We are all in waiting mode, expecting news on whether Trump is indeed going to be in Istanbul for peace talks to end the Russia-Ukraine war.  The latest word from the White House is that he may be there.  In that case, and only in that case, Vladimir Putin will also come to Istanbul. Zelensky has already said he will be in Istanbul regardless of who will be present from the other side.

In the meantime, my reading of the situation as I explained in this chat with Judge Napolitano is that Trump’s unconventional approach to mediation gives us no confidence of success.  He is sending to the talks his two envoys who hold directly contradictory positions on the preferred outcome:  Steve Witkoff, who is favorable to the Russians’ solution and General Kellogg, who is promoting the joint Ukrainian/European solution.  How this can be resolved is utterly unclear.   But why should it be clear given the fundamental illogic of the entire situation: namely that a co-belligerent aligned with Ukraine over the past three years, the USA, steps forward as a mediator or facilitator of peace.

As I say in the interview, the odd, even bizarre Trump approach to these negotiations cannot be laid at the door of his ‘business’ approach, since no corporate top executive would ever create the confusion that Trump seems to think essential to solving thorny problems. This at best is the behavior of an eccentric entrepreneur, for which I raise Elon Musk as another example, matching Trump. 

Somehow the Trump magic seems to have worked in achieving a cease-fire between India and Pakistan, a situation where the USA is also most closely aligned with one side in the conflict, India.

Of course, other topics also were dealt with in this chat, including the general feeling of prosperity in Russia, the inflation that is resulting from more cash to spend in everyone’s wallet, the very large monthly enlistments of soldiers to fight in the Special Military Operation and much, much more.

Estonian Government: Not just war mongers but sadists as well

In his latest speeches during the 80^th anniversary of Victory Day celebrations, President Putin was careful to distinguish between the ruling elites in “unfriendly countries” and the general population, among whom there may well be many people sympathetic to Russia’s cause.

I apply the same distinction here when I explain why I will NEVER ever travel again to Russia via Estonia.

As readers of my first installment of Travel Notes from the now completed three weeks I just spent in Russia will know, my inbound trip was by plane to Estonia’s capital Tallinn and onwards by bus to what was described by acquaintances as the least stressful border crossing in the south of the country, opposite the city of Pskov on the Russian side.

Whereas at the most commonly used border crossing in the north of Estonia, at the seaside town of Narva, travelers have been experiencing 3 to 5 hour waiting times out on the street for entry to the Estonian passport and customs control building, followed by a 500-meter walk across a bridge to the Russian checkpoint, the southern crossing has no waits for processing and allows you the ‘comfort’ of proceeding directly in your bus to the Russian checkpoint.

I found that this difference was true in practice, but the underlying reality of vicious, shall we say sadistic handling of the travelers by the Estonian border authorities at the southern post was identical to what is going on in the north.

Allow me to explain that the waiting times in Narva are artificially created by unjustified questioning of each traveler as to his or her motive for going to Russia, how much cash they have in their wallets, how old is the computer notebook they are traveling with and the like. Suitcases are opened and inspected very thoroughly. Your Euro cash may be counted, banknote by banknote.

Due to current nonrecognition by the Estonians of tourist visas for travel to or from Russia, the only travelers are in effect dual nationals – of Russia and one or another EU Member State.  Accordingly, the Estonian authorities are inflicting their inquisition on people they have no right to ask about anything. Their go-slow procedures are what create the many hours-long wait of travelers out on the street whatever the weather and whatever the age or physical condition of those in the crowd.

To this I add the obvious fact that the great majority of those traveling this route are poor folks who simply cannot afford the exotic alternative solution of flying down to Istanbul or Dubai to get to Russia. And that solution is all the more absurd for Estonian passport holders from Tallinn or elsewhere in the country who simply want to get across the border to visit relatives on the other side, living perhaps 5 km away. That is what built up the waiting time especially in the days before Easter, This makes a mockery of the whole principle of ‘humanitarian’ travel for family reunions.

My point here is that the maltreatment bordering on sadism is systematic and does not depend on who is in charge on any given day. It is clearly ordered from the central government in Estonia and it stinks to high heaven.  It tells me that the vicious Russophobia that we see daily in the conduct of the former Estonian prime minister, now vice president of the EU Commission for foreign policy Kaja Kallas is just the most visible sign of an Estonian ruling elite that daily tramples on all the “European values” that supposedly, in the words of her predecessor Josip Borrell, make the EU a ‘garden,’ in contrast to the jungle outside its borders

You will note that I am speaking of the ruling elite, not of the Estonian people.  The most striking argument in favor of the humane instincts of the Estonian people also occurred on this latest trip and it happened on our very arrival at Tallinn airport. My wife walks with a cane and when we checked in at the Air Baltic counter in Brussels airport, the attendant asked if we wanted special assistance, meaning a wheelchair, at arrival in Tallinn. We said that it was unnecessary.  However, they knew better: when we debarked in Tallinn just after midnight, we were pleasantly surprised that special assistance had been arranged nonetheless and that the burly Estonian who rendered it was a great fellow and very kindly to my wife despite or perhaps because of her clearly Russian surname of Zalesova.  He not only took us through the changes of floor levels and very long corridors to reach baggage claim but took us out onto the sidewalk and on the strength of his airport uniform jumped the twenty-minute queue so as to install us in a taxi and see us on our way at once.

Let me remind the Community that within Estonia’s 1.37 million population, perhaps 300,000 are Russian speakers and they are heavily concentrated in the capital where they make up perhaps 40% of the population.  That Tallinn is a Russian speaking town will be clear at once to any casual visitor. All hotel and restaurant staff are perfectly fluent in Russian.  The shoppers in the main malls are nearly all speaking Russian. On television they can watch a Russian-language state broadcast station.  The purely Estonian speaking population is concentrated in the hinterland as it always was over centuries past. 

When Estonian academics speak of a Soviet or Russian occupation of their country, they mean the period 1939-1991 which began with the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact that put an end to the 20 year existence of an Estonian state, the first in the nation’s history.  For the preceding 250 years Estonia, or Estland, had been a constituent part of the Russian Empire as a result not of military conquest but of dynastic marriage, which was widely practiced everywhere in ancien régime Europe. Even the Russophobe government that humiliates those of its citizens traveling to Russia takes no action against the monuments from the period of tsarist domination, because if they did there would be nothing whatever to show tourists.  Latter day Revel (today’s Tallinn) was Russia’s principal port in the 18^th century and a coastal resort playground of the Russian aristocracy in the 19^th century.

To remain fair-minded, I close this essay with a note to Sergei Lavrov that I hope he will pass along to The Boss.  The treatment of travelers entering Russia at border crossings like the one in the south of Estonia across from Pskov is also shameful even if it is not sadistic. You do not wait out on the street, but you lose an hour. They all but disassemble your bus probably searching for hidden drugs. But their sniffer dogs which also are used can do that job in minutes. Why are a couple of controllers deployed to check to see that their colleague correctly applied the entry stamp to your passport?  Russia should be delighted to welcome these visitors and speed them on their way rather than impose lengthy questioning and inspections.  If this nonsense does not go on at Pulkovo airport where middle class passengers are whisked through in both directions, in and out of Russia, why does it go on at the provincial border crossings which process mostly the less privileged?

©Gilbert Doctorow, 2025       

Translation below into German (Andreas Mylaeus)

Estnische Regierung: Nicht nur Kriegstreiber, sondern auch Sadisten

In seinen jüngsten Reden anlässlich der Feierlichkeiten zum 80. Jahrestag des Sieges am 9. Mai hat Präsident Putin sorgfältig zwischen den herrschenden Eliten in „unfreundlichen Ländern“ und der allgemeinen Bevölkerung unterschieden, unter der es durchaus viele Menschen geben dürfte, die mit der Sache Russlands sympathisieren.

Ich treffe dieselbe Unterscheidung, wenn ich erkläre, warum ich NIEMALS wieder über Estland nach Russland reisen werde.

Wie die Leser meines ersten Teils der Reiseberichte über meine gerade beendeten drei Wochen in Russland wissen, reiste ich mit dem Flugzeug in die estnische Hauptstadt Tallinn und von dort mit dem Bus zu dem, was mir von Bekannten als der stressfreieste Grenzübergang im Süden des Landes beschrieben wurde, gegenüber der Stadt Pskow auf der russischen Seite.

Während Reisende am meist frequentierten Grenzübergang im Norden Estlands, in der Küstenstadt Narva, drei bis fünf Stunden auf der Straße warten müssen, um in das estnische Pass- und Zollkontrollgebäude zu gelangen, gefolgt von einem 500 Meter langen Fußweg über eine Brücke zum russischen Kontrollpunkt, gibt es am südlichen Grenzübergang keine Wartezeiten und man kann bequem mit dem Bus direkt zum russischen Kontrollpunkt weiterfahren.

Ich habe festgestellt, dass dieser Unterschied in der Praxis zutrifft, aber die zugrunde liegende Realität der brutalen, ja sogar sadistischen Behandlung der Reisenden durch die estnischen Grenzbehörden am südlichen Grenzübergang ist identisch mit dem, was im Norden vor sich geht.

Lassen Sie mich erklären, dass die Wartezeiten in Narva künstlich durch ungerechtfertigte Befragungen jedes Reisenden zu seinen Motiven für die Einreise nach Russland, zum Bargeldbestand in seiner Brieftasche, zum Alter seines Laptops und Ähnlichem verursacht werden. Koffer werden geöffnet und sehr gründlich durchsucht. Ihr Bargeld in Euro kann Banknote für Banknote gezählt werden.

Da Estland derzeit Touristenvisa für Reisen nach oder aus Russland nicht anerkennt, sind die einzigen Reisenden faktisch Doppelstaatsangehörige – Russlands und eines EU-Mitgliedstaats. Dementsprechend unterziehen die estnischen Behörden Menschen einer Inquisition, die sie zu nichts zu befragen berechtigt sind. Ihre schleppenden Verfahren sind der Grund für die stundenlangen Wartezeiten der Reisenden auf der Straße, unabhängig vom Wetter und vom Alter oder der körperlichen Verfassung der Menschen in der Menge.

Hinzu kommt die offensichtliche Tatsache, dass die große Mehrheit der Reisenden auf dieser Strecke arme Menschen sind, die sich die exotische Alternative, nach Istanbul oder Dubai zu fliegen, um nach Russland zu gelangen, einfach nicht leisten können. Und diese Lösung ist umso absurder für estnische Passinhaber aus Tallinn oder anderen Teilen des Landes, die einfach nur die Grenze überqueren wollen, um Verwandte auf der anderen Seite zu besuchen, die vielleicht nur 5 km entfernt wohnen. Das hat insbesondere in den Tagen vor Ostern zu langen Wartezeiten geführt. Das führt das gesamte Prinzip der „humanitären“ Reisen zur Familienzusammenführung ad absurdum.

Mein Punkt ist, dass die an Sadismus grenzende Misshandlung systematisch ist und nicht davon abhängt, wer an einem bestimmten Tag Dienst hat. Sie wird eindeutig von der estnischen Zentralregierung angeordnet und stinkt zum Himmel. Das sagt mir, dass die bösartige Russophobie, die wir täglich im Verhalten der ehemaligen estnischen Premierministerin und jetzigen Vizepräsidentin der EU-Kommission für Außenpolitik, Kaja Kallas, sehen, nur das sichtbarste Zeichen einer estnischen Führungselite ist, die täglich alle „europäischen Werte“ mit Füßen tritt, die laut ihrem Vorgänger Josip Borrell die EU zu einem „Garten“ mache, im Gegensatz zum Zirkus außerhalb ihrer Grenzen.

Sie werden bemerken, dass ich von der herrschenden Elite spreche, nicht vom estnischen Volk. Das auffälligste Argument für die menschlichen Instinkte des estnischen Volkes fand sich ebenfalls auf dieser letzten Reise, und zwar gleich bei unserer Ankunft am Flughafen von Tallinn. Meine Frau geht an einer Gehhilfe, und als wir am Schalter von Air Baltic am Brüsseler Flughafen eincheckten, fragte uns die Mitarbeiterin, ob wir bei der Ankunft in Tallinn besondere Hilfe, also einen Rollstuhl, benötigten. Wir sagten, dass dies nicht notwendig sei. Aber sie wussten es besser: Als wir kurz nach Mitternacht in Tallinn aus dem Flugzeug stiegen, waren wir angenehm überrascht, dass dennoch besondere Hilfe organisiert worden war und dass der stämmige Este, der sie leistete, ein großartiger Kerl war und sehr freundlich zu meiner Frau, trotz oder vielleicht gerade wegen ihres eindeutig russischen Nachnamens Zalesova. Er führte uns nicht nur durch die verschiedenen Etagen und sehr langen Gänge zum Gepäckausgabebereich, sondern brachte uns auch auf die Straße und sprang dank seiner Flughafenuniform über die zwanzigminütige Warteschlange hinweg, um uns in ein Taxi zu setzen und uns sofort auf den Weg zu schicken.

Ich möchte die Gemeinschaft daran erinnern, dass von den 1,37 Millionen Einwohnern Estlands etwa 300.000 russischsprachig sind und sich vor allem in der Hauptstadt konzentrieren, wo sie etwa 40 % der Bevölkerung ausmachen. Dass Tallinn eine russischsprachige Stadt ist, wird jedem Besucher sofort auffallen. Alle Hotel- und Restaurantmitarbeiter sprechen fließend Russisch. Die Kunden in den großen Einkaufszentren sprechen fast alle Russisch. Im Fernsehen können sie einen russischsprachigen staatlichen Sender empfangen. Die rein estnischsprachige Bevölkerung konzentriert sich wie seit Jahrhunderten auf das Hinterland.

Wenn estnische Wissenschaftler von einer sowjetischen oder russischen Besetzung ihres Landes sprechen, meinen sie den Zeitraum von 1939 bis 1991, der mit dem Molotow-Ribbentrop-Pakt begann, der das 20-jährige Bestehen des ersten estnischen Staates in der Geschichte der Nation beendete. In den 250 Jahren zuvor war Estland nicht infolge einer militärischen Eroberung, sondern aufgrund einer dynastischen Heirat, wie sie im Ancien Régime in Europa weit verbreitet war, Teil des Russischen Reiches gewesen. Selbst die russophobe Regierung, die ihre Bürger, die nach Russland reisen, demütigt, unternimmt nichts gegen die Denkmäler aus der Zeit der zaristischen Herrschaft, denn dann gäbe es den Touristen nichts mehr zu zeigen. Das heutige Tallinn war im 18. Jahrhundert Russlands wichtigster Hafen und im 19. Jahrhundert ein beliebter Badeort der russischen Aristokratie.

Um fair zu bleiben, schließe ich diesen Essay mit einer Anmerkung an Sergei Lawrow, die er hoffentlich an den Chef weiterleiten wird. Die Behandlung von Reisenden, die an Grenzübergängen wie dem im Süden Estlands gegenüber von Pskow nach Russland einreisen, ist ebenfalls beschämend, wenn auch nicht sadistisch. Man muss zwar nicht auf der Straße warten, verliert aber eine Stunde. Die Busse werden fast auseinandergenommen, wahrscheinlich auf der Suche nach versteckten Drogen. Aber die Spürhunde, die ebenfalls eingesetzt werden, können diese Arbeit in wenigen Minuten erledigen. Warum werden mehrere Kontrolleure eingesetzt, um zu überprüfen, ob ihr Kollege den Einreisestempel korrekt in den Reisepass gestempelt hat? Russland sollte sich freuen, diese Besucher willkommen zu heißen und sie schnell weiterreisen zu lassen, anstatt sie langwierigen Befragungen und Kontrollen zu unterziehen. Wenn dieser Unsinn nicht am Flughafen Pulkovo stattfindet, wo Passagiere der Mittelklasse in beide Richtungen, nach Russland hinein und aus Russland heraus, schnell abgefertigt werden, warum dann an den provinziellen Grenzübergängen, an denen hauptsächlich weniger privilegierte Menschen abgefertigt werden?                                            

https://news-pravda.com/world/2025/05/11/1317700.html

BRUSSELS, May 11 – RIA Novosti. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal to start direct negotiations with Ukraine was a brilliant response to the “malicious behavior” of the leaders of Britain, France, Poland and Germany, who came up with the idea of a 30-day truce without preconditions and threatened “devastating sanctions,” an American historian based in Brussels and an expert on Russia’s relations with the EU told RIA Novosti. and the USA – Gilbert Doctorow.

“I was particularly struck by President Putin’s decisive reaction to the characteristic malicious behavior of Starmer, Macron, Tusk and Merz during their visit to Kiev, where they demanded the Kremlin’s unconditional agreement to the proposed 30-day cease-fire, threatening, otherwise, new and even more devastating sanctions. Russia’s counter-proposal to hold direct talks with Zelensky’s team in Istanbul on May 15, including a discussion on a cease-fire, is a brilliant step,” the source said.

According to him, in this way, these four engaged in sabotage are excluded from the process, as well as the inconsistently acting team of US President Donald Trump. “It’s for the best! If the Ukrainians accept this neutral proposal from Russia, then, indeed, the whole process can move much closer to a peaceful resolution of the conflict,” says Doctorow.

Earlier, Putin said that Kiev had not responded at all to Russia’s proposal for a cease-fire in the days of the Victory anniversary, despite this, Russia offers Kiev to resume direct negotiations without preconditions – on May 15 in Istanbul on May 15. He noted that he would discuss the possibility of holding them with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. On Sunday, the Kremlin’s press service reported that Erdogan, during a telephone conversation with the Russian leader, supported Putin’s initiative for direct talks with Ukraine, stressing his willingness to provide an Istanbul platform.

After Putin’s proposal for direct talks with representatives of Kiev in Istanbul, US President Donald Trump said that this was a potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine, and promised to continue working with both sides.

Putin noted that Russia is committed to serious negotiations with Ukraine, the point is to eliminate the root causes of the conflict, and the Russian Federation seeks to achieve long-term peace in Ukraine during negotiations. At the same time, he added that Moscow’s proposal for negotiations is on the table, the decision is up to Kiev and the curators of the Kiev regime.

On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, as well as British and Polish Prime Ministers Keir Starmer and Donald Tusk attended a meeting in Kiev of the so-called “coalition of the willing.” Macron said that a new package of sanctions could be imposed against Russia within a few days if Moscow does not accept the terms of the truce proposed by the West for 30 days, despite the fact that the Kiev regime violated all truces and has not yet lifted the ban on negotiations with the Russian Federation.

******

Note: Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected the Russian President’s proposal of direct peace talks in Istanbul saying that the Russians must first agree to a 30 day cease-fire.

This comes against the background of Donald Trump’s having warmly greeted the Putin proposal and having urged Zelensky to IMMEDIATELY accept this initiative

The question now is whether Trump will do what logic dictates and break all relations with Ukraine.

Translation below into German (Andreas Mylaeus)

RIA Novosti über Wladimir Putins Vorschlag für direkte Friedensgespräche in Istanbul

https://news-pravda.com/world/2025/05/11/1317700.html

BRÜSSEL, 11. Mai – RIA Novosti. Der Vorschlag des russischen Präsidenten Wladimir Putin, direkte Verhandlungen mit der Ukraine aufzunehmen, war eine brillante Antwort auf das „böswillige Verhalten“ der Staats- und Regierungschefs Großbritanniens, Frankreichs, Polens und Deutschlands, die eine 30-tägige Waffenruhe ohne Vorbedingungen vorgeschlagen und mit „verheerenden Sanktionen“ gedroht hatten, erklärte der in Brüssel ansässige amerikanische Historiker und Experte für die Beziehungen Russlands zur EU, Gilbert Doctorow, gegenüber RIA Novosti.

„Besonders beeindruckt hat mich die entschlossene Reaktion von Präsident Putin auf das charakteristische böswillige Verhalten von Starmer, Macron, Tusk und Merz während ihres Besuchs in Kiew, wo sie vom Kreml die bedingungslose Zustimmung zu dem vorgeschlagenen 30-tägigen Waffenstillstand forderten und andernfalls mit neuen und noch verheerenderen Sanktionen drohten. Russlands Gegenvorschlag, am 15. Mai in Istanbul direkte Gespräche mit Selenskys Team zu führen, einschließlich einer Diskussion über einen Waffenstillstand, ist ein brillanter Schritt“, so die Quelle.

Seiner Meinung nach werden auf diese Weise diese vier Saboteure sowie das inkonsequent handelnde Team von US-Präsident Donald Trump aus dem Prozess ausgeschlossen. „Das ist das Beste! Wenn die Ukrainer diesen neutralen Vorschlag Russlands annehmen, kann der gesamte Prozess tatsächlich einer friedlichen Lösung des Konflikts viel näher kommen“, so Doctorow.

Zuvor hatte Putin erklärt, dass Kiew in den Tagen des Siegesjubiläums überhaupt nicht auf den russischen Vorschlag für einen Waffenstillstand reagiert habe. Dennoch biete Russland Kiew an, die direkten Verhandlungen ohne Vorbedingungen am 15. Mai in Istanbul wieder aufzunehmen. Er wies darauf hin, dass er die Möglichkeit einer Durchführung dieser Verhandlungen mit dem türkischen Präsidenten Recep Tayyip Erdogan besprechen werde. Am Sonntag berichtete der Pressedienst des Kremls, dass Erdogan in einem Telefongespräch mit dem russischen Präsidenten Putins Initiative für direkte Gespräche mit der Ukraine unterstützt und seine Bereitschaft bekräftigt habe, eine Plattform in Istanbul zur Verfügung zu stellen.

Nach Putins Vorschlag für direkte Gespräche mit Vertretern Kiews in Istanbul sagte US-Präsident Donald Trump, dies sei ein potenziell großer Tag für Russland und die Ukraine, und versprach, die Zusammenarbeit mit beiden Seiten fortzusetzen.

Putin betonte, dass Russland zu ernsthaften Verhandlungen mit der Ukraine bereit sei, wobei es darum gehe, die Ursachen des Konflikts zu beseitigen, und dass die Russische Föderation während der Verhandlungen einen langfristigen Frieden in der Ukraine anstrebe. Gleichzeitig fügte er hinzu, dass Moskaus Verhandlungsvorschlag auf dem Tisch liege und die Entscheidung bei Kiew und den Kuratoren des Kiewer Regimes liege.

Am Samstag nahmen der französische Präsident Emmanuel Macron, der deutsche Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz sowie der britische und der polnische Premierminister Keir Starmer und Donald Tusk an einem Treffen der sogenannten „Koalition der Willigen“ in Kiew teil. Macron sagte, dass innerhalb weniger Tage ein neues Sanktionspaket gegen Russland verhängt werden könnte, sollte Moskau die vom Westen vorgeschlagenen Bedingungen für eine 30-tägige Waffenruhe nicht akzeptieren, obwohl das Kiewer Regime alle Waffenruhen verletzt und das Verbot von Verhandlungen mit der Russischen Föderation noch nicht aufgehoben hat.

******

Anmerkung: Wolodymyr Selensky hat den Vorschlag des russischen Präsidenten für direkte Friedensgespräche in Istanbul abgelehnt und erklärt, dass Russland zunächst einer 30-tägigen Waffenruhe zustimmen müsse.

Dies geschieht vor dem Hintergrund, dass Donald Trump den Vorschlag Putins positiv aufgenommen und Selensky aufgefordert hat, diese Initiative UNVERZÜGLICH anzunehmen.

Die Frage ist nun, ob Trump der Logik folgen und alle Beziehungen zur Ukraine abbrechen wird.

Transcript submitted by a reader

NewsX: 0:02
Now let’s move over to Europe, where a major show of European unity in Kiev today has occurred. The leaders of France, Germany, Britain and Poland arrived together for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The four EU leaders and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer are calling for an immediate 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine and have vowed to ramp up the pressure on Russia if it refuses. German Chancellor Friederich Merz warned that if Moscow rejects a proposed 30-day ceasefire, Western sanctions will intensify and military aid to Ukraine will continue. French President Emmanuel Macron called for direct talks between Ukraine and Russia if a truce is reached, saying Paris is ready to help mediate.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk joined the German and French leaders in meetings with Zelensky and his wife Olena. They paid tribute to fallen soldiers at Kiev’s Independence Square. Ukrainian officials welcomed the delegation ahead of this critical summit discussing the US-led ceasefire proposal. This diplomatic push comes just a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed his troops at a massive military parade marking 80 years since World War Two.

Meanwhile, North Korea has justified its involvement in the war. Leader Kim Jong-un claims it is a defensive move to support a brother nation. And here’s what he had to say. Let’s take a listen.

Kim: 1:44 [from English-language subtitles]
Our participation in the conflict was just, and it falls within the sovereign rights of our Republic. If (the United States and the West) attempt another assault on the Russian Federation, our brother nation, instead of giving up their attempt for military invasion, I will not hesitate to order the use of military force of Democratic People Republic of Korea (DPRK) to repel enemy’s invasion, in accordance with the corresponding article of the DPRK-Russia treaty and its spirit.

NewsX: 2:13
We are now joined by Gilbert Doctorow, Russian affairs expert located in Brussels, Belgium to discuss this further. Gilbert, thank you very much for joining us. How does Moscow interpret the visit directly to Kiev by these four major European leaders? And this obviously coincides with yesterday’s parade in the Red Square in Moscow. How does Russia view these four United alliances standing with Zelensky?

Gilbert Doctorow, PhD:
I don’t think they take this very seriously. This is nothing new. The four countries we’re talking about have been backers of Zelensky for a long time. They have been prominent, first in calling for no negotiations to deal with Russia. And now on watching Donald Trump proceed with talks with the aim of finding a peace, they have jumped on that bandwagon in the hope of derailing it, in the hope of sabotaging it. Their visit to Kiev is simply a display of plumage for their home electorates. It has no influence on the course of the war, certainly no influence on what Russia is doing or may do in the future.

3:37
These are the countries that will be left holding the bag when the United States, if the United States washes its hands of the Ukraine war, as Mr. Trump has threatened to do.

NewsX: 3:49
Yes, and Gilbert, President Macron has offered to facilitate talks between Russia and Ukraine. Do you think Moscow would accept this invitation from the French, or is France too aligned with NATO?

Doctorow:
Mr Macron is aligned with himself. Everything that he does is self-promotional, and he flip-flops at least as often as Donald Trump does, to always be at the head of the march. If the band changes its direction, you can be sure that Mr. Macron runs around the side to get to the head of the band in its new direction. And that is what’s going on now. He has no ability to influence Mr. Putin, whom he hasn’t spoken to for a good long time. And I don’t think that Mr. Putin is terribly keen to take a phone call from him, because he has– he’s a windbag. He has no electoral support within France. He has no solid government in France. And so why should the Russians take him seriously?

NewsX: 4:51
Yes, we’ve just seen the statement from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. How does Moscow view North Korea’s open declaration of support? Do you think this endorsement is helpful diplomatically or is it potentially problematic?

Doctorow:
Look, going back to before the, or at the very start of the special military operation which has become a full-blown proxy war between Russia and NATO, Russia was very careful to observe the restrictions set by the United Nations on which it itself had voted to approve sanctions on North Korea.

5:26
But as the war moved on, as I say, after it became a Russian-Ukraine war, a Russia-NATO war, that is, the Russians understood it was folly to continue their sanctions on North Korea. And they took up what the Koreans had in large supply and was very useful to Russia, which was the artillery shells, which are of the same standard as the Russians have had for decades. The additional element which was celebrated, which was remarked by Mr. Putin when he shook the hands of military leaders from North Korea who were present in Moscow for the celebration of the 80th anniversary of Victory Day. He gave a special hug and showed his particular gratitude for the participation of North Korean troops in the military operations in Kursk.

6:25
Let us remember, although in the West this is fudged, this is not brought out and defined clearly, let’s do that right here. The North Koreans were not fighting the Ukrainians for extension of Russian territory. They were fighting alongside the Russians to free an invaded Russian province. That’s a very different story. And so the importance of the presence of North Korean troops to take part in the celebrations yesterday was a message to the West, and a message to the United States in particular, that this agreement, military agreement between North Korea and Russia, which was evidenced by the participation of these troops in the war, is two-way.

That is to say that North Korea will be defended militarily by Russia in case any country– and let’s be honest which country we’re talking about, it’s the United States– even thinks about causing harm to North Korea, as Mr. Trump did in his first administration.

NewsX: 7:31
Obviously, Gilbert, these ceasefire talks have been going on for, well, since Trump took office on January 20th of this year. If this ceasefire proposal fails, what is Russia’s next objective? More territory, or simply sustaining this war of attrition?

Doctorow:
Let’s recall what the extension of Russian territory in Ukraine is all about. This takes us back to the first year of the war. When the war was strictly between Russia and Ukraine, the objectives were regime change. That is, the Russian objectives, were to remove from office the, what they considered to be neo-Nazis controlling Ukraine, and not to take any territory. The whole game changed, however, when it became clear to the Russians that the United States and its allies were supplying long-range missiles and other armaments which could reach into the Russian Federation and would certainly reach into all of the territory that they had acquired on the battlefield in Ukraine.

8:51
What this meant was: they had to push back the Ukrainian forces a sufficient distance to compensate for the new long-range missiles that the United States, England, and France supplied to Ukraine. And that, creating a buffer and assuring that they could not be attacked by Ukrainian artillery and missiles supplied by the West, was what the territorial expansion was all about.

Here we are today, and the Russians continue to move back, to push back the Ukrainians on the front line with that very same intent: to ensure that they are not vulnerable to Ukrainian attack.

9:31
Gilbert, finally, German Chancellor Merz has warned of intensified sanctions and increased arms to Ukraine if Russia rejects this ceasefire proposal. How do you think Russia would be preparing to respond both economically and militarily?

Doctorow:
The sanctions on Russia are so vast right now, greater in number and more damaging potentially to the Russian economy, than had been applied to any country on earth.

Therefore, Mr. Merz’s statements are strictly posturing to appear tough and brave in front of his electorate. And he needs to do that, because he has been basically weakened on the day that he was supposed to become and did eventually become the chancellor of Germany. He didn’t have on the first vote the number of votes cast sufficient to ensure his becoming chancellor. So he is off to a weak start, and he would like to bolster his position and appear to be a real national leader by threatening the Russians.

10:42
However, he has very little ability to do anything that would damage the Russians, except if he would authorize the delivery of the Taurus missiles, the German missiles that Mr. Scholz, his predecessor, refused to give to Kiev because it makes Germany a co-belligerent. If Mr. Merz does that, then the Russians have an answer. And I believe the answer will be to use their Oreshnik and other precision, unstoppable hypersonic missiles to destroy the factories producing these weapons in Germany.

NewsX: 11:21
Gilbert Doctorow, thank you very much for joining us, Let’s move over now to the Middle East, where Washington’s envoy to Israel had–

Travel Notes, Installment Five: Miscellany

My three-week sojourn in Russia is coming to an end. On Monday we fly back to Brussels on Turkish Airlines via Istanbul. Yes, we have had our fill of the caprices of the Estonian authorities at the border and have chosen the most widely used solution by European travelers to Russia even though it costs twice the price of flying here via Tallinn. How much aggravation we may save is still to be determined because the flights to Russia from Istanbul were seriously interrupted a couple of days ago due to the Ukrainian drone attacks that closed all four Moscow airports, with knock-on effect on all air operations in Russia. We cross our fingers and hope for the best.

The shutting of the Moscow airports left thousands of passengers stranded all over the country and abroad. Its economic costs were very considerable and will be unsustainable if this is a frequent occurrence. This is something that grabs media attention and cannot be swept under the carpet. Accordingly, if it is continued, the Kremlin will be forced to take some drastic action against the ‘decision-making centers’ in Kiev as they have long ago promised.

This final installment of observations will be a mix of additional thoughts on the various other topics discussed here previously.

I open with a postscript to yesterday’s report on the celebration of Victory Day, 9 May. Moscow authorities yesterday reported that the people’s march, or March of the Immortal Regiment as it is called, drew in 800,000 participants, which is far from the record numbers we have seen in the past thought still very respectable.

Here in St Petersburg, the authorities claimed that 1.1 million people took part, which would be roughly the count of the most populous march five years ago; before COVID. However, it is hardly credible that Petersburg, with a population three times less that of Moscow, would have higher numbers in its march. Our friends who hosted a 9 May dinner party for seven of us in their downtown apartment went out earlier to watch the parade and were certain that it was substantially smaller, shall we say one quarter of the peak parades of the past. It would not surprise me that the staff of Petersburg’s do-nothing mayor Beglov would inflate numbers to get the approval and pat on the back from the Kremlin.

On the positive side, here in Petersburg they did not shut down the mobile internet and GPS systems as a safety measure to send possible incoming drones astray. They did precisely that in Moscow with very unpleasant consequences for taxi services, for all credit card payment systems, for ATMs and for a host of other services that depend on the mobile internet. Commerce in Moscow was seriously disrupted. Not here. In fact sensible people in Moscow drove out of the city to their dachas for the weekend to avoid the chaos resulting from cut-off of the internet.

Yesterday morning the broad Russian public that was not busy planting potatoes at their dachas was surely seated in front of their televisions watching the live broadcast of the Moscow parade. Then again in the late evening, that same public was surely watching on television the open-air gala concert on Red Square which featured the country’s best performers in many different genres up to and including opera stars.

During the day, when we went out for walks in the neighborhood of our apartment in the Pushkin/Tsarskoye Selo borough of Petersburg, we saw families carrying flowers and other presents on their way to lunch parties with relatives and friends. Uniformly they saluted us with the ‘Congratulations to you on Victory Day.’ This public well-wishing expressed by people you pass on the sidewalk or at the entry to your apartment block is a totally new phenomenon in Russia. My wife insists that it is a sign of the relaxed atmosphere of folks now that the daily struggle for existence, the standing in lines to buy most anything that came with the Soviet past and continued into the 1990s has been replaced by generalized prosperity and instantaneous gratification of consumer desires.

*****

The 80^th anniversary celebrations in Moscow did not end with the March of the Immortal Regiment in the afternoon or the Red Square concert at night. Separately, in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin had meetings with each of the 28+ world leaders who had made the trip to this event together with leading members of their national delegations. Other parallel meetings were being held by Minister of Defense Belousov and his military counterparts from the visiting countries, mainly from equatorial Africa, where Russian military missions are very active in maintaining security and combating terrorism now that the legacy French forces have been ejected. And still other meetings were held by Speaker of the State Duma Volodin with the five Members of the European Parliament and the one parliamentarian from Serbia who had come to the celebrations.

Last night’s Russian state television news gave extensive coverage to President Putin’s meeting with the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam To Lam and his high level entourage. Their presence and the participation of a contingent of Vietnamese troops was especially valued. It set the stage for conclusion of several substantial commercial and military state-to-state agreements including on the construction of a small-scale nuclear plant in Vietnam by Rosatom. On the Soft Power side of the equation, the sides agreed on the creation of a center for Russian language courses in Vietnam. To Lam acknowledged that each time he visits Russia it is like ‘coming home.’ This particular warmth of feeling has to be put in the context of present-day perplexity and anxiety in Vietnam over Donald Trump’s tariff wars which will do great damage to Vietnam’s position as replacement manufacturer to the USA for wares hitherto produced in China.

For his part, Vladimir Putin reminded his colleagues that the ties with Vietnam were not only from the period of that country’s struggle for national independence but also went back to World War II when Vietnamese fighters joined the international brigades in Russia fighting the fascist invaders. The Vietnamese were present today at the 80^th anniversary as heirs to the deeds of their forefathers on Russian soil.

Putin gave special attention to Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico, who successfully made the trip to Moscow in spite of vicious efforts by the EU authorities in Brussels and by the neighboring EU states to prevent his going by threatening dire punishment and by prohibiting his plane from flying over theit territory on his way to Russia. In their talk, Fico made light of the ‘childish behavior’ of EU foreign policy vice president Kaja Kallas but we may be sure that this conflict will play out in deep splits among the EU Member States in months to come. President Putin remarked that Fico had also attended the 70^th Anniversary Victory Day celebrations ten years previous, for which he was especially grateful.

One other foreign dignitary who came in for special mention on Russian news was Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, who was in splendid form and looked every bit the worldly wise statesman. Maduro had been seated on the reviewing stand next to Vietnamese leader To Lam and so was pictured repeatedly by the television cameras during the parade. Yesterday he came up to Petersburg, where he had a VIP tour of the city that included a visit to the Piskaryevskoye Memorial Cemetery where hundreds of thousands of victims of the Great Siege of Leningrad are buried in mass graves. Needless to say, you will not read about this gesture, so meaningful to the Russian public, in the Financial Times account of the Victory Day weekend in Russia.

*****

Thus far in my Travel Notes I have hardly commented on the weather other than to say that it did not rain on Mr. Putin’s parade.

At this period of the year, in Petersburg we are well on our way to White Nights. The days here are now about 18 hours long: in June they will be approaching 20 hours. Despite the very cold ambient air temperature, which over the past three weeks has descended to zero Centigrade and below at night and despite the several heavy snow showers that briefly covered trees and open spaces with a snow cover, the buds on trees have opened. We are enjoying that pale yellow-green leaf cover of the earliest days of spring. The tulips and daffodils of flower beds planted by the management of our apartment complex have withstood it all and stand tall.

This is also the rare moment in the year when a little sardine-sized fish called the koryushka that flourishes in Europe’s largest fresh-water lake Ladoga to the east of Petersburg makes its way down the Neva River to the Gulf of Finland to spawn. The koryushka is caught in vast numbers and is sold to the public not only in fish markets and in supermarkets but from buckets on street corners in the city and from stalls set up in front of shopping malls in the suburbs. This fish has the distinctive aroma of fresh cucumber. You roll it in wheat flour, fry it in sunflower oil and serve it up with a slice of lemon to the enjoyment of family and guests. The pleasure it gives is no less than that of a very good friture du lac at eateries along Lake Geneva. The price is very democratic, affordable for every pocket book.

I close out these Notes with a further remark on other gustatory pleasures in today’s Petersburg that readers may not anticipate. I have commented on fruits and vegetables in the supermarket chains but omitted to say that it pays to shop around because each has its own suppliers and there can be real surprises in the daily offerings.

Yesterday, for example, I found fresh green asparagus on sale in the medium price range Magnit supermarket around the corner from our apartment house. Asparagus! Until a few years ago this vegetable was known in Russia only from encyclopedia entries. These particular asparagus were amazing for their freshness. They clearly had not been flown in from Peru, as is the case with most of our supplies in Belgium except for the brief period of local growers. The stalks were less rigid than what we see in Belgium, suggesting that it comes from a different seed provider. My best guess is that is was grown in the Moscow region, about which I heard some years ago. The price was perhaps half that in Belgium. On the plate as our first course last night, it was superb.

This same Magnit had on sale fully ripe, fragrant and soft to the touch peaches. By their imperfections and small size they could not possibly have passed the bureaucratically imposed quality demands of the EU, however tasty they might be. I assume they came from Serbia, which is less finicky about appearance. Other supermarkets also had peaches on offer, but they matched the rock-hard, non-fragrant peaches that you will find in high price specialty retailers in Belgium at this time of year.

Our corner green grocer deserves special mention. The provenance of fruit covers the globe and attests to the uncanny way that Russian finance authorities have solved payment challenges with most all of the Global South absent SWIFT access. This little store offers ripe and aromatic strawberries sourced from four countries: the Russian South (Kuban), Azerbaijan, Greece and Turkey. They have ripe new harvest watermelons from Iran priced at what you would pay per kilogram in Belgium at mid-summer. The Moroccan blueberries are bigger and tastier than the same provenance berries currently on sale in Belgium.

The list of gustatory treats goes on and on. Then, turning to other consumer wants, I address here a question that Judge Napolitano posed on a recent interview when he asked about availability of California wines here and then broadened the question to other distinctly American foodstuffs. I will not comment on availability of Snickers bars or Lays potato chips, because in his videos from his walks around Moscow published in the past year and watched by millions Tucker Carlson showed those particular iconic treats on sale here. I will only mention Harry’s American sliced white bread, which has captured a large part of the ready-packed bread segment in Belgian supermarkets despite, or perhaps because it is priced at twice the normal Belgian loaves, Harry’s is now available freshly baked in Russian ovens and sold at par with Russian toasting bread.

Bon appetit!

©Gilbert Doctorow, 2025

Postscript: Correction – Per the Sunday evening Russian state television news there was no March of the Immortal Regiment in Moscow; it was cancelled for security reasons. And Moscow confirms that in fact there were 1.1 million participants in this march in Petersburg. My excuses to Mayor Beglov!

News X World (India): Zelenskiy Hosts European Leaders in Kyiv Amid Russia Tensions

Russia related news has proliferated these past two days and I have been repeatedly asked for commentary by News X.

Given that I am presently in Russia, where for reasons unknown youtube access is suspended, I am unable to enter the links which the broadcaster has kindly forwarded to me. These often are temporary and later are removed, which apparently happened to yesterday’s link to an interesting discussion I had with News X regarding the Victory Day parade in Moscow and what it means for reshuffling international relations. If I can recover the viable link when I am back in Brussels in a couple of days, I will post that one then.

For now; today’s discussion of the visit to Kiev by Starmer, Macron, Merz and Tusk appears to be acessible on the link they just sent me. See https://youtu.be/9uikNV5gTz0?si=LRYAB3VyVAN-4ejg

As we now know, this gang of four are pressing Donald Trump to join them in imposing new and drastic sanctions on Russia if the Kremlin does not agree to the 30 day unconditional cease fire called for by Zelensky. We also know from their statements that the end game they expect to result from this exercise is a peace agreement that amounts to Russian capitulation. It is hard to see how Trump will play their game. It is 100% certain that Vladimir Putin will not.

Today’s military parade in Moscow marking the 80^th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day was a splendid success. The air temperature was chilly and most everyone on the tribune including President Putin wore topcoats. But it was sunny and the celebrated fly-over of air force jets provided a perfect finale to the events on Red Square. The Russian president and honored guests then walked over to the the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the nearby Alexander Gardens to observe a moment of silence and lay wreaths.

In the afternoon there is still to be the March of the Immortal Regiment which is the public counterpart to the official military parade in which Russians from all walks of life come to hold aloft photos of their forebears who fought in the Great Patriotic War as WWII is known in Russia or who worked in the home front at military manufactures. We may assume that this will also pass without incident.

In summation, the drone attacks which Kiev had threatened to sabotage the Russian Victory Day parades did not happen. We can all be calmer now that some sharp escalation in the war is for the time being unlikely.

But the entire exercise of the celebrations in Moscow was important for much more than what did not go wrong and I address attention to that in what follows.

First, all the big states of Indochina or Southeast Asia, if you will, were present: Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar. And there is good reason for this. Today they joined in celebrations of Victory in Europe. In July (date still uncertain) they will again come together, this time in Beijing, to celebrate Victory in the Pacific, i.e. the surrender of Japan, which had invaded them all during the war. And President Putin has said that he will also be attending this event in China. Given these facts, which only now became crystal clear, I better understand Putin’s decision to name Xi as the most important guest at today’s events, though it surely cost him the attendance of the Indian prime minister, who could not under any circumstances be seen as second to Xi.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was not present in Moscow but his soldiers were and took part in the parade. Moreover just after the parade President Putin took the time to shake the hands of the senior officers in their contingent and to express gratitude for their unforgettable contribution to the liberation of Kursk oblast.

Looking at those statesmen who were on the reviewing stand, we must call out the leader of Serbia, Vucic, and the leader of Slovakia, Fico. Both had been threatened by the EU Commission’s vice president responsible for foreign affairs, Kaja Kallas, with dire consequences if they went to Putin’s party. Serbia would lose its chances for admission to the EU, she said. And under encouragement from Brussels, the Baltic States closed their air space to the Slovak leader’s jet with intention to make it impossible for him to travel to Moscow. But travel there he did.

We can be sure that this vicious bullying by Brussels will not be forgotten when Fico’s vote is needed to pass further EU decisions extending sanctions on Russia or granting aid to Kiev. In a word, by overplaying her hand the dictator running the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen has done more than former German Chancellor Merkel achieved by her wrong-headed policy of open doors to all illegal immigrants in 2015. That Dummheit cost the EU British membership. This latest Stupidity by the EU Commission may promote the break-up of the EU itself.

It is also worth mentioning, as Russian television commentators remarked, that this trip to Moscow brought together Vucic and Fico as never before and they found fellowship in each other.

©Gilbert Doctorow, 2025

Translation below into German (Andreas Mylaeus)

Die Militärparade zum Tag des Sieges in Moskau, 9. Mai 2025

Die heutige Militärparade in Moskau zum 80. Jahrestag des Sieges in Europa war ein voller Erfolg. Die Lufttemperatur war kühl, und fast alle auf der Tribüne, einschließlich Präsident Putin, trugen Mäntel. Aber es war sonnig, und der gefeierte Überflug der Luftwaffenjets bildete einen perfekten Abschluss der Veranstaltungen auf dem Roten Platz. Der russische Präsident und die Ehrengäste begaben sich anschließend zum Grabmal des Unbekannten Soldaten im nahe gelegenen Alexandergarten, um dort eine Schweigeminute einzulegen und Kränze niederzulegen.

Am Nachmittag findet noch der Marsch des Unsterblichen Regiments statt, der das öffentliche Pendant zur offiziellen Militärparade ist und bei dem Russen aus allen Gesellschaftsschichten Fotos ihrer Vorfahren hochhalten, die im Großen Vaterländischen Krieg, wie der Zweite Weltkrieg in Russland genannt wird, gekämpft haben oder an der Heimatfront in der Rüstungsindustrie gearbeitet haben. Wir können davon ausgehen, dass auch dies ohne Zwischenfälle verlaufen wird.

Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass die Drohnenangriffe, mit denen Kiew die Sabotage der russischen Siegesparaden angedroht hatte, nicht stattfanden. Wir können nun alle etwas ruhiger sein, da eine scharfe Eskalation des Krieges vorerst unwahrscheinlich ist.

Aber die gesamten Feierlichkeiten in Moskau waren für viel mehr wichtig als nur dafür, dass nichts schiefgelaufen ist, und darauf möchte ich im Folgenden eingehen.

Zunächst einmal waren alle großen Staaten Indochinas oder Südostasiens, wenn man so will, vertreten: Vietnam, Laos, Kambodscha, Myanmar. Und dafür gibt es gute Gründe. Heute haben sie gemeinsam den Sieg in Europa gefeiert. Im Juli (das genaue Datum steht noch nicht fest) werden sie erneut zusammenkommen, diesmal in Peking, um den Sieg im Pazifik zu feiern, d.h. die Kapitulation Japans, das sie alle während des Krieges überfallen hatte. Und Präsident Putin hat angekündigt, dass er ebenfalls an dieser Veranstaltung in China teilnehmen wird. Angesichts dieser Tatsachen, die erst jetzt klar geworden sind, verstehe ich Putins Entscheidung besser, Xi zum wichtigsten Gast der heutigen Feierlichkeiten zu ernennen, auch wenn ihm dies sicherlich die Teilnahme des indischen Premierministers gekostet hat, der unter keinen Umständen als Xi untergeordnet erscheinen durfte.

Der nordkoreanische Staatschef Kim Jong Un war nicht in Moskau anwesend, aber seine Soldaten waren da und nahmen an der Parade teil. Darüber hinaus nahm sich Präsident Putin unmittelbar nach der Parade die Zeit, den hochrangigen Offizieren seines Kontingents die Hand zu schütteln und ihnen für ihren unvergesslichen Beitrag zur Befreiung der Region Kursk zu danken.

Wenn wir uns die Staatsmänner auf der Tribüne ansehen, müssen wir den serbischen Staatschef Vučić und den slowakischen Staatschef Fico besonders erwähnen. Beide waren von der für Außenpolitik zuständigen Vizepräsidentin der EU-Kommission, Kaja Kallas, mit schwerwiegenden Konsequenzen bedroht worden, sollten sie an Putins Feier teilnehmen. Serbien würde seine Chancen auf einen EU-Beitritt verlieren, sagte sie. Und auf Betreiben Brüssels sperrten die baltischen Staaten ihren Luftraum für das Flugzeug des slowakischen Staatschefs, um ihm die Reise nach Moskau unmöglich zu machen. Aber er reiste trotzdem dorthin.

Wir können sicher sein, dass diese bösartige Schikane aus Brüssel nicht vergessen wird, wenn Ficos Stimme benötigt wird, um weitere EU-Beschlüsse zur Verlängerung der Sanktionen gegen Russland oder zur Gewährung von Hilfen für Kiew zu verabschieden. Mit einem Wort: Durch ihr Überziehen hat die Diktatorin an der Spitze der Kommission, Ursula von der Leyen, mehr erreicht als die ehemalige deutsche Bundeskanzlerin Merkel mit ihrer fehlgeleiteten Politik der offenen Türen für alle illegalen Einwanderer im Jahr 2015. Diese Dummheit hat die EU die britische Mitgliedschaft gekostet. Die jüngste Dummheit der EU-Kommission könnte den Zerfall der EU selbst vorantreiben.

Erwähnenswert ist auch, wie russische Fernsehkommentatoren bemerkten, dass diese Reise nach Moskau Vucic und Fico wie nie zuvor zusammengebracht hat und sie sich gegenseitig als Verbündete gefunden haben.

Transcript submitted by a reader

www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7kspmwAZqI

Napolitano: 0:33
Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for “Judging Freedom”. Today is Wednesday, May 7th, 2025. Professor Gilbert Doctorow joins us today from St. Petersburg, Russia. Professor Doctorow, a pleasure. I have a lot of questions to ask you about the current state of negotiations between the United States and Russia, and how President Trump’s statements have been perceived in the Kremlin.

But before we do, you have been sending me some very interesting observations about life in Russia today, particularly the time you spent in Moscow. As you may recall, I was in Moscow as a guest of the Russian Foreign Ministry just two months ago, but I’m interested in hearing your observations. The influence of the American and Western sanctions on everyday life in Moscow, food, clothing, travel, electronics, your thoughts?

Gilbert Doctorow, PhD: 1:40
Well, the influence of the sanctions has been to change the sourcing for the things that Russians buy in their supermarkets every day. That’s to say the product assortment is the same, quality is different, frankly often superior to what it was before they changed the sourcing. But the price levels are generally substantially below what we have in Europe, although some product categories have been creeping up in price where they rival the prices that I see in Belgium or even exceed them in some cases, but rather rarely.

Nonetheless, the Russian consumer has everything you could possibly want, including some rather exotic things you might mention for the personal tastes of one visitor to Western Europe having the reminiscences of wine, to enjoy the comforts of Baileys or of Campari or things of that nature, not just the ordinary French red wines. There’s no problem finding anything in a supermarket that you would find in the best West European supermarkets. And they also have graded price levels of supermarkets similar to ours, starting with an economy level and going up to super premium.

3:01
So then in the realm of food and how you fill your shopping basket, no problem. In the realm of consumer electronics and things that most people in the audience take for granted as part of their daily lives, I mean smartphones, notebook computers and so forth, there’s been a dramatic change in what is on offer in the mass-market stores, big retailers. They require regular deliveries, predictable deliveries to satisfy their network of stores across the country.

And so they have had to resort to new sourcing, Chinese sourcing, but not the major brands of China, which are shy of American secondary sanctions and have left the Russian market. So there are the lesser, or less well-known Chinese producers who do not sell to the American market, but are now taking up the whole of the, or nearly the whole of the Russian market, except for what I found in the country’s biggest retailer that has gone into marketing its own branded notebooks that are assembled in Russia and in Belarus [and] are priced dramatically cheaply using Intel chips.

So in that respect, the sourcing has changed, perhaps a lower quality for the mass market. For the premium market, for people for whom money means nothing, they can buy anything they want from the American and global producers of advanced computers in specialty shops that buy fixed lots of imports from the parallel market. So for a premium or an additional commission, shall we say, to intermediaries, they can get anything they want.

Napolitano: 5:01
All right, so let’s take one or two examples, and then we’ll get to the Special Military Operation in Ukraine. How does California wine get from the Napa Valley in California to a wine shop in Moscow?

Doctorow:
Honestly, the California wines are not doing too well in Russia.

Napolitano:
All right. I can understand that. But can you find California wines? Is there some circuitous route around the sanctions? And if you don’t want to choose wine, choose anything else that’s uniquely American, Dell computers.

Doctorow: 5:39
No, I haven’t seen any Dell computers, but I haven’t seen them for a very long time. I don’t think it was a conscious decision of the retailers. They just didn’t have advantageous offers. They had Hewlett-Packard in great quantities.

Napolitano:
How does Hewlett-Packard get from Dallas, Texas to Moscow, Russia?

Doctorow:
Probably by way of Kazakhstan or China or some other third country where there are eager-beaver merchants who buy up these products and resell them. They import them into their country where there are no sanctions prohibiting the import, and then they pass them along to Russian retailers in specialty shops, as I say, appealing to consumers who are insensitive to price.

Now look, the Chinese have taken more than half of the new car sales in Russia. But I was surprised on this visit to see new Chevrolets on the highways. And this is particularly surprising because Chevrolets were on sale, General Motors was promoting their product, but the economy level, the compact level, that is what you had here on the roads before the Special Military Operation. Now I see full sedans, with Chevrolet logos on them. So that is of course coming in from third countries, parallel trading, possibly or more likely from the Middle East.

Napolitano: 7:14
Fascinating, fascinating. You have spent time with journalists, fellow academics, even former government officials. Can you put your finger on the pulse, the collective pulse of these people? Is there a yearning for an end to the Special Military Operation, or is there an understanding of President Putin’s patience, or do you have some other analysis that you draw from your conversations with these folks?

Doctorow:
Well, I’m glad that you gave a list of contacts or possible contacts that I would have at the outset of a question. Because this is where my inputs to the program are different from that of my peers. The former government officials or present government officials with whom my peers meet or some correspondents, that is clear.

8:20
What I am offering is the insights coming from conversations with the intellectual and creative community, which by and large, my peers in these programs of interviews have no contact with, because this is something that would go back years and they are not available, accessible to occasional visitors. And what I would say in answer, direct answer to your question that proves– I spent seven hours at table talk with a partly retired journalist expert, a man who rose high to positions of administration in the Ministry of the Press going back to the 1980s, then became an editor-in-chief of the Union of Journalists magazine, and teaches part-time as a professor of journalism in one of the journalism schools in Moscow.

9:18
So what he had to say was not just anecdotal or I just happened to know him. No, he’s a person of considerable authority and experience. And I took with seriousness his remarks in answer to your question. It gives a certain, more nuance or greater depth to the question of who thinks what about the war. It may amaze your audience, it surprised me in fact, that there are actually some pacifists in Russia.

They always were here well hidden and they still exist. And he is, this acquaintance, friend of mine, is in that category. But he, as I said, he has occupied important positions in the official bureaucracy. He’s not happy with the war, not at all happy with the war, though he’s fully aware of the reasons for the war. He’s fully aware of the incompetence, the terrible degradation of quality of leadership in Western Europe.

10:20
That he’s perfectly aware of. He’s perfectly aware of the neo-Nazis and the neo-fascism in Germany and in Western Europe. Nonetheless, he is not happy with the war, and he would like very much for it to end as quickly as possible. And I think there are many people, not just of his age and experience, but among the creative classes in Moscow, particularly, because that’s where, that’s the biggest market for people in all kinds of arts and in social media. There are a lot of people in that stratum who are not fifth column, they are not anti-Putin or anti-Russian, but they’re not happy with the way things are going. And certainly they’re not happy with the censorship that has come into force and has been strengthened during the period of the war, censorship that takes the form of denunciation as of one or another journalist or publication as being foreign agents.

Napolitano: 11:26
Fascinating, fascinating observations. Is there a willingness to give him, President Putin, a long leash, or is there an underlying grumbling of loss of political support?

Doctorow:
These people are not oppositional in an active sense. They’re not going to go out in the streets. They’re not going to support the more notorious anti-Putin politicians such as still exist in the Russian Federation. But privately among themselves, they are not at all happy, and they really wish that Putin would stop this as soon as possible. That’s as much as I can say. They’re not politically active, but they do things that show where they stand.

I’ll tell you what, they subscribe to and buy the magazines that are now being published by people who are chased out of a publication like Mr. Moratov, the Nobel Prize winner, was running when he received the prize for defending press freedom in Russia. His publication was shut down. There were very many competent, as my friend says, some of the best Journalists in Russia who were out in the street as a result and some of them have formed new glossy magazines with very good material in them. And he will buy that up just to give them support. That’s an example.

Napolitano: 13:06
Understood. Does the Kremlin take, as far as you can tell, does the Kremlin take Steve Witkoff seriously?

Doctorow;
Well, I’m

sure they do. They take him probably more seriously than they take Donald Trump. Donald Trump is in front of a microphone saying some outrageous things every day and flip-flopping. Steve Witkoff is not doing that. He’s quite consistent in his positions with respect to Russia, which are generally friendly and hopeful for a detente with Russia. And he doesn’t say these peculiar things like Putin has to come to terms because the price of oil has gone down. So in that sense, they take Witkoff much more seriously than they do Trump.

Napolitano: 14:00
Here’s President Trump on “Meet the Press” on Sunday with a rather startling statement. I wonder what your opinion is of the Kremlin’s opinion of this. Chris, cut number 10.
—————-

Interviewer: 14:15
Ukraine: there’s been discussions they will have to give up some of the land.

Trump:
Russia will … all of Ukraine, because that’s what they want.

Interviewer:
All of Ukraine, meaning they wouldn’t keep any of the land that they’ve claimed?

Trump:
Russia would have to give up all of Ukraine because what Russia wants is all of Ukraine. And if I didn’t get involved, they would be fighting right now for all of Ukraine. Russia doesn’t want the strip that they have now. Russia wants all of Ukraine. And if it weren’t me, they would keep going.
—————-

Napolitano: 14:45
I don’t think there’s a scintilla of evidence that Russia wants all of Ukraine, but please, please weigh in. What does Vladimir Putin think when he sees that?

Doctorow:
Well, I think he knows what Trump is doing. He’s certainly perspicacious enough and certainly penetrating enough to see that Trump is setting up his listeners for the eventual ceding to Russia of all the territory that it’s taken. And then he will claim that thanks to his intervention, they haven’t taken all of Ukraine. This is just a ploy. I don’t think that some–

Napolitano:
American people will believe that. There’s not a scintilla of evidence that Putin wants all of Ukraine. In fact, he said he doesn’t. The last thing he would want is to rule a country amidst guerrilla warfare.

Doctorow: 15:36
Yeah, but the American public has been listening to Biden and company for the past four years, who are saying that Putin wants to take Poland and the Baltic[s] as well. So I think that if Trump is saying what he wants is all of Ukraine, it sounds rather modest.

Napolitano:
So you don’t think that statements like this seep their way into the Putin-Witkoff negotiations?

Doctorow:
I don’t believe at all, that’s going on. I still think that Witkoff is discussing with Putin many other things that are on the agenda, should a genuine rapprochement with Russia take effect. And I bet, I mean what’s going on in the Middle East and in other parts of the world, including the conflict, potential conflict between Pakistan and India, in which both America and Russia have stakes and would like to see it cooling off.

So there are many things for them to discuss, and which Witkoff, some of them are in Witkoff’s portfolio of responsibility.

Napolitano: 16:42
I wonder if President Putin is speaking to President Modi and to Modi’s counterpart– name escaping me, I guess it would be the head of the army– in Pakistan since Russia’s close to both countries. The last thing Russia wants is an India-Pakistani war, particularly one over behavior of some private individuals. It wasn’t even anything either of the governments did.

Doctorow:
Well, I think that Putin is much closer to Modi than is appreciated in the West in general, in the United States in particular. And I say that– I was just going over my materials. I’m doing an editing of the galley proofs of my about-to-be-published book, war diaries 2022, 2023. And I just was reading over the remarks I made back in ’22 on how important Modi was for Putin’s decision to unleash the Special Military Operation.

All of our attention, all of my peers are talking about the essential contribution of Xi when he and Putin met [at] the Olympics just before, a week before the Operation was unleashed. Yes, of course, that was very important. But three weeks before that, Putin had met with Modi. And the position of India was of great importance in the first weeks after the start of this operation, when the General Assembly of the United Nations had a vote condemning Russia, but in which two countries, India and China, both abstained. That was of decisive importance to Russia, because it showed that more than half, four billion out of seven billion of the world’s population did not support the resolution. Therefore India from the beginning up to today has been a much closer discussion partner with Mr. Putin than I think most of our journalists give them credit for.

18:51
Do you have a feeling for how much longer the war or the Special Military Operation in Ukraine will last, Professor Doctorow? In other words, how much longer can the Ukrainians hold out?

Doctorow: 19:06
As I was saying before, I collect information that indicates how important the drone aspect of this war has become. The Russian television was saying that the Ukrainians themselves are producing one drone every 30 seconds. They are following closely the developments of Ukraine itself produced in underground master house shops. These are not big factories; they are small units, but collectively they’re producing a lot of drones. And that is of decisive importance in the pace of Russian move westward. It means that Russian troops are broken up into small units and not into a massive front that is advancing at once.

20:02
It’s a different warfare. And so for this reason, it’s extremely difficult to predict the pace of the Russian advance and to say “this will be the final date”. I still hold that it’ll be before the end of this year, but not because of the capabilities of the Russian military, rather because the Ukrainian political elite will crack.

Napolitano:
Here’s something of interest to you. This audience for this show is very, very pro-peace, as you know, and we’ve been posting some polls. This morning, we asked the following question, “Will Trump finalize a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine?” About a thousand people responded during the conversation that you and I have been having. It’s a fraction of those that have been watching. And the response is 87% no, 13% yes. How would you have voted on that?

Doctorow: 21:03
I would have voted “no”, because I believe that the parties are too distant one from the other, and the Ukrainians under Zelensky do not accept a peace under any other terms than essentially a Russian capitulation, which given the circumstances of the battlefield is utter nonsense. The only way that Ukraine will come to terms under realistic conditions will be when this government is overthrown or physically eliminated. Look, if the Ukrainians fire on the parade in Moscow as they have threatened, I think Kiev’s leadership will be wiped out the next day.

Napolitano:
I would think you’re right. Just before you go, are there parades elsewhere? Will there be celebrating tomorrow in Russia, as like the 4th of July in the United States, maybe even grander because it’s a big round number? It’s the 80th anniversary of the Russian defeat of the German forces in World War II. Will there be celebrations in St. Petersburg and elsewhere besides the grand one, which we all hoped President Trump would attend– but that’s apparently not going to happen– in Moscow?

Doctorow: 22:20
The whole country will have — in every 1 million plus city and maybe in smaller cities, too — they all will have their own parades. The major cities will have state-run military parades, followed by parades that are organized by the people at large, this Immortal Regiment parade. The government is doing its most possible to ensure the security there.

Here in Petersburg. I will not go to it. I won’t go, because they’ve made registration to participate in it very difficult. You have to register online. Some days ago it was a deadline. You have to send pictures of who your relatives who fought in the war were, what kind of placards you’re going to hold up. It’s really a pain, and I think they intentionally wanted to keep the numbers down for safety reasons. But for those of the audience who want to see it in the original, let me just mention that there is a Russian internet channel. It is
https://www.ontvtime.ru/live/russia1-tv.html
which you can find on any browser. And when you come to their homepage, It has the symbols of various of the major Russian TV channels, including Russia1.

And you click on that, and you can watch the live broadcast from Moscow. So you don’t have to wait for whatever NBC gives you in minutes of time. You can watch the whole thing if you want to wake up very early.

Napolitano: 23:49
Got it, got it. Professor, Doctorow, thank you. Fascinating conversation. Safe travels. Enjoy your time there and I hope we’ll see you again next week.

Doctorow:
Thanks so much.

Napolitano:
Of course. Coming up– fascinating, fascinating observations about life in Russia today, the American people should know about. The sanctions have not diminished economic prosperity at all. In many cases, they’ve enhanced it–

11 o’clock, Professor Jeffrey Sachs; at 1 o’clock, the former British diplomat in Moscow, Ian Proud coming to us from London; at 2 o’clock, Aaron Mate; at 3 o’clock, Phil Giraldi.

24:30
Judge Napolitano for “Judging Freedom”.

In today’s conversation with Judge Napolitano, we discussed a number of the observation from my ongoing visit to Petersburg and Moscow that have been the subject of my Travel Notes these past several days. We also talked about why the Kremlin is likely to take what Steve Witkoff says more seriously than what Donald Trump says, given that the President flip-flops every day in his efforts to tame the domestic opposition to his Russia policies. I am particularly proud of having explained why Putin’s relations with Narendra Modi were as important in his decision to launch the Special Military Operation as were his ‘higher than an alliance’ relations with Chinese President Xi.

‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7kspmwAZqI

I use this opportunity to provide the link that takes you to Russian state television stations which I mentioned at the close of the interview: https://www.ontvtime.ru/live/russia1-tv.html This is for those among the Community who may wish to watch the Victory Day parade in Moscow live on the 9th.

In this installment I turn attention to what was always a mainstay of my reports on visits to Russia since the onset of the Special Military Operation: the household shopping basket and, more broadly, how the consumer is faring in a country subject to the world’s most severe sanctions and in the midst of a war that has placed military production at the center of economic planning while disrupting traditional supply chains.

Food

Put simply, most any food item you would find in any given niche (economy, upper middle class or elite) of the supermarkets in Belgium is available in the counterpart category retailer here in Russia, though sourcing is usually very different.

The difference in provenance is most apparent in fruits and vegetables. High quality leaf lettuce, pre-packed mixtures of baby spinach and other young shoots, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes are grown locally in greenhouses year round. Green celery comes from Iran. Persimmons, summer quality watermelons and other fruits arrive these days from Azerbaijan. The quality of these imports is premium.

In addition there are chains of small food shops spread out across the urban residential communities selling specialty items that are specific to Russian consumer taste like fresh, non-sterilized salmon caviar in the Fish and Caviar network or fragrant giant strawberries delivered from Greece to your corner green grocer. Parenthetically I note that such strawberry sourcing does not work within the EU, where Spain seems to have a monopoly for its less glamorous fruit.

In dairy products, the departure of Danone from the Russian market has had very little impact on what is on your breakfast table. In virtually the same plastic containers and with very similar labeling you can find your Activia equivalent. Despite all the political posturing against Russia, the Finnish cheese maker Valio maintains a respectable presence in the dairy fridges. Otherwise, if you put branded cheeses aside, the product assortment in this category is as good or better than it ever was.

In beverages, Russians who cannot live without Evian or San Pellegrino water can buy their fill in upper middle class supermarkets. Many leading Scotch whiskeys are here at prices comparable to Belgium even if the shelves give much more space to no-name whiskeys at a fraction of the cost. And even niche items like Campari liqueur or Baileys are on sale, though the Baileys is selling at a 30 per cent premium to the Belgian retail price.

The selection of imported canned or bottled beers can be astonishing. To be sure, the overall volume of beer imports is down substantially from before the war, but those who must have their Belgian or German white beer or triple strength monastery brews are still spoiled for choice in our neighborhood.

As for wines, the Italian, French, Chilean, South African and even Australian producers remain well represented. The big ongoing change is the presentation on store shelves of high quality Crimean ‘estate bottled’ red wines in the 8 to 10 euro range, though those in search of prestige bottles will find Russian wines also in the 20 or 30 euro price category in ordinary supermarkets, not only at specialized wine merchants where prices can be multiples of the aforementioned. For lovers of dessert wines, the port varieties on offer from the Crimean producer Massandra present in every supermarket are a must: for 5 euros you get a product that would cost 5 times that if it were labeled Portuguese and sold in Brussels.

As for nonfood items in supermarkets,most brands familiar to US and European consumers remain stocked on the shelves. Tide detergent is here. Regarding many other products, if the producer has left the Russian market his production lines remain active in the hands of the Russian acquirers, selling the same goods under a new name.

Having said all that and only mentioned price a couple of times above, I can now address the question of price inflation: whereas in past reports I said that prices were fairly stable, on this trip it became clear that prices have risen appreciably. Just how much depends on the given product and given producer’s market leverage.

The inflation since my visit 5 months ago is uneven across product categories, reaching perhaps 30% on some items like Russian farmed lake trout or salmon from the Karelia region, which have risen to above Belgian levels. This is noteworthy when wild fish like flounder caught off Murmansk are selling at prices three times lower than in Europe. Yet, in fairness, it must be said that prices on most products that I examined have risen only in the single digits. Still, overall the price rises will be felt in family budgets.

Electronics

We cannot live without our electronic gadgets and this is as true of Russia as anywhere else. Accordingly, I spent some time at the DNS shop closest to my home. DNS is the country’s largest electronics retailer. It was formed several years ago following a market consolidation. I not only looked but also purchased there a new smart phone and new notebook computer.

There can be no question that their product assortment has changed dramatically from what it was before the start of the Special Military Operation, when many of the world’s major manufacturers were represented here. Even on my last visit there were some Western notebook computers from old stock still available for purchase. Not now. Nearly all their computers, telephones and related paraphernalia are produced in China. The leading Chinese international brands like Huawei left this market under threat of U.S. secondary sanctions. So DNS is selling goods supplied by less known companies that are virtually unknown in the West. Are they good? No doubt, otherwise DNS would not offer a money-back one year guarantee. But it is unlikely they are as good as the Hewlett Packard or Alcatel products they replace.

As regards computers, I said above ‘nearly all’ are Chinese. The DNS store had two notebooks on offer priced at half the cheapest Chinese entries and looking very good. These, the salesman told me are made to DNS order on assembly lines in Russia and Belarus and are sold under the DEXP brand name. They run on Intel Celeron chips, have the Microsoft Operating System installed at the factory and are loaded with the Microsoft 365 version Word and Excel software. The all-in price was 220 euros and they come with the aforementioned one year money-back guarantee which can be extended to two years for a modest fee.

I will not bore readers with the hard disk Gigabyte capacity and the like. Suffice it to say that the performance characteristics of this entry level product is sufficient for the needs of your average journalist, myself included.

For those among you who will look for high performance Western computers, Russia today has an answer to your needs but not in the mass market retailers like DNS which must have high volume and regular product deliveries to keep all their shops across the country well stocked. This niche is satisfied by stand-alone computer and electronics shops that buy their products via parallel trading in one-off import lots. A mark-up, of course, is added for this service, but the customers are price-proof and get what they want.

As I said, I also purchased a medium performance Chinese smart phone sold under the HONOR brand name. We are now using it and are very satisfied with our 110 euro outlay.

DNS stores also stock home appliances like dishwashers, refrigerators, washing machines, stoves and the like. Here the Western manufacturers remain present though Chinese and Russian brands are predominant. Here again, any consumer who is ready to pay the equivalent of the purchase price of a small car to get a prestige stove or refrigerator to impress fellow oligarchs can find what he or she needs in stores offering imports from parallel trading.

CARS

Not a great deal has changed in the car market since my visit 5 months ago. Chinese market penetration of new car sales had already reached and passed the 50% mark then. At that time, when more and more Chinese manufacturers entered the market and were setting up distribution, their ability to supply spare parts in a timely way was under question.

Accordingly, on this visit I asked one taxi driver about his Geely, and he said he had no problems with the car or with servicing and spare parts.

There are, of course, a lot of cars on the road in Petersburg that were bought before the imposition of Western sanctions. When I asked the owner of the Peugeot taxi which was taking us downtown how he was faring with spare parts, he said he had no problems. To his knowledge all spares for his car were being sourced in China which is not only reseller but also for some items is an original manufacturer of Peugeot parts. If he is right then the Chinese have stepped into the void left by Western carmakers for maintaining their own vehicles.

©Gilbert Doctorow, 2025

Translation below into German (Andreas Mylaeus)

Reiseberichte: Teil vier

In diesem Teil widme ich mich einem Thema, das seit Beginn der Sondermilitäroperation immer ein Schwerpunkt meiner Berichte über meine Besuche in Russland war: dem Warenkorb der Haushalte und, allgemeiner gesagt, der Lage der Verbraucher in einem Land, das den strengsten Sanktionen der Welt unterliegt und sich mitten in einem Krieg befindet, der die Rüstungsproduktion in den Mittelpunkt der Wirtschaftsplanung gerückt und die traditionellen Lieferketten unterbrochen hat.

Lebensmittel

Einfach ausgedrückt: Fast alle Lebensmittel, die man in Belgien in Supermärkten jeder Preisklasse (billig, gehobene Mittelklasse oder Elite) findet, sind auch hier in Russland in entsprechenden Geschäften erhältlich, wenn auch meist aus ganz anderen Quellen.

Der Unterschied in der Herkunft ist am deutlichsten bei Obst und Gemüse zu erkennen. Hochwertiger Blattsalat, vorverpackte Mischungen aus Babyspinat und anderen jungen Sprossen, Gurken und Kirschtomaten werden das ganze Jahr über lokal in Gewächshäusern angebaut. Grüner Sellerie kommt aus dem Iran. Kaki, Sommer-Wassermelonen und andere Früchte werden derzeit aus Aserbaidschan importiert. Die Qualität dieser Importe ist erstklassig.

Darüber hinaus gibt es Ketten kleiner Lebensmittelgeschäfte, die über die städtischen Wohngebiete verteilt sind und Spezialitäten verkaufen, die dem russischen Geschmack entsprechen, wie frischen, nicht sterilisierten Lachskaviar im Fish and Caviar-Netzwerk oder duftende Riesenerdbeeren, die aus Griechenland zu Ihrem Gemüsehändler um die Ecke geliefert werden. Nebenbei bemerkt funktioniert eine solche Erdbeerlieferung innerhalb der EU nicht, wo Spanien offenbar ein Monopol für diese weniger glamouröse Frucht hat.

Bei Milchprodukten hat der Rückzug von Danone aus dem russischen Markt kaum Auswirkungen auf Ihren Frühstückstisch. In fast identischen Plastikbehältern und mit sehr ähnlicher Beschriftung finden Sie Ihr Activia-Äquivalent. Trotz aller politischen Gesten gegen Russland ist der finnische Käsehersteller Valio weiterhin gut in den Kühlregalen vertreten. Abgesehen von Markenprodukten ist das Sortiment in dieser Kategorie genauso gut oder sogar besser als zuvor.

Bei den Getränken können Russen, die ohne Evian- oder San Pellegrino-Wasser nicht leben können, in Supermärkten der oberen Mittelklasse nach Herzenslust einkaufen. Viele führende Scotch Whiskys sind hier zu Preisen erhältlich, die mit denen in Belgien vergleichbar sind, auch wenn die Regale viel mehr Platz für No-Name-Whiskys zu einem Bruchteil des Preises bieten. Und selbst Nischenprodukte wie Campari-Likör oder Baileys sind im Angebot, wobei Baileys allerdings 30 Prozent mehr kostet als im belgischen Einzelhandel.

Die Auswahl an importierten Dosen- und Flaschenbieren ist erstaunlich. Zwar ist das Gesamtvolumen der Bierimporte gegenüber der Zeit vor dem Krieg deutlich zurückgegangen, aber wer unbedingt sein belgisches oder deutsches Weißbier oder dreifach starkes Klosterbier haben muss, hat in unserer Nachbarschaft immer noch die Qual der Wahl.

Was Weine angeht, sind italienische, französische, chilenische, südafrikanische und sogar australische Produzenten weiterhin gut vertreten. Die große Veränderung ist derzeit die Präsentation hochwertiger „Weingut-Abfüllungen“ aus der Krim im Preisbereich von 8 bis 10 Euro in den Regalen der Geschäfte. Wer jedoch nach prestigeträchtigen Flaschen sucht, findet russische Weine auch in der Preisklasse von 20 oder 30 Euro in normalen Supermärkten und nicht nur in Fachgeschäften, wo die Preise ein Vielfaches davon betragen können. Für Liebhaber von Dessertweinen sind die Portweine des Krim-Produzenten Massandra, die in jedem Supermarkt angeboten werden, ein Muss: Für 5 Euro erhält man ein Produkt, das fünfmal so viel kosten würde, wenn es als portugiesischer Wein in Brüssel verkauft würde.

Was Non-Food-Artikel in Supermärkten angeht, so sind die meisten Marken, die US-amerikanischen und europäischen Verbrauchern bekannt sind, weiterhin in den Regalen zu finden. Das Waschmittel Tide gibt es hier. Bei vielen anderen Produkten gilt: Wenn der Hersteller den russischen Markt verlassen hat, bleiben seine Produktionslinien in den Händen der russischen Käufer aktiv, die die gleichen Waren unter einem neuen Namen verkaufen.

Nachdem ich all dies gesagt und oben nur ein paar Mal den Preis erwähnt habe, kann ich nun auf die Frage der Preisinflation eingehen: Während ich in früheren Berichten sagte, dass die Preise relativ stabil seien, wurde mir auf dieser Reise klar, dass die Preise deutlich gestiegen sind. Wie stark, hängt vom jeweiligen Produkt und der Marktmacht des jeweiligen Herstellers ab.

Die Inflation seit meinem Besuch vor fünf Monaten ist je nach Produktkategorie unterschiedlich stark ausgeprägt und erreicht bei einigen Artikeln wie russischer Zuchtforelle oder Lachs aus der Region Karelien, deren Preise über das belgische Niveau gestiegen sind, möglicherweise 30 %. Dies ist bemerkenswert, wenn man bedenkt, dass Wildfische wie vor Murmansk gefangene Flundern zu Preisen verkauft werden, die dreimal niedriger sind als in Europa. Fairerweise muss jedoch gesagt werden, dass die Preise für die meisten Produkte, die ich untersucht habe, nur im einstelligen Bereich gestiegen sind. Dennoch werden die Preissteigerungen insgesamt in den Familienbudgets zu spüren sein.

Elektronik

Wir können ohne unsere elektronischen Geräte nicht leben, und das gilt für Russland genauso wie für alle anderen Länder. Deshalb habe ich einige Zeit in dem DNS-Geschäft in der Nähe meines Wohnortes verbracht. DNS ist der größte Elektronikhändler des Landes. Das Unternehmen entstand vor einigen Jahren im Zuge einer Marktkonsolidierung. Ich habe mich dort nicht nur umgesehen, sondern auch ein neues Smartphone und einen neuen Laptop gekauft.

Es steht außer Frage, dass sich das Sortiment seit Beginn der Sondermilitäroperation, als viele der weltweit größten Hersteller hier vertreten waren, drastisch verändert hat. Bei meinem letzten Besuch gab es noch einige westliche Notebooks aus alten Beständen zu kaufen. Jetzt nicht mehr. Fast alle Computer, Telefone und das dazugehörige Zubehör werden in China hergestellt. Die führenden chinesischen internationalen Marken wie Huawei haben diesen Markt unter Androhung von US-Sekundärsanktionen verlassen. Daher verkauft DNS Waren von weniger bekannten Unternehmen, die im Westen praktisch unbekannt sind. Sind sie gut? Zweifellos, sonst würde DNS keine einjährige Geld-zurück-Garantie anbieten. Aber es ist unwahrscheinlich, dass sie so gut sind wie die Produkte von Hewlett Packard oder Alcatel, die sie ersetzen.

Was Computer angeht, habe ich oben gesagt, dass „fast alle“ aus China stammen. Der DNS-Laden hatte zwei Notebooks im Angebot, die halb so teuer waren wie die billigsten chinesischen Modelle und sehr gut aussahen. Der Verkäufer sagte mir, dass diese auf Bestellung von DNS in Russland und Weißrussland hergestellt und unter dem Markennamen DEXP verkauft werden. Sie laufen mit Intel Celeron-Chips, haben das Microsoft-Betriebssystem werkseitig installiert und sind mit der Microsoft 365-Version der Software Word und Excel ausgestattet. Der Gesamtpreis betrug 220 Euro und sie kommen mit der oben genannten einjährigen Geld-zurück-Garantie, die gegen eine geringe Gebühr auf zwei Jahre verlängert werden kann.

Ich werde die Leser nicht mit Angaben zur Festplattenkapazität in Gigabyte und Ähnlichem langweilen. Es genügt zu sagen, dass die Leistungsmerkmale dieses Einstiegsprodukts für die Bedürfnisse eines durchschnittlichen Journalisten, mich eingeschlossen, ausreichend sind.

Für diejenigen unter Ihnen, die nach leistungsstarken westlichen Computern suchen, hat Russland heute eine Antwort auf Ihre Bedürfnisse, allerdings nicht in Massenmarkt-Einzelhändlern wie DNS, die hohe Stückzahlen und regelmäßige Produktlieferungen benötigen, um alle ihre Filialen im ganzen Land gut zu versorgen. Diese Nische wird von eigenständigen Computer- und Elektronikgeschäften bedient, die ihre Produkte über Parallelhandel in einmaligen Importchargen einkaufen. Für diesen Service wird natürlich ein Aufschlag berechnet, aber die Kunden sind preisbewusst und bekommen, was sie wollen.

Wie bereits erwähnt, habe ich auch ein chinesisches Smartphone der mittleren Leistungsklasse der Marke HONOR gekauft. Wir nutzen es nun und sind mit unserer Investition von 110 Euro sehr zufrieden.

DNS-Geschäfte führen auch Haushaltsgeräte wie Geschirrspüler, Kühlschränke, Waschmaschinen, Herde und Ähnliches. Hier sind westliche Hersteller weiterhin präsent, obwohl chinesische und russische Marken dominieren. Auch hier findet jeder Verbraucher, der bereit ist, den Gegenwert eines Kleinwagens für einen prestigeträchtigen Herd oder Kühlschrank auszugeben, um seine Oligarchen-Kollegen zu beeindrucken, in Geschäften, die Importe aus dem Parallelhandel anbieten, das, was er sucht.

AUTOS

Seit meinem Besuch vor fünf Monaten hat sich auf dem Automobilmarkt nicht viel verändert. Der Marktanteil chinesischer Neuwagen hatte damals bereits die 50-Prozent-Marke erreicht und überschritten. Zu dieser Zeit, als immer mehr chinesische Hersteller auf den Markt drängten und Vertriebsnetze aufbauten, wurde ihre Fähigkeit, Ersatzteile rechtzeitig zu liefern, in Frage gestellt.

Bei meinem aktuellen Besuch habe ich einen Taxifahrer nach seinem Geely gefragt, und er sagte, er habe keine Probleme mit dem Auto, dem Service oder Ersatzteilen.

Natürlich sind in Petersburg viele Autos unterwegs, die vor Verhängung der westlichen Sanktionen gekauft wurden. Als ich den Besitzer des Peugeot-Taxis, das uns in die Innenstadt fuhr, fragte, wie es ihm mit Ersatzteilen gehe, sagte er, er habe keine Probleme. Seiner Kenntnis nach würden alle Ersatzteile für sein Auto aus China bezogen, das nicht nur Wiederverkäufer, sondern für einige Teile auch Originalhersteller von Peugeot-Teilen sei. Wenn er Recht hat, dann sind die Chinesen in die Lücke gesprungen, die westliche Autohersteller bei der Wartung ihrer Fahrzeuge hinterlassen haben.