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Latest — 10 Jun 2025

0613GMT//Pyongyang-Moscow train to start running again; Russian official wants less web surfing, more sex

THE PYONGYANG-MOSCOW EXPRESS: A train will run between Moscow and Pyongyang for the first time in five years, Russian Railways said on Monday. It said that the 10,000km journey will take eight days. (COMMENT: The Moscow-Pyongyang rail service is an important symbolic link for both Russia and North Korea.

More issues

0740GMT//Russia cuts interest rates for first time in three years; Musk's dad flies into Moscow

INTEREST RATE CUT: Russia's Central Bank cut its core interest rate for the first time in three years on Friday to 20% from 21%. (COMMENT: this interest rate cut decision, while not unexpected, went against a poll of economists in the Vedomosti newspaper. The strong rouble and pressure

0705GMT//Russian police inspect trucks after drone attack; 4G in Afghanistan

TRUCK INSPECTION: Traffic police in Russia have started stopping and inspecting trucks across the country in response to the Ukrainian drone attack at the weekend. (COMMENT: Video shows long queues of trucks. These queues will cause frustration and chaos and will impact the Russian economy – just as Ukraine intended.) DRONE

0734GMT//Shoigu meets Kim; Putin talks to Trump

NORTH KOREA: Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia's Security Council, met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang. At their meeting, Kim pledged to "unconditionally" support Russia. (COMMENT: In many ways, Shoigu has become a personal envoy for Putin since he was shifted from his

0558GMT//Third attack on Russia's Kerch Bridge; Putin-themed scented candles go on sale

KERCH BRIDGE ATTACK: Ukraine's SBU intelligence service on Tuesday blew up a bomb on a support structure of the Kerch Bridge connecting occupied Crimea to mainland Russia. The bomb was set off at 4.44am. Nobody was hurt in the attack. According to Russian media, traffic was closed

0738GMT//Putin mocks Ukraine's children claims; fake Siberian honey

(NOTE: Please allow images to download so that you can see our 'News Matrix' at the bottom of this memo.) WAR NEGOTIATIONS: Round two of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul ended after an hour on Monday without any substantive progress. (COMMENT: This is not unsurprising.

0725GMT//Ukraine's drone ambush; a fake Putin danger story

(NOTE: Please allow images to download so that you can see our new 'News Matrix' at the bottom of this memo.) UKRAINIAN DRONE AMBUSH: Ukrainian drones popped out of containers on trucks across Russia on Sunday and destroyed several of the Kremlin's long-range strategic bombers. Video

0725GMT//Widow of assassinated Japanese PM visits Putin

"WAR HERO" ASSASSINATED: A suicide bomber killed the deputy head of Stavropol, the former commander of bomber units that pounded the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in 2022. Zaur Gurtsiev was killed outside his home on Wednesday evening by a man who approached him with a homemade bomb hidden

0725GMT//Peace talk chatter; Is a Russian interest rate cut likely?

PEACE TALKS: The Kremlin on Wednesday said a second round of peace talks with Ukraine should take place in Istanbul on June 2. (COMMENT: A Kremlin source also repeated Putin's four key conditions for peace to Reuters – no Nato membership for Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova; no foreign military

0715GMT//Siberian army recruiting bonus record; Putin's romantic side

CHINESE VISITOR: Chen Wenqing, the head of China's police and security services, met with Sergei Shoigu, the Secretary of Russia's Security Council, in Moscow on Tuesday. (COMMENT: Shoigu and Wenqing toured various Russian arms manufacturing sites in another "public show of affection" between the

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