BLOGONITY

The Kremlin completed preparations to isolate the Russian segment of the internet from the rest of the World Wide Web, experts told VOA Russian. The Kremlin may implement severe internet restrictions in 2025, mirroring Iran’s experience of blocking undesirable web traffic. Experts note that YouTube speeds in Russia are 20% of the pre-war speeds, meaning that YouTube is essentially blocked in Russia. Click here for the full story in Russian. …

Both Russia and Ukraine expanded the use of drones in 2024 as a relatively cheap means of warfare that requires an opponent to use a much more expensive air defense system. Moscow and Kyiv acquired 1.5 million drones between them in the past year, with Ukraine hitting thousands of targets inside Russia in recent months. Click here for the full story in Russian.   …

FRANKFURT, GERMANY — Finnish authorities have detained a Russia-linked ship as they investigate whether it damaged a Baltic Sea power cable and several data cables, according to police and news media reports, in the latest incident involving disruption of key infrastructure. Finnish police and border guards boarded the vessel, the Eagle S, just past midnight Thursday and took over the command bridge, Helsinki Police Chief Jari Liukku said at a news conference. The vessel was intercepted in Finland’s exclusive economic zone and taken to Finnish territorial waters, police said. The Eagle S is flagged in the Cook Islands but was described by Finnish customs officials as a suspected part of Russia’s shadow fleet of fuel tankers, Yle television reported. Those are aging vessels with obscure ownership, acquired to evade Western sanctions over the war against Ukraine and operating without Western-regulated insurance. The Eagle S’s anchor is suspected of causing damage to the cable, Yle reported, relying on police statements. The Estlink-2 power cable, which brings electricity from Finland to Estonia across the Baltic Sea, went down just after noon on Wednesday. The incident follows damage to two data cables and the Nord Stream gas pipelines, both of which have been termed sabotage. The Estonian government was holding a meeting on the issue Thursday, Prime Minister Kristen Michal said on X. Two data cables — one running between Finland and Germany and the other between Lithuania and Sweden — were severed in November. Germany’s defense minister said officials had to assume the incident was “sabotage,” but he did not provide evidence or say who might have been responsible. The remark came during a speech in which he discussed hybrid warfare threats from Russia. The Nord Stream pipelines that once brought natural gas from Russia to Germany were damaged by underwater explosions in September 2022. Authorities have said the cause was sabotage and launched criminal probes. Estonian network operator Elering says there was enough spare capacity to meet power needs on the Estonian side, public broadcaster ERR said on its website. …

Azerbaijan on Thursday observed a nationwide day of mourning for the victims of the plane crash that killed 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured as speculation mounted about a possible cause of the disaster that remained unknown. Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 was en route from Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus on Wednesday when it was diverted for reasons yet unclear and crashed while making an attempt to land in Aktau in Kazakhstan after flying east across the Caspian Sea. The plane went down about 3 kilometers from Aktau. Cellphone footage circulating online appeared to show the aircraft making a steep descent before smashing into the ground in a fireball. Other footage showed part of its fuselage ripped away from the wings and the rest of the aircraft lying upside in the grass. On Thursday, national flags were lowered across Azerbaijan, traffic across the country stopped at noon, and signals were sounded from ships and trains as the country observed a nationwide moment of silence. Speaking at a news conference Wednesday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that it was too soon to speculate on the reasons behind the crash, but said that the weather had forced the plane to change from its planned course. “The information provided to me is that the plane changed its course between Baku and Grozny due to worsening weather conditions and headed to Aktau airport, where it crashed upon landing,” he said. Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said that preliminary information indicated that the pilots diverted to Aktau after a bird strike led to an emergency on board. According to Kazakh officials, those aboard the plane included 42 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russian nationals, six Kazakhs and three Kyrgyzstan nationals. Russia’s Emergencies Ministry on Thursday flew nine Russian survivors to Moscow for treatment. As the official crash investigation started, theories abounded about a possible cause, with some commentators alleging that holes seen in the plane’s tail section possibly indicate that it could have come under fire from Russian air defense systems fending off a Ukrainian drone attack.  Ukrainian drones had previously attacked Grozny, the provincial capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, and other regions in the country’s North Caucasus. Some Russian media claimed that another drone attack on Chechnya happened on Wednesday, although it wasn’t officially confirmed.  Osprey Flight Solutions, an aviation security firm based … “Azerbaijan observes day of mourning for air crash victims as speculation mounts about its cause” →

Moscow — A “terrorist act” sank the cargo ship that went down in international waters in the Mediterranean this week, the Russian state-owned company that owns the vessel said Wednesday. The Oboronlogistika company said it “thinks a targeted terrorist attack was committed on December 23, 2024, against the Ursa Major,” it said in a statement cited by Russian news agencies, without indicating who may have been behind the act or why. The ship sank in international waters off Spain in the early hours of Tuesday after having sent a distress call for help on Monday. “Three consecutive explosions” took place on the ship before it began taking on water, added the company, which belongs to the Russian defense ministry. Oboronlogistika did not say what evidence it had allowing it to conclude a terrorist attack sank the Ursa Major. Russian foreign ministry’s crisis unit said on Telegram on Tuesday that the ship sank “after an explosion in the engine room.” It added that out of the 16 Russian crew members on board, 14 had been rescued and taken to the Spanish port of Cartagena and two were missing. The ship sent a distress call Monday morning from off the coast of southeastern Spain in bad weather, reporting it was listing and sailors had launched a lifeboat, Spain’s sea rescue service said in a statement. Spain sent out a helicopter and rescue boats and took the survivors to port, the service said.  A Russian warship then arrived and took charge of the rescue operation since the ship was between Spanish and Algerian waters, after which the Ursa Major sank overnight. The Ursa Major is listed on MarineTraffic.com as a 124.7-meter long general cargo ship. It is owned by a subsidiary of Russia’s Oboronlogistika, which belongs to the defense ministry and also provides civilian transport and logistics, the Russian foreign ministry said. The Ursa Major was sailing from the Russian city of Saint Petersburg to Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East. Last week Oboronlogistika issued a press release with photos of the ship in port, saying it was to transport a particularly large and heavy load: cranes each weighing 380 tons and hatch covers for icebreakers each weighing 45 tons to Vladivostok. The United States in 2022 imposed sanctions on Oboronlogistika and ships including the Ursa Major for providing “transportation services…for the delivery of cargo to Russian-occupied Crimea”.  This means any U.S. organization dealing with … “Russia says cargo ship blast was ‘terrorist attack’ “ →

ROME — Pope Francis made a visit on Thursday to one of the largest prison complexes in Italy, opening a special “Holy Door” for the 2025 Catholic Holy Year, in what the Vatican said was the first such action by a Catholic pontiff. Speaking to hundreds of inmates, guards and staff at the Rebibbia prison on the outskirts of Rome, Francis said he wanted to open the door, part of the prison chapel, and one of only five that will be open during the Holy Year, to show that “hope does not disappoint.” “In bad moments, we can all think that everything is over,” said the pontiff. “Do not lose hope. This is the message I wanted to give you. Do not lose hope.” Francis opened the Catholic Holy Year, also known as a Jubilee, on Tuesday. A Catholic Jubilee is considered a time of peace, forgiveness and pardon. This Jubilee, dedicated to the theme of hope, will run through Jan. 6, 2026. Holy Years normally occur every 25 years, and usually involve the opening in Rome of four special “Holy Doors,” which symbolize the door of salvation for Catholics. The doors, located at the papal basilicas in Rome, are only open during Jubilee years. The Vatican said the opening of the “Holy Door” at Rome’s Rebibbia prison was the first time such a door had been opened by a pope at a prison since the start of the Jubilee year tradition by Pope Boniface VIII in 1300. Francis has shown special attention for the incarcerated over his 11-year papacy. He often visits prisons in Rome and on his foreign trips. …

Ukraine’s military said Thursday it shot down 20 of the 31 drones that Russian forces launched in overnight attacks. The intercepts took place over the Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Kyiv regions, Ukraine’s air force said. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday it destroyed five Ukrainian aerial drones over the Volgograd, Voronezh and Belgorod regions. Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram a drone attack damaged several apartment buildings and a house, but that no one was hurt. The latest round of aerial attacks between the two sides followed a more active than usual day of drone and missile assaults. U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday condemned a massive Russian attack that Ukraine’s military said included 106 drones and 78 missiles. “The purpose of this outrageous attack was to cut off the Ukrainian people’s access to heat and electricity during winter and to jeopardize the safety of its grid. Let me be clear: the Ukrainian people deserve to live in peace and safety,” Biden said in a statement. The United States, Biden said, “has provided Ukraine with hundreds of air defense missiles, and more are on the way. I have directed the Department of Defense to continue its surge of weapons deliveries to Ukraine.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia targeted energy infrastructure as part of an attempt to “fight for a blackout in Ukraine.” Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement it struck critical energy infrastructure facilities that support Ukraine’s military. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.  …

BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN — Experts say Kyrgyzstan’s efforts to enforce Western sanctions against companies supplying dual-use goods and equipment to Russia are constrained by opposition from business, limited bureaucratic resources, and unwillingness to antagonize the Kremlin. Since 2022, the U.S. and EU governments designated a dozen Kyrgyz companies as violators of international Russia sanctions. According to the U.S. Treasury Department website, “Entities based in the Kyrgyz Republic have been frequent exporters of controlled electronics components and other technology to Russia since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Some of these shipments have subsequently supplied sensitive dual-use goods to entities in Russia’s defense sector.” There has been a significant rise in trade between Kyrgyzstan and Russia since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with this year’s Kyrgyz exports to Russia through November up 47% from the same period last year, according to the Kyrgyz State Statistical Committee. Kyrgyzstan and Russia are both part of the Eurasian Economic Union, which also includes Armenia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. As some media reports have claimed, the Kremlin has relied on Kyrgyzstan’s membership in the bloc as a backdoor channel for sanctions evasion. Western actions targeting Kyrgyz companies have irked Kyrgyz officials, but they have taken a series of measures to avoid more sanctions. In October 2022, Kyrgyz banks stopped processing transactions with Russian MIR cards, the go-to payment system for Russian citizens. In August of this year, the Kyrgyz government set up a new government State Trading Company to engage in external trade and monitor private import and export transactions. A month later, a government decree obliged Kyrgyz banks to suspend monetary transactions of all local and foreign companies involved in reexporting goods from China, South Korea and the EU through Kyrgyzstan to Russia. The State Trading Company has been exempted from this requirement. Kyrgyz officials have portrayed the measures as effective, with Economy and Trade Minister Daniyar Amangeldiev saying in October, “We have obligations, and we are fulfilling them. Accordingly, such [sanctioned] goods never came to us, and they didn’t go through our territory.” However, regional experts paint a different picture. Bishkek political analyst Emil Juraev told VOA by email that Kyrgyzstan has limited capacity to enforce Western sanctions. “It is the purview of the [Kyrgyz] Customs Service, which must have full information about what kind of goods are being exported and imported. That way, it would be possible to see what is being shipped to … “Kyrgyzstan faces difficulties enforcing West’s Russia sanctions” →

LILLE, FRANCE — French authorities said they rescued 107 migrants trying to cross the Channel from France to England on Wednesday. Over the course of Christmas Day, 12 rescue operations were staged along the coast of northern France, including of a boat experiencing engine trouble, France’s Channel and North Sea maritime prefecture said in a statement. In the morning, 30 passengers were rescued from a boat near Dunkirk, while the others onboard wished to continue onward and were taken into British custody once they reached British waters, the maritime authorities said. Another boat experiencing engine damage was spotted later in the day, also near Dunkirk, and all 51 passengers were rescued. Later, 26 people were taken off a boat having trouble near Calais. The English Channel is “a particularly dangerous area, especially at the height of winter for precarious and overloaded boats,” the statement said. At least 73 migrants have died trying to cross the Channel to Britain in 2024, according to the Pas-de-Calais authorities, making it the deadliest year on record for the crossings. Tens of thousands more have reached Britain, where the government has vowed to crack down on people-smuggling gangs. In November, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for greater international cooperation against the gangs, which he described as a “global security threat similar to terrorism.”  …

ISTANBUL — In a dim one-room apartment in one of Istanbul’s poorest neighborhoods, 11-year-old Atakan Sahin curls up on a threadbare sofa with his siblings to watch TV while their mother stirs a pot of pasta.  The simple meal is all the family of six can look forward to most evenings. Atakan, his two younger brothers and 5-year-old sister are among the one-third of Turkish children living in poverty.  “Look at the state of my children,” said Rukiye Sahin, 28. “I have four children. They don’t get to eat chicken, they don’t get to eat meat. I send them to school with torn shoes.”  Persistently high inflation, triggered by currency depreciation and unconventional economic policies that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pursued but later abandoned, has left many families struggling to pay for food and housing.  Experts say it’s creating a lost generation of children who have been forced to grow up too quickly to help their families eke out an existence.  According to a 2023 joint report by UNICEF and the Turkish Statistical Institute, about 7 million of Turkey’s roughly 22.2 million children live in poverty.  Look at neighborhoods such as Istanbul’s Tarlabasi, where the Sahin family lives.  The Sahins eat sitting on the floor of their room — the same floor Rukiye and her husband sleep on while their children occupy the sofas. In the chilly early December night, a stove burns scraps of wood to keep them warm. They sometimes fall asleep to the sound of rats scuttling through the building.  Atakan spends his days helping his father scour trash bins in search of recyclable material to earn the family a meager income.  Poor children in Istanbul also earn money for their families by selling small items such as pens, tissues or bracelets at the bars and cafes in the city’s entertainment districts, often working late into the night.  “I can’t go to school because I have no money,” Atakan said. “We have nothing. Can you tell me how I can go? On sunny days, when I don’t go to school, I collect plastic and other things with my father. We sell whatever we find.”  The cash helps buy basic foodstuffs and pay for his siblings to attend school. On the days Atakan can attend, he is ill-equipped to succeed, lacking proper shoes, a coat and textbooks for the English class he loves.  The Sahins struggle to scrape together … “Turkey’s soaring costs creating ‘lost generation’ of children” →

HELSINKI — An undersea power cable linking Finland and Estonia suffered an outage Wednesday, Finland’s prime minister said, the latest in a series of incidents involving telecom cables and energy pipelines in the Baltic Sea.  Arto Pahkin, the head of operations of the Finnish electricity grid, told public broadcaster Yle that “the possibility of sabotage cannot be ruled out.”  Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said the power outage “does not affect electricity supplies for Finns.”  “The authorities remain vigilant even during Christmas and are investigating the situation,” he added on X.  Operator Fingrid said current on the EstLink 2 cable sending electricity to Estonia was cut at 12:26 p.m. local time.  Last month two telecom cables in the Baltic linking neighboring Sweden and Denmark were cut.   Suspicions rapidly fell on the Chinese ship Yi Peng 3, which according to ship tracking sites had sailed over the cables around the time they were cut.  Sweden said Monday that China had denied a request for prosecutors to conduct an investigation on the vessel and that it had left the area.  European officials said they suspected several of the incidents were sabotage linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the Kremlin dismissing that as absurd.  Early on November 17, the Arelion cable running from the Swedish island of Gotland to Lithuania was damaged.  The next day, the C-Lion 1 submarine cable connecting Helsinki and the German port of Rostock was cut south of Sweden’s Oland island.  Tensions have mounted around the Baltic since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.  In September 2022, a series of underwater blasts ruptured the Nord Stream pipelines that carried Russian gas to Europe, the cause of which has yet to be determined.  In October 2023, an undersea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was shut down after it was damaged by the anchor of a Chinese cargo ship.  …

PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo’s election appeals authority on Wednesday canceled a ban on the main party of the ethnic Serb minority, allowing it to field candidates in the upcoming parliamentary election.  The Electoral Panel for Complaints and Appeals decided that the party, Srpska Lista, or Serb List, has “fulfilled the political terms to be certified for registration.”  The panel overturned a decision Monday by the Central Election Commission, which declined to certify the Srpska Lista party because of its nationalist stance and close ties to neighboring Serbia.  The panel ruled that the commission’s decision was “contrary to the legal dispositions referring to the application and certification of the political subjects.”  Of the 10 seats reserved for the Serb minority in the 120-member parliament, Srspka Lista holds nine. It will put up 48 candidates for the parliamentary election on February 9, expected to be a key test for Prime Minister Albin Kurti, whose governing party won in a landslide in 2021.  Western powers also expressed concern about the commission’s decision, fearing it might further aggravate the tense ties between Kosovo and Serbia, despite their efforts to normalize them.  Kosovo was a Serbian province until NATO’s 78-day bombing campaign in 1999 ended a war between Serbian government forces and ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo. The war left about 11,400 dead, mainly ethnic Albanians, and pushed Serbian forces out. Kosovo proclaimed independence in 2008, which Serbia doesn’t recognize.  Belgrade still considers Kosovo as its province and has a major influence on the Serb minority there. …

Vatican City — Pope Francis in his traditional Christmas message on Wednesday urged “all people of all nations” to find courage during this Holy Year “to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions” plaguing the world, from the Middle East to Ukraine, Africa to Asia. The pontiff’s “Urbi et Orbi” — “To the City and the World” — address serves as a summary of the woes facing the world this year. As Christmas coincided with the start of the 2025 Holy Year celebration that he dedicated to hope, Francis called for broad reconciliation, “even [with] our enemies.” “I invite every individual, and all people of all nations … to become pilgrims of hope, to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions,” the pope said from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to throngs of people below. The pope invoked the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, which he opened on Christmas Eve to launch the 2025 Jubilee, as representing God’s mercy, which “unties every knot; it tears down every wall of division; it dispels hatred and the spirit of revenge.” He called for arms to be silenced in war-torn Ukraine and in the Middle East, singling out Christian communities in Israel and the Palestinian territories, “particularly in Gaza where the humanitarian situation is extremely grave,” as well as Lebanon and Syria “at this most delicate time.” Francis repeated his calls for the release of hostages taken from Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. He cited a deadly outbreak of measles in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the suffering of the people of Myanmar, forced to flee their homes by “the ongoing clash of arms.” The pope likewise remembered children suffering from war and hunger, the elderly living in solitude, those fleeing their homelands, who have lost their jobs, and are persecuted for their faith. Pilgrims were lined up on Christmas Day to walk through the great Holy Door at the entrance of St. Peter’s Basilica, as the Jubilee is expected to bring some 32 million Catholic faithful to Rome. Traversing the Holy Door is one way that the faithful can obtain indulgences, or forgiveness for sins during a Jubilee, a once-every-quarter-century tradition that dates from 1300. Pilgrims submitted to security controls before entering the Holy Door, amid new security fears following a deadly Christmas market attack in Germany. Many paused to touch the door as they passed … “Pope urges ‘all people of all nations’ to silence arms and overcome divisions in Christmas address” →

Moscow — A Russian cargo ship called Ursa Major that sank in the Mediterranean Sea was the victim of “an act of terrorism,” state news agency RIA cited the vessel’s owner as saying on Wednesday.  The ship, built in 2009, sank after an explosion ripped through its engine room and two of its 16 crew were missing, the Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.  RIA cited Oboronlogistika, the ship’s ultimate owner and a company that is part of the Russian Defense Ministry’s military construction operations, as saying the vessel had been targeted in “a terrorist act.”  Oboronlogistika had previously said that the ship had been en route to the Russian far eastern port of Vladivostok with two giant port cranes lashed to its deck.    …

London — King Charles thanked the medics who have cared for him and his daughter-in-law Kate, after they both underwent treatment for cancer this year, in a Christmas Day message that touched on global conflicts and the summer’s riots in Britain. In his third Christmas TV broadcast since becoming king, Charles struck an unusually personal tone for the royal seasonal message, a tradition that dates back to a radio speech by George V in 1932. The year has been traumatic for the royals after Buckingham Palace said in February the 76-year-old had been diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer detected in tests after a corrective procedure for an enlarged prostate. A month later, Kate, the wife of his son and heir Prince William, said she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy for cancer that concluded in September. William has said the year has been brutal for the family. “All of us go through some form of suffering at some stage in our life, be it mental or physical,” Charles, who became king in 2022 after the death of Queen Elizabeth, said. His words were accompanied by footage of a visit he made to a cancer treatment center on returning to public duties in April and of one of Kate’s first engagements when she resumed working. “From a personal point of view, I offer special heartfelt thanks to the selfless doctors and nurses who this year have supported me and other members of my family through the uncertainties and anxieties of illness, and have helped provide the strength, care and comfort we have needed,” Charles said. “I am deeply grateful too to all those who have offered us their own kind words of sympathy and encouragement,” he said in the pre-recorded broadcast that was filmed at an ornate chapel of a former London hospital. Last week, a palace source said the king’s treatment was progressing well and would continue into next year. Earlier on Wednesday, Charles was joined by his family, including Kate, William and their children, for a traditional church service on his Sandringham estate in eastern England. Charles’ brother Prince Andrew, who was embroiled in another scandal this month when a close business associate was banned from Britain over government suspicions he was a Chinese agent, was a notable absentee from the royal get-together. Diversity a strength The king spoke about nationwide riots, which broke out following the murder in July … “King Charles thanks medics for his and Kate’s cancer care “ →

SARAJEVO — Lawmakers in Bosnia’s Serb Republic regional parliament on Wednesday ordered Serb representatives in state institutions to block decision-making and reform laws needed for the Balkan country’s integration into the European Union.  An emergency session of parliament was called on Tuesday evening to discuss a “degradation of a legal system” in relation to the ongoing trial of the region’s president Milorad Dodik at Bosnia’s state court.  Dodik, a Serb separatist leader, is being tried for defying decisions by the international High Representative which oversees peace in the country under the 1995 Dayton Accords which ended 3-1/2 years of ethnic war.  The MPs said the trial was “politically mounted,” based on the “illegal decisions” of current envoy Christian Schmidt and of the state court and prosecution which they regard as unconstitutional because they were set up by the peace envoy and not by the Dayton treaty.  Pro-Russian Dodik has tried hard to separate his Serb-dominated region from Bosnia in recent years but halted the process after the start of the war in Ukraine.   Under the Dayton treaty, Bosnia was split into two autonomous regions, the Serb Republic and a Federation dominated by Croats and Bosniaks linked via a weak central government. That secured peace but left Bosnia dysfunctional as a state.  After years of political obstructions to joining the EU, Bosnia received a boost last year when EU leaders agreed to open negotiations once it had reached the necessary compliance with membership criteria. …