0700GMT/April 28 2025
CAR BOMB: A car bomb in a Moscow suburb killed Lieutenant-General Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the Russian Army's Main Operations Directorate as he walked past. Ukraine has killed several high-ranking Russian military officers, scientists and propagandists. (COMMENT: The apparent assassination of Moskalik came only a few hours before Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's Special Envoy, flew into Moscow for talks with Putin. The timing will be deliberate. A message from Kyiv that the war is still very much on.) (NOTE: The FSB said later that it had arrested a Ukrainian for planting the bomb.)
UKRAINE TALKS: Steve Witkoff, Trumpo's personal envoy, held talks with Putin for the fourth time. Washington's latest peace offer involves not only recognising Russian control of Crimea and Donbas region but also lifting all sanctions imposed on Russia since its 2014 annexation of Crimea. Yuri Ushakov, Putin's chief foreign policy adviser, said that the Putin-Witkoff meeting lasted three hours and was "constructive and very useful". (COMMENT: Once again, these concessions from the West to Russia will be seen as a win for the Kremlin. The emphasis is very much on rehabilitating Russia as a business partner.)
KURSK FIGHTING: Valery Gerasimov, Russia's top general, told Putin on Saturday that Russian forces had completed their recapture of the Kursk region in southern Russia. (COMMENT: Ukraine invaded Kursk in August. Ukraine's capture of Russian territory allowed North Korea to enter the war on the side of Russia because of a joint defence pact. Russian officials have applauded North Korean "heroism" in fighting in Kursk. Thousands of North Korean soldiers were killed in the fighting. They were sent ahead of Russian forces as cannon fodder to draw out Ukrainian fire. Putin on Monday morning sent a personal thanks to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un for sending thousands of his soldiers to Russia. Putin and Kim appear to have a personal friendship that is proving enduring and important.)
IRANIAN MISSILES: An explosion in the Iranian Caspian port city of Bandar Abbas on Saturday that killed several hundred people may have been caused by the mishandling of fuel for missiles being sent by Iran to Russia.
FOOTBALL DIPLOMACY: Russia's football team now plans to play a match against Nigeria on June 6 at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow. (COMMENT: Russia hosted the 2018 Football World Cup but has been frozen out of international matches and tournaments since the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine. Since then, it has been confined to playing against Central Asian teams, Iran, Syria, Iraq, some African countries and some pro-Kremlin Asian states.)
INTEREST RATES: Russia's Central Bank kept its key interest rate at 21% for the fourth time in a row. It said that inflation had started to decline but that global turbulence caused by Trump's tariff wars has created uncertainty.
INFLATION OUTLOOK: Elvira Naibullina, the head of Russia's Central Bank, said that inflation in Russia would be around 7-8% this year, before dropping slightly. She also said the "likelihood of interest rates in Russia being increased again this year had fallen". (COMMENT: In other words, the Russian economy ministry believes that, from a macro point of view, in any case, the economy is cooling. The Russian rouble has stabilised at around 82/$1, down from 114/$1 at the end of last year. The truth is, though, that real inflation in Russia is more like 35-40%.)
POTATOES: Russia's 2024 potato harvest was poor, forcing it to buy emergency imports from China and Georgia. (NOTE: The price of potatoes in Russia, an important staple food, has jumped 300% this year, reports have said. China has imported 25 times more potatoes into Russia than a year earlier.)
MANIPULATING SOCIETY: Russia is holding nationwide anti-terrorist drills at schools and colleges. (COMMENT: This is part of the Kremlin's drive to manipulate society into buying into its martial view of modern Russia.)
ONLINE GAMING: Prosecutors in Russia have ordered the Russian state to take over Lesta Games, the Russian publisher of the popular online World of Tanks and World of Warships games. (COMMENT: Lesta Games may not have been able to sufficiently distance itself from its founders which quit Russia afer the Kremlin invaded Ukraine and have set up charities for Ukraine.)