OPINION 5 October 2024 Ivan Preobrazhenskiy Expert on Central and Eastern Europe Austria’s far-right Freedom Party has won the country’s recent parliamentary elections , reigniting debates about the rise of right-wing populists across Europe. However, survey data and election results from various continental European countries show that left-wing radicals are also experiencing a significant surge.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that “Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov is completing his business trip in Washington.” “Today at 15:00 (local time, 22:00 Moscow time - TASS note) the plane [with Anatoly Antonov on board] takes off,” the diplomatic mission said. He has held the post of Russian Ambassador to the United States since 2017. The diplomat announced that “the business trip is ending” back in June.

Politics Sergey Yezhov 5 October 2024 Latvia often demonstrates its position in relation to Russia: recently, the Latvian parliament has banned the use of the Russian language in all ATMs of the country, and the country's Foreign Ministry has been included in the list of unwanted people of the Russian comedian Maria Markov. That's just all these and such measures did not affect the real friends of the Kremlin in any way, continuing to calmly own the largest Latvian assets.

Several Russians are listed as the minority shareholders of Rietumu Banka — one of Latvia’s largest banks. The Insider identified Oleg Belkov , co-owner and CEO of the “Bell” shipyard (ООО «Судостроительная Верфь “Бэлл”»), which manufactures Russian military vessels. Prior to his role at Bell, Belkov headed another shipbuilding plant — “Vympel” — which also specialized in military boats.

The news The Insider October 5, 2024 World oil quotes grew after a statement by US President Joe Bayden, who allowed the possibility of Israeli attack on Iranian oil facilities on October 3. When asked "Do you support Israel's attack on Iran’s oil facilities?" Bayden said: "We are discussing it right now." According to Bloomberg, prices jumped by 5%.

Rossiya Airlines has developed a new flight safety culture code, which, among other things, stipulates the obligation to report critics to the SVO. Baza reports this.

At least 16 people were killed and dozens missing in floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina on October 4. Houses and roads have been destroyed throughout the center of the country. The flooding also affected neighboring Croatia, where no casualties were reported. Montenegro and Serbia also issued warnings of possible danger. Reuters reports this.

The Investigative Committee reported on a raid on the Senny and Apraksin markets on October 4. According to security officials, they checked more than 600 citizens, including foreign ones. More than 150 persons were taken to military commissariats for verification and resolution of the issue of military registration. Also, 139 migrants were taken to the departments of the internal affairs bodies for inspection, writes the Investigative Committee.

Analyst Naalsio updated the count of visually confirmed losses of Russian and Ukrainian military equipment in the Kursk direction. From September 10 to October 1, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost at least 78 units of equipment, and the Russian Armed Forces lost at least 51 units. The total losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the beginning of the operation in the Kursk region are 202 units, the RF Armed Forces - 134 units .

The Tagansky District Court of Moscow sent Dutch citizen Van Woerden Harry Johannes into custody until December 3. He is accused of using life-threatening violence against a police officer (Part 2 of Article 318 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), he faces up to 10 years in prison. This was reported in the Telegram channel of the press service of the Moscow courts of general jurisdiction. According to Interfax, the Dutchman was detained on October 3.

Gazprom holds the largest stake in Latvijas Gāze, owning 34% of the company's shares. Other shareholders include Germany's Uniper Ruhrgas International GmbH (18%), Latvia's Rietumu Banka (29%), and ITERA Latvija (16%). The beneficiary of ITERA Latvija is Juris Savickis — a former KGB officer who, like Putin, served in East Germany during the Cold War. War profiteers Several Russians are listed as the minority shareholders of Rietumu Banka — one of Latvia’s largest banks.

The situation remains tense in the Pokrovsk direction and on the northern flank of the Vuhledar bulge. Russian troops are trying to flank Kurakhove and Selydove , securing positions in the tree lines south of the latter and capturing Marynivka to the northeast. They are also destroying civilian infrastructure in the city of Pokrovsk. Ukrainian fortifications in the Hirnyk area are described as being incomplete and lacking protection against Russian UAV threats.

Syria has submitted an application to join BRICS. TASS reports this with reference to the Russian Ambassador to Syria Bashar Jaafari. “We are very interested in joining BRICS. We sent written requests to join the organization,” Jaafari said at the forum “North Caucasus: New Geostrategic Opportunities.” As The Insider previously wrote, applications to join the alliance were submitted this year by Burkina Faso , Turkey and Azerbaijan .

Z-blogger Egor Guzenko was detained in Novopavlovsk, Stavropol Territory. He is known as the author of the large Telegram channel “Thirteenth”. This became known from a video message from Guzenko himself, recorded from the department. According to him, he is in the Kirovsky police station. “When they detained me, they also beat me. I came home for the first time, and this is how my hometown greeted me,” said Guzenko. He did not disclose the reasons for the arrest.

North Korea “supplies half of the shells used by Russia in Ukraine,” writes the British The Times, citing Western intelligence sources. According to the publication, this is half of approximately three million shells per year. Agreements were apparently reached earlier this year, when Vladimir Putin visited Pyongyang, and a defense pact was signed at the same time, The Times writes.