firms and solve one of the most urgent challenges faced by the invading army — the need for combat drones that were radically reshaping the battlefield.

Documents reviewed by Bloomberg — including memos from the company, Aero-HIT, as well as correspondence with Russian government officials — offer unprecedented insight into how Moscow capitalized on its friendly ties with Beijing to skirt Western sanctions and acquire the know-how and capability to build drones to attack Ukraine. They lay out in detail a previously unreported case study of Russian-Chinese corporate collaboration on defense technology.

Taken together, the documents show how sensitive technologies can move from China to Russia even if President Xi Jinping's government says it's not supplying either side.

Aero-HIT, which has received Russian state funding, claims its production plant close to the airport in the far eastern city of Khabarovsk will have the capacity to turn out as many as 10,000 drones per month this year and it’s planning to expand production further into more advanced models. It has grown rapidly into one of Russia’s main drone suppliers for military operations in Kherson, the partly occupied region of Ukraine that Putin insists must be handed over fully to Moscow’s control as part of any deal to end the war. Its products include the Veles, a First-Person View (FPV) drone that allows pilots to monitor the battlefield in real time via a screen or virtual-reality goggles linked to the quadcopter’s camera. FPV drones have become a crucial weapon for both sides in the war, and multiple reports suggest Russia has deployed them to deliberately target and hunt down civilians in Kherson city that Ukraine successfully retook in late 2022.

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Last June, the US Treasury sanctioned Aero-HIT, stating that the Veles drones it makes “have been used by Russian forces based in Kherson against Ukrainian targets.” ...

The documents, which date from late 2022 through to June 2025, show the extent to which Moscow goes to mask its suppliers and deliver equipment to its military, often by using intermediaries that operate in other sectors like airline catering, agricultural supplies and seafood transportation services. In a letter dated June 16 this year, Aero-HIT wrote to the head of the department of interdisciplinary research and special projects at Moscow’s Ministry of Defense requesting financial support to expand its output by localizing the production of the Autel EVO Max 4T drone. Autel Robotics is one of China’s major manufacturers of drones and drone parts. It denies supplying or having any business relationships with Russian firms as of February 2022.

The letter, which contains financial plans for what would be a 7.1 billion ruble ($90 million) investment and a schedule of proposed deliverables over 28 months, states that the Russian company has been cooperating with Autel engineers since early 2023. The relationship between the two firms was briefly interrupted due to sanctions, but contacts with Autel personnel were re-established around the end of 2024 and the parties have been negotiating localizing production for the drone since May 2025, the letter states.

The proposal says the Autel EVO Max 4T was originally designed for civilian use but has proven highly effective in combat due to several key advantages such as a radio module resistant to electronic warfare. The sale price would be 650,000 rubles apiece, VAT included, and the plan foresees making as many as 30,000 units per year, according to details outlined in the proposal.

By localizing production of that model, Aero-HIT says it would be able to bolster high-tech drone manufacturing in Russia and gain the transfer of technologies and know-how, including firmware, debugging, production, and repair. Crucially, the project would integrate the drones with domestic IT systems and adapt them to frontline needs.

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The origins of Aero-HIT and its relationship with suppliers in China date back to the second half of 2022 — and have been crucial to Russia’s ability to manufacture Veles drones at scale, the documents show. In the fall of 2022, discussions began between a Russian company called Komax, representatives of the Harbin Comprehensive Bonded Zone in China, and Khabarovsk Airport — which lies around 20 miles from the Chinese border — to build a warehouse with special tax and customs arrangements to facilitate imports, as well as establish the production of drones using Chinese parts and technologies nearby. Russia’s business registry shows Komax is owned by an individual named Konstantin Basyuk. He is a former KGB operative, according to Russian media reports, and since 2022 a senator for Russian-occupied Kherson. Basyuk was sanctioned by the European Union in 2023. Komax also manages Khabarovsk airport.

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The relationship stepped up when, between April 28 and May 3, 2023, a Russian delegation traveled to China to meet with representatives of the Harbin Comprehensive Bonded Zone and companies linked to the Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), one of China’s top engineering universities and particularly prestigious in the fields of astronautics and defense-related technologies.

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The parties agreed to set up a joint venture in Khabarovsk and that a sample of 100 drone kits would be delivered to Russia. During the same trip, the Russian delegation also visited the headquarters of Autel Robotics and a drone factory in Shenzhen, according to a Russian memo.

Later that month, on May 22, Russian and Chinese representatives of the joint venture met with Putin’s special envoy for the Far East, Yury Trutnev, on the sidelines of the China-Russia Business Forum in Shanghai. Trutnev recognized the project as a priority and promised to help it receive permits from Russia’s customs service to allow for tax-free imports, another memo indicates. A readout on the website of the Russian government confirms that Trutnev met with Chinese executives “to discuss the development of cooperation between Russia and China in the Russian Far East.”

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In January 2024, Aero-HIT presented its business at a Kremlin event for small and medium enterprises in Khabarovsk organized as part of Russia’s presidential election campaign that was taking place at the time. Ahead of the event, the company sent the Kremlin an overview of its plans to produce drones for military purposes under the name Veles and pitched for support. The pitch made no mention of Chinese involvement and it is not known whether that support was received. However, other documents indicate that the company has business ties with the Russian Defense Ministry and military — and its product, packed with Chinese components, was making its way onto the battlefield to be deployed against Ukraine.

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Document suggests that it is likely that ... Aero-HIT was procuring Autel parts and components from China via intermediaries. One such company named in one of the documents is Renovatsio-Invest, a firm sanctioned by the US in June 2024 for procuring Chinese-manufactured drones on behalf of Aero-HIT. ... Bloomberg is unable to confirm whether the drones were delivered to the 76th Guards Air Assault Division in Pskov, but Veles drones — easy to produce at scale as long as Chinese components remain available — continue to rain down on Ukraine’s cities each day.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3462674

Police in Budapest announced Monday that they will not initiate any legal proceedings against participants of the Pride parade that occurred in the Hungarian capital at the end of June, despite the ceremony being prohibited.

The decision from the police came amid fears that those who took part could face fines and with organizers facing up to a year in prison.

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Pride parades are held across the globe in support of LGBTQ+ rights. Budapest police said in a statement that this year's organizers created public uncertainty about the event's legal status.

Among them was Budapest's liberal mayor, Gergely Karacsony, who declared Pride an official municipal event and argued this renders the government's ban irrelevant.

According to the law in Hungary, municipal and state occasions are exempt from public assembly decisions.

In a statement on Monday, Budapest police said that they would not initiate any legal proceedings as participants came to believe that the march was legal due to comments by organizers and due to the participation of the municipal government.

Karacsony has been under police investigation for four days, with organizers of prohibited gatherings under threat of up to one year in prison.

Right-wing populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbandescribed the event as "repulsive and shameful" and accused the EU of orchestrating the march.

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/3462555

Archived version

Russia’s growing ability to sustain weapons production despite Western sanctions is being driven by a flow of Chinese components and materials, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, the Ukrainian president’s commissioner for sanctions, told journalists on July 7.

Vlasiuk’s statement comes as Russia escalates its drone and missile strikes on Ukraine, while the U.S. continues to hold back on imposing tougher sanctions against Moscow and foreign-made components are still being found in Russian weapons used in the attacks.

Ukraine has previously documented that Chinese companies have contributed electronics and materials used in the production of these drones.

Just days earlier, after a large-scale Russian attack on July 4, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha shared on social media a photo of a component from a Shahed-136/Geran-2 combat drone discovered in Kyiv. According to Sybiha, the part was manufactured in China and delivered recently.

"The trend of China’s (role) is increasing," Vlasiuk told journalists.

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Archived version

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Rotterdam’s measures are part of a wave of war preparations across the continent. The EU is drawing up a rearmament plan of up to €800bn as it tries to become more self-sufficient in defence in response to demands from US President Donald Trump, and to deter Russian aggression as Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine grinds into its fourth year.

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There would also be amphibious military exercises several times annually.

The port has handled armaments before, with a surge during the Gulf war from 2003, but even at the height of the cold war, it did not have a dedicated quay.

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[Boudewijn Siemons, chief executive of the Port of Rotterdam Authority] called for European countries to stockpile more essential supplies, as they do with oil. The EU mandated that members keep a 90-day strategic supply of oil after the 1973 oil shock, when Arab countries throttled production to put pressure on the west during their conflict with Israel.

“We should do the same with things like copper, lithium, graphite and a number of these critical raw materials,” Siemons said.

“We have it in oil, we don’t have it for gas yet, and, of course, we have some gasfields in Europe that can cater for that, but we should look at a wider spectrum of strategic resilience, also in pharmaceuticals and where do you build it up? And how resilient are you as a society? And that’s becoming increasingly important as the world is becoming more and more volatile.”

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A unusual attack by bees in the French town of Aurillac has left 24 people injured, including three who were in critical condition but have since improved, according to local authorities.

Passersby were stung over a period of about 30 minutes on Sunday morning, according to the prefecture of Cantal, in south-central France. Firefighters and medical teams treated the victims, while police set up a security perimeter until the bees stopped their attack.

The three people in critical condition were evacuated to a local hospital. Pierre Mathonier, the mayor of Aurillac, told BFM TV on Monday that their condition had improved.

Britain is re-establishing diplomatic relations with Syria after the country’s years-long civil war, the foreign secretary, David Lammy, has announced during a visit to the capital, Damascus.

In those meetings, Lammy reiterated the importance of an “inclusive and representative political transition” in Syria and offered Britain’s continued support, the statement said.

EU report: North Macedonia, other Western Balkan countries ‘hard it’ by Russian and Chinese influence campaigns, coercive policies - implemented by Serbia and Hungary

The European Parliament rapporteur for North Macedonia, Thomas Waitz, expresses concerns about Serbian and Hungarian influence that attempt to strengthen the geopolitical interests of Russia and China. This, according to the MEP, is done through disinformation campaigns, hybrid threats, corruption, opaques financial flows and coercive investment practices.

TLDR:

• North Macedonia and other EU accession countries in the Western Balkans are being particularly hard hit by foreign interference and disinformation campaigns, … in this context, the risk of dependence [of North Macedonia] on China caused by asymmetrical loan agreements, as well as the recent loan from Hungary, which appears to be sourced from China.
• The report welcomes North Macedonia’s steady progress in assuring media freedom, recalls, however, the need for continued reforms to ensure an independent and resilient media landscape [and] emphasises the urgent need to counter malign foreign influence in the media landscape, including disinformation disseminated by actors linked to Russia and China
• North Macedonia remains a target of foreign malign influence operations, including efforts to fracture the country’s social fabric and weaponise anti-EU sentiment, notably via Serbian-language tabloids and media outlets, which function as regional amplifiers of Kremlin narratives and enjoy considerable influence, whereas North Macedonia expelled 13 Russian diplomats between 2018 and 2023 for activities incompatible with their diplomatic status, suggesting an ongoing presence of covert influence networks.
• China has sought to expand its influence through information control, investment diplomacy and coercive clauses in infrastructure loan agreements.

MEP Thomas Waitz also stresses that "North Macedonia has drafted an excellent and ambitious reform agenda – arguably one of the best in the region."

He adds that "its rigorous implementation would put the country back on track, especially in key areas such as fighting corruption, ensuring judicial independence, reforming public administration, and improving the situation of media freedom."

"However, some recent developments, including the country’s decision to abstain from the latest European resolution on Ukraine in the UN General Assembly while co-sponsoring the U.S. resolution in February 2025, have raised concerns among North Macedonia’s EU supporters about its long-term trajectory."

"I sincerely hope that all parties—North Macedonia’s authorities, EU institutions, and neighbouring countries—recognise the urgency of the moment and act decisively to move forward," Waitz says.

Archived version

When Chinese and Serbian officials signed a free trade agreement (FTA) on the sidelines of the 2023 Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, it was hailed as the dawn of a new era in bilateral relations. The document was framed not just as an economic pact but as a symbol of deepening strategic alignment between Belgrade and Beijing. Although the deal officially came into effect in July 2024, it had already gained prominence during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s high-profile visit to Serbia in May of that year. Now, nearly a year into its implementation, new data is shedding light on how both nations are being affected by the agreement – and what the early returns reveal about this evolving partnership.

TLDR:

• Bilateral trade between Serbia and China surged from $1.5 billion in 2014 to $6 billion by 2023. But behind this dramatic growth lies a more complex story – one marked by persistent imbalance. A decade ago, Serbia’s exports to China were negligible, totaling just $8.9 million in 2013, compared to $1.5 billion in imports from China. By 2023, Serbian exports had jumped to $1.23 billion – an impressive leap, yet still dwarfed by the $4.8 billion worth of Chinese goods entering the Serbian market.
• At the heart of the debate is Serbia’s heavy reliance on copper – an industry now largely controlled by the Chinese mining giant Zijin, which operates locally through its two subsidiaries, Zijin Copper and Zijin Mining. This dynamic has fueled concerns about the exploitative nature of Serbia’s trade relationship with Beijing. ... Analysts warn it may further entrench China’s dominant role in sectors like mining, without creating meaningful opportunities for Serbia’s domestic, export-oriented industries to grow or diversify.
• A closer look at Serbia’s top exports to China reveals a troubling pattern. Of the five leading export categories in 2023, three consisted of raw or minimally processed natural resources. Copper ores and concentrates dominated the list, accounting for $842 million in exports, followed by refined copper at $301 million. The third most exported product – processed wood – trailed significantly at $26 million. While the overall export volume is substantial, critics argue that the composition of these exports tells a more complicated story.
• Serbia’s export portfolio to China remains overwhelmingly concentrated: 93 percent of all exports – roughly $1.76 billion – consisted of copper and copper-related products, the vast majority of which are tied to Chinese-owned mining operations within Serbia.

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