Five ways we have affected Vladimir Putin’s economy: from actions against banks to a debt ban, how the West has helped cripple Russian business

• Western allies, including the United Kingdom, announce measures aimed at Russia’s economy
• Russia’s central bank aims to halt the sale of its $ 630 billion reserves
• Britain and the United States have banned transactions with the central bank

from Hugo Duncan for the Daily Mail

Posted: 00:58 GMT, March 1, 2022 | Updated: 1:08 AM GMT, March 1, 2022

Britain and its Western allies have announced a series of measures aimed at Russia’s economy.

First, they are aimed at Russia’s central bank.

United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the European Commission said it would stop the bank from selling its $ 630 billion foreign-backed military chest.

Britain and its Western allies have announced a series of measures aimed at Russia’s economy. First, they are aimed at the Central Bank of Russia (pictured)

This left the ruble free to fall, fueling inflation and making Russians poorer.

The central bank raised interest rates from 9.5% to 20%.

Britain and the United States have also banned transactions with the central bank, the Treasury and the Wealth Fund.

Second, Britain, the United States, the EU and Canada have said that “selected” Russian banks will be removed from the Swift payment system.

This is estimated to mean 70 percent of the country’s major banks.

Third, Foreign Minister Liz Trus said yesterday that in a few days there will be a complete freeze on the assets of all Russian banks.

The United Kingdom has stopped some banks from processing payments in London.

Third, Foreign Minister Liz Trus (pictured) said yesterday that in a few days there will be a complete freeze on the assets of all Russian banks

Fourth, the United Kingdom has banned Russia from raising debt here by selling government bonds. Finally, trade is affected.

Russian airlines and private jets are banned from accessing the airspace of the United Kingdom and the EU.

The United Kingdom and the EU have banned a wide range of high-tech exports to Russia, including semiconductors, computers, sensors and defense equipment.

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WASHINGTON — Hours before Russian tanks began rolling into Ukraine last Wednesday, an alarm went off in Microsoft’s Threat Intelligence Center warning of a never-before-seen “cleaner” malware that targeted the country’s government ministries and financial institutions. .

Within three hours, Microsoft had thrown itself into the heart of a European ground war from 5,500 miles away. The Threat Center north of Seattle was on high alert, and it quickly located the malware, named it “FoxBlade” and notified Ukraine’s top cyber defense authorities. Within three hours, Microsoft’s virus detection systems were updated to block code that erases—”erases”—data on computers on the network.

Then Tom Burt, Microsoft’s senior executive who oversees the company’s efforts to counter major cyberattacks, contacted Ann Neuberger, the White House’s deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies. Ms. Neuberger asked if Microsoft would consider sharing the details of the code with the Baltics, Poland and other European countries due to concerns that the malware would spread outside of Ukraine, damaging the military alliance or hitting Western European banks.

Before midnight in Washington, Ms. Neuberger introduced herself, and Microsoft began to play the role Ford Motor Company played in World War II when the company converted vehicle production lines to produce Sherman tanks.

After years of discussion in Washington and in tech circles about the need for public-private partnerships to combat devastating cyberattacks, the war in Ukraine is putting the system under stress testing. The White House, armed with intelligence from the National Security Agency and US Cyber ​​Command, is watching secret briefings on Russian cyber offensive plans. Even if U.S. intelligence agencies have recorded devastating cyber attacks that someone — presumably Russian intelligence agencies or hackers — have staged against the government of Ukraine, they don’t have the infrastructure to act fast enough to block them.

“We are a company, not a government or a country,” said Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, in a blog post released by the company on Monday, describing the threats it faced. But the role he plays, he explained, is not neutral. He wrote of “permanent and close coordination” with the Ukrainian government, as well as federal officials, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union.

“I’ve never seen it work this or nearly that fast,” Mr. Burt said. “Now we do things in hours that even a few years ago would have taken weeks or months.”

Intelligence flows in many directions.

Company executives, some of whom have recently received security clearances, are joining secure calls to hear a series of briefings organized by the National Security Agency and US Cyber ​​Command, as well as by British authorities and others. But most of the useful information is in the hands of companies like Microsoft and Google, who can see what’s going on in their vast networks.

Biden’s aides often point out that it was the private firm Mandiant who discovered the SolarWinds attack 15 months ago, in which one of Russia’s most experienced intelligence agencies, the SVR, injected network management software used by thousands of US government agencies. and private enterprises. This gave the Russian government unfettered access.

Such attacks have earned Russia a reputation as one of the most aggressive and experienced cyber powers. But the surprise of recent days is that Russian activity in this area has been more muted than expected, the researchers say.

The earliest tabletop exercise about the Russian invasion began with a massive cyberattack that shut down the internet in Ukraine and possibly the power grid. Until this happened.

“Many are quite surprised that cyberattacks are not heavily integrated into the overall campaign that Russia is conducting in Ukraine,” said Shane Huntley, director of the Google Threat Intelligence Group. “That’s basically normal, as is the level of targeting Russia.”

Updated

February 28, 2022 8:14 pm ET

Mr. Huntley said that Google regularly monitors some of Russia’s attempts to hack people’s accounts in Ukraine. “The normal level is never actually zero,” he said. But over the past few days, the number of such attempts has not markedly increased since Russia invaded Ukraine.

“We are seeing some Russian activity in relation to Ukraine; it just wasn’t a big set,” said Ben Reid, director of security firm Mandiant.

American and European officials do not understand why Russia is slow.

Perhaps they tried, but the defenses were stronger than they expected, or the Russians wanted to reduce the risk of attacking civilian infrastructure so that the puppet government they had installed would not struggle to rule the country.

But US officials have said a massive Russian cyberattack against or outside Ukraine in retaliation for economic and technological sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe is unlikely. Some suggest that as Moscow intensifies its indiscriminate bombing, it will seek to cause as much economic disruption as possible.

The longer and more effectively the Ukrainian resistance resists the Russian army, the more Moscow may be tempted to start using the “armada of Russian cyber forces,” Senator Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a last interview. week.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, said on Sunday that it had discovered hackers hacking into accounts belonging to Ukrainian military and public figures. The hackers tried to use their access to these accounts to spread disinformation by posting videos that allegedly showed the surrender of the Ukrainian military. Meta responded by banning accounts and warning targeted users.

Understand Russia’s attack on Ukraine

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What is at the heart of this invasion? Russia considers Ukraine a part his natural sphere of influence, and is unnerved by Ukraine’s proximity to the West and the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO or the European Union. Although Ukraine is not part of either, it receives financial and military assistance from the US and Europe.

Are these frictions just beginning now? Antagonism between the two countries has simmered since 2014, when Russian troops crossed into Ukraine after an uprising in Ukraine replaced a Russian-friendly president with a pro-Western government. Then, Russia annexed Crimea and inspired separatist movement in the east. A ceasefire was signed in 2015but fighting continued.

How did Ukraine react? February 23, Ukraine declared a state of emergency for 30 days. how cyberattacks disabled government institutions. After the attacks began, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky martial law declared. The foreign minister called the attacks a “full-scale invasion” and called on the world to “stop Putin.”

Twitter said it found signs that hackers were trying to break into accounts on its platform, and YouTube said it removed five channels that hosted videos used in the disinformation campaign.

Meta executives said the Facebook hackers were linked to a group known as the Ghostwriter, which security researchers believe is linked to Belarus.

Ghostwriter is known for his strategy of hacking into the email accounts of famous figures and then using that access to hack into their social media accounts. According to Mr. Reed, the group’s researcher, the group has been “very active” in Ukraine over the past two months.

While US officials do not currently assess any direct threat to the United States from increased Russian cyber operations, that calculation could change.

US and European sanctions are stronger than expected. Mr. Warner said Russia could respond “either with direct cyberattacks against NATO countries or, more likely, actually provoke all Russian cybercriminals into mass-level ransomware attacks, which still allows them to deny responsibility to some extent.” .

Last year, Russian ransomware crime groups carried out a series of devastating attacks in the United States on hospitals, a meatpacking company and, most notably, a company operating gas pipelines along the East Coast. While Russia has taken steps in recent months to rein in these groups, after months of meetings between Ms Neuberger and her Russian counterpart, Moscow has held some high-profile arrests in January, he can easily reverse his efforts at repression.

But President Biden stepped up Russia’s warnings about any cyber attacks on the United States.

“If Russia continues cyberattacks on our companies, our critical infrastructure, we are ready to respond,” Mr. Biden said Thursday.

This was the third time Mr. Biden has issued such a warning since winning the election. While any Russian attack on the US seems like a reckless escalation, Rep. Adam B. Schiff, a California Democrat who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, said Mr. Putin has made bad decisions so far.

“There is a risk that any cyber tools that Russia uses in Ukraine will not stay in Ukraine,” he said in an interview last week. “We’ve seen this before, when targeted malware is released into the wild and then takes on a life of its own. Thus, we can become a victim of Russian malware that goes beyond the intended purpose.”

UkraineRussia’s Deputy Prime Minister shares his gratitude to the billionaire Elon Muskwhich activated Starlink satellites for the war-torn country after its Internet service was disrupted by ruthless Russian invaders.

Musk, the world’s richest man, responded on Saturday to requests from Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mihailo Fedorov, who begged him to help the struggling nation with internet access.

After Tesla and SpaceX the founder came, Fedorov tweeted: “Starlink here – thank you, @elonmusk” along with a photo of a truck full of equipment.

Musk immediately responded, tweeting, “It’s a pleasure.”

Eastern European news station Nexta reported that the satellites now provide services at 100 Mbps, which is enough bandwidth for streaming movies, playing games and working from home.

On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov thanked Elon Musk for supplying the country with Starlink satellites

Deputy Vice President of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov

Although Fedorov was among the more prominent figures to acknowledge Musk’s help, everyday Ukrainians also turned to Twitter to express their gratitude.

“Good luck! SpaceX Starlink operates in Kyiv, Ukraine, “tweeted Kyiv-based engineer Oleg Kutkov. “The Dishy was placed right in front of my window, even without adjustments. Thanks, @SpaceX team, for your support, ‘

Kutkov tweeted that the Internet had reached a speed of 200 Mbps at one point.

As Internet services have become stained after days of rocket attacks from Russia, Ukrainian authorities have looked for ways to ensure that locals stay connected.

It has been five days since Putin ordered Russian troops to enter Ukraine, which has reported 352 civilian deaths since the invasion began, including 14 children.

Russia has been trying for days to take Kyiv, but has faced fierce resistance from brave Ukrainian soldiers and civilians who have used Molotov weapons and cocktails to defend their capital.

A refugee stands by fire after crossing the Ukrainian-Polish border on February 28, 2022, while Russia carries out the fifth consecutive day of unprovoked attacks on Ukraine

A woman is pictured in front of a damaged building in Donetsk, Ukraine on February 28, 2022.

They saw this as a way to combat Russian propaganda and share atrocities committed by Vladimir Putin’s troops.

Fedorov asked for help last Saturday, tweeting: “@elonmusk, while trying to colonize Mars – Russia is trying to occupy Ukraine! While your missiles successfully land from space – Russian missiles attack Ukrainian citizens! Please provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and ask sensible Russians to stay.

Within 11 hours, Musk announced that Starlink – a space system that SpaceX has been building for years to provide Internet access in underserved areas of the world – is operating and operating in Ukraine.

Musk’s response to Fedorov’s request was swift; Starlink stations started operating within 11 hours

The technology visionary, who founded Tesla and SpaceX, told the Ukrainian employee that he was happy to help

SpaceX Starlink works by creating a network in orbit to which users in the range of these satellites can connect using a dedicated dish and terminal

STARLINK: SPACEX SATELLITE INTERNET

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has launched nearly 2,000 of its Starlink space satellites.

They form a constellation designed to provide low-cost low-bandwidth Internet service.

Its purpose is to broadcast superfast internet in your home from space.

There are approximately 145,000 user users worldwide and this is before it became available worldwide.

SpaceX says placing a “constellation” of satellites in low Earth orbit will provide high-speed, cable-like Internet access around the world.

The company has previously submitted plans to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to launch 4,425 satellites into orbit above Earth, and there may be 42,000.

“Once fully deployed, the SpaceX system will pass through almost all parts of the earth’s surface and will therefore generally have the ability to provide ubiquitous global service,” the company said.

“Every point on the earth’s surface will see a SpaceX satellite at any time.”

While Ukraine continues to provide air strikes and ground attacks by Russian coercive forces, the district is also under cyber attack.

The website of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, the Cabinet of Ministers and the Parliament appeared offline for several hours last Wednesday after the cyber attack, which affected some of the banks in the country.

Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX has nearly 2,000 Starlink satellites orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 340 miles.

Earlier this month, Musk’s satellite company launched a free high-speed Internet service to connect remote villages in Tonga that were cut off after a devastating volcanic eruption and tsunami in January.

Satellites allow the rapid transmission of large amounts of information to anywhere on Earth without the need for optical cables.

“In 2022, modern technology is one of the best answers to tanks, missiles and missiles. I appealed to the biggest technology giants to support sanctions against the Russian Federation. We asked them to help us stop this outrageous aggression against our people! ‘ Fedorov wrote in another Twitter post on Saturday.

As of February 26, a total of 2,142 Starlink satellites were launched by the first pair in February 2018, although many of them failed or were decommissioned in space.

SpaceX has even bigger plans for its Starlink project and has already requested permission for a second-generation mega-constellation of 30,000 satellites.

Musk, 50, also offered to come to the rescue on Sunday after Putin’s space chief Dmitry Rogozin warned on Twitter that Russian technology was needed to keep the International Space Station in orbit and prevent it from crashing in the United States. Europe.

“If you block cooperation with us, who will save the ISS from uncontrolled orbit and fall into the United States and Europe?” Rogozin tweeted last Friday.

Musk said his company SpaceX would save the ISS if necessary.

Gary Bonini spent 12 years in the British Army. Later this week, he plans to head to Ukraine to join forces, to fight bravely to save the nation from the devastating Russian invasion.

Bonini, 30, will be accompanied by Joe Stirling, his former comrade-in-arms, as the Scottish couple meets President Vladimir GreenThe request of foreigners to take up arms in a new international brigade, which is formed to defend Ukraine.

“I saw what was happening in Ukraine with all the shelling and carpet bombings, then I heard their president begging for help.

Gary Bonini, pictured, spent 12 years in the British Army. Later this week, he aims to travel to Ukraine to join their forces fighting to save the nation from a devastating Russian invasion.

It caused a fire in me to do something to help them fight, “said Bonini, a veteran of two tours in Afghanistan.

He is among a wave of British citizens preparing to join the battle in Ukraine after Zelensky’s call for international volunteers was backed by Foreign Minister Liz Truss on Sunday.

Bonini says his plans have met with a “very positive” response from British diplomats, so he will travel later this week to Lviv, western Ukraine, to enlist in the Territorial Defense Force, which is made up of military reservists. .

“I was on holiday in Ukraine and I love the country, together with its people, so for me this struggle to help them feels personal.”

He admits that his parents were less positive, but says they understood his position. “How can you not feel passionate when you watch these people take up arms to defend their country?” He says. “Russia has absolutely no right to invade.”

The 28-year-old Stirling from Edinburgh, who served with Bonini in the Royal Regiment of Scotland for six years and once went on holiday with him to Kyiv, says he was inspired by the people he met there – although he admits that he likes to “get into scrap metal.

He served in Iraq, although he said it was spent mostly on guard duty and was “boring because nothing happened”.

Zelensky made a dramatic call for foreign volunteers this weekend when he announced the creation of a new military unit, the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine, to combat Russia’s “evil” tactics.

“This is the beginning of a war against Europe,” the president said.

The 30-year-old Bonini (pictured) will be accompanied by Joe Stirling, his former comrade-in-arms, as the Scottish couple responds to a request from President Vladimir Zelensky for foreigners to take up arms.

“Anyone who wants to join the defense of Ukraine, Europe and the world can come and fight side by side with the Ukrainians against Russian war criminals.”

Zelensky’s unit has been compared to the international brigades of the Spanish Civil War, which include the famous writer George Orwell, who fought with the Republicans against General Franco’s fascists.

At least two British citizens are already serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces with the 1st Marine Battalion and are believed to be taking part in one of the fiercest battles around the industrial port of Mariupol on the Sea of ​​Azov.

Sean Pinner, 48, who spent seven years in the British Army, was promoted to commander of his naval unit six months after joining.

A native of Bedfordshire, he now lives in Mariupol with his wife Larissa, a native of the city.

A resident of the photo cleans a bomb shelter under a non-functioning cinema while the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues in Zhytomyr

He told The Mail on Sunday last month: “Russia has started this war – but we will fight them, make no mistake.”

He served with Aiden Aslin, 28, a former Newark caregiver in Nottinghamshire who had previously fought with Kurdish militias against Islamic State in Syria.

He was detained on suspicion of terrorism after returning home, but the charges were dropped.

The two were among at least ten British volunteers who took up arms against pro-Moscow separatists in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine in the 2014 war between Russian President Vladimir Putin that killed more than 14,000 people.

These include Newport-born Michael Jenkins – who abandoned recent plans to start a new life working with a New York-based defense engineering company and returned this week to join his wife’s battle for the nation.

People remove debris on the site of a military base building that Ukrainian forces say was destroyed by an air strike in the town of Okhtyrka in the Sumy region

Another veteran of the British Army, Jenkins, is worried about his wife Sabina, who has stayed with her grandmother in Pervomaisk, a city in central Ukraine about 120 miles from some of the heaviest battles against Russian forces in the southern coastal areas.

“She is safe, but I sympathize with the Ukrainian people,” he said. Jenkins, who left Ukraine’s Marines late last year, is gathering a group of foreigners to join the fight against Putin’s invading forces.

They are due to meet later this week in Slovakia before traveling across the border.

He claims to have received “hundreds” of approaches through social media – and says his latest group will include ten Britons and eight more from the United States.

Ukrainian serviceman loads ammunition into ammunition in central Zhytomyr, Ukraine, after Russia’s invasion last week

Another report says a squad of ten special forces veterans – including three Britons and a German trained in close combat and counter-terrorism – are in Poland preparing to cross the border into Ukraine.

Other Britons who are interested in volunteering have contacted 27-year-old Harry Jackson, founder of UK Aid for Ukraine, a Facebook group that aims to deliver military and medical aid to the country.

Jackson said he linked potential recruits to Mamuka Mamulashvili, commander of the Georgian National Legion, a group of foreign fighters formed in 2014 and now part of Kyiv’s territorial defense forces.

Yesterday, she posted instructions on social media for foreign recruits, instructing them to contact their embassies first before applying to the Ukrainian armed forces and receiving military equipment such as bulletproof vests and helmets.

Mamulashvili said yesterday that there was a “very large group” of about 60 Britons traveling by road to Ukraine via Poland. “I expect them here with equipment and supplies for the next few days,” he said.

He added that they were “former British soldiers who could be trusted to face the Russian aggressors and, most importantly, to win.”

• Additional report by Kate Baklitskaya

Colton Underwood revealed on Monday that he is engaged to his girlfriend Jordan C. Brown.

The 30-year-old bachelor star and his fiancé political strategist shared their happy news in a set of cute photos they enjoy spending time together in the picturesque Big Sur. California.

Underwood is best known for dating Cassie Randolph at the end of his season. The bacheloronly to come out gay months after their fierce separation.

Great news! Colton Underwood, 30, announced on Monday that he and his partner, Jordan C. Brown, were engaged in less than a year.

On his Instagram page, Colton shared a photo of himself and Jordan walking hand in hand through the woods, captioning, “Life will be fun with you ♥„. “

Jordan, 39, posted a more playful photo of birds in love enjoying a champagne toast.

Colton celebrates by cracking the cork and spraying sparkling sparkling wine everywhere while Jordan holds the glasses.

“The only time in my life is to waste a bottle of champagne,” he joked in his caption. ‘I love you baby. ❤️ ‘

Favorite: “Life will be fun with you”, Colton signed a cute photo of the birds in love on a romantic getaway in Big Sur for their proposal

In an interview with people from Monday, Colton talks about his romantic escape to Big Sur.

“After my birthday, Jordan and I went to Big Sur for a weekend getaway to decompress and relax in nature,” he said. “I could not imagine a more beautiful place to celebrate an incredible milestone in my life and relationship.”

He added that he was looking forward to an even better new year after a “transformative” year in which he met his love.

‘I am extremely happy! “2021 was the most transformative year of my life,” he said. “Starting in 2022 with my best friend, teammate and now fiancé, something I never thought would be possible.”

Back in December, Colton sounded over the moon as he talked about his then-boyfriend Jordan Us Weekly.

“I’m happy, I’m in love and I’m in a good position,” he said in December after introducing his boyfriend to his family. “Everything about it was pretty smooth.”

Perfect photo: “I couldn’t imagine a more beautiful place to celebrate an incredible milestone in my life and relationship,” Colton told People

Colton – who was born in Indianapolis, Indiana and later became a college football star at Illinois State University – revealed to Us Weekly in December that he chose to keep Jordan away from his Netflix Coming Out Colton series to focus on his own “self-discovery.”

“I’ve been through this.” I did that, “he said.” Even if we went into the show, it was one of the conversations with the production company. Съм I’m not in the space right now to expose myself like that. I had a lot to discover.

“Having a public relationship was not healthy for me,” he added. “I just think I’m really defending and keeping what I have right now.”

Colton gained fame for his appearances in the Bachelor franchise, beginning with his stay in Becca Kufrin’s season at The Bachelorette and followed by his appearance on Bachelor In Paradise when he pursued Tia Booth.

In 2019, he was selected as the bachelor for season 23 when he finished with Cassie Randolph.

Screen connection: In 2019, he was selected as a bachelor for season 23 when he finished with Cassie Randolph. At first she rejected him and left the show before he pursued her; seen in 2019

Cassie initially chose to leave the series when it came to the last three women after her father refused to give his blessing, although she admitted she had many feelings of conflict.

After begging her not to leave, Colton disgracefully jumped the fence in front of the camera after shouting that he was “damn ready” with the show.

But he followed the shocking move, sending the other two women home and trying for a second shot with Cassie, this time without engagement pressure.

But things got worse between the couple, who announced their separation in May 2020.

In July of that year, she urged her ex not to “generate income from their separation by writing a new chapter” from his book, The First Time, without her approval.

Things between the former became even more tense in September when Cassie filed a restraining order against Colton.

In court documents, she accused him of putting a tracking device on her car so he could track her location, and also claimed that he harassed her and her family members with a new phone number.

Extreme: The two were together again until the end of the season, but separated in May 2020. Cassie applied for a restraining order in September and accused Colton of pursuing her and installed a tracking device on her car.

Cassie also claims in his file that he sent messages from the number to himself to cover up his origins.

The bachelor star is said to have made uninvited visits to his Los Angeles apartment as well as his parents’ home in Huntington Beach, California, including once when he was spotted outside their home at 2 p.m.

The speech therapist claims in her documents that Colton admitted to sending alarming messages accusing her of spending time with another man, as well as placing the tracking device on the bumper of her car.

He later turned to the restraining order after Cassie withdrew his application in November 2020.

“Cassie asked the court today to revoke the temporary restraining order against me,” he said. “We both managed to reach a private agreement to resolve Cassie’s concerns. I do not believe that Cassie did anything wrong in issuing the restraining orders, and I also believe that she acted in good faith. I appreciate everyone’s respect for confidentiality on this issue.

Reaching an agreement: She rejected the request for a restraining order in November 2020, and Colton apologized to her in Good Morning America after going gay in April 2021.

After coming out gay in April 2021, Colton apologized to his ex.

“I loved everything about her, and it’s hard for me to articulate exactly what my emotions are when I go through this relationship with her, because I obviously had an internal battle,” he told Good Morning America.

“I would just say I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart. I’m sorry for the pain and emotional stress I caused. I wish it didn’t happen the way it did. I wish I was brave enough to fix myself before I broke someone else.

Simon Leviev, better known by his repulsive pseudonym The Tinder The swindler is being sued by a wealthy, diamond-rich family he claims is part of when he cheats on women with hundreds of thousands of dollars using a dating app.

The defamation lawsuit was filed Monday in the Tel Aviv Magistrates’ Court in Israel on behalf of the real Levi family, whose patriarch, Israeli Lev Leviev, a 65-year-old businessman, is a diamond billionaire tycoon known as the “King of Diamonds.”

The case lists Simon Leviev – whose real name is Shimon Heyada Hayut – as a defendant after he allegedly pretended to be the son of an app tycoon to defraud many women in bars around the world for nearly $ 10 million.

Simon Leviev, better known by his repulsive nickname “The Tinder Swidler”, has been sued by a wealthy, diamond-rich family he claims to be part of when he cheats on women with hundreds of thousands of dollars using a dating app

The malicious defamation lawsuit was filed Monday in Israel’s magistrates’ court in Tel Aviv on behalf of Israeli tycoon Lev Leviev, 65, a billionaire diamond tycoon with the King of Diamonds tab.

Leviev’s real lawyer, Guy Ofir, said TMZ Monday said the filing was only the first step in a “comprehensive legal war” the family is waging against the 31-year-old Hayut, as well as anyone who has helped with his schemes.

Ofir said the family wanted justice for the “malice” raised against Leviev’s name, the newspaper said Monday afternoon.

According to TMZ, the documentation details the ways in which Simon allegedly took advantage of the family, including changing his name to give off wealth and entice women with private jets, yachts and luxury cars, telling them that is the son of the famous billionaire.

“He is a swindler and fraudster who changed his name for criminal purposes while identifying himself as a member of the Levi family and a reputation for the applicants,” said a translated part of the lawsuit, according to Rolling Stone.

Ofir said in a statement Monday that the case was “the first in a series of lawsuits the Levi family has instructed me to take against the swindler and his accomplices.”

Simon Leviev (pictured left in a photo he took with Lev Leviev and his wife Olga) – whose real name is Shimon Heyada Hayut – pretended to be the son of the app mogul to deceive many women in locations around the world. a world of nearly $ 10 million

He added: “In the coming days, a monetary lawsuit will be filed against the swindler and anyone involved in his past and present actions.

“In the same way, a lawsuit will be filed against the sites that chose to join the scammer and allow him to sell paid greetings while exploiting his victims.”

The legal eagle then revealed that the Leviev family would donate all the money they received during the trial to other famous victims of Hayut.

Ofir did not immediately return DailyMail.com’s request for comment Monday night.

However, the lawyer’s website confirmed that the lawsuit was filed on Monday.

A representative of Simon Leviev also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hayut, who is also an Israeli, has told many women for several years that he is the son of an Israeli-Russian billionaire – a man Forbes once called the “King of Diamonds” – and chief executive of Leviev’s LLD Diamonds.

Hayut, who is also from Israel, told many women for several years that he was the son of an Israeli-Russian billionaire.

The international swindler would dazzle his victims with his apparently luxurious lifestyle of private jets, designer clothes and five-star hotels – before tricking them into giving him shocking sums.

In a distorted Ponzi scheme, he would use the money he stole from them to lure his next target, showering them with trips abroad and hundreds of red roses and tables in VIP clubs.

He left his victims with suicidal feelings, crippling bank debts and agony and humiliation to discover that their relationship with him was false.

Hayut was arrested for fraud in 2019 after a victim who became wise with his tricks reported him to Interpol for using a fake passport in Greece.

He was released the following May after serving five months of his 15-month sentence.

Hayut was arrested for fraud in 2019 after a victim who became wise with his tricks reported him to Interpol for using a fake passport in Greece. He was released the following May after serving five months of his 15-month sentence

Hayut denied all charges against him, saying he was “not a fraud and not a fake”, but instead a “legitimate businessman” who made his fortune by investing in bitcoin.

In an interview with CBS’s Inside Edition this week, he insisted: “I’m not that monster. I was just one person who wanted to meet a few girls on Tinder.

In the interview, he kissed his current girlfriend, Kate Conlin, an Israeli-Ukrainian model, on camera, while she accused his victims of creating a “fake story.”

However, the 24-year-old Conlin stands by his handsome man, despite the recent release of a Netflix documentary chronicle of his undercover feats, which is now seen by more than 50 million people worldwide.

Speaking for the first time since the release of the Netflix documentary in an exclusive two-part interview for Inside Edition with his girlfriend Kta Conlin, the 31-year-old Hayut said he was not a monster

Sydney Sweeney said he believes there is a “double standard” in the industry, with male actors being “praised” for doing nude scenes.

The 24-year-old American actress made the comments while stunned in intricate photos and interviews Cosmopolitan Britain Cover April / May.

She was asked about her feelings for the nude after the finale of the second season Euphoria.

Star: Sidney Sweeney believes there is a “double standard” with male actors “receiving praise” for making nude scenes

Sydney, who plays Cassie Howard in the hugely popular HBO series, added that she is “excluded” from them and feels like she’s watching her characters naked, not herself.

She said: “I am so detached from this. When they tag me in the naked of Cassie or Pippa from The Voyeurs, I get the feeling that I’m looking at their naked, not Sydney’s naked.

“When you’re shooting one of these scenes, it’s so technical and not so romantic.” When I first saw Voyeur, I wondered if I had done too much. I researched celebrities who did nude scenes trying to feel better.

“There are one-hour compilations of world-famous male actors with nude scenes who have won Oscars and received praise for their work. But the moment a woman does it, it humiliates them … There is such a double standard and I really hope that I can be a little involved in changing that.

Stunning: 24-year-old American actress stunned with extended photo and cover interview for Cosmopolitan UK April

Double standard: She was asked about her feelings for the nude after the finale of the second season of Euphoria

The blonde bomb reacted to the finale of the Euphoria season as the episode marked the end of the road for two heroes, with the arrest of two more.

Sydney said, “It was a whirlwind. Seeing how many people feel about these characters is amazing and I hope that as a result they learn empathy.

“We worked very hard for a very long time; the cast and crew poured their hearts and souls into the show, so [I’m glad it’s] receiving recognition. The crew is there every day and works so many hours. It’s really special.

Role: Sydney, who plays Cassie Howard in the HBO series, added that she is “excluded” from them and feels like she’s watching her characters naked, not herself.

She also described Cassie’s space until the end of the second season of Euphoria, saying: “As an actor, I like to be able to go to places that can be deep for characters, because you unlock different parts of them that you didn’t know before.

“I like to discover different parts of Cassie. The second season was so different [to season one] because last season Cassie was so confident and this time of selfishness and self-confidence.

“And then in the finale of season two, Cassie was completely destroyed and mad, just the opposite of where we left her in the first season. I can only imagine where he will go next season.

She said: “When you shoot one of these scenes, it’s so technical and not so romantic.”

Cassie’s scene “I’ve never been happier” in the bathroom went viral as a sound in TikTok.

Commenting on the trend, Sydney said: “I know, this is crazy. They keep sending me different videos of people using sound. This is fascinating.

“It’s beautiful when you have a character that so many people can connect with. It’s a very special experience to be able to connect with people through that. ‘

On the topic of how she and her colleagues from Euphoria support each other, the artist said that “they send messages, call and check”.

Cover: The April / May issue of Cosmopolitan UK goes on sale on March 22nd

She added: “Maud [Apatow] and hang out all the time. We have a really good group and support system. At the moment we are all scattered around the world, but let’s hope that when we return together we will have a little celebration [about season three]. ‘

Sydney, which has starred in series such as The White Lotus Everything Sucks !, has launched its own production company, Fifty-Fifty Films.

To her surprise at being the driver of Fifty-Fifty Films, she said: “As much as people in the industry say they support young female voices, I still have to fight, even among -older women.

“I was told that I could not get the credit I believed I deserved, and I could not find my company name in a project I was developing. I have theories why. Maybe they feel it’s too easy for us.

“I was told that I had to do a few things before I could get such a loan, as if I didn’t deserve it. And that came from women. I found this very surprising. Everyone imagines that we support each other, but I still haven’t fully felt it.

Sydney said of the show: “It was a whirlwind. Seeing how much people feel about these characters is amazing and I hope they learn empathy as a result. “

Those who know Vladimir Putin they say there is an ugly fixation with a particularly horrible scene from recent world history.

In October 2011, the bloodied figure of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was pulled from a sewer in which he hid like a rat during the last days of his country’s civil war.

Gaddafi begs for his life before he is brutal with a bayonet and then shot many times: a disgraceful descent from his former pomp.

Putin also knows that the last Russian tsar and his family were shot like dogs by Bolshevik revolutionaries in 1917.

No wonder he is obsessed with Gaddafi’s footage.

Putin has an ugly fixation on the brutal, bloody end to Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, and may have reason to fear he could face such a death as his war in Ukraine brings pain and turmoil to Russia.

Yet as Putin’s monstrous invasion of Ukraine stutters, some are wondering: can the wave finally turn against the man who has ruled Russia in one form or another for 22 years?

Sounds fantastic.

Putin lives in a bubble with a high degree of security, in which visitors meet him only after a thorough examination.

His paranoia is illustrated by the comically long table at which he receives visiting French President Emmanuel Macron.

His travels between his village palace and the Kremlin are on traffic-free and sniper-patrolled roads.

A huge security apparatus is dedicated to his personal safety, including 24-hour military units and an independent spy network with full power to eavesdrop and bugs at will.

Yet for the first time in years, Russians are suddenly suffering from severe economic pain. As sanctions bite, the ruble is falling freely.

ATMs are emptying, dollars are running low, and inflation is rising.

Fearing he will end up like Gaddafi, a lunatic and cornered Putin may even pounce, believing that even the risk of a nuclear apocalypse in the world is better than suffering such a fall.

Add to that the approximately 5,000 Russians killed in the attack on Ukraine in just a few days – with countless captives and wounded – and Putin’s grip on power may soon begin to seem precarious.

So how could it eventually be taken down?

Imagine, for example, that in the coming weeks a daily sit-in demonstration begins in Moscow by Soldiers’ Mothers, a movement founded in 1989 to fight brutal treatment of recruits.

These protests soon spread to other cities.

Heavy-handed tactics lead to bloodshed, and photos of a grandmother beaten and bloodied with truncheons are spreading in Russia.

As the outrage grows, the number of protesters increases – and a police commander, the father of a teenager killed in Ukraine, opposes the orders, takes off his police helmet and joins the protesters, making a passionate request that also spreads on social media. media.

Regional leaders – governors and mayors – are also beginning to change countries. In Moscow, crowds flock to Red Square, where in the Kremlin, Putin, eager to escape Gaddafi’s fate, descends into a waiting helicopter that takes him into terrible and lonely exile, first in Belarus and perhaps later in China.

Or maybe it wasn’t the mob storming the palace gates that ended Putin’s rule. Instead, he may face a coup by insiders.

If public opinion were directed against the dictator, many of his cronies would without hesitation overthrow or kill him to save their own skins.

Military commanders enraged by Putin’s all-Ukrainian swamp – and disgusted by the brutal tactics he has ordered them to inflict on their Ukrainian fellow Slavs – could revolt.

Other army units ordered to crush this revolt may instead join it.

If that happened, Putin would be doomed.

His elite bodyguards can protect him from assassins and terrorists, but not from tanks.

Meanwhile, faceless figures in the security agencies, well aware that their country is on the verge of collapse, could use their knowledge to remove the president’s bodyguards – and arrest him.

If neither the people of Moscow nor Putin’s kleptocratic colleagues overthrow him, the centuries-old rifts could resurface.

In the eastern Russian provinces of Siberia, Khabarovsk and the Primorye Territory, people are deeply outraged by the Kremlin’s plunder of their natural resources.

Tatars and Bashkirs, ethnic peoples living in central Russia, still remember the painful moment of independence after the 1917 Russian Revolution.

They and other subordinate peoples despise Moscow’s repression of their languages ​​and cultures; many do not consider themselves Russians at all.

ATMs are being emptied, dollars are running low, and inflation is rising as international sanctions against Russia pay off. In the photo: Russians line up to withdraw their money from ATMs

As the outrage grows, the number of protesters grows – and a police commander, the father of a teenage recruit killed in Ukraine, opposes the orders, takes off his police helmet and joins the protesters, making a passionate request that has also been circulated on social media.

Under the right conditions, this ethnic tension can escalate into savage violence.

In a full-scale civil war, anything can happen.

Yes, every opposition faces terrible obstacles. Still, the Russian military and its security services could and would remove Putin if they knew they had to. And the mass of ordinary Russians has an invincible number.

Putin knows all this.

I wish good luck to his enemies – but the end of his regime would also be a worrying prospect.

Its fall could accelerate a new civil war in Russia, which still has the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear weapons.

A mad and cornered Putin may even pounce, believing that even the risk of a nuclear apocalypse on the world is better than suffering from Gaddafi’s fate.

Even if this doomsday scenario can be avoided by anyone who followed Putin, he may not be better than the devil we know so well.