The Russian Invasion

The Russian Invasion|The Battles
Details: Russia builds weapons with parts from China

Russia has developed a new type of "kamikaze drone" built with Chinese components, according to sources within a European intelligence service and documents seen by Reuters.

It is said to have been developed for use during the invasion of Ukraine and according to the documents, it is a subsidiary of the state-owned arms company Almaz-Antey that is responsible for the production. In total, it is about 2,500 drones from July 2023 to the same month this year. They are said to have been used against both military and civilian targets.

Security expert Samuel Bendett says Russia no longer appears to be as dependent on Iranian drones.

- If so, it may indicate that Russia can rely more on domestic production and, obviously, on China.

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The Russian invasion|The response of the outside world
Finance ministers call on the IMF: Stop the Moscow trip

Several European governments, including Sweden's, are criticizing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) because the agency is expected to send staff to Moscow next week. This is reported by Politico.

The US-based IMF will, among other things, make an assessment of the Russian economy and give recommendations on how it can be improved, but the Western countries believe that Russia will use the visit as propaganda.

Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson (M) and colleagues in, among others, Finland, Norway and Denmark show their dissatisfaction in a letter to IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva.

A critical source wonders what advice Russia can actually get from the IMF.

- How to better conduct a war economy?