Written by Ksawery Stawiński, Kateryna Vasilyk
04.02 Russians cut off the net
Der Spiegel reported in mid-January an expanding usage of Starlink technology by the Russian army. Permanent access to the satellite interface, obtained through American technology, guarantees an advantage in the field of combat. It allows for fast exchange of information that reduces decision-making time, while allowing drone pilots to operate their machines in combat. All this without the request to create, keep and defend physical infrastructure. In addition, the Russians increased Starlink's usefulness by placing its terminals on drones, making it hard to disrupt the work of unmanned workers. The occupier's troops benefit from the technology their country acquired not by buying but by conquest, possibly by smuggling. Russia has never signed with SpaceX an agreement allowing the company's technology to be used. The terminals in her possession were either obtained on the front by Ukrainians or through contraband imported from 3rd countries.
Given the fact that most terminals in Ukraine are paid by Poland (30 1000 out of 50 thousand) the money spent by Warsaw indirectly supports the war aggressor in Ukraine. The Polish Ministry of abroad Affairs reacted to this unfavorable situation. Radosław Sikorski took the subject publicly, on platform X, calling for Elon Musk's reply. 1 of Zelenski's advisors – Mikhaylo Podolak – took up the subject and together with the president of Spacex solved the problem of the unauthorized usage of Starlinks by the Russian side. The Russians were rapidly cut off from the internet, and the initiative switched to the Ukrainian side, which allowed 77 square miles of territory to be reflected in the following days. From now on, any terminal in the area of armed action is entered on the ‘black’ and ‘white’ list. Typing on the erstwhile blocks the operation of the device, and typing on the second allows for its further operation. Letters are constantly updated in agreement with Spacex and Kiev.
The Russians themselves were forced to search for the esatzs of American techonology. Enemy units must now trust on fibre lines, Wi-Fi-based radio bridges, or digital radio modems that are slower, little reliable and more cumbersome in usage due to the request to keep physical infrastructure. In addition, the Russians usage Barraz-1 (ru. Барраж-1) – a stratosphere balloon suspended at an altitude of 20-30 kilometres, with a 5G network terminal in NTN technology.
Although the surogat does not full match the capabilities offered by Starlink is simply a good complement to the shortcomings on the part of the Russian troops. No less, the Kremlin's ambition is to make its own constellation of satellites that would replace Spacex technology. The investment in these abilities would be $5 billion. The task is to be liable for a company called Office 1440 (ros. Бюро 1440). Its plan is to send 292 satellites into low Earth orbit by 2030. A full of 383. 91 of these are satellites ,,replacement’ to guarantee the strategy is operational in the event of the failure of respective constellation machines. Ultimately, the strategy is intended to supply fast net access to 97% of Russia's population by 2030, reaching apogee 99% in 2036.
Office head 1440 – Bakanow, is the same man who in 2002 at a spot-on dinner asked Elon Musk to buy russian intercontinental ballistic missiles. The American met with a Russian erstwhile SpaceX was just born into his head. We're about to see a second circular of 2 businessmen clash.
09.02 1 eye on Russia, the another on the Caucasus
J.D. Vance visited Armenia where he met with president Nikola Pasynian. The gathering of both diplomats was very fruitful due to the fact that it resulted in the signing of an agreement on the improvement of Armenian atomic energy with the support of American technology. Washington estimates the scale of the first phase of cooperation at 5 billion dollars, which will be completed by another 4 billion in the form of energy supplies and maintenance of fresh energy infrastructure. The agreement is signed in the context of a comparatively pressing Armenia word – the necessity to extinguish its only atomic power plant called ,Metsamor' in 2036. It accounts for 40% of the country's electricity production. 2 reactors built in 1976 (one already out of use) will replace a fresh power plant based on the technology of tiny atomic reactors (SMR).
The Washington movement is another step in expanding its influences not only in Armenia but throughout the South Caucasus – Russian ,,,near foreign”. The atomic agreement preceded the peace agreement signed in August by Yerevan and Baku in the White House. The sanctioned peace resulted in the resumption of the transport of oil and petroleum products from Azerbaijan to Armenia, and besides established America as a guarantor of regional peace (although in the signed US paper it did not officially decide to accept specified a role). Thus Washington takes over the conventional function of Moscow in the region – safety (and energy) donors for Armenia. A spokesperson for the Russian MFA Zacharów responded to this decision by scoring the weaknesses of the American plan, as well as citing the past of Armenian-Russian cooperation which demonstrates the effectiveness of American policy.
Pashinate disappointed with Moscow's inept policy in the region, which resulted in the failure to the Azerbaijani advanced Karabah, seeks a new, credible safety guarantor. The first step in uncovering a fresh ally was to leave Moscow-controlled OUBZ in 2024. The next steps are large purchases in the US armory and TRIPP task – a large American infrastructure task in the region. It aims to make fresh networks of economical connections between Armenia and Azerbaijan, bypassing Iran and Turkey at the same time, and being contravened to support the economical integration of the region into the Western world. At the same time, the common business of hostile states is to discourage them from pursuing further wars.
The litmus paper of this fresh cooperation will be the June elections in Armenia. The choice of Pashinia will mean for Erwania to cut off from Russia and normalize relations with the Turks and the Azera, as well as taking course for the Americans.
10.02 Pigeons for joysticks
The Moscow company Neira Group, with offices in Dubai, announces a revolution in drone technology. Thanks to the first solutions, startup is working on incapacitating pigeons. utilizing electrodes implanted in the bird’s brain, Russian scientists are to control the movement of the animal. The operation of inserting pinheads with electrical signal transmission devices into the dove is to be safe and warrant 100% endurance of patients. In addition to the electrodes, each bird-dron is equipped with a solar-charged battery attached to its back in the form of a backpack. A camera is mounted on the chest. The human operator uses the controller to send through electrodes a signal forcing the bird to decision according to the pilot's will.
The Neiry Group convinces that their biodrons outweigh classical drones in any respects. Unlike average drones, they do not draw attention to each another with their appearance and do not produce sound-like propellers. This makes them suitable for discreet monitoring of all types of facilities. In addition, specified a cyborg does not usage electricity to decision and can besides stay in flight longer than a drone. It besides surpasses the work in terms of the dimension of the routes being run (according to Neira Group up to 400km). The company argues that it is peculiarly suitable for ,,hardly accessible places".
Moscow's start up does not focus in its communications on convincing about the effectiveness of the robogols in the theatre of war, but the technology described by the company is simply a classical dual-use technology. The usage of this invention in war is expected. Especially since 1 of the main investors of the Niery Group are entities controlled by the Kremlin. According to the company's announcements, another avifauna species – ravens, gulls, albatrosses, besides cannot feel safe.
12.02 A petroleum-based Venezuelan policy
One of the main motivations of the United States attack on Venezuela was the possible of taking over the oil resources of the confederate American state by US companies. After the overthrow of Maduro, at the time of the interreguum which his disappearance triggered in the country, the function of the interim leader of the state was taken over by Delcy Rodriguez. It decided at the end of the 1976 state monopoly in the energy sector by signing a law allowing private companies to invest in the country. Donald Trump himself urges American energy companies to invest in Venezuela for $100 billion to rebuild the neglected country's infrastructural. The collapse in production capacity shows the amount of oil barrels extracted by Caracas per day – 1.2 million. Whereas 25 years ago it was 3 million barrels of oil a day.
The beginning of the Latin American state to investments has contributed to an adequate consequence from the government in Washington. To date, illegal cooperation with Venezuelan monopolist dominant energy sector - PDVSA, was severely sanctioned by American law. The prohibition of cooperation afraid home and abroad companies, which could have expected economical force from the US in the event of cooperation with Venezuela in the above-mentioned areas. Fear of secondary sanctions effectively discouraged abroad investors to cooperate with Caracas.
After Delcy Rodriguez decided to change things. From now on, entities wishing to invest in the Venezuelan energy sector can do so after receiving appropriate approval from the abroad Asset Control Office (OFAC). The biggest global oil companies – BP, Chevron, Eni, Repsol and Shell – have already been authorised to start the investment. Although OFAC is an American entity, European companies besides had to get its approval to cooperate with Venezuela. This is due to the fact that entities that have not received approval from OFAC may be subject to secondary sanctions, the most severe of which is the cut-off from the Petrodolara system.
The fresh law states that licenses issued by OFAC to companies wishing to invest in Venezuela cannot be issued to entities from China, Iran, North Korea and, most importantly, Russia. At the same time, entities wishing to cooperate with companies from the above countries (or those in which they have crucial shares) in the oil manufacture Venezuela cannot be granted the consent of OFEC to specified an undertaking. This means a limited chance to participate in the improvement of this lucrative marketplace by the States listed in the US documents. Washington de facto decides who will benefit from this fresh Venezuelan opening.
This is simply a immense failure for Moscow, due to the fact that the limited presence of Western companies has made Russia an crucial contractor of Caracas. The cooperation of both countries dates back to the time of Chaves and covers energy, financial and military sectors. Moscow spent $17 billion on investments in Venezuela from 2006 to 2017. any of them were loans that Caracas paid off in the barter – oil supplies. American politics met with Kremlin's response, which with the mouths of its representatives (in this case, Lavrowa) says: ,,our companies are rather openly pushed out of [Venezuela]".
The Americans, on the 1 hand, are diversifying the marketplace of contractors seeking to aid Caracas renew its oil industry, resulting in a decline in Russia's function in Venezuela due to greater competition. On the another hand, they exclude it completely from the fresh grand beginning of the global energy race for the most oil-rich state in the world.
17.02 Peace negotiations between Ukraine, Russia and the USA in Geneva
On 17 and 18 February, another circular of peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine took place in Geneva, attended by the United States as a mediator. Although this was already the 3rd gathering within this format, the parties to the conflict inactive did not scope an agreement. Both the Head of the Office of the president of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanow and the Head of the Russian delegation Vladimir Miedinski in their later comments characterized the gathering as difficult, while a peculiar envoy of the president of the United States for peacekeeping missions Steve Witkoff wrote on the platform after the first day of talks X: "President Trump's success in unifying both sides of this war has brought crucial advancement and we are arrogant to work under his leadership to put an end to killing in this terrible conflict."
Recent Ukraine-Russia-US negotiations at the Geneva hotel InterContinental had a broader thematic scope than the 2 erstwhile rounds in Abu Dhabi, focusing on safety issues. As the Ukrainian delegation chief Rust Umierov explained, the negotiations ran on 2 levels: military and political. As part of this first military, 3 states discussed in peculiar the options for monitoring the ceasefire, where almost everyone agreed to the U.S. side's participation in the future monitoring mission. If talks on "technical" military topics can be considered constructive and progressive, political discussions were already in stalemate on the first day due to Vladimir Miedinski's position. Putin's advisor, who is on a regular basis the Kremlin's key ideology in historical policy, plays a function in the negotiations as a carrier of the political line of the president of the Russian Federation and each time brings out maximalistic claims, making it hard to scope consensus.
During the 3rd circular of peace talks, representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the United States discussed the emergence and form of a possible demilitarized region that will not be controlled by either organization to the conflict. In addition, the establishment of a free trade area in this area has been proposed to facilitate agreement. There was besides the thought of establishing a civilian administration that would manage this territory and which would include both Ukrainians and Russians. In parallel with attempts to scope a compromise, the Russian side demands the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the unoccupied parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblast. Donald Trump's administration, justifying its desire to end the war as shortly as possible, besides puts force on the Ukrainian side to agree to donbass Russia – only then Ukraine will receive safety guarantees from the United States. president Volodymyr Zelenski in an interview with the portal Axios He commented on the imagination of giving Ukrainian lands: “Emotionally, people will never forgive it. Never. They will not forgive me, they will not forgive [the United States]," and he added that any peace treaty would require approval in a national referendum.
The trilateral agenda of the talks besides discussed the position of the Zaporoska atomic Power Plant (ZAE), which has been under Russian business since March 2022. This largest atomic power plant in Europe produced about 20% of electricity in Ukraine before the war, but currently, due to the stationing of Russian troops on the site and the threat of war, 6 ZAE reactors are shut down. During the negotiations, the American side proposed a solution in which the United States would control the power plant and manage the energy produced there, redistributing it to Russia and Ukraine. Kiev rejected this thought as the legitimacy of the Russian occupation. The discussion besides mentions holding presidential elections in Ukraine, around which the Kremlin has been building a communicative for a long time aimed at removing Zeleński from power. In addition, the Ukrainian delegation was tasked with addressing the issues of prisoner-of-war exchanges and the release of civilians and initiating preparations for the gathering of the president of Ukraine with the president of the Russian Federation in the expression teste-à-tate.
Upon the return of diplomats to the country Volodymyr Zelenski assessed the results of the negotiations as insufficient, indicating at the same time that the Russians were dragging the process, which could already be in the final stage. At the same time, on the Russian political stage, there are increasingly voices postulating an ultimatum and breaking negotiations with Ukraine if president Zelenski does not agree to territorial concessions. The opportunistic approach of the Trump administration, which regularly uses the hard situation of the Ukrainian state to maximise its own benefits, is besides becoming more noticeable. It is worth noting that representatives of large Britain, France, Germany and Italy were present in Geneva for the 3rd circular of peace negotiations and in the Kuluaras conducted their own negotiations with the Ukrainian side. This signals Europe's strong desire to participate actively in the diplomatic process, presently coordinated by the United States, as well as maintaining support for Ukraine.
17.02 FSB authorised to block communications and net access
On Tuesday 17 February, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted amendments to the Communication Act, which let the national safety Service (FSB) to exclude communications throughout Russia. According to them, the FSB may require mobile operators to block all services, with the decision on the time, place and degree of its introduction solely to the president of the Russian Federation. The amended bill adopted without dispute immediately in the second and 3rd readings of 393 deputies – it took about 2 minutes. On Friday, February 20, the bill was signed by Vladimir Putin and thus entered into force, completing the legislative process launched in January.
The work for communication operators to exercise orders from state authorities was enshrined in Russian telecommunications law inactive in 2003 under the pretext of fighting terrorism. This has permanently introduced the practice of turning off the net in Russia at the order of the national safety Service, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Extraordinary Situations and the national Surveillance Service in the Communications, Information Technology and Mass Communications (Roskomzon). As power became centralized and authoritarian, various types of digital communication blocked – e.g. in 2019, during the elections to the Moscow City Duma, the authorities shut down the mobile net in consequence to protests that broke out after election committees refused to registry many independent opposition candidates. In the same year, a law on the "single-line Internet" was passed, which allows centralised management of the public communications network in Russia "in the event of threats to stableness or security" and calls for the improvement of tools to enable the autonomy of the Russian digital environment, i.e. the independency of Runet from the global web network. This paper forms the basis for full control of the state over the communication strategy in Russia.
The Russian-Ukrainian War has contributed to the emergence of state control over the network, and net breaks within the Russian Federation have become a regular phenomenon. The first mass blockades were recorded on May 7, 2025, in preparation for the triumph Day celebration in Moscow – then the mobile networks of all telecommunications operators were cut off from communications for respective hours. Already in July 2025, the number of interruptions in access to the network reached a evidence of 2029 cases across Russia, thus surpassing the full number of net blockades worldwide in 2024 (296 cases in 54 countries). The Russian authorities present these activities as "security measures to defend against unmanned aircraft (BSP) attacks". Stanislaw Zavalnyj, Head of the Krasnodar Country Information and Communication Department, says: “With a fast mobile Internet, the enemy can control BPS for terrorist attacks”. With this statement, Mikhail Klimariov’s message to release Deutsche Welle, which explains that mobile communications are not ubiquitous and is simply a technology to aid correct the flight path, and so modern drones usage a combination of different guidance systems. "The drones so proceed to fly after a specified trajectory even without the Internet", the Head of the net Protection Community emphasises. It is besides worth noting that restrictions on access to networks frequently concern regions where Ukrainian BPS never appeared. In addition, despite the declared temporary nature of the blockades, in fact in any places the net disappears for many months.
Using the context of Ukrainian attacks, the Russian government prepared an amendment to the aforementioned "Communications" Act and submitted it to Parliament in November 2025. The first version of the amendments was motivated by "anti-terrorism" and assumed that communication services would be held on the basis of the FSB's "application" in cases "established by the president and the Government's legal acts, in order to defend citizens and states from emerging safety threats". However, in the next and already passed version of the amendments, the "application" was changed to "demand" and the power to impose restrictions was left solely to the President. The mention of "security risks" has besides disappeared, meaning that the reasons for the blocking of communications will be unlimited. In this way, the updated Act further expands FSB's competence and contributes to the improvement of a "managed communications system" which is simply a Russian variant of digital totalitarianism.
The second major amendment to the Act is to exempt telecommunications operators from liability for suspending access at the request of the FSB, even if their activities violate the contract with the client. This means that consumers will not be able to claim compensation for unexecuted services. Contrary to the appearance of specified a solution, both groups will suffer, as notorious communications blockades can provoke users to quit operators' services – this hits the Russian digital economy. An imprecise evidence in the paper allows authorities to block any kind of communication: net access (wired, mobile and satellite), mobile communications (including telephone calls and text messages), telephone lines, email etc. besides breaks in access to the network disturb many aspects of everyday life, including preventing the ordering of taxis, paralyzing courier services, limiting access to banking and causing financial losses for businesses. The latest actions of the Russian authorities in the area of digital communication are a clear manifestation of the deepening control of society, as well as the progressive centralization of power, the control of the circulation of information and systemic indoctrination, the ubiquitous surveillance, the legalization of oppressive tools, the politicalization of private life, the criminalization of narratives incompatible with authoritative doctrine – these phenomena are characteristic of totalitarian states.
20.02 The Moscow Gulag Museum will be converted into the Museum of Memory
On Friday, February 20, the Moscow City website reported the liquidation of the Gulag past Museum. In his place, the first National Memorial Museum will be established, which will be dedicated to the victims of the "genocide of the russian people". The fresh exhibition will include “all stages of Nazi war crimes from the large Patriotic War” and visitors will have the chance to learn “about the manifestations of Nazism, the bioweapon tests carried out by the nipponese on russian citizens, the Red Army liberation mission and Nazi criminal trials.” The Gulag Museum was 1 of the last to analyse and commemorate the crimes of the russian authority of the institution in Russia.
The exhibition of the fresh Museum of Memory will be based primarily on archival materials of the task "Without a limitation period", which aims to preserve the historical memory of the war crimes of the 3rd Reich. As part of this project, lessons on the “genocide of the russian people” in Russian schools have already been conducted. The word “genocide of the russian nation” itself did not be in russian times and was invented in 2020 by Alieksandr Bastrykin, head of the Russian Federation Investigative Committee, in consequence to accusations from the Council of Europe that the USSR, working with Nazi Germans, started planet War II. The Russian run to preserve the historical memory of the alleged large Patriotic War reached its climax in 2025, erstwhile Vladimir Putin signed the Act on "Retention of the Memory of Victims of the Genocide of the russian Nation". Martyrology, heroization and idealization of the russian era are the foundations of Russia's contemporary historical policy, and the creation of its own communicative of genocide allowed Russians to represent themselves as victims alternatively than torturers.
The manager of the Memorial Museum was Natalia Kalashnikov, who has been head of the Museum since April 2025 "Smolensk Fortress". Prior to her career in culture, she oversaw, among others, the creation of the joint stock company “Krymenergo” after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Moreover, Kalashnikov is simply a "veteran of war activities" and has received medals "Participants of peculiar Military Operations" and "For contributing to the defence of the Russian Federation". The manager of the museum organizes regular meetings with participants of the Russian-Ukrainian War and patriotic events in the "Smolensk Fortress", as well as cooperates with the local branch of the Foundation for Homeland Defenders, founded by Anna Ciwiljowa, Deputy Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation and niece Putin. As 1 of the main tasks of the fresh Kalashnikov Memorial Museum, he considers “the formation in the young generation of strong rejection of Nazism in any form of it”. At the same time, her elder boy Dmitri Kalashnikov left Russia a week before the outbreak of the war in 2024 and has not yet returned.
The Gulag past Museum was founded in 2001 and until late remained the only large centre to proceed to deal with the victims of Stalinist repression and did not feel force from the authorities. In November 2024, the museum suspended its activity, according to the authoritative version due to “fire regulations imposed”. A fewer months later, the Moscow Department of Culture announced that he was recalling Roman Romanov as manager of the Gulag past Museum, which he had occupied since 2012. The direct reason for his dismissal was Romanov's refusal to censor a passage devoted to repression in the USSR at the exhibition "History of Moscow", which the authorities demanded. After announcing the transformation of the facility at the Memorial Museum, thousands of exhibits from the Gulag Museum, including the individual effects of erstwhile prisoners, will be deposited in the archives. The centre of documentation will besides be closed, which has helped people find information about the oppressed relatives and relatives. Despite the formal suspension of the museum's activities, his staff continued their work until the last minute: they organized investigation expeditions, recorded interviews with people being repressed and prepared for publication of a book on the past of the Gulag.
The Mertwo of Moscow announces the beginning of the Memorial Museum in 2026, although Kalashnikov's opinion is inactive besides early for a fast start. “First, you request to check the situation with fire safety,” added the fresh director. The Russian authorities intend to usage the fresh museum as a platform for indoctrination of young people, calling the process "historical enlightenment". Through the introduction of patriotic education, the Kremlin seeks to rise a fresh generation of faithful soldiers. Putin's memory policy is geared towards rehabilitating russian heritage, while erasing the crimes committed by Bolsheviks. Joseph Stalin's character illustrates this trend: in addition to his glorification as the Nazis' slayer and “the father of the nation”, the authorities marginalize the memory of his mass crimes. The cult of the large Patriotic War serves as a founding story for modern Russia and is simply a communicative of the power Putin uses as antidote for the grey misery of the average citizen. The “obsession” of the Russian authorities on Nazism is utilized to make a continuous division of “we-they”, intimidate their own citizens and keep power in the model of a besieged fortress.
