Free Republic

Hackers on Friday delayed the start of President Vladimir Putin's speech to Russia's flagship economic forum, shorn of strong Western participation as Russia adjusts to the "new reality" of life under Western sanctions. -snip- But the Western investors and investment bankers who had turned up in previous years were conspicuously absent. -snip- Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said a denial of service attack, which works by flooding servers with bogus traffic, had struck the forum's accreditation and admission systems. -snip- Internet connectivity and speeds suffered at the forum, and Putin's speech, in which he accused the West of trying to crush...

Norway’s excess oil and gas profits will exceed one hundred billion euros. It is indirectly preying on Putin’s induced war. It is unfair, they should share, said Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Saturday at a meeting with young people. He called on young people to “write to their friends in Norway” about this. On Saturday, the head of government participated in a question and answer session during the National Youth Dialogue Congress. He said the surplus – in excess of the annual average of recent years – oil and gas profits from “a small country of five million like Norway...

The exchange rate reached 57.67 rubles per dollar at 08:13 GMT, its firmest against the US currency since March 2018, according to data from the Moscow Exchange. The ruble also gained nearly 5% on the euro, with the exchange rate now below 60 rubles per euro, hitting a seven-year high. According to Bloomberg, the Russian currency has become the world’s best-performing currency this year despite its sharp drop in April sparked by unprecedented economic sanctions placed on Russia.