re: Latest Updates: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

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Did we ever find out who bombed the Nord Stream pipelines? Seems like everyone stopped talking about it. I wonder why

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In July, military officials from Ukraine, the United States, and the United Kingdom converged at a base in Europe to plot out possible scenarios. The Ukrainians’ starting point was a broad campaign across the southern front, a push to liberate not only the occupied city of Kherson but hundreds of square miles in the nearby Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia regions. The military planners met in three rooms, divided by country, where experts ran the same tabletop exercises. They often worked twenty hours a day, with American and British military officials helping to hone the Ukrainians’ strategy. “We have algorithms and methodologies that are more sophisticated when it comes to things like mapping out logistics and calculating munitions rates,” a senior official at the Defense Department said. “The idea was not to tell them what to do but, rather, to give them different runs to test their plans.”

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Russia’s generals had moved a considerable number of units out of the Kharkiv region, in the northeast, to back up forces near Kherson.

The assembled planners settled on an idea that would take advantage of this vulnerability: a two-front offensive. Shortly afterward, (Defence Minister) Reznikov was informed of the plans. “It wasn’t the first time I was struck by our military’s ability to come up with unexpected solutions,” he said. “I understood it was up to me to get them the necessary weapons.”

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Did we ever find out who bombed the Nord Stream pipelines? Seems like everyone stopped talking about it. I wonder why.

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NBC News: Federal prosecutors say sensitive U.S. military technology has been found in Russian weapons systems recovered in Ukraine. They've charged a group of Russians with illegally purchasing the technology through a network of shell companies and fake documentation.

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The indictment (and our story to come) stems from a FBI New York investigation and a Justice Department Task Force KleptoCapture investigation which also involves illicit sales of Venezuelan oil to a Russian aluminum company controlled by an oligarch and a Chinese oil company.

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Two Russian nationals were arrested in a scheme to obtain sensitive U.S. military electronics and technology to provide it to the Russian defense sector, prosecutors said Wednesday, noting that some of the items were found on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Yury Orekhov and Artem Uss are accused of using false documents and a front company to purchase electronics like advanced semiconductors and microprocessors used in fighter aircraft, missile systems and smart munitions.

The men sent the items to sanctioned Russian companies that serve the defense sector, according to federal prosecutors.

“Some of the same electronic components obtained through the criminal scheme have been found in Russian weapons platforms seized on the battlefield in Ukraine,” prosecutors said.

The operation was part of a broader scheme that involved smuggling oil from Venezuela to companies in Russia and China — and millions of dollars in cryptocurrency transfers to launder the proceeds of the criminal enterprise, according to a 12-count indictment that charged a total of seven people.

"This network schemed to procure sophisticated technology in direct support of a floundering Russian Federation military industrial complex," Assistant FBI Director Michael Driscoll said in a statement.

Orekhov, who is 42 and lives in the United Arab Emirates, was arrested in Germany on Monday. Uss, who is 40 and lives in Moscow, was arrested in Italy the same day.

Both men will undergo extradition proceedings, prosecutors said. It was not immediately clear whether they had hired lawyers.

The Justice Department also charged three other Russians in connection with the scheme: Svetlana Kuzurgasheva, 32, also known as Lana Neumann; Timofey Telegin, 39; and Sergey Tulyakov, 52.

Two other men were charged in connection with the allegedly illicit oil deals: Juan Fernando Serrano Ponce, who is 47 and lives in Dubai, and Juan Carlos Soto, whose age and hometown were not provided by U.S. authorities.

Ponce and Soto are accused of brokering oil deals worth millions of dollars involving a front company operated by Orekhov and Uss and purchasers in Russia and China. The deals were routed through a complex web of shell companies and bank accounts to disguise the transactions, prosecutors said.

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