Investigations Suppliers of death: The Insider identifies another 300 companies making purchases on behalf of the Russian military Andrey Zayakin 18 February 2026 The United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom face two main difficulties when imposing sanctions aimed at disrupting Russia’s military production. First, it is not always clear which goods are being imported specifically for military use.

An international team of scientists conducted a large-scale study of burials of the Pit-Comb Ware culture on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. Having studied the DNA of 34 people who lived approximately 3000-2500 BC, the researchers concluded that the practice of joint burials was directly related to biological kinship - all people buried together turned out to be relatives of at least the third degree. The results were published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Antifake The Insider 18 February 2026 Foreign Ministry representative Maria Zakharova writes in her Telegram channel: In fact, the French president did not describe freedom of speech this way, but Donald Trump’s policy regarding control over social networks. Bloomberg reports : “French President Emmanuel Macron said protecting freedom of speech on social media is “complete nonsense,” refuting a key foreign policy goal of President Donald Trump.

ECONOMICS Tatiana Rybakova 18 February 2026 The declining levels of trust in political institutions and the growing support for populist politicians observed in a range of counties in recent years may have economic roots: global economic growth has stopped automatically translating into middle-class prosperity. For millennials and the children of Gen Z, the social elevator has not merely slowed down — it has stalled on the lower floors.

The administration of St. Petersburg State University sent letters to students inviting them to sign a contract to serve in the unmanned systems troops. The students themselves reported this to the “Paper” publication and the “Walk through the Forest” project . The mailing arrived on February 17th. In a letter with the subject “On the possibility of serving in the Troops of Unmanned Systems,” students were asked to sign an annual contract with the Ministry of Defense.

The American television channel CBS refused to air an interview between The Late Show host Stephen Colbert and Texas senatorial candidate James Talarico, citing new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requirements for equal airtime for political candidates, The New York Times reports . Colbert himself said that CBS lawyers prohibited him from going on air with Talarico, although he was already in the studio.

Nikita Uvarov, who is serving a sentence in the case of the “Kana teenagers,” is accused of participating in the activities of the “extremist organization” AUE - this follows from the press release of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Republic of Khakassia.

The Our Exit human rights project, which works to return Russian prisoners of war from Ukraine, said that in a recent prisoner exchange Russia returned mostly Muslims associated with the Chechen Akhmat unit, while other Muslim soldiers remain in captivity. This is stated in a video published by the project after a trip to one of the prisoner of war camps. According to the authors, their visit coincided with the beginning of the month of Ramadan.

An administrative protocol was drawn up against Pavel Gubarev on “discrediting” the Russian army. Information about this appeared in the Moscow City Court file. The case was registered on February 18 in the Tagansky District Court of Moscow. The court card states that liability under Part 1 of Art. 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code (fine up to 50 thousand rubles) Gubarev P.Yu. These initials coincide with the data of the former “people’s governor” of the Donetsk region.

Political prisoner Alexander Dotsenko, convicted on “extremist” charges, is in extremely serious condition after a massive heart attack. This was reported by his support group and lawyer. According to them, the heart attack occurred on February 12. Until recently, relatives and the defense lawyer were not informed about what happened. Only a few days later the family learned that Dotsenko was in intensive care, writes Sota Vision.

News The Insider February 18, 2026 #Military report In today's summary: In the Sumy direction, a case of Russian military personnel being captured by a Ukrainian drone with a loudspeaker was recorded In the Konstantinovsky direction, it is reported that the Russian Armed Forces have once again seized a settlement in the Konstantinovka area “on credit” In the Pokrovsk direction, the combat work of the Ukrainian Leopard 2A4 with direct fire against Russian attack aircraft was noted In the southern

Several software companies, including McAfee LLC , disclosed their financials ahead of schedule in an attempt to reassure creditors. Bloomberg writes about this, citing anonymous sources familiar with the situation. The US software sector fell 14.5% in January. This is the worst monthly result since the 2008 financial crisis. In February, quotes dropped by about 10%. The reason was the growing anxiety of investors due to the development of AI.

The Hungarian oil and gas corporation MOL has concluded the first contracts for the supply of Russian oil through Croatia, the Hungarian news agency MTI reports , citing a statement by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó. The oil will be delivered to Croatia by sea and then transported to the refinery. “MOL has ordered the first deliveries and are already on their way.

The United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom face two main difficulties when imposing sanctions aimed at disrupting Russia’s military production. First, it is not always clear which goods are being imported specifically for military use. Second, when one company is sanctioned, a substitute soon appears in its place, and while new Western restrictions are being introduced, the Russian military-industrial complex has time to adapt. But there is a way to solve this problem.

The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, published a post according to which the “rumors” that his reconciliation with the senator from Dagestan Suleiman Kerimov was organized in the Kremlin are false. According to him, they met on their own initiative and resolved their differences “like men” without anyone’s mediation.