NewzIntel.com

Category: Russian Federation

  • MIL-OSI Russia: The audio guide to the Moskino cinema park was voiced by actor Sergei Burunov

    MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –

    The audio guide in the Moskino cinema park was voiced by actor Sergei Burunov. It is his voice that speaks for the heroes of many foreign films, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt.

    “The Moskino Cinema Park amazes with its scale, it’s great to become part of such a grand project. The magic of cinema has always attracted thousands of people, but it must be admitted that this is a rather isolated world. I like the idea of lifting the veil of secrecy and showing everyone what is on the other side of the camera,” noted Sergey Burunov.

    Muscovites and guests of the capital will be able to use an audio guide and learn about unique natural sites that recreate different cities and historical eras. Participants of the “Film Walk” project, voiced by Sergei Burunov, will visit the sites “County Town”, “Pitersky Bar”, “Cowboy Town”, “Streets of Berlin”, “Moscow of the 40s”, “Cathedral Square”. Each of them can be visited depending on the filming schedule. Guests will learn about the secrets of creating scenery, the intricacies of film production in the Moskino cinema park and projects that have already been implemented here.

    The excursions will be held all year round according to the schedule. The duration of each is one hour and 30 minutes, the meeting place is the educational center. The walk will be interesting for children over 10 years old and adults. The service is paid, its price includes entrance to the cinema park. Detailed information can be found on the film park website.

     

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    http://vvv.mos.ru/nevs/item/145272073/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Moscow manufacturers have almost doubled their production volumes of high-tech products

    MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –

    Today, there are about 370 enterprises in Moscow engaged in the production of computers, optics and electronics. Thanks to the active support of the city, they develop and bring innovative products to market, and also increase the range and volume of production. In just eight months of the year, companies have almost doubled the production of high-tech products compared to the same period in 2023. This was reported by the Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Transport and Industry Maxim Liksutov.

    “From January to August 2024, the capital saw a 96 percent increase in the production of computers, electronic and optical products. Shipments to customers increased by almost 40 percent and exceeded 386 billion rubles. Such results were achieved thanks to the support that the city provides to industrialists on behalf of Sergei Sobyanin. Today, companies have access to over 20 systemic tools, in particular, they can localize production in the territory of the special economic zone “Technopolis Moscow”, as well as obtain the status of a resident of the SEZ, attract a preferential investment loan or rent land for one ruble to implement a large-scale investment project,” said Maxim Liksutov.

    For example, last year thanks to Moscow Fund for Support of Industry and Entrepreneurship The capital’s optical equipment manufacturer was able to attract almost three billion rubles under the preferential investment lending program. The enterprise has the status of a resident of the special economic zone “Technopolis Moscow”. The funds received were used to purchase new equipment for the production of high-speed optical transceivers and create a test bench. The term of financial support is three years.

    “In the first eight months of 2024, Moscow saw an increase in the production of printed circuit boards, electronic computers, electricity production or consumption meters, semiconductor devices and much more. The products manufactured by the capital’s factories meet high quality standards and are in demand on the domestic and international markets. Thus, during the specified period, industrialists supplied customers with computers and peripheral equipment for more than 121 billion rubles, control and measuring and navigation devices for 117 billion rubles, and the volume of communications equipment shipped amounted to almost 68 billion rubles,” added the Minister of the Moscow Government, Head of the Moscow Department of Investment and Industrial Policy.

    Anatoly Garbuzov.

    In addition, manufacturers who want to enter foreign markets can benefit from the support of the Mosprom center. It offers information and methodological assistance, including verification of counterparties and participation in business missions and international exhibitions. Since 2022, with the support of the center, Moscow companies have found new partners in the markets of Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and other CIS countries.

    Moscow is the largest industrial and scientific-engineering center of Russia. There are more than 4.5 thousand industrial enterprises in the capital, employing over 750 thousand people. Every year, 150 new technology companies open here and dozens of investment projects are implemented, providing the city with additional jobs.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    http://vvv.mos.ru/nevs/item/145280073/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Sobyanin made a decision on the integrated development of two sites in Shchukino

    MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –

    Two non-residential development sites with an area of 1.15 hectares in northwest Moscow will be reorganized under the integrated territorial development program (ITD). In their place, public and business facilities will appear, including offices, shops, bank branches, cafes and restaurants. The corresponding decree was signed by Sergei Sobyanin.

    “Under the program for the integrated development of territories in the Shchukino district, we will build over 63 thousand square meters of real estate for public and business purposes, including offices, shops, bank branches, cafes and restaurants. The project will provide the city with about 1.8 thousand new jobs. We will also carry out work on landscaping the territory and developing the street and road network,” he wrote in

    on your telegram channel Mayor of Moscow.

    Source: Sergei Sobyanin’s Telegram channel @mos_sobyanin 

    The land plots are located in the Shchukino district at the following addresses: Volokolamskoe Shosse, Building 32, and Aviatsionnaya Street, Buildings 17–22.

    In Moscow, 96 projects for the integrated development of territories with a total area of over 1.1 thousand hectares have been approved and are being implemented. Over 23.6 million square meters of real estate will be built on the sites and about 247 thousand jobs will be created.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    https://vvv.mos.ru/major/themes/11901050/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Equipment for train traffic is being installed at the Kornilovskaya station on the Troitskaya metro line

    MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –

    Builders have begun commissioning work on the traction and step-down substation at the Kornilovskaya station on the Troitskaya metro line. The premises are located behind the second vestibule of the station complex. This was reported by the Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Urban Development Policy and Construction Vladimir Efimov.

    “Work on the installation of utility networks is actively underway at Kornilovskaya. The project includes 54 different utility systems and almost 3.7 thousand units of primary equipment. The station’s traction and step-down substation, where commissioning has begun, consists exclusively of domestically produced components. The builders have installed the primary equipment and are tying it with cable and wire products. The next stage will be the commissioning and testing of high-voltage and power equipment,” said Vladimir Efimov.

    The Kornilovskaya station of the Troitskaya metro line is located along Kaluga Highway at the intersection with Admirala Kornilova Street. It will become part of a transport hub. About 600 people work at the construction site every day.

    “At the Kornilovskaya station complex, about 40 percent of the electric and low-current cables have been installed. At the same time, pipelines and air ducts are being installed, and external networks are being installed,” said the head of the Department for Construction of Transport and Engineering Infrastructure of the City of Moscow.

    Vasily Desyatkov.

    The traction and step-down substation is the power center of the station complex. It is designed to distribute power supply between all elements of equipment and the operation of engineering systems. According to the operating technology, polymer floors are installed here for the required level of dustlessness, water resistance and antistaticity.

    The Troitskaya metro line will run from the ZIL station of the Moscow Central Circle to the city of Troitsk. It will become one of the longest radii of the Moscow metro and the largest outside the Moscow Ring Road. The line will have 17 stations, its length will be more than 43 kilometers. The expected passenger flow at the entrance will be more than 300 thousand people per day.

    Earlier, Sergei Sobyanin said about construction of sites Troitskaya metro line.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    http://vvv.mos.ru/nevs/item/145269073/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: 4 ways AI can be used and abused in the 2024 election, from deepfakes to foreign interference

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Barbara A. Trish, Professor of Political Science, Grinnell College

    The American public is on alert about artificial intelligence and the 2024 election.

    A September 2024 poll by the Pew Research Center found that well over half of Americans worry that artificial intelligence – or AI, computer technology mimicking the processes and products of human intelligence – will be used to generate and spread false and misleading information in the campaign.

    My academic research on AI may help quell some concerns. While this innovative technology certainly has the potential to manipulate voters or spread lies at scale, most uses of AI in the current election cycle are, so far, not novel at all.

    I’ve identified four roles AI is playing or could play in the 2024 campaign – all arguably updated versions of familiar election activities.

    1. Voter information

    The 2022 launch of ChatGPT brought the promise and peril of generative AI into public consciousness. This technology is called “generative” because it produces text responses to user prompts: It can write poetry, answer history questions – and provide information about the 2024 election.

    Rather than search Google for voting information, people may instead ask generative AI a question. “How much has inflation changed since 2020?” for example. Or, “Who’s running for U.S. Senate in Texas?”

    Some generative AI platforms such as Google’s AI chatbot Gemini, decline to answer questions about candidates and voting. Some, such as Facebook’s AI tool Llama, respond – and respond accurately.

    AI’s response to an election query on Facebook.
    Screenshot from Facebook, CC BY-SA

    But generative AI can also produce misinformation. In the most extreme cases, AI can have “hallucinations,” offering up wildly inaccurate results.

    A CBS news account from June 2024 reported that ChatGPT had given incorrect or incomplete responses to some prompts asking how to vote in battleground states. And ChatGPT didn’t consistently follow the policy of its owner, OpenAI, and refer users to CanIVote.org, a respected site for voting information.

    As with the web, people should verify the results of AI searches. And beware: Google’s Gemini now automatically returns answers to Google search queries at the top of every results page. You might inadvertently stumble into AI tools when you think you’re searching the internet.

    2. Deepfakes

    Deepfakes are fabricated images, audio and video produced by generative AI and designed to replicate reality. Essentially, these are highly convincing versions of what are now called “cheapfakes” – altered images made using basic tools such as Photoshop and video-editing software.

    The potential of deepfakes to deceive voters became clear when an AI-generated robocall impersonating Joe Biden before the January 2024 New Hampshire primary advised Democrats to save their votes for November.

    After that, the Federal Communication Commission ruled that AI-generated robocalls are subject to the same regulations as all robocalls. They cannot be auto-dialed or delivered to cellphones or landlines without prior consent.

    The agency also slapped a US$6 million fine on the consultant who created the fake Biden call – but not for tricking voters. He was fined for transmitting inaccurate caller-ID information.

    While synthetic media can be used to spread disinformation, deepfakes are now part of the creative toolbox of political advertisers.

    One early deepfake aimed more at persuasion than overt deception was an AI-generated ad from a 2022 mayoral race contest portraying the then-incumbent mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana, as a failing student summoned to the principal’s office.

    Blink and you’ll miss the disclaimer that this campaign ad is a deepfake.

    The ad included a quick disclaimer that it was a deepfake, a warning not required by the federal government, but it was easy to miss.

    Wired magazine’s AI Elections Project, which is tracking uses of AI in the 2024 cycle, shows that deepfakes haven’t overwhelmed the ads voters see. But they have been used by candidates across the political spectrum, up and down the ballot, for many purposes – including deception.

    Former President Donald Trump hints at a Democratic deepfake when he questions the crowd size at Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign events. In lobbing such allegations, Trump is attempting to reap the “liar’s dividend” – the opportunity to plant the idea that truthful content is fake.

    Discrediting a political opponent this way is nothing new. Trump has been claiming that the truth is really just “fake news” since at least the “birther” conspiracy of 2008, when he helped to spread rumors that presidential candidate Barack Obama’s birth certificate was fake.

    3. Strategic distraction

    Some are concerned that AI might be used by election deniers in this cycle to distract election administrators by burying them in frivolous public records requests.

    For example, the group True the Vote has lodged hundreds of thousands of voter challenges over the past decade working with just volunteers and a web-based app. Imagine its reach if armed with AI to automate their work.

    Such widespread, rapid-fire challenges to the voter rolls could divert election administrators from other critical tasks, disenfranchise legitimate voters and disrupt the election.

    As of now, there’s no evidence that this is happening.

    4. Foreign election interference

    Confirmed Russian interference in the 2016 election underscored that the threat of foreign meddling in U.S. politics, whether by Russia or another country invested in discrediting Western democracy, remains a pressing concern.

    Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 U.S. election concluded that Russia had worked to get President Donald Trump elected.
    Jonathan Ernst/Pool via AP

    In July, the Department of Justice seized two domain names and searched close to 1,000 accounts that Russian actors had used for what it called a “social media bot farm,” similar to those Russia used to influence the opinions of hundreds of millions of Facebook users in the 2020 campaign. Artificial intelligence could give these efforts a real boost.

    There’s also evidence that China is using AI this cycle to spread malicious information about the U.S. One such social media post transcribed a Biden speech inaccurately to suggest he made sexual references.

    AI may help election interferers do their dirty work, but new technology is hardly necessary for foreign meddling in U.S. politics.

    In 1940, the United Kingdom – an American ally – was so focused on getting the U.S. to enter World War II that British intelligence officers worked to help congressional candidates committed to intervention and to discredit isolationists.

    One target was the prominent Republican isolationist U.S. Rep. Hamilton Fish. Circulating a photo of Fish and the leader of an American pro-Nazi group taken out of context, the British sought to falsely paint Fish as a supporter of Nazi elements abroad and in the U.S.

    Can AI be controlled?

    Acknowledging that it doesn’t take new technology to do harm, bad actors can leverage the efficiencies embedded in AI to create a formidable challenge to election operations and integrity.

    Federal efforts to regulate AI’s use in electoral politics face the same uphill battle as most proposals to regulate political campaigns. States have been more active: 19 now ban or restrict deepfakes in political campaigns.

    Some platforms engage in light self-moderation. Google’s Gemini responds to prompts asking for basic election information by saying, “I can’t help with responses on elections and political figures right now.”

    Campaign professionals may employ a little self-regulation, too. Several speakers at a May 2024 conference on campaign tech expressed concern about pushback from voters if they learn that a campaign is using AI technology. In this sense, the public concern over AI might be productive, creating a guardrail of sorts.

    But the flip side of that public concern – what Stanford University’s Nate Persily calls “AI panic” – is that it can further erode trust in elections.

    Barbara A. Trish does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. 4 ways AI can be used and abused in the 2024 election, from deepfakes to foreign interference – https://theconversation.com/4-ways-ai-can-be-used-and-abused-in-the-2024-election-from-deepfakes-to-foreign-interference-239878

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What is Chabad-Lubavitch? A Jewish studies scholar explains

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Schneur Zalman Newfield, Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies, Hunter College

    Lubavitchers have put up leaflets, posters and even murals of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson around the world, with many proclaiming him the messiah. Nizzan Cohen via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    If you live anywhere near New York – or anywhere in the world, really – you may have seen a picture of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Yellow posters of the rabbi’s face are stuck to lampposts or streetlights: an elderly man with a long white beard and black hat.

    For tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews, Schneerson is simply “the rebbe”: the leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, even though he died in 1994. The name “Chabad” is familiar to many Americans, but the actual beliefs of this Hasidic group rarely are.

    As someone who was raised in a Lubavitch community and became a scholar of sociology and Jewish studies, I am often asked what sets it apart from other Orthodox streams of Judaism.

    Mystic teachings, joyful prayer

    Hasidism began under the leadership of the 18th-century mystic and healer Israel ben Eliezer, known as the Baal Shem Tov. Instead of focusing on the Bible and Jewish law, the movement prioritized attaching oneself to God through joyful prayer and passionate devotion.

    The Lubavitch sect of Hasidism was founded in the late 1700s by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the author of the Tanya – a theological text and self-improvement manual still studied daily by Lubavitchers. For over a hundred years, the movement was based in the rural town of Lyubavichi, Russia, from which it derives its name.

    Lubavitch headquarters in Brooklyn, which many followers call ‘770.’
    Sagtkd/Wikimedia Commons

    Since 1940, however, Lubavitch has been based in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The headquarters there at 770 Eastern Parkway are simply referred to as “770” by Lubavitchers the world over, who imbue the red brick building with mystical symbolism.

    Lubavitch, also known by the name “Chabad,” is one of the largest Hasidic groups today, with an estimated 90,000 members.

    Lubavitch shares many things in common with all streams of Orthodox Judaism, including a commitment to strictly abiding by “halacha” – Jewish law and customs. The group also shares a great deal with other ultra-Orthodox communities, such as opposition to providing their children with secular education.

    Yet there are key features of Lubavitch that distinguish it – particularly how much it engages with non-Orthodox Jews.

    The rebbe

    All Hasidic sects have a leader, a “rebbe,” who is believed to possess unique spiritual gifts and connect his followers to the divine. Still, Lubavitch is distinct in terms of the extent to which the rebbe is central to the lives of every single member of the community.

    In 1951, Schneerson accepted leadership of the Lubavitchers after the passing of his father-in-law and grew the movement exponentially until his passing in 1994. Rather than naming a successor, however, Lubavitchers have continued to regard Schneerson as “the rebbe.”

    With his piercing blue eyes, full white beard, black fedora and silk coat, images of Schneerson are ubiquitous among Lubavitchers. Photos and paintings of him adorn walls, key chains, clocks and charity boxes wherever they live.

    A baby clutches a photo of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson during a holiday celebration in front of the Chabad Lubavitch headquarters in Brooklyn.
    AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

    While the rebbe was alive, his followers would ask him for advice and blessings regarding all spiritual matters, as well as questions about health, business and marriage. Since his passing, followers continue to seek his blessings by placing notes at his gravesite and searching his printed works for guidance.

    Even among Lubavitchers who have left the fold, many still feel attached to its leader.

    Jewish outreach

    One expression of Lubavitchers’ devotion is their commitment to creating Jewish outreach centers all over the world.

    The ethos of sharing Hasidic thought was present from the founding of the Lubavitch movement. This drive became much more developed, however, during and after the Holocaust and continued under Schneerson’s leadership.

    Today, Lubavitch has established Jewish outposts, called “Chabad Houses,” from Melbourne to Hong Kong and Buenos Aires to Cape Town. These emissaries endeavor to reach out to secular Jews and inspire them to become more religiously observant.

    Members of Chabad participate in a Fourth of July parade in Santa Monica, Calif.
    AP Photo/Richard Vogel

    The language surrounding Lubavitch outreach often has a militaristic flavor – for example, its youth movement is named the “Army of God”: Tzivos Ha-Shem, in Hebrew. However, outreach is rooted in the commandment to love one’s fellow Jew and a desire to help them enjoy the Jewish tradition. It is also motivated by a belief that these efforts will help fulfill the biblical prophecy of a Jewish messiah, who will usher in a time of global peace.

    These two motivations fortify the nearly 5,000 emissaries sent to far-flung communities around the world, notwithstanding profound obstacles. These include being separated from their families, who tend to live in established Hasidic communities, and being vulnerable to antisemitic attacks.

    Messianism

    The most distinct aspect of contemporary Lubavitch is its enthusiasm for the coming of the messiah and its assertion that Schneerson is that long-awaited messiah, despite his death.

    Messianic hopes and people claiming to be the messiah have appeared at various points throughout Jewish history, often during periods of crisis. In the wake of the devastation of the Holocaust, however, Schneerson made the idea of the messiah’s coming integral to every aspect of Jewish life.

    Eventually, most followers came to believe that Schneerson was the righteous redeemer sent by God to usher in the messianic age. While Schneerson did not embrace these proclamations, he insisted that through additional acts of goodness and kindness it was possible to bring about the messianic redemption.

    While some outsiders criticized this emphasis, especially claims about the rebbe, the situation became much more fraught after he passed away in 1994. In response to this trauma, a split developed in Lubavitch.

    Praying men leave notes seeking guidance and blessings at the grave site of Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
    Bentzi Sasson via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    One camp, composed largely of those involved in outreach work and members of long-standing Lubavitch families, argued Lubavitch should stop publicly talking about Schneerson being the messiah since it scared away outsiders. The other camp, largely composed of those who joined the community as adults, claimed that he was still the messiah and was about to return, and that it was vital to tell the world.

    To some other Jews, this belief seemed suspiciously close to Christian faith in the second coming of Jesus. Still, many Lubavitchers persist in their messianic beliefs.

    The future

    This issue still divides some Lubavitchers. Nonetheless, since Schneerson’s passing three decades ago, the movement has increased in size and strength.

    The group’s cohesiveness has been aided by creative uses of technology to foster a sense of the rebbe’s continued presence in their lives. For example, the Jewish Educational Media organization regularly produces videos that splice footage of his talks with current visuals to make him feel present in the moment. Lubavitchers have reinterpreted Hasidic texts to fit their current predicament, helping them feel grounded despite his physical absence.

    While the precise future of Lubavitch is unknown, the fact that it has managed to weather the storm of the rebbe’s passing and emerged stronger gives his followers hope for the future.

    Schneur Zalman Newfield does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. What is Chabad-Lubavitch? A Jewish studies scholar explains – https://theconversation.com/what-is-chabad-lubavitch-a-jewish-studies-scholar-explains-222218

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: GUU is among the leaders of the M-rating in social networks

    MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –

    Based on the results of work for September, the State University of Management took a leading position in the official rating of media activity of Russian universities in the section “Social Networks”.

    The GUU channel on Rutube became the undisputed leader of the month, having overtaken the channels of other universities in terms of indicators. In September, about 50 horizontal and vertical video materials were published on the channel, which gained a total of almost 95 thousand views.

    On the Zen platform, the GUU channel took 3rd place among more than 140 university channels, improving its own indicators several times. The most popular article of the month was “Why is there a mass rebranding of Russian companies?”, which was read by over 18 thousand users.

    As a result, in general, in terms of the “Social Networks” indicator, our university entered the top leaders and took 10th place.

    Thank you, our beloved subscribers and readers, this is our common achievement! Subscribe to our channels, tell us what topics you would like to see in future materials and remember: we are all a GUU family!

    Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 10/16/2024

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    https://guu.ru/guu-in-the-leaders-rating-on-social-networks/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Australia donates 49 Abrams tanks to Ukraine

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

    Defence Department Supplied Photo

    The Albanese government is giving 49 M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, despite earlier this year apparently playing down the prospect of the donation.

    The latest Australian package is worth A$245 million. It brings the total Australian military aid to Ukraine since the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022 to A$1.3 billion, and overall Australian support to A$1.5 billion.

    When asked about a possible gift of the tanks in February, Defence Minister Richard Marles said it was “not on the agenda”.

    Government sources say donating the tanks required US approval since Australia had purchased them from Washington, so there had been a process to go through.

    Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery Pat Conroy, who is on his way to the NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels, announced the decision in London. In Brussels, Conroy will meet with the Ukraine defence minister.

    Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea form the “Indo-Pacific Four” group of non-NATO countries attending the meeting.

    The 49 tanks are near the end of their life, so a small number will have to be repaired before they are delivered. Alternatively, they could be used as spare parts if Ukraine wants them delivered more quickly. Ukraine will decide which option to pursue.

    The Australian army is retaining a handful of the M1A1 Abrams to help the transition to the M1A2 fleet of tanks.

    Conroy said: “We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukraine in their fight against Russia’s illegal invasion. These tanks will deliver more firepower and mobility to the Ukrainian armed forces, and complement the support provided by our partners for Ukraine”.

    Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Australia donates 49 Abrams tanks to Ukraine – https://theconversation.com/australia-donates-49-abrams-tanks-to-ukraine-241485

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: NSU presented the program of the upcoming scientific and production forum “Golden Valley” at the TASS press center

    MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: Novosibirsk State University – Novosibirsk State University –

    Today, a press conference dedicated to the upcoming Golden Valley forum was held at the TASS press center in Novosibirsk.

    Rector of NSU, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Mikhail Fedoruk, speaking about the reasons for holding the forum, noted:

    — Now, due to the development of the university, due to the fact that it has significantly expanded in scale and in the number of faculties, students and the projects that it carries out, it plays the role of a center of attraction on the territory of the Novosibirsk Scientific Center. This is facilitated by the university’s participation in all key federal development programs, such as “Priority 2030”, Advanced Engineering Schools, Creation of a Network of Modern Campuses, etc. The university is beginning to more actively position itself as a leading educational and scientific-technological center. Therefore, we are holding the second forum, which brings together large enterprises and scientific organizations. The goal of the forum is to strengthen and develop the university’s interaction with industrial partners and in the future to attract them to joint developments and technologies already based on the university.

    Next, Alexander Lyulko, Director of the Center for Interaction with Government Authorities and Industrial Partners of NSU, spoke in more detail about the forum program. This year it includes a business part – these are plenary sessions and sections on various topics; an exhibition of projects, technologies and developments; negotiations (a platform for signing agreements and contracts between forum participants); and a cultural and entertainment program with a scientific twist.

    There will be two plenary sessions within the framework of the “Golden Valley”: on the first day – on the topic “Requests of the real sector of the economy for the creation of new technologies”; on the second day – on the topic “Scientific developments for industry”. Within the framework of the second session, developments of NSU and scientific organizations of Akademgorodok, which may be of interest to industrial partners, will be presented.

    The forum will have 8 sections: Aviation; Unmanned systems; Mechanical engineering. Instrument making; Artificial intelligence in industry and robotics; Energy; Smart city technologies. Construction; Agriculture; Medicine; and a round table “Personnel for industry” will also be held.

    Among the key speakers from government and business: Sergey Semka, Deputy Governor of the Novosibirsk Region; Vadim Vasiliev, Minister of Science and Innovation Policy of the Novosibirsk Region; Sergey Tsukar, Minister of Digital Development and Communications of the Novosibirsk Region; Anna Korotchenkova, Vice President for Technology at AFK Sistema; Viktor Slavyantsev, Head of Highest Category Innovative Development Projects at Rostec State Corporation; Evgeny Pavlov, Head of Innovative Development Department at United Engine Corporation; Konstantin Kotlyarov, Head of R&D at AvtoVAZ, etc.

    On behalf of the scientific community: Aleksandr Rumyantsev, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, President of the Dmitry Rogachev National Medical Research Center for Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology of the Ministry of Healthcare of the Russian Federation, State Duma Deputy; Sergey Alekseenko, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Scientific Director of the Institute of Thermophysics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Mikhail Voevoda, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Deputy Chairman of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Federal Research Center for Fundamental and Translational Medicine; Aleksandr Latyshev, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Institute of Semiconductor Physics; Dmitry Markovich, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, First Deputy Chairman of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Institute of Thermophysics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Sergey Netyosov, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of the Laboratory of Biotechnology and Virology, NSU Natural Sciences Department; Sergey Abin, Director of the Institute of Automation and Electrometry, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Dmitry Kudlai, Vice President for the Implementation of New Medical Technologies at Generium JSC, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and others.

    This year, the forum program will be expanded with satellite events. This is primarily a technology exhibition, where NSU will present its developments, as well as a tour of the university’s innovation centers and laboratories. Also, over the course of three days, the NSU career forum will be held, which will bring together major employers interested in collaborating with the university.

    The Golden Valley will host strategic sessions on the following topics: “Digital Transformation: Artificial Intelligence in Solving Public Sector Problems”, which will be chaired by Sergey Tsukar, Minister of Digital Development and Communications of the Novosibirsk Region; “Chemical Technologies and Deep Processing of Raw Materials” (organized by the Interregional Association “Siberian Agreement”); “Development of Entrepreneurship Technologies in Universities in the Interests of Industry”.

    The forum is expected to see the signing of a number of agreements between NSU and industrial partners on joint developments, the implementation of projects in the field of introducing new technologies, including artificial intelligence, and the creation of consortiums and associations to solve industry problems.

    We remind you that the forum is held with the support of the Office of the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Siberian Federal District, the Interregional Association “Siberian Agreement”, the Government of the Novosibirsk Region, the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Council of Rectors of Universities of the City of Novosibirsk and the Technopark of the Novosibirsk Akademgorodok.

    The Forum’s Program Committee is headed by the Rector of NSU, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences M.P. Fedoruk. It includes the Chairman of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician V.N. Parmon, ministers of the Novosibirsk Region government, heads of leading institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, directors of industrial enterprises, the Chairman of the Council of Rectors of Universities, representatives of the largest state corporations – Rostec, Rosatom, UEC, government bodies, academic institutes, development institutes of Novosibirsk and other Russian cities.

    All information about the forum, current program, news are presented on the website: http://zd.nsu.ru/

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    http://vvv.nsu.ru/n/media/nevs/science/ngu-presented-the-program-of-the-upcoming-scientific-production-forum-golden-valley-in-press-ts/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Polytechnicians at the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum

    MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University – Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University –

    Last week, the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum 2024 (SPIGF-2024) was held at the ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Centre, in the exhibition and scientific-business programme of which the Polytechnic University traditionally takes an active part.

    The forum visitors were able to get to know the university better in the Polytechnic’s unified catalogue. More than eight pages were devoted to the main areas of activity of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Materials and Transport.

    SPIGF is one of the key global events in the gas industry. The participation of Polytechnic divisions in the exhibition program of the forum opened up a wide range of opportunities for meeting potential customers and exchanging experience, says Anatoly Popovich, Director of IMMiT.

    Specialists from the Laser and Additive Technologies Research Laboratory (LIAT) at IMMiT presented their developments at the Polytechnic stand: components of the hot tract of gas turbine engines repaired by laser cladding, 7 and 10 mm thick samples welded in one pass without edge preparation using laser welding and hybrid laser-arc welding, and the mobile laser cladding complex “Nomad”, designed to restore large-sized products on the customer’s premises.

    If for some reason the enterprise cannot bring the product to the laboratory, then its specialists go to the site with a mobile complex. At the moment, they have already restored four rotors of the GTK-10-4 gas pumping units. In the laboratory itself, the “Nomad” is also used for laser welding and restoration of smaller products.

    The forum’s rich program brought together all the most advanced and significant areas of the industry. The opportunity to present the developments of the research laboratory at the forum made a significant contribution to determining the optimal scenarios for the further development vector of the division, – shared Mikhail Kuznetsov, head of the Scientific Research Laboratory “LiAT” of IMMIT SPbPU.

    The Institute of Industrial Management, Economics and Trade presented educational programs created and implemented in partnership with PJSC Gazprom and its subsidiaries at the SPbPU exhibition stand: two master’s programs and two programs of additional professional education. The master’s program “IT Economics and Business Analysis” is a corporate master’s program of the university and Gazprom Neft, aimed at training specialists in the field of business analysis. This master’s program is reinforced by modules of specialized focus and project activities within the framework of research work built on business cases of Gazprom Neft. At the forum, we productively discussed with our partners strategic plans for the development of new corporate educational programs and other areas of joint activity taking into account current changes in the economy, – said Irina Rudskaya, Director of the Scientific and Educational Center for Information Technology and Business Analysis of Gazprom Neft.

    The Master’s program “Human Resources Management and Organizational Development”, created and implemented jointly with Gazprom Gazifikatsiya with the information and status support of the presidential platform of the ANO “Russia – Country of Opportunities”, was presented by the Higher School of Industrial Management of IPMEiT. The program was developed based on practical tasks and requests of the university’s corporate partners and is aimed at training specialists capable of implementing organizational design at all stages of the company’s life cycle, forming the company’s HR brand, developing and implementing a human resource management strategy based on building individual personnel development trajectories.

    This year, together with our partners Gazprom Gazifikatsiya, Gazprom Pitanie and the Russia — Land of Opportunities platform, with grant support from Gazprom, we created six online courses that we modularly integrated into the program’s curriculum, explained Olga Kalinina, Director of the Higher School of Industrial Management.

    Based on the created online courses, IPMEiT also presented two continuing education programs on motivation, personnel selection and personnel branding, developed for specialists in the field of HR management and heads of structural divisions of the oil and gas and energy industries. The presentation of the continuing education programs was attended by a student of the master’s program “Digital Business Management”, specialist of the personnel efficiency support group of Gazprom Neft exploration and production Ekaterina Khodarkevich, and a student of the bachelor’s program “Oil and Gas Enterprise Management”, an employee of the marketing department of Gazpromneft-SM Daniil Guryev.

    Professor of the Higher School of Industrial Management Alexander Ilyinsky took part in the round table of the Energy Initiative “International Business Congress” on the topic “Promising technologies for monetizing natural gas and ensuring energy security”. Alexander Ilyinsky also held business negotiations with the General Director of Gazprom Flot Yuri Shamalov, where they discussed promising areas of cooperation in the field of educational and scientific activities.

    Aleksandr Volkov, a practicing teacher, associate professor at the Higher School of Industrial Management, and CEO of the Grand Media Service communications agency, moderated the conference “Gas Industry Companies in New Realities: How to Be Most Effective in PR and Digital Communications?” and gave a presentation on a proven tool for comprehensive promotion in the gas industry, Public Performance. Among the audience were students from the Higher School of Industrial Management studying in the educational programs “Marketing” and “Oil and Gas Enterprise Management”.

    Students of the Higher School of Engineering and Economics took part in the round table “Distributed generation as a solution to the problems of energy-deficient regions”, where the prospects for implementing innovative solutions for distributed generation were discussed: own generation of electricity and heat supply.

    Students of the Higher School of Administrative Management, led by the head of the IPMEiT Directorate, Associate Professor of the Higher School of Administrative Management Maxim Ivanov, attended the conference “New Technologies for the Oil and Gas Industry”, the panel session “Technological Leadership: New Horizons” and the round table “Current Issues of Legislative Support for the Oil and Gas Industry”. They got acquainted with samples of modern equipment and advanced technologies at the RosGazExpo exhibition, an exposition of the subjects of the Russian Federation, which presented projects demonstrating their potential in the oil and gas sector.

    Such forums captivate with their scale and friendly, but at the same time businesslike atmosphere. The stand of the Polytechnic University stood out from the rest and attracted many visitors, it was impressive. We went around the stands that were related not only to the oil and gas industry, but also to the agricultural, transport industry and to the specialization of various regions of Russia. We learned that many representatives of large companies are graduates of the Polytechnic University, and, of course, they were happy to tell us about their work, – the students of the Higher School of Economics shared their impressions.

    Students of the Higher School of Industrial Management of the educational programs “Industrial Management (Energy)” and “Management of Oil and Gas Enterprises” together with teachers Olga Konovalova and Vyacheslav Melekhin participated in the round table “Union of Science and Industry in the Transformation of the World Energy Market”, where current issues and trends in the development of the international energy market, transformation of the gas market, the role of international cooperation and joint educational programs were discussed.

    The Gas Forum is certainly a large-scale event that has become a platform for demonstrating the technological and innovative capabilities of the domestic industry. For our students, this is an invaluable experience of participating in one of the most important events in the Russian economy, says Olga Konovalova, associate professor at the Higher School of Management and Management.

    Students of IPMEiT demonstrated significant results in the Virtual Academy from Gazprom. From June 3 to July 15, as part of the preparation for the SPIGF-2024 Youth Day, an educational program and selection round of the Virtual Academy project were held. This year, more than 130 candidates from 30 countries representing 45 universities participated in it. The Virtual Academy program included lectures in English by leading experts and scientists in the field of energy and information technology. Participants completed individual tasks and submitted them for expert assessment. As a result of the competitive selection, only 30 candidates with the best results received an invitation to the Youth Day. Among them, three students of the Higher School of Industrial Management: Nikita Kuznetsov and Leonid Alkhimovich (Bachelor’s program “International Business”) and Arab Yusof Abad Mohammad (international program “Development of International Business”). Moreover, Nikita Kuznetsov’s team, where he was the captain, took first place based on the results of participation in the case.

    This year, our institute made its small contribution to the work of the Polytechnic University at the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum. We prepared for individual events in advance, planned the participation of both adult colleagues-teachers and students. We paid special attention to the preparation of those students who already work in oil and gas and energy companies, undergo practical training or internships there, – noted the director of IPMEiT Vladimir Shchepinin.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    https://vvv.spbstu.ru/media/nevs/partnership/polytechnics-at-the-Petersburg-international-gas-forum/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: REPORT on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism and providing exceptional macro-financial assistance to Ukraine – A10-0006/2024

    Source: European Parliament

    DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

    on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism and providing exceptional macro-financial assistance to Ukraine

    (COM(2024)0426 – C10‑0106/2024 – 2024/0234(COD))

    (Ordinary legislative procedure: first reading)

    The European Parliament,

    – having regard to the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2024)0426),

    – having regard to Article 294(2) and Article 212 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C10‑0106/2024),

    – having regard to Article 294(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

    – having regard to the budgetary assessment by the Committee on Budgets,

    – having regard to the undertaking given by the Council representative by letter of 9 October 2024 to approve Parliament’s position, in accordance with Article 294(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

    – having regard to Rule 60 of its Rules of Procedure,

    – having regard to the letter from the Committee on Foreign Affairs,

    – having regard to the report of the Committee on International Trade (A10-0006/2024),

    1. Adopts its position at first reading, taking over the Commission proposal;

    2. Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it replaces, substantially amends or intends to substantially amend its proposal;

    3. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

     

     

    EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

    The ongoing war of aggression by Russia has significantly increased Ukraine’s financial needs. To address these challenges, both the European Union (EU) and the international community are being called upon to provide additional funding.

     

    In response, the European Commission has put forward a legislative proposal aligned with a G7 initiative. This proposal aims to utilize the extraordinary revenues from immobilized Russian assets to cover Ukraine’s urgent financial needs. Specifically, the proposal seeks to establish the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism (ULCM), which will enable Ukraine to service and repay loans of up to €45 billion. These loans will be repaid using the windfall profits generated from frozen Russian assets. The EU’s proposed macro-financial assistance (MFA) includes an amount of up to €35 billion, intended to support Ukraine’s immediate financing needs. This assistance will be delivered in a predictable, long-term, and timely manner.

     

    A key feature of this MFA is that Ukraine will not be required to repay the loan directly. Instead, repayments will be covered by windfall profits generated from interest accrued on immobilized Russian assets. Additionally, the terms of this loan will align with the conditions under the Ukraine Facility.

     

    The rapporteur emphasizes the importance of a swift procedure in order for the EU to adopt this proposal by the end of October 2024 to ensure that the MFA loan can be released by the end of 2024.

     

     

     

    ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

    Pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure, the rapporteur declares that she has received input from the following entities or persons in the preparation of the report, prior to the adoption thereof in committee:

    Entity and/or person

    Bálint Ódor, Chair of the Committee of Permanent Representatives, Council of the European Union

    The list above is drawn up under the exclusive responsibility of the rapporteur.

    Where natural persons are identified in the list by their name, by their function or by both, the rapporteur declares that she has submitted to the concerned natural persons the European Parliament’s Data Protection Notice No 484 (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/data-protect/index.do), which sets out the conditions applicable to the processing of their personal data and the rights linked to that processing.

     

     

    BUDGETARY ASSESSMENT (11.10.2024)

    for the Committee on International Trade

    on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism and providing exceptional macro-financial assistance to Ukraine

    (COM(2024)0426 – C10‑0106/2024 – 2024/0234(COD))

    Rapporteur for budgetary assessment: Janusz Lewandowski 

     

    The Committee on Budgets has carried out a budgetary assessment of the proposal under Rule 58 of the Rules of Procedure and has reached the following conclusions:

    – having regard to Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2022/2496 of 15 December 2022 amending Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027[1],

    – having regard to Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/765 of 29 February 2024 amending Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027[2],

    – having regard to Regulation (EU) 2024/792 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 February 2024 establishing the Ukraine Facility[3],

    – having regard to Regulation (EU) 2022/2463 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 establishing an instrument for providing support to Ukraine for 2023 (macro-financial assistance +)[4],

    – having regard to Council Decision (CFSP) 2022/335 of 28 February 2022 amending Decision 2014/512/CFSP concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine[5],

    – having regard to Council Decision (CFSP) 2024/577 of 12 February 2024 amending Decision 2014/512/CFSP concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine[6],

    – having regard to Council Decision (CFSP) 2024/1470 of 21 May 2024 amending Decision 2014/512/CFSP concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine[7],

    – having regard to Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2024 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union[8],

    – having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 16 December 2020 between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management, as well as on new own resources, including a roadmap towards the introduction of new own resources[9],

    A. whereas the Commission proposed a draft amendment to Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2022/2496 that made it possible to allow contingent liabilities stemming from financial assistance to Ukraine for 2023 and 2024 only to be treated in the same manner as financial assistance for Member States;

    B. whereas there is a need for greater sustained budgetary support to Ukraine;

    C. whereas Ukraine’s financing needs are expected to significantly outstrip current IMF projections and total at least USD 38 billion for 2025, making the amounts available under previous rounds of macro-financial assistance (MFA), the Ukraine Facility and the current round of MFA insufficient to ensure the required level of support, particularly for 2026 and 2027;

    D. whereas Council Decision (CFSP) 2024/577 provides rules for allocating extraordinary revenues stemming from immobilised Russian state assets to the Ukraine Peace Facility and the Ukraine Facility, considering that EUR 210 billion of Russian Central Bank assets are currently held by financial institutions in the EU;

    E. whereas the G7 leaders announced the launch of Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration Loans for Ukraine, which would make USD 50 billion available to Ukraine and would be secured through immobilised Russian state assets;

    F. whereas the next tranche of the IMF’s loan to Ukraine is also linked to the entry into force of the proposed regulation;

    1. Takes note of the proposal for the creation of the new Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism, which will provide non-repayable financial support with a view to assisting Ukraine to repay loans provided for its support and will be endowed mainly by the amounts transferred in accordance with Annex XLI to Council Regulation (EU) 833/2014[10], as well as by any potential amounts stemming from voluntary contributions from Member States, third countries or other sources, for up to EUR 45 billion;

    2. Takes note of the conditions and obligations that Ukraine must fulfil in order to receive and use the non-repayable financial support provided by the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism, particularly the obligation for the repayment of the principal, interest and any other costs of the MFA loan or eligible bilateral loans;

    3. Takes note of the proposal for the creation of a new MFA instrument for the benefit of Ukraine, providing support of up to EUR 35 billion, pending other contributions under the G7 agreement on Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration Loans for Ukraine, over a duration of 45 years; takes note of the fact that the Commission’s proposal seems to be based on the assumption that the Russian state assets will remain immobilised for 45 years and on various assumptions regarding the future flows of extraordinary revenues stemming from the immobilisation of Russian sovereign assets held in the EU;

    4. Takes note of the fact that there is no grace period for the repayment of the principal or interest for the MFA instrument;

    5. Takes note of the fact that the MFA instrument, unlike previous instruments, does not give Ukraine the option to request interest rate subsidies covered by Member States;

    6. Takes note of the preconditions for support, such as effective democratic mechanisms, including a multi-party parliamentary system and the rule of law, and respect for human rights, including for those of minorities, and takes note of the consequences of not meeting, or no longer meeting, these preconditions;

    7. Takes note of the future negotiation between the Commission and Ukraine on the Memorandum of Understanding containing the guidelines that will underpin all future disbursements to Ukraine and must be consistent with the qualitative and quantitative steps contained in the Annex to Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2024/1447 of 14 May 2024 on the approval of the assessment of the Ukraine Plan[11] and any amendments thereto; takes note of the fact that the assessment criteria for the funds allocated through the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism are aligned with the assessment criteria established in Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2024/792 in order to guarantee effective support and optimal use of resources for Ukraine’s recovery and development; calls on the Commission to pay particular attention to consulting the Verkhovna Rada and involving relevant stakeholders, including civil society organisations;

    8. Takes note of the derogation from Article 31(3), second sentence, of Regulation (EU) 2021/947[12], which implies that the External Action Guarantee will not be used to guarantee the borrowing of the amounts to be lent in the framework of this MFA and that, therefore, the guarantees for this MFA will be provisioned by the headroom; calls for caution in extending borrowing without a clear guarantee mechanism, with a view to ensuring that any additional borrowing does not jeopardise the Union’s financial stability;

    9. Takes note of the derogation from Article 214(1) of Regulation (EU) 2024/2509, preventing the establishment of a provisioning rate, because of the use of the headroom for the provisioning of guarantees;

    10. Recalls all the mandatory provisions to be included in the MFA Loan Agreement, particularly those related to the early repayment of the amounts borrowed should it be recognised that Ukraine has engaged in any act of fraud, corruption or any other illegal activity detrimental to the financial interests of the Union;

    11. Takes note of the repayment arrangements, and particularly of the waterfall structure to be established in the MFA Loan Agreement and the potential implications for the EU budget;

    12. Takes note of the provisions on the transmission of information to Parliament and the Council, as laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement on good interinstitutional cooperation and governance and specifically within the framework of the annual budgetary procedure, ensuring full accountability and oversight of how funds are managed and disbursed; acknowledges the urgent need to implement the proposed regulation and calls for the relevant draft amending budget to include only the changes arising from the entry into force of the proposed regulation; expects the proposal to provide an update on the borrowing plan as per Article 52(1)(d)(iii), third indent, of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509; expects to be informed, in a timely manner, of the implementation of borrowing as per Article 223(4)(b) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509, including of any potential early repayments and the construction of a buffer, if applicable;

    13. Takes note of the fact that, according to the financial legislative statement, the implementation of the proposal does not require any additional human resources or administrative expenditure; reiterates its understanding that new policy priorities or tasks must be accompanied by adequate resources and staff to properly implement them;

    14. Regrets the proposal’s lack of clarity about whether the Union budget has final liability, particularly in the framework of a loan guaranteed solely by the headroom, independently of the support from the Ukraine Loan Mechanism, for example in the event of significant changes to the sanctions regime underwriting the mechanism;

    15. Requests that the Commission clarify the potential interplay and complementarity in the funding provided by the Ukraine Facility, in particular under Pillar I for 2025, and by the MFA, and explain how the latter will be linked to relevant political and reform-related conditions that are consistent with and support the conditionality under the Ukraine Facility, in particular the Ukraine Plan;

    16. Requests that the Commission provide the budgetary authority with details of the aggregation of liabilities to the headroom, contingent on borrowing and lending operations;

    17. Recalls that a further amendment to the MFF, adopted by unanimity in the Council, would be required in order to extend the ability of the Union to treat the financial assistance to Ukraine in the same manner as financial assistance to Member States until the end of the current MFF;

    18. Regrets the urgency of this proposal, stemming partly from the lack of flexibility granted by the Commission proposal on the amendment of the MFF, and the subsequent Council decision pressuring Parliament to co-legislate in a very limited time frame;

    19. Calls on the Committee on International Trade, as the committee responsible, to recommend the approval of the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism and providing exceptional macro-financial assistance to Ukraine.

     

     

    LETTER FROM THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS (2.10.2024)

    Mr Bernd Lange

    Chair

    Committee on International Trade

    BRUSSELS

     

     

    Subject:  Opinion on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism and providing exceptional macro-financial assistance to Ukraine (COM/2024/426 final) (2024/0234(COD))

     

     

     

    Dear Mr Lange,

     

    Under the procedure referred to above, the Committee on Foreign Affairs has been asked to submit an opinion to your committee. By way of a written procedure, the committee Coordinators decided to send the opinion in the form of a letter. Due to the extreme urgency of the procedure, the committee Coordinators adopted the opinion at their meeting on 30 September 2024.

     

    Yours sincerely,

     

     

     

     

     

    David McAllister

     

     

      

    SUGGESTIONS

     

    The Committee on Foreign Affairs:

     

    1. Expresses its complete solidarity with the people of Ukraine, along with its full support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders;

    2. Welcomes the commitments of the EU and its Member States to provide humanitarian assistance, military support, economic and financial aid and political support in every possible way until Ukraine’s victory;

    3. Commends the Commission’s proposal to establish the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism, which contributes to answering Parliament’s call on the EU and its Member States to achieve the broadest possible international support for Ukraine, and builds upon the decision of the Council to direct extraordinary revenues stemming from immobilised Russian state assets to the Ukraine Assistance Fund and the Ukraine Facility as well as upon the G7’s decision to offer Ukraine a USD 50 billion loan secured through immobilised Russian state assets;

    4. Expresses its conviction that the new Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism is a substantive step towards making Russia financially compensate for the massive damage it continues to cause in Ukraine; insists that this should not preclude the establishment of a sound legal regime for the confiscation of Russian state assets frozen by the EU, to be used for the benefit of Ukraine; urges the Commission and the EEAS to step-up their work in that direction;

    5. Acknowledges that the Commission’s proposal is based on the assumption that Russian assets will remain immobilised until Russia definitively and irreversibly ceases its war of aggression against Ukraine.  Therefore urges the Council to adopt swiftly a decision to that effect;

    6. Invites the Commission, when evaluating whether Ukraine has met the precondition set out in Article 11 of the proposal, to apply the same standards it applies when it evaluates whether Ukraine has met the precondition set out in Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2024/792 on the establishment of the Ukraine Facility; in particular, in its assessment, the Commission shall also take into account the context in Ukraine and the consequences of the application of martial law in Ukraine; invites the Commission to transmit its assessment simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council;

    7. Calls on the Commission to ensure that, when it agrees with Ukraine the policy conditions to be set out in the MoU pursuant to Article 12 of the proposal, it is satisfied that Ukraine has complied with (i) the provisions set out in Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2024/792 and provided all the relevant explanations, as appropriate; and (ii) the qualitative and quantitative steps provided for in Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2024/1447 and its annex. At the same time, calls on the Commission to make sure, when deciding on the release of funds pursuant to Article 13 of the proposal, that its assessment complies with Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2024/792 and, in particular, takes into account the criteria listed in paragraph 3 thereof, where relevant; urges the Commission, in that context, to make sure that all decisions adopted by Ukraine on the use of the funds allocated to it in the framework of the proposed regulation respect democratic procedures and are supported by meaningful consultations with all relevant institutions and stakeholders, including the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, anti-corruption institutions and representatives of the civil society;

    8. Calls on the Commission to transmit the MFA Loan Agreement to the European Parliament as soon as it will be signed;

    9. Requests that the Commission include by default in its yearly report on the implementation of the proposed Regulation a review of the adequacy of the arrangements contained in the Regulation itself.

     

    PROCEDURE – COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

    Title

    Establishing the Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism and providing exceptional macro-financial assistance to Ukraine

    References

    COM(2024)0426 – C10-0106/2024 – 2024/0234(COD)

    Date submitted to Parliament

    20.9.2024

     

     

     

    Committee(s) responsible

    INTA

     

     

     

    Committees asked for opinions

     Date announced in plenary

    AFET

    10.10.2024

     

     

     

    Not delivering opinions

     Date of decision

    AFET

    27.9.2024

     

     

     

    Rapporteurs

     Date appointed

    Karin Karlsbro

    30.9.2024

     

     

     

    Simplified procedure – date of decision

    30.9.2024

    Discussed in committee

    14.10.2024

     

     

     

    Date adopted

    14.10.2024

     

     

     

     

    BUDG

    7.10.2024

     

     

     

    Result of final vote

    +:

    –:

    0:

    31

    4

    0

    Members present for the final vote

    Brando Benifei, Lynn Boylan, Udo Bullmann, Raphaël Glucksmann, Bart Groothuis, Céline Imart, Karin Karlsbro, Rihards Kols, Sebastian Kruis, Bernd Lange, Ilia Lazarov, Thierry Mariani, Gabriel Mato, Ştefan Muşoiu, Daniele Polato, Majdouline Sbai, Francesco Torselli, Catarina Vieira, Jörgen Warborn, Iuliu Winkler, Bogdan Andrzej Zdrojewski

    Substitutes present for the final vote

    Mika Aaltola, Dan Barna, Nina Carberry, Anna Cavazzini, Hana Jalloul Muro, Ľubica Karvašová, Marina Mesure, Branislav Ondruš, Pierre Pimpie, Jessika Van Leeuwen

    Members under Rule 216(7) present for the final vote

    Peter Agius, Marie Dauchy, Elio Di Rupo, Virginie Joron

    Date tabled

    15.10.2024

     

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: The regional program of the VII youth forum “Heritage” was launched in partnership with the HSE

    MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: State University Higher School of Economics – State University Higher School of Economics –

    © Higher School of Economics

    On October 11, the opening ceremony of the regional program of the VII Youth Forum “Heritage” was held in the White Hall of the Durasov House of the HSE campus on Pokrovka. Starting from the second forum, educational institutions from all over the country joined the capital’s universities in this educational project of the Moscow Department of Cultural Heritage. This year, teams from ten regions of Russia are taking part in “Heritage” – Vladimir, Voronezh, Krasnoyarsk, the Republic of Crimea, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, St. Petersburg, Saratov, Tyumen, Chelyabinsk.

    The goal of the forum is to stimulate interest in the history and traditions of their native land among young people, to instill a careful attitude towards ancient monuments and to show that this is not just a valuable fragment of history, but a part of modern life and culture. Each student team must submit a project-concept for the competition for the development and adaptation to modern realities of any architectural monument of their city or region. The most successful ideas can be used in a real restoration project.

    The opening ceremony of the forum was attended by the First Deputy Head of the Department of Cultural Heritage of the City of Moscow, the city’s chief archaeologist Leonid Kondrashev. Welcoming the participants of the forum, he said: “The Youth Forum “Heritage” has become the largest educational project of the department. Even compared to last year, when representatives of eight cities took part in the regional program, this year ten joined us. The number of participants is growing, the quality of the projects that students are working on is growing. On behalf of myself, the head of our department and our entire team, which is organizing this forum for the seventh time, I wish everyone success. We expect an honest, fair fight. And of course, all this is beneficial to cultural heritage.”

    The partner of the regional program of the forum, which this year was again the Higher School of Economics, was represented by Vice-Rector of the National Research University Higher School of Economics Irina Martusevich. “We are happy to once again act as partners of this wonderful event. Our university is located in four cities of Russia. We actively participate in the development of the territories where we are present, and, in addition, we consult and provide expert assistance to dozens of different regions,” said Irina Martusevich. “In the current regional program, as in the last one, the Higher School of Economics will be represented by the St. Petersburg campus. Naturally, I wish good luck not only to our students, but also to all participants. It is pleasant to see that the competition has brought together universities representing cities from various parts of Russia, and each of these cities can boast of a glorious history, culture, heritage.”

    The forum was created as a platform for exchanging ideas, experiences and best practices among young people who care about the preservation of cultural heritage. In addition, the organizers have prepared an extensive educational and business program, within the framework of which the best Russian and international experts in the field of urban studies, architecture, restoration, as well as representatives of government bodies and the media will speak to the participants. They will hold master classes, round tables and professional consultations designed to help the competition participants improve their project and achieve victory. In the final, five finalist teams will go to Moscow. Here, the winners will be offered the most intense program in terms of cultural heritage.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    http://vvv.hse.ru/nevs/edu/975605631.html

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Vincenzo Mascioli appointed new State Secretary for Migration

    Source: Switzerland – Department of Justice and Police

    The Federal CouncilBern, 16.10.2024 – At its meeting on 16 November, the Federal Council appointed Vincenzo Mascioli as the new State Secretary for Migration. Vincenzo Mascioli is currently Vice Director of the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM). He will take up the post on 1 January 2025, succeeding Christine Schraner Burgener, who is moving to the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA).
    Vincenzo Mascioli, who is 54, has been working in the Federal Administration since 2005, initially as a research assistant for the Control Committee of the Federal Assembly, and between 2007 and 2010 as an advisor on Federal Councillor Moritz Leuenberger’s personal staff at the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC). From 1 November 2011, Vincenzo Mascioli worked as the personal assistant to Federal Councillor Simonetta Sommaruga in the Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP), where he was also responsible for the migration dossier and in particular the reform of the Asylum Act, which was adopted by a clear majority at the popular vote in 2016.
    At the beginning of 2017, he was appointed Vice Director of SEM, where he took charge of the International Affairs Directorate, which includes the Returns, International Cooperation and European Cooperation Divisions. Switzerland is currently one of the leading European states in terms of cooperation with the countries of origin of asylum seekers. In addition, Switzerland’s consistent return policy is internationally recognised. Vincenzo Mascioli also served as Vice Director of SEM for several years under Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Sutter and for one year under Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider.
    Before joining the Federal Administration, he worked for a number of years as an editor at a publishing house and as a lecturer at Zurich University of Teacher Education (PH Zurich) after graduating from the University of Zurich with a degree in education.
    Migration expert with extensive management experience at SEM
    Vincenzo Mascioli is as familiar with the international dimension of migration as he is with Swiss domestic policy. He is an expert in migration issues and, in addition to proven leadership skills, brings with him strong social skills, extensive diplomatic and political knowledge, and strong communication and negotiation skills. The Federal Council is confident that he can credibly represent SEM at home and abroad.
    As State Secretary for Migration, Vincenzo Mascioli heads an administrative unit with around 1,300 employees. He is responsible for developing strategies and implementing and further developing Switzerland’s asylum, immigration and integration policy, as well as its foreign policy on migration. His tasks include liaising with Parliament, cantonal, communal and other federal authorities, non-governmental organisations in the field of migration, international organisations and foreign counterparts.
    State Secretary Christine Schraner Burgener is to step down as head of SEM at the end of the year at her own request to take up a new role at the FDFA. She took over as state secretary on 1 January 2022. During her time in office, Switzerland has had to respond to the largest refugee movement since the Second World War as a result of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. At the same time, SEM has been confronted with a large number of new asylum applications in recent years.
    The Federal Council thanks Ms Schraner Burgener for her services.
    Address for enquiries
    GS-FDJP Communications Services, T +41 58 462 18 18, info@gs-ejpd.admin.ch
    Publisher
    The Federal Councilhttps://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start.htmlFederal Department of Justice and Policehttp://www.ejpd.admin.chState Secretariat for Migrationhttps://www.sem.admin.ch/sem/en/home.html

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Autocratic nations are reaching across borders to silence critics – and so far nothing seems to stop them

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Francesca Lessa, Associate Professor in International Relations of the Americas, UCL

    Iranian journalist Pouria Zeraati survived an assassination attempt outside his home in Wimbledon, south London, in late March 2024. Eighteen months earlier, the London-based independent television channel Iran International, for which Zeraati worked, had temporarily relocated to Washington DC over threats that they believe come from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

    Both incidents are examples of how it seems that a government can target an individual or organisation based outside their borders, with terrifying results.

    According to the latest research from the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenberg, 71% of the world’s population lived in autocracies in 2023 – ten years ago it was 48%. But what’s also new is that autocracies – as well as some other nations – are increasingly reaching across their borders to target people living abroad, enforcing the idea that they can reach their critics wherever they live.

    This kind of state action, taken outside national borders, is known as transnational repression, and is becoming more widespread. The Chinese government is seen as the biggest perpetrator, sometimes using violence to close down criticism or protests against its regime, held in other countries.

    Countries reaching across borders

    More than 20% of the world’s governments are believed to have taken this kind of action outside their borders in the past ten years. These included assassinations, abductions, assaults, detentions and unlawful deportations, according to the NGO Freedom House. These are aimed at forcibly silencing exiled political activists, journalists, former regime insiders and members of ethnic or religious minorities.
    In 2023, 125 such incidents were committed by 25 countries.

    While the majority of countries committing such practices tend to be autocracies, a number of democracies have also taken action across borders, including Israel, Hungary, India and Turkey, according to the report. In 2023, six countries engaged in these practices for the first time, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, El Salvador and Yemen.



    Read more:
    Why the growing number of foreign agent laws around the world is bad for democracy

    Freedom House recorded 1,034 physical attacks between 2014 and 2023, committed by 44 governments in 100 target countries. China, Turkey, Tajikistan, Russia and Egypt are the most prolific perpetrators, with China accounting for a quarter of all incidents.

    This type of terror tactic can take many forms. Freedom House has noted that governments increasingly cooperated to help target exiled dissidents. In 74% of the incidents of transnational repression that took place in 2021, both the origin and the host countries were rated “not free” by Freedom House.

    Awareness of this type of cross-border action is growing. Both human rights groups and academics are now systematically tracking attacks. And several governments, including the US and Australia, have committed to taking action to combat these practices. A bill was introduced in the US Senate in 2023 to specifically tackle transnational repression by foreign governments in the US and abroad.

    I studied the increasing levels of cooperation in transnational repression by different nations in a recent article published in International Studies Quarterly. We look at why states, which are normally reluctant to collaborate, do so when it comes to silencing dissidents abroad.



    Read more:
    Continuing crackdown on churches and NGOs moves Nicaragua further from democracy to authoritarianism

    Historical lessons?

    There are historical parallels between what happened during Operation Condor in South America and what’s happening today. Operation Condor was a system that Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay started using in late 1975 with the backing of the US. It was aimed at persecuting exiles. Operation Condor was the most sophisticated, institutionalised and coordinated scheme ever established to persecute citizens who had been forced to flee their homeland.

    Journalist Pouria Zeraati was attacked.

    Three factors were found to explain why this form of repression was able to be used at the time and why countries agreed to cooperate.

    First, politically active exiled dissidents constituted a threat to the reputation and survival of South America’s ruling juntas. They successfully named and shamed the region’s military regimes, discrediting their international public images given the human rights violations perpetrated and resulting in the US cutting funding to Uruguay in 1976 and Argentina in 1977.

    Second, these autocracies, which came to power between 1964 and 1976, drew inspiration from the US National Security Doctrine and the French School of Counterinsurgency. In both, security was considered more important than human rights.

    The history of Operation Condor.

    Finally, two countries catalysed efforts to cooperate in this kind of action. Chile pushed for the formal creation of Operation Condor in 1975. Argentina then expanded it to include Brazil, Peru and Ecuador between 1976 and 1978. This significantly widened Operation Condor’s scope for action to most of South America.

    Why Operation Condor is relevant?

    Operation Condor was the only regional organisation to be created to hunt down political opponents across borders. Lessons from this historical experience are relevant today.

    Cooperation in transnational repression in the last few years also occurs in regional clusters, as shown by research by academics and human rights groups. These groups of nations include, for instance, Belarus, Russia and Tajikistan, as well as Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

    In recent years these south-east Asian countries have closely collaborated to persecute, arbitrarily arrest and forcibly repatriate exiled activists and refugees, according to the media, the UN and international human rights NGOs.

    Second, one or more countries, predominantly Russia and Turkey, have worked together on efforts to repress critics over a significant period.

    Third, some regional organisations, of authoritarian nature, often enable cooperation in transnational repression, or at least create unsafe environments for migrating dissidents.

    The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the Gulf Cooperation Council are examples, since they “have expanded their collective efforts against exiles”, according to some sources. SCO member states, especially Russia, China and Uzbekistan, have repeatedly used the organisation to pursue political opponents abroad and persecute them as criminals. This shows the organisation’s role as a platform for the diffusion and consolidation of authoritarian principles.

    Countries engaging in this kind of political repression today often wish to silence dissent wherever it occurs.

    These countries are acting in complete disregard of established principles of international law and international relations, such as sovereignty and the protection of refugees, and seem to be expanding their operations. It remains to be seen if there’s anything that the rest of the international community can do to reverse this terrifying trend, but at least it has started trying.

    Francesca Lessa’s projects “Operation Condor” and “Plancondor.org” received funding from the University of Oxford John Fell Fund, The British Academy/Leverhulme Trust, the University of Oxford ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, the European Commission under Horizon 2020, the Open Society Foundations, and UCL Public Policy through Research England’s QR-PSF funding. Lessa is also the Honorary President of the Observatorio Luz Ibarburu, a network of human rights NGOs in Uruguay.

    – ref. Autocratic nations are reaching across borders to silence critics – and so far nothing seems to stop them – https://theconversation.com/autocratic-nations-are-reaching-across-borders-to-silence-critics-and-so-far-nothing-seems-to-stop-them-233037

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Threads: the harrowing 1984 BBC docudrama is back on our screens – scary but appropriate viewing for our uncertain times

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Mark Lacy, Senior lecturer, Politics, Philosophy, and Religion, Lancaster University

    The BBC docudrama Threads shocked audiences in 1984. BBC

    Threads – the horrific film made by the BBC in 1984 depicting the impact of a nuclear war on a city in the north of England – was recently made available to stream. It’s a brutal and grim tour of the aftermath of nuclear war, which anyone who viewed it when originally aired may struggle to watch again. But, 40 years on, the film is probably regarded more as an unpleasant artefact from a more dangerous time.

    These days we consume many types of apocalyptic entertainment in film and video games, exploring all types of societal collapse: ecological disaster, manufactured pandemics, alien invasions, cyber-attacks and dangerous AI. But Threads is particularly chilling in its attempt to give a realistic account of what could happen if cold war tensions escalated. I remember watching it as a teenager in a lesson at school and once was enough for me.

    But in the winter of 2024, it is difficult to escape the regular warnings about the escalating tensions around the world. There are widespread fears that a catastrophic series of diplomatic breakdowns and strategic miscalculations could result in a 2024 version of the events depicted in the 1984 film.

    Since the end of the cold war, much of international conflict has played out below the threshold of open war, in the realms of cyberwarfare, espionage and subversion. Or in other attempts at economic and political tactics intended to influence and manipulate. But there is clearly something very alarming about the situation since the invasion of Ukraine and the escalation of events in the Middle East since October 7.

    What makes the current situation so alarming is the sense that “great powers” or states with nuclear weapons could be pulled into conflicts that might quickly escalate beyond any diplomatic or political control. It’s hoped that leaders on all sides are determined to deter or contain conflict. But wars are shaped by accidents, miscalculations and errors of strategic judgement.

    Would Vladimir Putin have sent his troops into Ukraine if he could see how the Ukrainians and the international community would react? Now he has turned to making regular threats about Russia’s nuclear arsenal.

    So, there is a sense of unease about the current possibility of events getting out of control – of events escalating from brutal and horrific local or regional conflicts into a full blown global conflict. To be sure, there will (hopefully) be a continual diplomatic effort focused in ensuring that events in Ukraine or the Middle East do not escalate to the point where there the world is drawn into a wider war involving weapons of mass destruction.

    Rational v irrational actors

    But one of the concerns is that the situation in the 2020s is markedly difficult to geopolitical tensions during the cold war. The influential “realists” of international relations – academics like John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt – argued that one of the reasons that the US should not invade Iraq was that Saddam Hussein was a “rational actor” whose behaviour could be contained and controlled. Iraq could be controlled through what they saw as “vigilant surveillance” and containment.

    But the fear in 2024 is that the world isn’t populated by rational actors as it was during the cold war, with its doctrine of mutually assured destruction.

    Putin is viewed as a leader increasingly detached from reality – surrounded by advisers too afraid to give him advice that he might not want to hear. In strategic terms, the fear he is that he might escalate to de-escalate. He might attempt a nuclear strike to deter events escalating further – an horrific warning signal that will end any attempts to challenge him.

    Some would question whether Iran may be led by men who are also detached from reality and might actually be looking for an apocalyptic showdown with Israel and the west. This depiction of irrational leaders might be more a reflection of our panic and paranoia than a credible assessment of leadership in these states. And of course, some would argue that the liberal world has its fair share of irrational actors.

    An interconnected world

    So, are we in a time or dangerous irrational actors where deterrence will not prevent a potentially apocalyptic escalation in global events? Security analysts and policymakers often refer to what is known as “deterrence by entanglement”. There are various types of deterrence but one of the geopolitical differences between now and the cold war is the level of interconnection between states that might have diplomatic, economic and political tensions.

    How many Chinese students study in UK universities? How much property in London is owned by Russian citizens? Societies are entangled to such a degree that a launching a nuclear strike on London would not only destroy investments, it might also kill your own citizens. Then there is the question of geographical location and nuclear strikes: would you risk the ecological blowback from nuclear strikes in a way that might endanger your territory, ecology and citizens – for generations?

    Leaders make mistakes and situations escalate in dangerous and unpredictable ways. But one of the lessons of international relations – going back to the works of Sun Tzu and Machiavelli – is that deception is a vital part of statecraft and warfare. And the “performance” of statecraft often requires cultivating an image of irrationality as a form of rational statecraft and deterrence. Some have argued that Donald Trump’s actions and pronouncements on international affairs produce a sense of uncertainty that works as a one-man strategy of deterrence.

    But as this performance plays out, it can be terrifying to watch and experience. Let’s not forget, the history of international relations is a history of tragic and mainly avoidable accidents.

    Mark Lacy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Threads: the harrowing 1984 BBC docudrama is back on our screens – scary but appropriate viewing for our uncertain times – https://theconversation.com/threads-the-harrowing-1984-bbc-docudrama-is-back-on-our-screens-scary-but-appropriate-viewing-for-our-uncertain-times-241314

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Nordic-Baltic foreign ministers visit Ukraine

    Source: Government of Sweden

    Nordic-Baltic foreign ministers visit Ukraine – Government.se

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    Press release from Ministry for Foreign Affairs

    Published

    On 16 October 2024, the Nordic-Baltic countries’ foreign ministers visited Odesa, Ukraine. The visit took place against the backdrop of intensified Russian attacks against Ukraine resulting in further loss of lives, injuries and widespread destruction. The needs are immense, especially within the energy sector, as Ukraine prepares for its third winter since Russia’s full-scale invasion. The Nordic-Baltic countries are united in their unwavering commitment to supporting Ukraine. During the visit, a substantial Nordic-Baltic winter package was announced in response to Ukraine’s most pressing needs, including energy, social infrastructure and humanitarian support. The support aims to alleviate the suffering caused by Russia’s attacks by contributing to basic needs such as heating and clean water during the cold winter months.

    “Our visit to Odesa today is a manifestation of the Nordic-Baltic countries’ unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Ukraine’s heroic fight against Russia’s aggression is not only about defending Ukraine’s freedom, but all of our freedom,” said Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Coordinator of the NB8 Maria Malmer Stenergard, on behalf of the Nordic-Baltic delegation. 

    The delegation was received in Odesa by Ukraine’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha to discuss the current situation, pressing needs, Ukraine’s efforts for a just and lasting peace as well as Ukraine’s EU accession progress, including related reform progress. The visit also included a visit to a military hospital, where the delegation met with soldiers wounded in the defence of their country, as well as a meeting with governor Oleh Kiper, where the ministers were briefed on the current situation in the region. 

    The Nordic-Baltic countries have committed significant resources in support to Ukraine and this support will continue. During the visit, a substantial Nordic-Baltic winter package was delivered in response to Ukraine’s most pressing needs ahead of the coming winter, including energy, social resilience and humanitarian support. Together, the Nordic-Baltic countries will contribute turbines, generators, solar panels, transformers and heating as well as financial support to the energy sector and to the reconstruction of critical social infrastructure. This support, and the already earmarked support for next year, will strengthen Ukraine’s ability to provide electricity, heating, clean water, health care, education, and other critical social and civilian infrastructure.

    NB8 and the support to Ukraine

    In 2024, Sweden is serving as Coordinator of the informal foreign and security cooperation format of the Nordic and Baltic countries (NB8). Joint efforts to strengthen both immediate and long-term military and civilian support to help Ukraine prevail is central to the Nordic-Baltic cooperation format. The Nordic-Baltic foreign ministers last visited Odesa, Ukraine in April 2023, when Latvia was Coordinator of the NB8.

    The NB8 delegation to Ukraine consisted of chair of the NB8 format, Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard, Denmark’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Estonia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna, Finland’s Political Secretary of State Pasi Rajala, Iceland’s Permanent Secretary of State Martin Eyjólfsson, Latvia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Baiba Braže, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielius Landsbergis and Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide.

    Press contact

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Ukraine: Switzerland implements further measures in 14th EU sanctions package

    Source: Switzerland – Federal Council in English

    Bern, 16.10.2024 – On 16 October, the Federal Council decided to adopt most of the measures in the EU’s 14th package of sanctions against Russia. The new measures will come into force on 17 October. On 8 July, 116 individuals and entities were already added to Switzerland’s sanctions list, and on 21 August the first measures in the 14th sanctions package were adopted.

    The EU adopted its 14th package of sanctions against Russia on 24 June in response to Russia’s continued military aggression against Ukraine and its destabilising actions undermining Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and security. The aim is to strengthen the enforcement of existing sanctions to prevent their circumvention, and to apply new sanctions in order to weaken Russia’s ability to wage war.

    On 8 July, the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER) had already imposed sanctions on 116 additional individuals and entities within its jurisdiction. This means that around 2,250 individuals, companies and organisations in Switzerland are currently on the sanctions list in connection with the situation in Ukraine. The list is identical to that of the EU. On 21 August, the Federal Council decided to adopt further measures in the EU’s 14th package of sanctions against Russia. The international harmonisation of bans on Russian diamonds was a particular focus of these sanctions. After a detailed examination, the Federal Council decided on 16 October to adopt the remaining measures in the 14th sanctions package that concern Switzerland, thereby strengthening the impact of the sanctions.

    Measures in the goods sector

    This decision further tightens export restrictions on goods intended to strengthen Russia’s industrial sector and military and technological capabilities. In addition, the list of entities subject to tighter export restrictions will be extended by 61 entities. Around half of these entities are located in third countries and are linked to the Russian military complex. The Federal Council had already decided on 31 January that companies would have to contractually prohibit the re-export to Russia of certain critical goods (common high priority items) when exporting to third countries. An equivalent obligation has now been introduced for the transfer of intellectual property rights and trade secrets, in order to prevent industrial know-how transferred to third countries from being used to produce such goods for use in Russia. In addition, there is now a ban on the purchase and import of Russian helium.

    Measures in the financial sector

    The use of certain specialised financial messaging services for payment transactions (i.e. alternatives to SWIFT) will be prohibited for banks. The Federal Council has also introduced various legal provisions on transaction bans. One of these concerns crypto assets providers that facilitate transactions supporting Russia’s defence industry. These new sanctions will curb the ability of the Kremlin to channel funds to finance its war machine.

    Measures in the energy sector

    The Federal Council has introduced several sanctions targeting liquefied natural gas (LNG). It will now be prohibited to invest in LNG projects under construction in Russia or to supply such projects with the necessary goods. From March 2025, it will also be prohibited to provide services for the transshipment of Russian LNG on EU territory. The new sanctions package also prohibits the purchase, import and transport of Russian LNG via terminals in the EU that are not connected to the gas pipeline network.

    Protection for Swiss individuals and entities

    In order to better protect Swiss companies, the Federal Council has introduced legislation that enables them to sue companies targeted by sanctions in the Swiss courts to claim damages for losses that the Swiss companies have incurred as a result of arbitrary proceedings in Russia or third countries. The same applies to Swiss individuals and companies whose assets have been unlawfully expropriated in Russia.

    The EU has also imposed restrictions on accepting applications for the registration of certain intellectual property rights (brands, patents, etc.) by Russian nationals and companies. This is because the Russian government and courts have taken measures to illegitimately deprive EU intellectual property rights holders of their protection in Russia. The situation for Swiss companies is different, as there have been no intellectual property rights violations committed by Russia against Swiss companies. The Federal Council has therefore decided not to adopt this measure to protect Swiss companies; however, it will continue to monitor the situation.

    Subsidiaries abroad

    With the 14th sanctions package, the EU has introduced a general obligation for businesses to ensure that their subsidiaries in third countries do not undermine the EU’s sanctions. Swiss law typically only covers situations that occur on Swiss territory. However, there may be cases where Swiss law applies, for example where payments are made or instructions issued from Switzerland that are prohibited by the sanctions. This allows Swiss companies that use their subsidiaries to circumvent sanctions to be prosecuted. SECO is currently examining a number of cases in which Swiss companies are suspected of violating sanctions through their subsidiaries abroad. The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland has taken over one of the cases. Under the current sanctions law, Switzerland already has the means to prosecute companies for circumventing sanctions by using their subsidiaries, and is actively doing so. Against this background, the Federal Council has decided not to adopt this EU measure in its current form. The EAER will monitor the situation and inform the Federal Council in the event of any changes in the position.

    Further measures

    Sanctions have also been imposed in relation to 27 ships involved in Russia’s war against Ukraine, including vessels belonging to Russia’s ‘dark fleet’ (ships that deliver goods with military applications to Russia, circumvent the international oil price cap in defiance of international standards, or carry grain looted from Ukraine). The measures include bans on providing services, including financial services, to such vessels or on acquiring or operating them.

    In order to limit Russia’s influence on democratic processes in Switzerland, the Federal Council has also decided to prohibit political parties, NGOs and media service providers from accepting donations from the Russian government. As in the EU, exceptions are provided for, to ensure the right to freedom of expression, information and the media, for example.

    Address for enquiries

    Enquiries from the media: EAER Communications, info@gs-wbf.admin.ch, +41 (0)58 462 20 07

    Enquiries from businesses: sanctions@seco.admin.ch, +41 (0)58 464 08 12

    Publisher

    The Federal Council
    https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start.html

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Statement by IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on the Review of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust

    Source: IMF – News in Russian

    October 16, 2024

    Washington, DC: The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today completed the Review of Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) Facilities and Financing, the IMF’s vehicle for providing concessional financing to low-income member countries. Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), issued the following statement:

    “Our membership today has adopted a comprehensive reform and financing package for the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) to bolster the IMF’s support to low-income countries.”

    “The package includes a framework to deploy IMF net income and/or reserves to generate about US$8 billion in additional subsidy resources for the PRGT over the next five years. Combined with other reform measures and last year’s successful bilateral fundraising, this would increase the PRGT’s long-term annual lending envelope to about US$3.6 billion, more than twice the pre-pandemic level, and help catalyze significant additional flows from public and private sources.”

    “This agreement comes at a critical time as low-income countries have suffered a series of unprecedented shocks and face substantial financing needs. With exceptionally high demand for PRGT financing, the approved package will generate the concessional resources necessary to ensure that the Fund can continue supporting low-income countries to implement sound policies and build strong institutions.”

    “These reforms will help tailor IMF support to country-specific needs, recognizing the increasing economic heterogeneity of low-income countries. To ensure that scarce concessional resources are targeted to those most in need, a new interest rate mechanism will maintain interest-free lending for the poorest countries while ensuring that lending terms for others have a sufficient degree of concessionality. Access policies will allow for flexibility in calibrating Fund support, and safeguards will be strengthened and streamlined.”

    “Our global membership has demonstrated once again its shared commitment to support our low-income members in challenging economic times.”

    Link to FAQs

    IMF Communications Department
    MEDIA RELATIONS

    PRESS OFFICER: Randa Elnagar and Camila Perez

    Phone: +1 202 623-7100Email: MEDIA@IMF.org

    @IMFSpokesperson

    https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2024/10/16/pr24372-statement-imf-md-kristalina-georgieva-rev-poverty-reduction-growth-trust

    MIL OSI

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: FACT SHEET: U.S. Achievements in the Global Fight Against  Corruption

    US Senate News:

    Source: The White House
    Corruption poses a grave and enduring threat to U.S. national interests and those of our partners. When officials abuse their entrusted power for personal or political gain, the interests of authoritarians and corrupt actors win – at the expense of citizens, honest businesses, and healthy societies. As the Biden-Harris Administration took office, this longstanding challenge had metastasized. In some countries, oligarchs were teaming up with foreign kleptocrats to warp policy and procurement decisions in exchange for kickbacks – with no accountability. Corrupt officials were laundering stolen assets through the U.S. and global financial systems, while local investigators were ill-equipped to follow the money. Reformers in countries saddled with corruption had scarce public resources to actually address development needs. The Biden-Harris Administration tacked these challenges starting Day One, to ensure democracy delivers and corrupt actors are held to account.
    The first National Security Study Memorandum of the Biden-Harris Administration established countering corruption as a “core U.S. national security interest,” leading to the issuance in December 2021 of the first United States Strategy on Countering Corruption. Since then, the United States has taken action at home and around the world to curb illicit finance, hold corrupt actors accountable, forge multilateral partnerships, and equip frontline leaders to take on transnational corruption. The result has been historic progress in protecting the U.S. financial system from money-laundering, including in the residential real estate sector, while enhancing corporate transparency. This Administration has mobilized record levels of foreign assistance dedicated to anti-corruption, including $339 million in Fiscal Year 2023 alone – almost double the yearly average during the previous four years. This new assistance has unlocked support for anti-corruption institutions, leveled the playing field for law-abiding businesses, enabled journalists to team up across borders, and more. Expanded law enforcement cooperation and capacity-building have generated convictions of corrupt actors as well as the seizure, forfeiture, and return of criminal proceeds, while new anti-corruption offices at the Department of State (State) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) energized diplomatic and stakeholder engagement. The United States imposed sanctions on more than 500 individuals and entities for corruption and related activities, and established – for the first time in any jurisdiction globally – a new visa restriction for those who enable corrupt activity.
    U.S. progress on anti-corruption has produced concrete benefits for the American people and stakeholders around the world – enhancing prosperity, economic security, safety, and democracy, as outlined below. To bolster and sustain this work, the U.S. government has also modernized its approach to addressing corruption as a cross-cutting priority. Today, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics Daleep Singh will highlight the benefits of this work to American businesses and workers at a White House anti-corruption roundtable with leaders from 15 major U.S. companies.
    Advancing economic opportunity abroad
    Improving the business enabling environment: U.S. assistance advanced governments’ capacity to prevent, detect, investigate, and prosecute corruption, while encouraging anti-bribery compliance. State expanded its Fiscal Transparency Innovation Fund – to help willing partners improve budget transparency – while holding countries to account for progress in its Fiscal Transparency Report. In the past two years alone, a newly expanded State-Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) program facilitated U.S. collaboration with foreign counterparts on more than 50 transnational corruption and money laundering cases with a U.S. nexus. In coordination with State, experienced legal advisors from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) assisted foreign justice partners around the world in investigating and prosecuting corruption and money laundering cases, and recovering assets. And DOJ’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, in partnership with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, has recovered more than $1.7 billion and returned or assisted in returning more than $1.6 billion for the benefit of the people harmed by the corruption.
    Enforcing our bans on foreign bribery and money-laundering – and pressing other countries to do the same: To enable honest companies to compete overseas, the United States upheld its commitments under the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention by enforcing its foreign bribery and related laws and working with partners to monitor other countries’ progress in implementing the Convention, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2024. Since the start of the Administration, DOJ has imposed more than $3.5 billion in total monetary sanctions under the Foreign Corruption Practices Act (FCPA) in 16 corporate resolutions, and announced charges against more than 70 individuals. For instance, this April the former Comptroller General of Ecuador was convicted of money laundering relating to his receipt of over $10 million in bribes from, among others, the Brazil-based construction conglomerate Odebrecht S.A. The Securities and Exchange Commission continued civil enforcement of the FCPA, with approximately $1 billion in total monetary sanctions in 22 corporate resolutions, spanning conduct in 24 countries, since the start of the Administration. DOJ is also enforcing the recently enacted Foreign Extortion Prevention Act, which criminalizes demands for bribes by foreign officials from U.S. companies and others. In addition, this August DOJ announced a new Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program to uncover and prosecute corporate crime – with a particular focus on foreign and domestic corruption, as well as violations by financial institutions of their obligations to take steps to detect and deter money laundering.
    Seizing windows of opportunity: U.S. assistance has become more agile via the establishment of USAID’s Anti-Corruption Response Fund (providing flexible support to countries experiencing new opportunities or backsliding), the State-DOJ Global Anti-Corruption Rapid Response Fund (providing assistance and case mentoring to foreign partners on short notice), and USAID’s Democracy Delivers initiative (which has marshalled $500 million in funding from the United States and others to help reformers deliver, including on their anti-corruption commitments). These innovations, informed by USAID’s Dekleptification Guide, are enabling the U.S. government to more nimbly pivot toward environments where local momentum can be bolstered by outside assistance.
    Bolstering integrity in high-risk sectors: In April 2024, the United States and its partners launched the Blue Dot Network – a mechanism to certify infrastructure projects that have met global standards for quality and sustainability, including transparency in procurement and provisions to limit opportunities for corruption. The United States also supported the launch of PROTECT, a collective action project to address corruption risk in the supply chain for critical minerals.
    Strengthening corruption safeguards in the Indo-Pacific: In June, the United States and thirteen other partners held a signing ceremony, after concluding eight rounds of negotiations in record time, for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) Fair Economy Agreement. The Agreement aims to create a more transparent, predictable trade and investment environment across IPEF partners’ markets, including through binding obligations to prevent and combat corruption. The Department of Commerce (Commerce) and State are accelerating implementation by offering new anti-corruption technical assistance to IPEF partners, including workshops on procurement corruption.
    Dialoguing with the private sector: In 2021, State launched the Galvanizing the Private Sector as Partners in Combatting Corruption initiative, which connects companies and governments to strengthen business integrity and encourage governance reform. Commerce’s International Trade Administration organized the 2024 forum of the Business Ethics for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Small and Medium Enterprises Initiative – the world’s largest public-private partnership on ethical business conduct – at which stakeholders formalized policy recommendations on business integrity in public procurement.
    Protecting the U.S. financial system from abuse
    Expanding corporate transparency: To deter kleptocrats and criminals from laundering money through anonymous shell companies, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) operationalized a new filing system for certain companies operating in the United States to report their beneficial owners – the real people who own or control them – pursuant to the bipartisan Corporate Transparency Act. Treasury held hundreds of outreach events across all states and territories, reaching thousands of stakeholders, to enable companies to quickly and easily comply with this reporting requirement.
    Closing loopholes for money-laundering: Treasury finalized rules to close two major loopholes in the U.S. financial system: (1) to increase transparency in the U.S. residential real estate sector, to ensure that law-abiding homebuyers are not disadvantaged by individuals laundering their ill-gotten gains, and (2) to safeguard the investment adviser industry from illicit finance. Treasury also proposed a rule to modernize financial institutions’ anti-money-laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) programs, to make them more effective and risk-based. Together, these rulemakings represent historic advances for the U.S. AML/CFT regime, in line with international standards, that will help the United States urge other countries to undertake similar reforms to curb illicit finance. The Biden-Harris Administration has also called on Congress to close even more loopholes that facilitate money-laundering by passing the ENABLERS Act.
    Blocking assets and denying entry to corrupt actors: Since the start of the Administration, Treasury has designated more than 500 individuals and entities for corruption and related activities, across six continents. That includes blocking the assets of 20 individuals and 48 companies in Fiscal Year 2024 for corruption in Afghanistan, Guatemala, Guyana, Paraguay, Western Balkans, and Zimbabwe. In tandem, State publicly issued corruption-related visa restrictions for 76 foreign officials and family members in Fiscal Year 2024, and 292 over the course of the Administration. These actions have protected the U.S. financial system from corrupt actors and promoted accountability in domestic jurisdictions. For example, just one week after the U.S. issuance of a public visa restriction on former Director of Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) Intelligence Services Osman Mehmedagic for significant corruption, he was arrested by BiH authorities for abuse of office.
    Taking aim at enablers of corruption: In December 2023, President Biden issued an historic Presidential Proclamation establishing a visa restriction for those who facilitate and enable significant corruption and their immediate family members. This new visa restriction complements existing commitments to use sanction and law enforcement capabilities to target private enablers of public corruption. Earlier this year, the FBI and DOJ secured a guilty plea and a criminal penalty of $661 million from Gunvor – one of the largest commodities trading firms in the world – for facilitating bribery of Ecuadorian officials and laundering those bribes through U.S. banks. In addition, USAID launched new activities to incentivize integrity within professions that serve as gatekeepers to the international financial system.
    Upholding international standards: The United States has helped lead efforts to expand anti-corruption work at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), including improving assessment tools, mitigating risks associated with “golden passport” programs, and highlighting how non-financial sectors can be abused by corrupt actors.
    Keeping America and our partners safe
    Addressing corruption risk in the security sector: Security sector corruption can divert essential supplies, empower malign actors, threaten the safety of U.S. service members, and undermine U.S. military missions writ large. In the past year, the Department of Defense (DOD) incorporated corruption risk into its security cooperation planning – subjecting certain proposals to further scrutiny and identifying risk mitigation measures as needed. State also created new resources to weigh corruption risk as part of security sector assistance decision-making. In addition, State’s Global Defense Reform Program and DOD’s institutional capacity building programs advanced more transparent, accountable, and professional defense institutions. DOD continued running a training course on combatting corruption for partner military commanders and civilian leaders.
    Tackling organized crime and corruption: Transnational criminal organizations often rely on corruption to enable their criminal activities and evade accountability – which fuels narcotrafficking into the United States, human smuggling, cybercrimes, and more. The U.S. government is deploying anti-corruption tools to target criminal networks and their financial enablers, in line with the 2023 White House Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime.
    Standing up to Russia’s aggression: The United States has adapted to address the wartime needs of Ukraine’s anti-corruption stakeholders, as they close off a key vector for Russian dominance and advance Ukraine’s democratic future. In 2023, Ukrainian anti-corruption investigators and prosecutors achieved an 80 percent increase in prosecutions and a 50 percent increase in convictions, plus opened cases against high-ranking officials including the former head of the Ukrainian Supreme Court.  With U.S. support, Ukraine has advanced significant reforms on asset disclosure, launched a whistleblower portal, strengthened the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, and enhanced transparency and integrity in reconstruction.
    Securing a greener future: The United States has integrated an anti-corruption lens across sectors, with particular emphasis on addressing corruption vulnerabilities that threaten a secure, just energy transition for all. This includes USAID support to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), increased mining transparency in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, and innovations that address transnational corruption in green energy mineral supply chains across 15 countries.
    Protecting global health: Corruption curtails the ability of states to respond to pandemics and undercuts access to basic healthcare. USAID is tackling this challenge by releasing cutting-edge guidance on anti-corruption in the health sector and launching integrated programming. For example, in Liberia the United States is working with the government to curb theft of pharmaceuticals through civil society monitoring, law enforcement trainings, and public awareness campaigns.
    Addressing the root causes of migration: Combating corruption is a core component of improving conditions in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras – so people do not feel compelled to leave their homes, in line with the U.S. Strategy for Addressing the Root Causes of Migration in Central America. Recent U.S. actions have included training up to 27,000 justice sector stakeholders in those countries to more effectively address corruption.
    Defending democracy by rooting out corruption
    Tackling electoral corruption: When candidates can be bankrolled by foreign adversaries and institutions captured by kleptocrats, citizens lose faith in their governments—or even in democracy itself. In response, USAID has launched new programs to bolster electoral integrity, strengthen independent media, and increase the transparency of political finance in high-risk locations.
    Lifting up civil society and independent media: The U.S. government has substantially expanded support to frontline activists and journalists, including through the Global Anti-Corruption Consortium. In addition, a new State Department initiative is training hundreds of journalists in transnational corruption investigations, while USAID’s new investigative journalist networks in Asia and Southern Africa are building capacity to track corruption across sectors and across borders. The Secretary of State established a new award for Anti-Corruption Champions, which has honored dozens of courageous civil society leaders and embattled reformers. In 2022, the United States also hosted the largest regular gathering of civil society activists fighting corruption – the International Anti-Corruption Conference – in Washington, DC, with keynote remarks from APNSA Jake Sullivan.
    Protecting sovereignty: Authoritarian actors like Russia and the PRC use bribery to interfere in the policy, procurement, debt, and electoral processes of other countries – undermining both sovereignty and democracy. The United States is standing up to this tactic by building the resilience of frontline actors to detect and deflect foreign-backed strategic corruption, educating partners about the kleptocrats’ playbook, harnessing sanction tools to deter threats, and increasing collaboration between practitioners working on anti-corruption and those addressing foreign malign influence – both within the USG and with likeminded partners. For example, in June the United States joined with Canada and the UK to expose Russia’s use of corruption and covert financing, among other tactics, to undermine democratic processes in Moldova.
    Restoring trust in American democracy: The Biden-Harris Administration has established the strongest ethics standards of any U.S. presidency. On his first day in office, the President signed an Executive Order requiring administration officials to take a stringent ethics pledge, which extends lobbying bans, limits shadow lobbying, and makes ethics waivers more transparent. The Administration also restored longstanding democratic norms by protecting DOJ cases from political interference, releasing the President’s and Vice-President’s taxes, and voluntarily disclosing White House visitor logs. And in the last year, the Office of Government Ethics finalized rules updating the standards for ethical conduct and legal expense funds for executive branch employees.
    Protecting American democracy from malign finance: Just as we defend democracy around the world, the U.S. government is working to keep American democracy safe from foreign adversaries. Actions to curb money laundering in the United States can help reduce the ability of foreign and domestic actors to make illegal campaign contributions and evade U.S. election laws. President Biden has called on Congress to go even further by passing the DISCLOSE Act, which would curb the ability of foreign entities and special interests to use dark money loopholes to influence our elections.
    Revitalizing participation in the Open Government Partnership (OGP): The United States rejoined the Steering Committee of OGP – a platform for civil society and governments to forge joint commitments and learn from each other– and provided assistance for OGP’s work on anti-corruption. Domestically, the United States has turbocharged OGP implementation by creating the U.S. Open Government Secretariat at the General Services Administration, an Open Government Federal Advisory Committee, an Interagency Community of Practice – spanning federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, and engaged with hundreds of stakeholders to exchange lessons and expand transparency, accountability, and public participation. The United States also launched the first-ever Request for Information to feed into the 6th U.S. OGP National Action Plan and announced development of a toolkit to help federal agencies more meaningfully engage with the public.
    Modernizing and coordinating U.S. government efforts to fight corruption
    Institutionalizing anti-corruption as an enduring priority: Over the past four years, Departments and Agencies have made substantial organizational improvements to elevate corruption concerns. For example:
    The State Department’s new Office of the Coordinator on Global Anti-Corruption leads the integration of anti-corruption priorities into bilateral and other policy processes, conducts targeted diplomatic engagements, and drives strategic planning, including through the Department’s senior-level Anti-Corruption Policy Board. In the past year, the Office jumpstarted implementation of the Combating Global Corruption Act and completed an analysis of anti-corruption assistance to inform future State Department decision-making.
    USAID’s new Anti-Corruption Center, within the newly established Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance, serves as a hub of technical expertise and thought leadership – driving the integration of corruption considerations across USAID’s portfolio, supporting USAID Missions in developing localized approaches, managing a suite of programming focused on transnational corruption, and using its convening power and policy insights to forge strategic partnerships. Since 2022, USAID has released its first-ever Anti-Corruption Policy, which outlines a cross-sectoral approach to constraining opportunities for corruption, raising the costs of corruption, and incentivizing integrity – plus a host of tools to drive uptake across USAID.
    FBI’s International Corruption Unit expanded an agreement with the State Department to deploy six regional anti-corruption advisors to strategic locations around the world, where they organize regional working groups with local law enforcement officials, provide case-base mentorship, and facilitate coordination with the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre.

    Expanded interagency capacity has been complemented by the National Security Council’s establishment of a dedicated Director for Anti-Corruption position, for the first time, to ensure whole-of-government coordination and advance anti-corruption within key policy processes.
    Leading in multilateral fora: The United States has regained its leadership role in the international bodies that shape anti-corruption norms globally and can sustain momentum across time. In particular, the United States stepped into the presidency of the UN Convention against Corruption Conference of States Parties (UNCAC COSP), proudly hosting in December 2023 thousands of stakeholders in Atlanta, Georgia, led by the U.S. Representative to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield. As part of its commitment to championing the role of non-governmental actors in the fight against corruption, the United States facilitated record civil society participation in UNCAC working group meetings, hosted the first UNCAC Private Sector Forum, and supported inclusive implementation of UNCAC commitments in Latin America, East Africa, and Southeast Asia. The United States also participated in several peer reviews of our own anti-corruption practices over the last three years, and proudly made these results public. Alongside these multilateral fora, we convened the Global Forum on Asset Recovery action series to accelerate practitioner cooperation across the United States, Algeria, Honduras, Iraq, Moldova, Nigeria, Seychelles, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and Zambia.
    Understanding corruption dynamics: The Intelligence Community developed and disseminated new resources to bolster intelligence prioritization, collection and analysis on corrupt actors and their networks. USAID commissioned research on topics like countering corruption through social and behavioral change and State initiated an interagency anti-corruption learning agenda and a small grants program to support it.
    Deepening external partnerships: The United States convened a series of coordination meetings with other bilateral donors and philanthropies in order to harmonize our anti-corruption approaches and galvanized anti-corruption resources across the donor community through the Integrity for Development campaign. USAID’s Countering Transnational Corruption Grand Challenge for Development brought together technologists, businesses, activists, and others to collaboratively address concrete corruption challenges.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Financial news: 10/16/2024, 13:30 the values of the lower limit of the repo price corridor, the carry rate and the range of interest rate risk assessment for the MGKL security were changed.

    MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: Moscow Exchange – Moscow Exchange –

    10/16/2024

    13:30

    In accordance with the Methodology for determining the risk parameters of the stock market and deposit market of Moscow Exchange PJSC by NCO NCC (JSC), on 16.10.2024, 13-30 (Moscow time), the values of the lower limit of the repo price corridor with the settlement code Y0/Y1Dt (up to -23.59%), the transfer rate and the range of interest rate risk assessment (up to -0.0019 rubles, equivalent to a rate of 46.36%) of the MGKL security were changed.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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    https://www.moex.com/n74033

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Financial news: Decommissioning of the client part of the “CED” software

    MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: Moscow Exchange – Moscow Exchange –

    Dear users of EDI services,

    We inform you that the service “Client part of the software “CED”” will be decommissioned from January 1, 2025. This service provides the ability to conclude purchase and sale agreements in electronic form between organizations participating in the CED system. There are no plans to transfer this functionality to other systems. For the purpose of concluding purchase and sale agreements in electronic form, we recommend using the MOEX Dealing / Trade Radar systems, which have the closest similar functionality (these systems do not have the ability to sign documents with an EDS, which can be implemented using the back office systems of your organization). The services will be canceled by Moscow Exchange PJSC unilaterally. Signing of any additional agreements or applications is not required. We ask you to bring this information to the attention of the responsible departments. For all questions related to this notice, you can contact us at itssales@moex.com

    Contact information for media 7 (495) 363-3232PR@moex.com

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    Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    https://www.moex.com/n74032

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Financial news: 10/16/2024, 12:03 (Moscow time) the values of the upper limit of the price corridor and the range of market risk assessment for security RU000A102986 (SUEK-F1P6R) were changed.

    MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: Moscow Exchange – Moscow Exchange –

    10/16/2024

    12:03

    In accordance with the Methodology for determining the risk parameters of the stock market and deposit market of Moscow Exchange PJSC by NCO NCC (JSC) on 16.10.2024, 12-03 (Moscow time), the values of the upper limit of the price corridor (up to 100.02) and the range of market risk assessment (up to 1112.12 rubles, equivalent to a rate of 8.75%) of the security RU000A102986 (SUEK-F1P6R) were changed.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    https://www.moex.com/n74029

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: World Food Day (October 16, 2024)

    Source: Republic of France in English
    The Republic of France has issued the following statement:

    On this World Food Day, France reaffirms its commitment to the fight against every form of food insecurity and malnutrition.

    In 2023, 281.6 million people faced high levels of food insecurity, 24 million more than in 2022. One hundred fifty million children under the age of five are suffering from delayed growth and 37 million are underweight.

    France is fully engaged in the fight against malnutrition, which affects health and education systems and economies worldwide.

    On March 27 and 28, 2025, Paris will host the Nutrition for Growth (N4G) summit, which will bring together members of the entire international nutrition community (governments, international organizations, civil society, companies, scientists) to undertake concrete, ambitious commitments to help combat all forms of malnutrition.

    In light of worsening food crises in conflict zones, particularly in Gaza and Sudan, France remains fully mobilized through financial support for international organizations and food aid projects. France is also the leading funder of the Grain from Ukraine program, which was launched in 2022 as a response to the impact of the Russian aggression on global food insecurity in seven countries : Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, Palestine, Djibouti, Malawi and Zambia.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: The University acted as a regional platform for the All-Russian Economic Dictation

    MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering –

    On October 15, the eighth annual event “All-Russian Economic Dictation” took place, the motto of which is “Strong Economy – Prosperous Russia!” The goal of this event is economic education and development of economic culture of citizens. Residents of Russia in all regions of the country, as well as citizens of neighboring countries, participate in writing the economic dictation. This year, 1,340 regional sites were registered for holding the event: interest in the economic dictation is growing every year.

    SPbGASU annually acts as a regional venue for the event, and students of the Faculty of Economics and Management become active participants in the event. Third- and fourth-year students managed to successfully answer questions, some of which were interdisciplinary in nature in connection with such sciences as history, social science, and jurisprudence.

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    http://www.spbgasu.ru/nevs-and-events/nevs/university-acted-as-a-regional-platform-for-all-Russian-economic-dictation/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Students of SPbGASU met with participants of the Special Military Operation

    MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering – Valery Zinkevich and Anatoly Noskov

    On October 15–16, the SPbGASU Youth Policy Department organized meetings between our university students and participants of the Special Military Operation Anatoly Noskov, Valery Zinkevich, and Gennady Kuz. They came to the front line by different paths, but with one goal – to defend the Fatherland.

    Captain Anatoly Noskov is a 2022 graduate of SPbGASU. He was mobilized at the same time. Anatoly is a hereditary military man: the grandson of an admiral and the son of a KGB colonel. First, he graduated from the Nakhimov School, then the Frunze Higher Naval School (now the Peter the Great Naval Corps – St. Petersburg Naval Institute). He worked in the criminal investigation service. He started as a deputy company commander for military-patriotic work, and later became the commander of the assault company Z. In total, Captain Noskov’s front-line biography includes 11 assaults, two wounds, one of which was serious.

    Valery Zinkevich has been involved in public activities since 2010 and has traveled to almost all the liberated territories of the new regions as a volunteer since the beginning of the SVO. He admits that what he saw inspired him to decide to go to the front as a volunteer. The commander of the assault platoon of the special forces “Akhmat” has difficult battles and a serious injury behind him. Today, he manages seven charity projects, is the leader of the public-patriotic bloc “For the Fatherland and Faith”, and an adviser to the head of the Moscow district of St. Petersburg on patriotic education of youth.

    Gennady Kuz is a combat veteran who organizes humanitarian aid and solves social problems for the SVO servicemen and their families.

    At the meeting with students, they talked not only about the difficult and dangerous everyday life of the military on the front line, about what success in completing combat missions depends on, and the role of the ability to work in a team. They also talked about what is no less important for each person: goals in life, civic duty, service to the Motherland, moral priorities, family.

    “Our life is formed on the values and traditions that are laid down in childhood and youth. I am talking about the role of family, the importance of traditions and goals. Only together are we strong. Such meetings provide feedback: schoolchildren, students, and their parents contact me. This confirms that we are on the right path,” said Valery Zinkevich.

    Student Andrey Gogenko is one of the most active participants of the meeting. It turned out that he has a good idea of what they are talking about.

    “I am a great-grandson, grandson, son of military personnel, and most of my life was spent in military towns. My father will soon go on a mission to a combat zone. At first, I also wanted to follow in their footsteps, but then I decided to first get a civilian profession. I learn about the situation in the SVO from the media, but from the participants themselves it is perceived completely differently. I agree with them: we must be united, attentive to each other, in order to achieve common and significant goals for all of us,” Andrey said.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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    http://www.spbgasu.ru/nevs-and-events/nevs/students-spbgasu-met-with-participants-of-a-special-military-operation/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Financial news: On 17.10.2024, the deposit auction of JSC “Corporation “MSP” will take place

    MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: Moscow Exchange – Moscow Exchange –

    Parameters;

    The date of the deposit auction is 10/17/2024. The placement currency is RUB. The maximum amount of funds placed (in the placement currency) is 1,455,000,000.00. The placement period, days is 33. The date of depositing funds is 10/18/2024. The date of return of funds is 11/20/2024. The minimum placement interest rate, % per annum is 18.00. Terms of the conclusion, urgent or special (Urgent). The minimum amount of funds placed for one application (in the placement currency) is 1,455,000,000.00. The maximum number of applications from one Participant, pcs. 1. Auction form, open or closed (Open). The basis of the Agreement is the General Agreement. Schedule (Moscow time). Applications in preliminary mode from 10:30 to 10:40. Bids in competition mode from 10:40 to 10:50. Setting the cutoff percentage or declaring the auction invalid before 11:30.

    Additional terms

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

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    https://www.moex.com/n74042

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: The Second Forum of Don Youth will be held at the State University of Management

    MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –

    On October 23, 2024, the State University of Management will host the II Don Youth Forum “Don Land – Your Future”.

    The meeting will be attended by students from the Rostov region who are receiving higher education at leading universities in Moscow.

    Invited guests include:

    Rector of the State University of Management Vladimir Stroyev; Chairman of the Regional Public Organization “Fellowship of Rostovites “Donskaya Stanitsa” in Moscow, Major General, Hero of the Russian Federation Sergei Lipovoy; Deputy of the State Duma from the Rostov Region, Larisa Tutova; Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Bank “CENTER-INVEST” Alexander Dolgakov.

    The forum program will include an introduction to the community of working youth and major employers, a discussion of key investment projects, the development of the IT industry and new enterprises in the region.

    All participants will receive new contacts and opportunities to shape their career trajectory, as well as memorable eco-souvenirs.

    We are waiting for everyone on October 23 at 10:00 at the Boiling Point of the State University of Management.

    To participate, you must pre-register on the LEADER ID platform, which runs until October 20.

    Forum organizers: ROO “Fellowship of Rostovites “Donskaya Stolitsa”, Bank “CENTER-INVEST” with the support of the State University of Management.

    Don Forum Program

    Subscribe to the tg channel “Our State University” Announcement date: 10/23/2024

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    The Second Forum of Don Youth will be held at the State University of Management

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: IMF Staff Reaches Staff-Level Agreement with Serbia on the Fourth Review under the Stand-By Arrangement and on a 36-Month Policy Coordination Instrument Request

    Source: IMF – News in Russian

    October 16, 2024

    End-of-Mission press releases include statements of IMF staff teams that convey preliminary findings after a visit to a country. The views expressed in this statement are those of the IMF staff and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF’s Executive Board. Based on the preliminary findings of this mission, staff will prepare a report that, subject to management approval, will be presented to the IMF’s Executive Board for discussion and decision.

    • The Serbian authorities and IMF staff reached staff-level agreement on the fourth and final review under the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) and on a successor 36-month Policy Coordination Instrument (PCI) request. The PCI is a non-financing instrument designed to support strong economic policies. The agreement is subject to approval by the IMF Executive Board and is expected to be considered by the Board in December 2024.
    • Macroeconomic outcomes in Serbia remain strong. Growth and the labor market are robust, and inflation has fallen. Foreign exchange reserves are at a record high, and the public debt burden continues to decline.
    • Under the PCI, Serbia commits to fiscal deficits not exceeding 3.0 percent of GDP over 2025-27, to further prioritize spending in case of fiscal shocks, and to keep public wage and pension increases aligned with its fiscal rules. The PCI will balance Serbia’s public investment and social expenditure needs with continued fiscal discipline to support sustainable growth while keeping public debt on a downward path.

    Washington, DC: An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission, led by Donal McGettigan, met with the Serbian authorities during October 3-15, 2024, to discuss performance under Serbia’s Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) and the authorities’ request for a successor 36-month Policy Coordination Instrument (PCI) that will run from December 2024 to December 2027. The PCI is a non-financing instrument designed to support strong economic policies. At the conclusion of the mission, Mr. McGettigan issued the following statement:

    “I am pleased to announce that the Serbian authorities and the IMF team have reached staff-level agreement on the conclusion of the fourth and final review under the SBA and on a successor 36-month PCI.

    “The two-year SBA was approved by the IMF Executive Board in December 2022. It supported Serbia in navigating a period of major economic uncertainty and energy price volatility. Under the SBA, Serbia successfully implemented macroeconomic policies that underpinned external and fiscal sustainability and that rebuilt buffers to deal with future shocks. Serbia has increased and modernized its energy tariffs and has initiated corporate restructuring at the electricity provider EPS to improve the financial sustainability and efficiency of the energy sector. Serbia also made good progress on important fiscal structural reforms and advanced efforts to improve state-owned enterprise (SOE) governance.

    “Reflecting the success of the economic program supported by the SBA, and in view of Serbia’s commitment to continued strong economic policies, Serbia was awarded an investment grade credit rating for the first time, by S&P Global Ratings, in October 2024.

     “Serbia’s macroeconomic outcomes in 2024 are impressive. We project growth to reach 3.9 percent in 2024 and to increase to around 4¼ percent over the coming years. Headline inflation has returned to the National Bank of Serbia’s target band, supported by tighter monetary policy and easing energy and food prices, but core inflation remains elevated.

    “The fiscal deficit is set to increase to 2.7 percent of GDP in 2024, to help fund additional infrastructure, social, and defense spending needs.  Based on strong fiscal revenue performance, robust economic growth, and a recent upward GDP revision, public debt is expected to fall to about 48 percent of GDP by end-2024.

    “As domestic demand picks up, and Serbia’s public investment drive continues, the current account deficit is projected to widen in 2024 and to increase further over the medium term. Continued strong FDI inflows are, however, expected to more than offset the current account deficit over the coming years and to allow for ongoing reserve accumulation. The financial sector is well-capitalized and liquid.

    “Key risks to Serbia’s economic outlook include: foreign demand, FDI and commodity price outlooks that are subject to uncertainty and risks, deepening geoeconomic fragmentation, and the exposure of agricultural output and economic activity to climate change and extreme weather events.

    “Serbia therefore needs ample buffers against uncertainties and risks. Encouragingly, foreign exchange reserves and government deposits are high, public debt and external debt are sustainable, and the banking system is strong. Continued prudent polices provide an additional important buffer. 

    “Serbia’s program performance under the SBA remains strong. All relevant quantitative and standard continuous performance criteria have been met, as have most indicative targets and structural benchmarks. Thanks to progress made under the SBA, Serbia intends to continue to treat the SBA, set to expire in December 2024, as precautionary.

    “To continue leveraging IMF support for Serbia’s economic policies, the Serbian authorities and IMF staff also reached an agreement on medium-term macroeconomic and financial policies under a successor 36-month Policy Coordination Instrument (PCI) that will run from December 2024 to December 2027. The PCI will support Serbia in credibly maintaining fiscal discipline while making room for spending on public investment and other essential items. The PCI will also help Serbia advance its ongoing ambitious structural reform agenda, focused on fiscal, SOE, and energy reforms.

    “Under the PCI, the Serbian authorities commit to keeping the annual overall fiscal deficit at no more than 3.0 percent of GDP over 2025-27. Absent large adverse shocks, this would be consistent with an ongoing decline in the public debt burden. To achieve this core macroeconomic objective, the authorities commit to adhere to their special fiscal rules on public wages and pensions which they adopted in 2022, and to review options for rationalizing and monitoring expenditure items that grew rapidly in 2024. In the event of additional fiscal spending pressures, the authorities commit to further prioritizing public spending.

    “The PCI will help the authorities improve public financial management, public investment management, fiscal risk management, fiscal transparency, and public workforce and pension planning. It will also leverage extensive IMF technical assistance to resolve staffing challenges in the tax administration, an urgent and macro-critical priority. It will assist the authorities in refining and operationalizing the energy investment plan, improving the financial sustainability of energy SOEs, and preparing Serbia for the introduction of the EU carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). Finally, the PCI will aid the authorities with important and complex SOE governance reforms, including in the energy sector.

    “The IMF team would like to thank all their counterparts for the open and constructive discussions.”

    IMF Communications Department
    MEDIA RELATIONS

    PRESS OFFICER: Camila Perez

    Phone: +1 202 623-7100Email: MEDIA@IMF.org

    @IMFSpokesperson

    https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2024/10/15/pr-24371-serbia-imf-agreement-4th-rev-arrangement-36mo-policy-coordination-instrument

    MIL OSI

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: The forum “Advanced digital and production technologies” has started at the Polytechnic University

    MILES AXLE Translation. Region: Russian Federation –

    Source: Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University – Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University –

    On October 15, SPbPU opened the VI International Forum “Advanced Digital and Manufacturing Technologies”. The key topic of the forum is the development and application of advanced digital and manufacturing technologies as the basis for Russia’s technological leadership. The business program includes events dedicated to the most pressing topics of the national technological agenda.

    Over the course of two days, leading experts will discuss the specifics of the development of the unmanned aircraft systems industry in Russia, trends and potential of domestic engineering software, the use of digital twin technology and new materials in industry, the advantages of seamless engineering education: “school — college — university — industry”, the possibilities of university technological entrepreneurship, as well as the specifics of ensuring legal protection and use of intellectual property and many other issues.

    The organizers of the annual expert event are the structural divisions of the country’s leading technical university, which are the basis of the university’s technological development ecosystem. The forum is held with the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation within the framework of the national project “Science and Universities”, the federal project “Advanced Engineering Schools”.

    The central event of the first day was the plenary session. It was attended by representatives of government agencies, development institutes, universities and leading enterprises in the high-tech industry.

    First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Economic Policy Denis Kravchenko, Rector of the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI Vladimir Shevchenko, Deputy Chairman of the Council for the Development of the Digital Economy under the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Artem Sheikin, Director for Innovative Development of PJSC UEC-Saturn Dmitry Ivanov, Director of Science of PJSC Gazprom Neft Mars Khasanov became speakers of the session. The moderator of the event was Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg Vladimir Knyaginin.

    A video address by the Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov opened the welcoming part. Valery Nikolaevich emphasized the importance of the forum as a platform for discussing the current agenda for the development of advanced digital and production technologies: The forum has acquired special significance in the context of solving the problems of achieving technological leadership in Russia. In order for these problems to be solved as quickly and efficiently as possible, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education is launching new projects for more effective interaction between universities and businesses. One of these projects is the Advanced Engineering School. It has proven its effectiveness precisely due to the close interaction of universities with companies. We are pleased to inform you that you will be presented with the positive experience and developments of one of the best advanced engineering schools – the school of the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University “Digital Engineering”. Specialists will tell you about new effective solutions and experience in the development and implementation of breakthrough technologies, as well as how to prepare a new generation of engineers.

    On behalf of the Polytechnic University, the Rector of SPbPU, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Andrey Rudskoy welcomed the forum participants: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University has always implemented a practice-oriented educational model aimed at fast and effective results for industry. We interact very closely with the industry. St. Petersburg Polytechnic University is a flagship university of PJSC Gazprom Neft, and among the university’s strategic partners are the state corporations Rosatom and Rostec, PJSC Severstal and other major enterprises that are systemically important for their industries. Representatives of many of them will participate in our forum as experts and speakers. The forum “Advanced Digital and Manufacturing Technologies” is a unique opportunity for direct communication, discussion of the most pressing issues on the educational, industrial, and technological agenda.

    After this, the Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg Vladimir Knyaginin moved on to the main issues on the agenda of the plenary session.

    Over the five years of its existence, the International Forum “Advanced Digital and Manufacturing Technologies” has become an authoritative platform for discussing current challenges and tasks. It is important that the organizer of this large-scale event is the Polytechnic University, which is one of the leaders in technical education and engineering sciences, not only in Russia, but also in the world. On the basis of the university, with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia and the Government of St. Petersburg, significant initiatives are being implemented aimed at the innovative development of our state and achieving its technological leadership, – Vladimir Nikolaevich emphasized.

    Elena Druzhinina, Managing Director for Science and Business Cooperation at the Rostec State Corporation, presented the view of a participant in the real sector of the economy on the scientific, technological and educational agenda of the forum.

    The St. Petersburg Polytechnic University and Rostec enterprises have been building various forms of interaction for a long time. We are ready to go further and create new forms of cooperation between science and business with the university. For example, the creation of a research and production association is a topic that is currently being actively discussed in this context. Also, the head of the Rostec State Corporation Sergey Chemezov supported the idea of creating an industrial postgraduate program, – concluded Elena Druzhinina.

    First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy Denis Kravchenko supported the thesis on the need to expand cooperation between educational institutions and high-tech enterprises: I would like to emphasize the importance of close work on the part of the management of educational institutions and future employers in terms of equipping educational institutions and training students in working with domestic application software on real production equipment.

    Vice-Rector for Digital Transformation of SPbPU Alexey Borovkov highlighted the approaches applied to the transformation of engineering education in his report and noted the dynamic growth of interest in advanced digital and production technologies, in particular, in the technology of digital twins. As well as in modern cross-industry platform solutions from industrial enterprises and government agencies: Digital twin technology is at the forefront, meeting the goal of achieving technological leadership, which consists in the superiority of technologies and products in key parameters over foreign analogues. The focus on technological leadership has pushed industries and the state to standardize and regulate those areas that were previously very cautiously discussed by the expert community. In recent years, we have seen how almost the same notes of our lectures with the terminology of advanced digital and production technologies are approved in regulatory documents, consolidating the scientific and technological groundwork formed by the ecosystem of technological development of SPbPU over many years.

    Thus, the speaker noted the adoption of the national standard GOST R 57700.37-2021 “Computer models and modeling. DIGITAL DOUBLES OF PRODUCTS. General provisions” in Russia and in the international arena.

    In 2023, the global digital twin market was valued at $10 billion, and by 2028, experts estimate it will reach $110 billion with an unprecedented annual CAGR growth of 61%. World leaders recognize digital twins as one of the technologies of the future, the speaker explained.

    Alexey Ivanovich presented the ecosystem of technological development of SPbPU, which forms the “gold standard” of interaction between various federal structures, organized based on the results of victories in prestigious competitions of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia with the aim of developing, replicating and expanding the scope of application of advanced digital and production technologies in industry and education.

    Alexey Borovkov spoke about the key results of R&D of the SPbPU technological development ecosystem, carried out on the Digital Platform for the Development and Application of Digital Twins CML-Bench® in 2024.

    In conclusion, Aleksey Borovkov noted the flagship role of the SPbPU Advanced Engineering School “Digital Engineering” in the ecosystem of technological development of the Polytechnic University and emphasized the growing interest in it from applicants and partner companies: Following the results of the admissions campaign in 2023, students were recruited to the SPbPU Advanced Engineering School “Digital Engineering” for 72 budget places. This year, the number of budget places and open educational programs has almost doubled, but we managed to maintain a high competition for admission, which is 4 people per place. The geography of admission covers almost all regions of our country, – Aleksey Ivanovich summed up.

    Based on the methodology of the federal project “Advanced Engineering Schools”, the rector of the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI Vladimir Shevchenko identified common patterns in organizing cooperation between partner companies and advanced engineering schools in the context of transforming approaches to engineering education and developing a system for training highly qualified personnel.

    The education of a modern engineer should, from the very beginning, assume an understanding that modern engineering and production activities occur in parallel in two worlds: physical and digital. I would like to emphasize the benefits of conducting early career guidance activities with applicants, which over the past year has made it possible to equalize the number of graduates taking the Unified State Exam in physics and computer science. For a modern engineer, these two disciplines should be in tandem, concluded Vladimir Igorevich.

    Deputy Chairman of the Council for the Development of the Digital Economy under the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Artem Sheikin spoke in detail about the main barriers to the introduction of artificial intelligence in real sectors of the economy in order to automate business processes, reduce costs and increase the efficiency of enterprises, and also spoke about the cybersecurity of processes for handling large volumes of industrial data.

    Director of Innovative Development of PJSC UEC-Saturn, Honorary Doctor of SPbPU Dmitry Ivanov shared his practical experience in developing digital twin of marine gas turbine engine gearbox as part of the unit within the framework of research work of national importance, carried out jointly with SPbPU, and highlighted a number of aspects.

    Everyone perceives digital twin technology differently. Very often, the technology is presented to enterprises as another calculation tool, work with which should be transferred down the hierarchy of engineering teams. This is a mistake. The digital twin changes the ideology of product design and production, including changes in the system of division of labor, business processes at the enterprise level, – Dmitry Stanislavovich emphasized to the audience.

    Director of Science at Gazprom Neft PJSC, Honorary Doctor of SPbPU Mars Khasanov presented an expert opinion on the implementation of system digital engineering technology, including digital twin technology, and considered the possibilities of combining it with neurosymbolic artificial intelligence to solve the company’s problems. Mars Magnavievich emphasized the need for practice-oriented training of personnel and highlighted various formats of project interaction at Gazprom Neft PJSC to form the required set of competencies of a future specialist.

    At the plenary session, representatives of research centers, leading universities and industrial enterprises exchanged experience in the application of new technologies, assessed the dynamics of their development and the speed of implementation in real production practice, held a discussion on the main trends in the development of domestic engineering software and discussed current issues in engineering education. More details about the plenary session read here.

    The business forum program traditionally consists of discussions, scientific and educational debates, pitch sessions, presentations. The full program of the forum can be found atevent website.

    Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    Please note; This information is raw content directly from the information source. It is accurate to what the source is stating and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

    https://vvv.spbstu.ru/media/nevs/science_and_innovations/forum-advanced-digital-and-production-technologies has started at the Polytechnic University/

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Poland: Plans to suspend the right to seek asylum ‘flagrantly unlawful’

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Reacting to the Polish government’s new migration strategy which cites the threat of Russia and Belarus using migration to ‘destabilize the country’ and proposes temporary suspension of the right to seek asylum, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Europe, Dinushika Dissanayake said:

    “Suspending the right to seek asylum is flagrantly unlawful and Prime Minister Tusk knows this. EU member states like Poland are playing politics with the rights of refugees and migrants. From Poland to Finland, Greece and Germany, so-called emergencies are being weaponized to enact laws that gravely undermine access to asylum and the protection from refoulement.

    “These proposals endanger the rights of people seeking safety. They penalize people who may have been subject to violence and trafficking, or lured to EU borders under false pretenses. They provide for a temporary and territorial suspension of ‘the right to submit asylum applications’, affecting both people crossing ‘irregularly’ along the land border and to those at official border crossing points, referring to Finland’s recently passed law on this issue.

    “These proposals are also blatantly inconsistent with the newly approved EU crisis and force majeure regulation as part of the Pact on Migration and Asylum. States have a range of tools available to respond to security concerns, which must in all cases uphold human rights, including the right to asylum, as protected by the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights.

    “Since 2021, the EU has been tolerating practices enacted by Poland, Latvia and Lithuania at their borders with Belarus that go beyond all powers granted to them under EU law, and more recently at Finland’s border with Russia. It is high time for the European Commission to take its role as guardian of the treaties seriously and send a clear message that fundamental rights cannot be bent to political interests.”

    Background

    States refer to “instrumentalization” of migration to designate actions by third states or other actors that facilitate irregular migration movements into another country in an attempt to destabilize it.

    The plans for the suspension of asylum applications form part of Poland’s strategy on migration for 2025-2030, approved by the Government on 15 October 2024.

    These plans are the latest in the Polish government’s efforts to undermine the human rights of refugees and migrants arriving at the Polish-Belarussian border. The proposal also comes as Poland, together with Lithuania and Latvia (in separate but similar cases), faces imminent scrutiny at the European Court of Human Rights for the situation of a group of Afghan people seeking asylum who were stranded at the border with Belarus in 2021, as the Polish authorities allegedly prevented from accessing asylum and summarily returned them.

    For more information, please contact [email protected]

    MIL OSI NGO –