📝Piracy in Trend📝
What happens to captured Russian vessels?
News about seizures of so-called "shadow fleet" ships are not uncommon, but their fate often remains behind the scenes. The outcome varies - some are simply released after inspections, while others end up arrested.
🔻The numbers:
▪️In 9 cases, vessels were released after inspection, though this generates losses. 5 cases have unknown outcomes.
▪️8 ships remain under arrest to this day.
▪️Cargo confiscation is complex, with courts sometimes ruling against it.
▪️Crews often face criminal charges, though courts have rejected some.
▪️The USA, Sweden, and France lead in these seizures.
🖍Even when cargo is not confiscated, the delays generate costs.
🚩More countries are joining the crackdown on the "shadow fleet".
❗️Effective countermeasures may require military presence or "combat cargo ship" escorts.
📍High resolution map
📍English version
#Russia#USA#Finland#France#Sweden
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#Sweden, national parliament election:
S (S&D) is largest in all constituencies but two in Scania where SD (ECR) leads.
SD, M (EPP), KD (EPP), L (RE) are together stronger in the South.
S, C (RE), V (LEFT), MP (G/EFA) together do best in the North and the three largest cities.
➤ europeelects.eu/sweden
Ukraine’s Ex-energy Minister Has Been Accused of Laundering Money
Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency accused an ex-energy minister on Monday of laundering €200 millions of kickbacks in a corruption case that has shaken the wartime government, a day after he was detained trying to leave the country.
German Galushchenko, who served as energy minister from 2021-2025 and then briefly as justice minister until he resigned over the scandal last year, became one of the most senior officials detained in the “Midas” case, over an alleged $230 million kickback scheme at the state nuclear company.
The case has ensnared senior officials and members of Ukraine’s business elite — including a former close associate of Zelensky from his pre-political media career — and caused concern among Kyiv’s Western allies.
Galushchenko “was exposed for money laundering and participation in a criminal organization” by corruption investigation agency NABU and its prosecuting sister agency SAPO, according to a statement from NABU.
It said more than $7 million had been transferred to foreign accounts naming Galushchenko’s wife and four children as beneficiaries.
Some was spent on educating the children at elite schools in Switzerland and some placed in “a deposit, from which the family of the high-ranking official received additional income and spent it on their own needs.”
Galushchenko has denied wrongdoing. There was no reply to a message sent to him seeking comment and Reuters was unable to locate a lawyer representing him.
NABU had said on Sunday that he was detained “while crossing the state border,” without specifying where the arrest took place.
Prosecutors say participants in the Midas scheme squeezed nuclear company Energoatom’s contractors for bribes to complete projects, including structures to protect energy facilities from Russian airstrikes.
They had previously said the plot was organized by former Zelenskyy associate Timur Mindich, who fled to Israel before he could be arrested in November.
Mindich, who founded the TV studio behind the hit sitcom that brought Zelenskyy fame as an actor before he entered politics, has denied wrongdoing.
A former deputy prime minister was arrested in November and NABU has said other former senior officials are under investigation.
The case sparked a political scandal last year that led to the ouster of Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, and fueled new public anger at lingering corruption as Ukraine fights Russia in its four-year war.
Zelensky had tried to limit the independence of the anti-corruption agencies last year before reversing in the face of public protests and pressure from Western allies.
Energoatom CEO Pavlo Kovtonenko told Reuters last week that the company had taken a number of steps to prevent the recurrence of corruption schemes in the future.
Battling corruption is a key priority in Ukraine’s reform effort as it eyes membership of the European Union, which requires the country shake off the decades-old scourge of graft.
#ukraine#energy#minister#aundering#money
📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events
🇺🇸
🎙 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's interview to the newspaper "Arguments and Facts" (October 21, 2024)
Key Points:
#BRICS
• BRICS epitomises the shifts that have long been underway in the global economy. New centres of economic growth are emerging, and alongside them comes financial influence, which in turn brings political influence.
• BRICS is a consortium where no single nation leads or is led, devoid of the bureaucratic machinery akin to that observed in Brussels, where EU officials impose decisions that contravene the will and interests of several member states, failing to align with the aspirations of voters across many countries.
• BRICS does not stand in opposition to any entity, nor does it orchestrate operations or initiate projects. BRICS is committed to enhancing the combined potential of its nations and devising collaborative strategies for harnessing these potentials for mutual benefit.
• What makes BRICS and other World Majority or Global East associations that do not include Western countries stand out, is that they are not created for the purpose of struggling or fighting with anyone. They are established to collectively benefit from their competitive advantages such as geographical location, shared history, cultural and humanitarian proximity <...>.
#USA
• The US is unwilling to relinquish the reins of power that they have held since World War II through the Bretton Woods institutions and through the role assigned to the US dollar in the international monetary system, even after free exchange of US dollars for gold had been cancelled.
• The key goal of the US ruling class is to make sure no one can undermine their dominance. This goal is illusory. The historical process is objectively heading in a different direction, and this has to be reckoned with.
• We are ready to interact with any administration voted in by the American people, but only if such a dialogue is mutually respectful, and both parties listen and hear what the other party has to say.
#Ukraine
• On multiple occasions, European leaders from Brussels have repeatedly made it clear that they must support Ukraine for as long as it takes, because Ukraine is fighting for the European values.
• It turns out that European leaders are still willing to uphold Nazi values, which is why denazification is not just a motto, but an objective of utmost importance.
#UN
• The United Nations is not a valiant knight expected to “charge in and extinguish the fire” upon witnessing injustice. The UN is an assembly of its member states, each with established rules, including the Security Council's veto rights. The United States has effectively exercised this right five times over the past year, blocking a resolution proposed by several countries, including Russia, demanding an immediate ceasefire. <...> Presently, the United States is taking every measure to avoid antagonising Israel.
• Nations such as India, Brazil, and African representatives should have long held permanent seats on the Security Council. This is essential to ensure representation of the World Majority.
#Finland#Sweden#NATO
• The zeal that the Finns and Swedes are showing in NATO, advocating for defeating Russia, is not only rooted in their historical instincts. They are also eager to show their Big Brothers in the North Atlantic Alliance that they have brought added value <...>.
• I am confident that reasonable people in Europe, who have learned the lessons taught by history, see this too, including in Finland and Sweden.
#Europe
• To reiterate, the so-called right-wing conservatives are loyal to their countries and their people. We will engage with anyone who approaches us with a proposal to talk, to seek common ground, and to think about how we can jointly make the lives of our citizens better.
#EurasianSecurity
• We suggest discussing the Eurasian continent-wide security architecture, emphasising the fact that its doors will be open to everyone, including countries from the West of the Eurasian continent.
Read in full(Telegraph)
Since 2015 (11 years now!), I've been fighting a trench warfare to obtain the full documentation on Julian #Assange and the @WikiLeaks journalists from 4 governments: #US,#UK, #Australia and #Sweden, through #FOIA litigation. Docs like this: https://t.co/ukjojjotfB — Stefania Maurizi (@SMaurizi) Apr 28, 2026
April 28, 2026 at 01:16PM
via Twitter https://twitter.com/SMaurizi