long time Russia reporter. ex Daily Telegraph moscow bureau, ex Banker/Euromoney contributing editor, 15 yrs freelance. founder & editor business new europe
Berlin, Germany
Joined July 2014
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BenAris retweeted
The widely advertised by Zelenskyy Flamingo missile was never a superweapon—just a political statement to scare Russians, production company FirePoint now admits. The company tied to Zelenskyy’s circle and heavily promoted by him, received its first state contracts in 2023. In 2025–2026 alone it received $2.4 billion in contracts.
Zelenskyy’s strategy is now clear: pour billions into offensive weapons produced by his friends while Ukrainians die without real air defenses. They produce 300 km ballistic missiles that cost $600K per shot, yet admit there’s no point using them when cheap drones do the job for $40–50k. So the missiles are simply stockpiled for a future European air-defense project. Not for Ukraine. Offensive systems that make no military sense, while our cities burn and children are buried.
Ukrainian lives and European billions were wasted for business interests. I wonder which politicians else, except of Zelenskyy, are behind the bloody scheme?
BenAris retweeted
#EXCLUSIVE
‼️🇪🇺🇺🇦 Western allies are sharply cutting funding for Ukraine: EU fears a shortfall — Financial Times
▪️According to a European Commission forecast, aid to Kyiv from non-EU countries is set to drop nearly fivefold by 2027 — from €19 billion to €4 billion.
▪️An analysis by Brussels indicates that the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Japan are, combined, prepared to provide only €1 billion.
▪️Faced with this looming funding gap, the European Commission is considering new debt-based borrowing while also ramping up pressure on London, Tokyo, and Ottawa to secure additional funds for Ukraine.
▪️Consequently, there is a risk that the primary financial burden of supporting Kyiv will fall on the countries of the European Union.
BenAris retweeted
New: The US and Russia are discussing bringing American oil majors back to Russia, reviving energy exports to Europe via the Druzhba pipeline and a host of other business deals as Washington seeks to entice Putin to end the war in Ukraine. as.ft.com/r/2349d7fb-66a0-43…
BenAris retweeted
Breaking news: Trump considers dropping sanctions on Putin’s “slush fund”
The move would be the latest U.S. concession to Moscow.
nytimes.com/2026/10/27/us/po…
BenAris retweeted
🇸🇮🇷🇸 Slovenia to block Serbia’s EU membership following Student List election victory.
Slovenian PM Janez Jansa announced that Slovenia will block Serbia’s EU accession until Belgrade hands over all UDBA and Yugoslav secret service archives.
Jansa is seen as an ally of Vucic and Orban in the regional right-wing bloc.
BenAris retweeted
⚡️Fires burn in Russian city of Lipetsk after reported Ukrainian attack.
Explosions sounded and fires burned in the Russian city of Lipetsk late on Oct. 27 following an attack by Ukrainian forces, monitoring channel Exilenova Plus reported.
kyivindependent.com/fires-bu…
BenAris retweeted
The FT reports that three tankers carrying approximately 140,000 tonnes of Russian diesel are heading to the US under a temporary sanctions exemption agreed by Trump and Putin.
Two of the vessels are under Western sanctions. The Talisman is blacklisted by the US, EU and UK, while the Hong Kong-owned, Sierra Leone-flagged Leruo is sanctioned by the EU, UK and Canada.
The tankers are expected to arrive between November 7 and 11, after the US midterm elections. The shipments come as American diesel prices have risen to $6.34 per gallon, compared with $3.66 a year ago.
BenAris retweeted
Russia struck one of the main bridges linking the two sides of Kyiv overnight, and killed and injured students sleeping in a university dorm. But diesel.
BenAris retweeted
🚀 Iskander-M Strike Hits Kharkiv at 01:00
An Iskander-M missile struck an industrial enterprise in Kharkiv's Osnovyanskyi District overnight. 💥
The fire was so intense that nearby buildings caught fire too. 🔥
📍 Kharkiv
BenAris retweeted
The most comprehensive and thoughtful analysis of the Finnish-Norwegian push for war-ending diplomacy you will read anywhere is by @MJMBlackburn81, who has been tracking things up close.
responsiblestatecraft.org/eu…
BenAris retweeted
⚠️ Reuters reported that Serbia's new government would halt arms supplies to Ukraine — then corrected the story
In an article about the Student List, which won Serbia's parliamentary elections, the news agency initially reported that the future government planned to stop exporting weapons to conflict zones, including sales to Western intermediaries who supply arms to Ukraine.
However, Reuters later issued a significant correction.
It turned out that representatives of the student-led movement had not actually said whether they intended to halt arms exports. The agency revised the wording and added an editorial correction notice.
Serbia’s new course: Belgrade will cut off arms supplies to Ukraine
Serbia’s new government has promised to stop all arms exports to conflict zones, including supplies to Western intermediaries who then transfer weapons to Ukraine.
Reuters reports this.
But it is too early to draw conclusions. It will take time to understand whether they really intend to do what they have said or whether these are just words.
BenAris retweeted
The New York Times reports that the US government is considering lifting sanctions on the Russian Direct Investment Fund, headed by Kremlin aide Kirill Dmitriev.
An American official confirmed that the administration is reviewing the fund’s request as part of efforts to improve US–Russia relations and help end the war in Ukraine. No decision has been announced.
BenAris retweeted
This week, Moscow hosts the third Russia–Africa Summit. Of Africa’s 54 countries, 48 are taking part, with 22 represented by their heads of state (which means a lot of meetings for Putin and other top officials).
It’s a smaller gathering than the inaugural Sochi summit in 2019, but larger than the last one in St Petersburg in 2023.
Meanwhile, here’s the Russian lunch being served to the African guests.
The menu includes herring from the Russian Far East, smoked Murmansk halibut, lightly salted Karelian trout, Kaliningrad sprats, cucumbers from Lukhovitsy, Stavropol tomatoes, beef chebureki, Dagestan lamb chops, Bryansk-style fried potatoes, beef stroganoff, ratatouille made with Krasnodar vegetables and an assortment of Russian desserts.
BenAris retweeted
Wow! What is the source of Russiophobia?
Why did the Bristish come to hate Russia?
Professor Jeffrey Sachs
You could frame Whats going on in Germany as the same sort of “revolution” as happened in Serbia.
A growing number of voters are rebelling against a highly unpopular incumbent govt that has lost touch w/ the people and acting on their own agenda who are now being punished at the polls.
But in Germany the rise of afd is being blocked by incumbents despite being most popular party like Vucic tried to block SL yet German claims to be a democracy.
And if you look at SL & AfD policies they are both nationalist popularist - not too dissimilar.
It is also striking how the Western mainstream is feeling immune from exactly that kind of “revolution”, despite it clearly brewing up as we can see from youth protests in Germany and France. As if there is any fundamental difference between them and Vucic/Orban, beyond circumstantial geopolitical arrangements.
BenAris retweeted
When people call it a “revolution,” even a “leaderless” one, simply because an incumbent has lost an election and transferred power, this shows how far the concept of “revolution” has been inflated into meaninglessness, but also how deep the crisis of politics is. People distrust institutions so much that they do not expect them to work without at least some kind of “revolutionary” disruption.
BenAris retweeted
BREAKING: Putins conversation with Norwegian and Finnish leaders has been revealed:
-Putin reportedly ranted to the European leaders about how they were prolonging the war by aiding Ukraine, he reportedly lectured them extensively for over an hour on root causes and NATO expansion the call was only meant to be 20 minutes long.
-Putin then refused conversations on an immediate ceasefire claiming Russia had to secure the whole do the Donbas region before this was to be considered.
-The leaders only agreed on a direct phone line to be kept open but made no progress on other issues due to the Russian leaders response.
-Putin praised the US on the call for brokering a ceasefire with Russia over Olesky in Kherson region.
-It should also he noted that Putin described the frontline situation as Russian forces having all the momentum.
-The call ended on discussions of creating better Baltic stability in the sea and cooperating on a future trilateral meeting between Ukraine-US and Russia.
BenAris retweeted
Last night 16 Russian ballistic missiles were launched at Kyiv. Four of them hit the Southern Bridge — traffic is closed, the metro infrastructure on it is damaged, and the green line is now split so trains can’t cross the Dnipro. Others struck civilian sites: a university and the campus next to it. One woman was killed, at least 12 people were injured — mostly students from the dormitory. In the fifth year of the war Putin is already destroying whatever is left unfinished. Bridges have become a main target because they are logistics and the way people move. Back in early 2022, when Zelenskyy was in the bunker, he (through Yermak) asked to destroy the bridges in Kyiv. The military and the Security Service refused — Ukrainian forces were on the other bank and would have been cut off, demoralised, and undermined. Now it’s year five, Putin is taking out the bridges, and missiles are hitting civilian infrastructure in every direction.
BenAris retweeted
How much financial trouble is Britain in? An exclusive collaboration between @LiamHalligan and @OutpostStudios delivers some hard truths on the eve of the Budget.
Link to full episode 📺 in replies 👇