Ukraine war mega thread

[sabang]

​Secret US bio-labs in Ukraine

24ThursdayFeb 2022

Posted by Radiopatriot in American Spirit

≈ 9 Comments

What Are Secret US Bio-laboratories Doing in Ukraine?

On April 23rd the US Embassy in Ukraine acknowledged that there are biological laboratories in Ukraine that are under the control of the Pentagon. The statement of diplomats came after an open lett…

American owned biolabs in Ukraine. On April 23, 2020, the US Embassy in Ukraine acknowledged that there are biological laboratories in Ukraine that are under the control of the Pentagon.

https://www.stalkerzone.org/what-are-secret-us-bio-laboratories-doing-in-ukraine/ Link to the American Embassy in Ukraine confirming a biological threat reduction program.

https://ua.usembassy.gov/embassy/kyi...ction-program/
…
A twitter account associated with @WarClandestine has been suspended… because of this thread. Here’s his breakdown with several of the links he used. If this doesn’t explain what we watched last night, I’m not sure anything will.







Telegraph UK: Vladimir Putin threatens nuclear strikes if any country tries to attack Russia in retaliation. He said the “consequences” of any attempt to strike back would provoke a response “never seen in history”

What Are Secret US Bio-laboratories Doing in Ukraine?

APRIL 25, 2020



On April 23rd the US Embassy in Ukraine acknowledged that there are biological laboratories in Ukraine that are under the control of the Pentagon.

The statement of diplomats came after an open letter from people’s deputies about the threats posed by these research centers to Ukrainians.

However, the Americans deny the threats and say that scientific work is being carried out for exclusively peaceful purposes. And talk of threats is written off as “Russian disinformation”.

The Ukrainian “Strana” news agency looked into this story.

What the deputies of the Rada declared

On April 14th people’s deputies from “Opposition Platform – For Life” Viktor Medvedchuk and Renat Kuzmin wrote requests to four leaders of the country: President Zelensky, Prime Minister Shmygal, Head of the SBU Bakanov, and Minister of Healthcare Stepanov.

In an appeal with reference to Serbian and Bulgarian media, it is reported that the US has more than 400 bacteriological laboratories around the world, including at least 15 in Ukraine.

There are exclusively American ones, and they are financed at the expense of the US Department of Defence. The laboratories are located in Odessa, Vinnytsia, Uzhgorod, Lvov (three), Kiev (three), Kherson, Ternopol, and near Crimea and Lugansk.

People’s deputies note that the functioning of American biolaboratories in Ukraine started during the presidency of Viktor Yushchenko and the premiership of Yuliya Tymoshenko – August 29th, 2005.

At that time, cooperation agreements were signed between the US Department of Defence and the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine for the prevention of proliferation technologies (growth of body tissue by cell division), pathogens, and expertise that can be used for the development of biological weapons.

“In fact, the work in the laboratories is carried out under the program of biological experiments. The budget is $2.1 billion and is funded by the US Defence Threat Reduction Agency. The Scientific and Technical Center in Ukraine, an international organisation funded by the American authorities and whose staff have diplomatic immunity, has also become involved in this activity. This organisation is engaged in financing projects for the creation of weapons of mass destruction,” wrote Medvedchuk and Kuzmin.

Further, the people’s deputies point out that after the launch of biolaboratories in Ukraine there were outbreaks of infectious diseases.

“So, in Ternopol in 2009 there was a virus that caused hemorrhagic pneumonia. Its victims were 450 Ukrainians. In 2011, there was an outbreak of cholera in Ukraine – 33 people died. Three years later, cholera was diagnosed already 800 citizens, another year later more than 100 cases of cholera were recorded in Nikolaev.”

People’s deputies also gave such examples. In January 2016, 20 soldiers died from an influenza-like virus in Kharkov, and more than 200 were hospitalised. Two months later, 364 deaths were recorded in Ukraine. “The reason is swine flu of the same strain of influenza that led to the global pandemic in 2009,” say Medvedchuk and Kuzmin.
They further point out that in 2017 in Nikolaev there was an outbreak of hepatitis A. In the summer of the same year there were similar hotbeds of infection in Zaporozhye and Odessa, and in the autumn – in Kharkov.

“In 2010-2012 [i.e., already under Yanukovych – ed] the Ukrainian government initiated checks to see if the laboratories comply with all safety measures. As a result, a number of gross disorders were identified that could lead to the leakage of strains of dangerous infections. The fact of extract ventilation facing the premises of a kindergarten was even recorded,” it is said in the appeal of Medvedchuk and Kuzmin.

Then people’s deputies write that in 2013 President Viktor Yanukovych abandoned such cooperation with the United States. But already in 2014 Petro Poroshenko continued it. “It is likely that Yanukovych lost power with the active participation of the US government precisely because of his refusal to cooperate with the Pentagon,” suggest the deputies from “Opposition Platform – For Life”.

In conclusion, they point out, “It is possible that the secret and opaque activities of dangerous foreign objects on the territory of Ukraine have the task of testing the actions of viruses and bacteria on the bodies of Ukrainians”, and ask the leadership of Ukraine to understand this.

…

Secret US bio-labs in Ukraine | The Radio Patriot


I am just amazed that, seemingly, none of you were even aware of this.


And whatever your rationale on the War and it's reasons, I'm certainly bluddy pleased the Russians are systematically taking them out. Go shit in your own backyard.

[bsnub]

And whatever your rationale on the War and it's reasons, I'm certainly bluddy pleased the Russians are systematically taking them out. Go shit in your own backyard.

Why don't you fuck right off with this crap? You have no credibility on this forum and like ohoh no one aside from the other Three Stooges reads your shit. There are countless bio laboratories all over the US and EU. This is being spun into a cover for the Russians to gas civilians, just like they did in Syria.

Literally every thread about Ukraine is being polluted by the Three Stooges crap. Enough is enough, they are diverting attention away from the war itself, posting all this nonsense.

[sabang]

So you are not pleased that Pentagon funded biolabs are being systematically destroyed in the Ukraine by the Russian military snubs? Oh well, sucks to be you e'hhh.

[HermantheGerman]

​
I'm certainly bluddy pleased the Russians are systematically taking them out.

The only thing the Russians have taken out is your brain you demented old fool.

[sabang]

Be careful to wear a mask now Herman. Might catch a cold from those chilly Ukrainian winds.

[HermantheGerman]

​
In 2011, there was an outbreak of cholera in Ukraine – 33 people died. Three years later, cholera was diagnosed already 800 citizens, another year later more than 100 cases of cholera were recorded in Nikolaev.”

MOSCOW. Since the beginning September in southern Ukraine and especially on the peninsula Crimea rampant cholera epidemicmie continues to spread. Problem me in the drinking water supply are the main cause of epidemie. Low rainfall in last summer and one dilapidated sewers have for this guided.
Verbot für PCP bleibt weiter bestehen

I don't even know why I bother to debunk this little Australian retard.
Note that mostly Russians live there where the cholera broke out. The rest of the nonsense he posted is just...nonsense. Trying to hold on like our little streedog czar Putin.


Response from Ministry of Health
On 2 June, the Ukrainian Ministry of Health established an emergency commission to investigate the cholera cases in the Mariupol area and prevent further cases. Although samples of food items (fish and other sea food), sea water, water from open reservoirs in Mariupol’s surroundings and sewage have been tested, the environmental investigation has not yet determined the source of infection.
In light of the cholera cases, the Ukrainian authorities have enhanced surveillance. Water and sanitation conditions are being improved by detecting unauthorized sewages, as well as through cleaning and disinfection of drainage ditches. Public information campaigns on hygiene and appropriate care for people infected with cholera are being organized. Local authorities have prohibited swimming and fishing in the surrounding Kal’chyk and Kalmius Rivers, as well as the Sea of Azov. Healthcare professionals have been asked to test all cases of diarrhoea coming to healthcare facilities.

WHO/Europe | Ukraine reports 14 cholera cases


Maybe the Nazis are behind this again. But this time Australian Nazis

[hallelujah]

Literally every thread about Ukraine is being polluted by the Three Stooges crap. Enough is enough, they are diverting attention away from the war itself, posting all this nonsense.

And that is their aim. Right out of their master's playbook.

[HermantheGerman]

This dumb quote has been brought to you by OhOh also known as Curly from the "Three Stooges".

One hopes Russia doesn't sanction McDonald's:

Attachment 83420

McDonald’s will temporarily close 850 locations in Russia, nearly two weeks after Russian forces invaded Ukraine.

McDonald's and Starbucks are shutting their restaurants and cafes in Russia, and Coca-Cola is suspending its operations there in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. PepsiCo is also pulling some products from the country.

[David48atTD]

​Secret US bio-labs in Ukraine

Mate, far be it from me to tell you how to construct a post ... but I will anyway

Your post was a wall of text which few, if anyone would bother to read.



IMHO

[HermantheGerman]

^

Don't be afraid to speak up.

[bsnub]

So you are not pleased that Pentagon funded biolabs are being systematically destroyed in the Ukraine by the Russian military snubs?

You are a moron. The Russian do not know their asshole from a hole in the ground at this point. They have proven to be utterly incompetent at all levels and have resorted to the same old tactics they employed in Chechnya of mass indiscriminate bombings of civilians.

Your post was a wall of text which few, if anyone would bother to read.

It is also his usual dubious shit sources. It is more cramming as much shit into all these threads to keep the topic off of the war crimes that Russia is currently committing. The Three Stooges are just useful idiots, and they will do everything to muddy the water with falsehoods, irrelevancies and propaganda.

[david44]

The 3 MONKEYS

[Shutree]

McDonald’s will temporarily close 850 locations in Russia, nearly two weeks after Russian forces invaded Ukraine.

McDonald's and Starbucks are shutting their restaurants and cafes in Russia, and Coca-Cola is suspending its operations there in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. PepsiCo is also pulling some products from the country.

Gosh, the Russians will soon be the healthiest people on earth.

[sabang]

Am I the only person that longs to go to a country with no maccas, kfc, or coke? There aren't that many. I remember when maccas first hit Ko Samui. Beginning of the end.

[misskit]

^Move to Russia. I’m sure they will be glad to have you there.


Most of us don’t read Qanon or Infowars, sabang. I see you are frequenting those kinds of sites now.

A link from your own post above.

Biological Threat Reduction Program - U.S. Embassy in Ukraine

[sabang]

Strangely, might just do that MK (no hurry). Never have been to Leningrad, which is quite wonderful. Just did Moscow briefly, in 1982- no maccas then either.
Cheap now too- just spend all your rubles in country. Sabs advice.

[david44]

PUSSY cypRIOT

if you cannot take a long read Cyrpus fecked



Cyprus is losing its Russians — and confronting existential questions about its economy – POLITICO

Cyprus is losing its Russians — and confronting existential questions about its economy

Cyprus has gone a long way toward untying its bonds to Russia. But with new wartime sanctions, it will have to untie many more, instantaneously.
By Nektaria Stamouli
Updated Mar. 08, 2022 08:13 PM

---

For decades, Cyprus built an economy that courted Russians — Russian tourists, Russian investors, Russian oligarchs.
Now, with Europe severing its connections to a warmongering Russia in the course of just a few days, Cyprus is confronting an existential question: What happens if these Russians suddenly disappear?


In Cyprus, Russian connections are everywhere.
They show up in economic figures. Hundreds of thousands of Russian tourists come through each year — no small number in a nation of just 1.2 million. Over €100 billion in investments came from Russia in 2020 alone — roughly a quarter of all foreign investments coming into Cyprus.
Other connections are more cultural — and questionable. The Mediterranean island has long served as a banking home for the gray fortunes of Russian investors, from arms dealers to gambling firms and pornographic websites. In the early 1990s, post-Soviet figures like Slobodan Milošević traveled to the island with cash-filled suitcases.
In the last decade, Cyprus has gone a long way toward untying these knots. But the EU is now forcing it to untie many more, almost instantaneously.


Cyprus, an EU member, has backed the bloc’s escalating sanctions against Russia in the wake of its Ukraine invasion. Yet officials acknowledge that support comes with a price: The sanctions will corrode portions of the Cypriot economy, even if it has already started to turn away from Russian money.
Banking is one area likely to be affected. At least five people on the EU’s sanctions list have assets in Cypriot banks, according to bank officials. Luxury real estate is another — dozens of high-end apartments will likely now sit unsold. Tourism will be the most affected.
“The Cypriot economy is disproportionately affected compared to other countries due to the structure of the Cypriot economy and its reliance on Russian tourists,” Cypriot Finance Minister Constantinos Petrides told POLITICO.


“Based on our estimates, we expected to have one million tourists from Ukraine and Russia this year, some 20-25 percent of the tourist market of Cyprus,” Petrides said. “Τhe key is the duration of this crisis. If this ends in a month, we will come out unscathed. If it lasts more, no economy will manage to come out clean.”
Walking the line

In the days after Moscow sent troops streaming into Ukraine, the EU, U.K. and U.S. all moved with historic speed to cripple the Russian economy, block Russian banks from international markets and bar Russian airplanes from their skies. They also drew up plans to flood Ukraine with humanitarian assistance and, eventually, even some weapons.


Cyprus generally supported these plans. But there were signs of
hesitation along the way.
Cypriot authorities were initially against banning major Russian banks from the SWIFT international payment network, a key driver of global business, before later coming around. And while Cyprus agreed to close its airspace to Russian planes, it added the caveat that it might reconsider if Turkey refused to follow suit. And until an announcement Tuesday, Cyprus was the only EU country that had not contributed any emergency assistance to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, at least some Russian executives were looking to use Cyprus to skirt the looming sanctions. The Russian state-owned VTB Bank quietly transferred all its shares in the Cypriot RCB bank to Cypriot shareholders, making it a 100 percent Cypriot-owned bank. The new ownership structure is now awaiting signoff from European authorities. VTB is one of the banks the EU has kicked out of SWIFT.


Looking at it through an economic lens, the actions can be easily explained.
In Cyprus, the service industry, including tourism, accounts for more than 80 percent of the economy. And Russians have long kept the service industry humming.
Cypriot authorities are now trying to make up for the expected losses, reaching out to other markets. But they acknowledge it will be hard, especially after the pandemic already damaged the tourism industry.
“We had a very good flow of bookings from Russia until the airspace closure was announced. Then everything froze,” said Charis Loizides, president of the Cyprus Hotels Association.
“We are in touch with the tour operators from Russia and they are disappointed,” he added. “We managed to survive the last two years under very difficult circumstances, and we hoped 2022 would bring us back to normal.”
Predictably, Russia's Ambassador to Cyprus Stanislav Osadchiy brought a more menacing tone to the situation.


“Where will Cyprus get its Russian tourists from? They won’t come,” he told a Cypriot TV station. “Where will they go — to Turkey, is that what you want? For them to go spend their money over there? Summer is coming up, you’ve closed your airspace — you shot yourselves in the foot.”
Loizides said that even if Cyprus reopened its airspace to Russian planes, it would make little difference. The Russian ruble is in freefall, and broader restrictions and uncertainty are sure to keep away many Russians.
It’s a reality that will hit hard in coastal cities like Limassol and Famagusta, where Russian tourists have historically flocked. Russian tourists are known locally as the biggest spenders, not like British tourists, who, the local saying goes, “only buy beer, burgers and condoms.”
As a result, Cypriot support for the Russian sanctions has not gone over well with everyone.
“It is as if we want to punish Russia and we are punishing ourselves,” said Panicos Demetriades, a former central banker of the island.
“We are also punishing the Russians who need to be separated from the dictator of their country,” added Demetriades, also an emeritus professor at Leicester University. “Τhere are thousands of Russians who can't stand Putin's Russia and want to leave and we isolate them.”
Deep ties

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Cyprus has been inextricably linked with Russia.
“There was a conscious decision 20-30 years ago when the Soviet Union had collapsed to tie the Republic of Cyprus to Russia with all the risks that this involved, which one could have easily recognized only by reading news about the political and social situation in Russia,” said Stelios Orphanides, a Cypriot investigative journalist who works for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.


In some ways, those ties became stronger after 2003, when Russian President Vladimir Putin started to curtail the independence of Russia’s oligarchs. Numerous prominent Russian executives decided to shift their finances out of the country. One of their preferred places to park funds? Cyprus.
In 2013, years of handing out overly favorable loans boomeranged back on Cypriot banks, causing a financial crisis. Many Russians with large local deposits were given ownership shares in Cypriot banks in exchange for their losses. Ironically, the plan meant Russians became major stakeholders in Cypriot banks after the crisis abated.


However, banks also started to enforce anti-money laundering rules more rigorously after the crisis. And in 2018, U.S. regulators started to aggressively go after illicit Russian money circulating internationally. As part of the initiative, the Central Bank of Cyprus shut down thousands of shell companies, presaging a broader shift in the island’s business model.
In 2020, Cyprus suspended the controversial “Golden Visa” scheme, which gave foreigners a passport in exchange for massive investment in the country. The scheme, established in 2013, netted Cyprus some €7 billion — and scored passports for many Russian oligarchs.
Now, with the new sanctions, a group of accountants, lawyers and agents still working with Russians are likely to lose business. But authorities insist this won’t spill over into the broader economy.


Specifically, Petrides, the Cypriot finance minister, argued the country's banks are safe.
“There is a surrounding atmosphere due to the past, but the Cypriot economy is no longer so dependent on Russia. There are other countries that have bigger problems,” he said.
“The sanctions concerning the EU banking system do not affect Cyprus to a large extent, as Cyprus’ banking system has no exposure to Russia,” Petrides added. “The banking system maintains one of the highest levels of capital adequacy and liquidity ratios. Τhe Central Bank of Cyprus has no reserves held by the Russian Central Bank abroad.”
Officials also noted that around a dozen businesses from Russia and Ukraine are looking to relocate their operations out of the conflict zone and could benefit from the quick bureaucratic process in Cyprus. Additionally, around 1,000 people have recently requested a business visa in Cyprus, they said.


Bank officials also argued Cyprus has already learned to work around financial penalties on Russians. They point out that many of the Russians who own large shares of Cypriot banks were sanctioned by the U.S. and U.K. in 2018.
Still, Russian deposits in Cyprus are estimated at €1 billion. And Demetriades, the former central banker, pointed out that bank liquidity depends on investors trusting the system — something that can change swiftly.


“Cyprus is a small country and is known for its past relationship with Russia and the oligarchs, thus it is very difficult to support itself and could become a victim of sanctions,” said Demetriades. “Because of old sins, Cyprus is in the gray list and others are always suspicious.”

[misskit]

Lacking Oversight, Telegram Thrives in Ukraine Disinformation Battle

Two days after Russia invaded Ukraine, an account on the Telegram messaging platform posing as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged his armed forces to surrender.


The message was not authentic, with the real Zelenskiy soon denying the claim on his official Telegram channel, but the incident highlighted a major problem: disinformation quickly spreads unchecked on the encrypted app.

The fake Zelenskiy account reached 20,000 followers on Telegram before it was shut down, a remedial action that experts say is all too rare.


For Oleksandra Tsekhanovska, head of the Hybrid Warfare Analytical Group at the Kyiv-based Ukraine Crisis Media Center, the effects are both near- and far-reaching.


"For Telegram, accountability has always been a problem, which is why it was so popular even before the full-scale war with far-right extremists and terrorists from all over the world," she told AFP from her safe house outside the Ukrainian capital.


Telegram boasts 500 million users, who share information individually and in groups in relative security. But Telegram's use as a one-way broadcast channel — which followers can join but not reply to — means content from inauthentic accounts can easily reach large, captive and eager audiences.


False news often spreads via public groups, or chats, with potentially fatal effects.

"Someone posing as a Ukrainian citizen just joins the chat and starts spreading misinformation, or gathers data, like the location of shelters," Tsekhanovska said, noting how false messages have urged Ukrainians to turn off their phones at a specific time of night, citing cybersafety.


Such instructions could actually endanger people — citizens receive air strike warnings via smartphone alerts.


'Wild West'
In addition, Telegram's architecture limits the ability to slow the spread of false information: the lack of a central public feed, and the fact that comments are easily disabled in channels, reduce the space for public pushback.


Although some channels have been removed, the curation process is considered opaque and insufficient by analysts.

Emerson Brooking, a disinformation expert at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, said: "Back in the Wild West period of content moderation, like 2014 or 2015, maybe they could have gotten away with it, but it stands in marked contrast with how other companies run themselves today."


WhatsApp, a rival messaging platform, introduced some measures to counter disinformation when Covid-19 was first sweeping the world.


For example, WhatsApp restricted the number of times a user could forward something, and developed automated systems that detect and flag objectionable content.


Unlike Silicon Valley giants such as Facebook and Twitter, which run very public anti-disinformation programs, Brooking said: "Telegram is famously lax or absent in its content moderation policy."


As a result, the pandemic saw many newcomers to Telegram, including prominent anti-vaccine activists who used the app's hands-off approach to share false information on shots, a study from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue shows.


'Unverified information'
Again, in contrast to Facebook, Google and Twitter, Telegram's founder Pavel Durov runs his company in relative secrecy from Dubai.


On Feb. 27, however, he admitted from his Russian-language account that "Telegram channels are increasingly becoming a source of unverified information related to Ukrainian events."


He said that since his platform does not have the capacity to check all channels, it may restrict some in Russia and Ukraine "for the duration of the conflict," but then reversed course hours later after many users complained that Telegram was an important source of information.

Oleksandra Matviichuk, a Kyiv-based lawyer and head of the Center for Civil Liberties, called Durov’s position "very weak," and urged concrete improvements.


"He has to start being more proactive and to find a real solution to this situation, not stay in standby without interfering. It's a very irresponsible position from the owner of Telegram," she said.


In the United States, Telegram's lower public profile has helped it mostly avoid high level scrutiny from Congress, but it has not gone unnoticed.


Some people used the platform to organize ahead of the storming of the U.S. Capitol in January 2021, and last month Senator Mark Warner sent a letter to Durov urging him to curb Russian information operations on Telegram.


Asked about its stance on disinformation, Telegram spokesperson Remi Vaughn told AFP: "As noted by our CEO, the sheer volume of information being shared on channels makes it extremely difficult to verify, so it's important that users double-check what they read."


But the Ukraine Crisis Media Center's Tsekhanovska points out that communications are often down in zones most affected by the war, making this sort of cross-referencing a luxury many cannot afford.

Lacking Oversight, Telegram Thrives in Ukraine Disinformation Battle - The Moscow Times

[bsnub]

This is a clear warning to China. They can not step out of their boundaries. If they do, they will get their nose clipped. They will get beat down the same way that they got smashed by the Viets in '79.

Best stand down and shut the fuck up.

Russia is getting humiliated in Ukraine.

If the US was in this war...

[Buckaroo Banzai]

Hey what happen to the Post about the Academic who blamed the west?
Did it not confirm the prevailing bias?
Another Russian apologist?
It was getting lonely on this side.

[OhOh]

This is a clear warning to China.

What is a "clear warning to China"?

NaGastan citizens enjoy slaughtering retreating armies?

They can not step out of their boundaries.

Who will be setting the "boundaries"?

If they do, they will get their nose clipped.

Who will be clipping China's nose?

[Backspin]

Hey what happen to the Post about the Academic who blamed the west?
Did it not confirm the prevailing bias?
Another Russian apologist?
It was getting lonely on this side.

This one. I watched this lecture in 2015 when it had just 10,000 views. Then as the war started, it had 6 million views. Now it has 18 million views. And ppl are trying to cancel him now. For a long boring lecture, 18 million views is huge.

[pickel]

^
Does he mention that Ukraine is a sovereign nation with a democratically elected government free to make its own decisions?

[Backspin]

Russia is getting humiliated in Ukraine.

Heard it all when Russia entered Syria in 2015.

What a Loss in Syria Would Mean for Putin'''s Russia - The Atlantic

According to The Economist: “If America’s Syria-watchers agree on anything it is that the Russian campaign, which has enabled Mr Assad’s forces to make only minor gains, will fail, and thereby encourage Russia to give up on its proxy.

It’s certainly easy to imagine the Russian intervention deteriorating. In recent weeks, Assad’s forces have made some limited gains around the Syrian city of Aleppo. But the overall strategic situation for Damascus remains highly precarious.

If the Russian president acts rationally, he should cut his losses.

[misskit]

Oligarch renounces Russian citizenship, saying 'everything Putin touches dies'

TEL AVIV - Russian-Israeli oligarch Leonid Nevzlin announced on Tuesday that he planned to give up his Russian passport in protest of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.


"Everything that Putin touches dies," Nevzlin wrote in a Facebook post. "I am against the war. I am against the occupation. I am against the genocide of the Ukrainian people."


Nevzlin was among the first prominent Russian oligarchs to establish self-imposed exile in Israel, fleeing what he has described as a campaign of politically-motivated persecution by Russian President Vladimir Putin.


In 2003, Nevzlin fled Russia for Israel amid a Kremlin-backed investigation into his Yukos oil company. Nevzlin co-owned Yukos with Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was imprisoned by a Moscow court on charges of fraud, and, later, of embezzlement and money laundering.


Israel has refused requests for Nevzlin's extradition to face charges in Russia of murder, attempted murder and financial crimes.

Nevzlin has denied all charges and has said they are attempts by Putin to silence him and other critics.


"I was one of the first to be hit by Putin. He threw my friends in jails, and killed some of them," wrote Nevzlin. "I have spent almost twenty years outside Russia, but that is exactly what has allowed me to see its process of rotting and decomposing."


In the years following Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014, a new wave of wealthy Russian citizens, including former Chelsea Premier League soccer team owner and longtime Putin supporter Roman Abramovich, took up Israeli citizenship in part to avoid the resulting U.S. sanctions. Many continue to have business and financial ties in Russia and have been cautious against publicly criticizing the war.


Sanctioned billionaire banker Mikhail Fridman has described the war as a "tragedy" and that war "can never be the answer." But in a news conference with journalists in London, he said he would not directly criticize Putin's invasion of Ukraine so as to avoid reprisals against his employees.


Nevzlin wrote on Tuesday that his compatriots cheered the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s.


"Thank goodness some of them didn't make it to this day," he wrote. "The day when the Motherland, whose fresh passports they kissed, became a fascist state."

Oligarch renounces Russian citizenship, saying 'everything Putin touches dies'