UK spy chief says 'deeply secret intelligence' is being released at an unprecedented rate to stay one step ahead of Putin

GCHQ Director Jeremy Fleming.

REUTERS/Hannah McKay/Pool/File Photo

• Intelligence is being declassified at an "unprecedented" rate amid Russia's war, the head of GCHQ said.
• "Deeply secret intelligence is being released to make sure the truth is heard," Sir Jeremy Fleming said.
• He said this included intelligence warning that Russia was planning false flag operations.

The head of the UK's intelligence agency said spy bodies were releasing "deeply secret intelligence" in an effort "to get ahead of Putin's actions."

Sir Jeremy Fleming, head of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), said in a Thursday speech that in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the UK was especially interested in combating Russian information and "making sure that the truth is told well."

He said releasing intelligence has been key to doing that.

"Increasingly, many of those 'truths' come from intelligence. It is already a remarkable feature of this conflict just how much intelligence has been so quickly declassified to get ahead of Putin's actions," he said.

"From the warnings of the war. To the intelligence on false flag operations designed to provide a fake premise to the invasion. And more recently, to the Russian plans to falsely claim Ukrainian use of banned chemical weapons.

"On this and many other subjects, deeply secret intelligence is being released to make sure the truth is heard. At this pace and scale, it really is unprecedented.

"In my view, intelligence is only worth collecting if we use it, so I unreservedly welcome this development."

Fleming did not specify which intelligence agencies he was speaking about, but Western agencies have been releasing massive amounts of information on the conflict.

For example, the UK Ministry of Defense has been publishing daily intelligence updates about the war, and declassified US intelligence this week said Russian President Vladimir Putin has not been getting truthful information from his advisors.

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Zelenskyy warns of impending Russian attacks on Ukraine's eastern front, says Moscow's claims of military pullback cannot be trusted

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned of new Russian attacks from the Donbas region.

Ukrainian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned of a possible new wave of Russian attacks coming from the east.
• In a video address on Wednesday, he said he did not trust Moscow's claims of a military pullback.
• "We do not believe anyone, not a single beautiful phrase," Zelenskyy said, as translated by AFP.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned on Wednesday evening of a new impending Russian attack on his nation's eastern front, saying he does not trust Moscow's earlier claims that it would be scaling back its assault.

In a video address translated by Agence France-Presse, Zelenskyy noted the "so-called withdrawal of Russian troops Kyiv and Chernigiv," both cities in northern Ukraine.

"But at the same time, we see the accumulation of Russian troops for new strikes in Donbas," he said. "We are getting ready for this."

The Donbas region in eastern Ukraine is partially controlled by Russian-backed separatists who have been fighting the Ukrainian army for the last eight years. 

Ukraine's chief of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, had said on Sunday that Russia's new plan might be to split Ukraine into "occupied and unoccupied regions," per The Associated Press.

The Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which is located south of the Donbas, has also been a critical target for Russia's advance. If taken, the city would allow Russia to establish a land bridge between the annexed Crimea region and the Donbas.

On Tuesday, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said that the Kremlin would scale back its assaults on Ukraine's northern front. According to Fomin, the move aimed to "increase mutual trust and create the necessary conditions for further negotiations and achieving the ultimate goal of agreeing on the signing of the above [peace] agreement."

—AFP News Agency (@AFP) March 31, 2022

 

 

In the video on Wednesday, Zelenskyy expressed his government's doubts regarding Russia's proclamations.

"We know that this is not a withdrawal, but the consequence of exile, the consequences of the work of our defenders," he said.

"We don't believe anyone, not a single beautiful phrase," Zelenskyy. "There's a real situation on the battlefield, and that's the most important thing."

The Ukrainian military and the Pentagon have expressed skepticism over Russia's withdrawal claims, saying it was more likely that Moscow was repositioning its troops for a later offensive.

An intelligence report from the UK released on Thursday also noted that Russian forces had pulled back a "limited number of units" near Kyiv, but still holds positions to the east and west of the capital.

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Oil prices plummet 4% as the US weighs up largest-ever release from its strategic reserves

The US flag is displayed at the Wilmington Oil Fields south of Los Angeles, California

FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

• Oil slide on Thursday after reports the US may make a huge release of strategic reserves
• Brent crude was on course for a weekly loss of 11%, its largest weekly decline in almost two years.
• An official US announcement could come on Thursday, overshadowing an OPEC+ meeting.

Oil prices fell on Thursday following reports that US President Joe Biden could approve to release of as much as 180 million barrels from its official stockpiles. 

Biden's administration may release as many as 180 million barrels of oil in total, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. An official announcement may come later in the day.

Brent crude futures dropped 4.07% to trade at $107.37 a barrel by mid morning in Europe, set for a decline of 11% this week, the largest since early April 2020, while West Texas Intermediate fell 4.99% to $102.75 a barrel.

"The news this morning is that the US is considering releasing 180 million barrels from SPR at a possible rate of 1 million barrels per day, which would imply a six-month release period," Bjarne Schieldrop, Chief Commodities Analyst at SEB wrote. 

The US currently has around 570 million barrels in its Strategic Petroleum Reserve and has made prior releases this year to try to temper energy prices, which are a key reason consumer inflation is at 40-year highs.

Biden is expected to make an announcement later on Thursday where he will reveal details of the plan, according to sources. Prices had risen to 14 year highs earlier this month as Russia invaded Ukraine, the planned release is aimed at lowering these prices. 

Meanwhile the International Energy Agency will hold an emergency meeting on Friday to decide on a joint release of oil reserves, according to the New Zealand energy ministry.

Russia has faced a raft of international sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, but apart from a ban on its fuel imports from the US and the UK — neither of which is a major consumer of Russian energy products — its oil and gas sector has remained largely untouched.

Sanctions from Europe could remove as much as 3 million barrels per day from the global market, according to analysts' estimates, so while a US reserve release would alleviate some pressure on consumers, it would not change much in terms of the structural deficit in the market.

"The US mostly holds medium sour crude in its reserves. The release is thus great for US refineries as they are built for this kind of crude and they can no longer take Russian Urals crude (medium sour) due to sanctions. SPR releases usually have a limited impact on prices except for the first initial impact," Schieldrop said.

The OPEC+ group of exporters, which includes Russia, also meets on Thursday to discuss their supply policy for May. At the moment, the group, effectively headed by Saudi Arabia, has resisted international pressure to commit to faster increases in joint crude output. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have also explicitly ruled out removing Russia, the world's third-largest oil producer, from the alliance.

"The most likely scenario is that the extended cartel will decide to raise production further by 430,000 barrels per day. The prospect of a massive release of oil from the reserves of consumer countries is almost bound to deter OPEC+ from stepping up its oil production to any greater extent," Commerzbank strategists said.

Read more: The founder of a commodities ETF provider managing over $1.5 billion shares his outlook for 8 assets that have experienced major supply chain disruption and elevated prices during the Ukraine crisis

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Billionaire bond king Bill Gross calls meme stocks GameStop and AMC lottery tickets - and says there's no real value behind them

Bill Gross

Jim Young/Reuters

• Investing legend Bill Gross compared meme stocks GameStop and AMC to lottery tickets.
• Both companies have "very little" behind them, and their stocks will fall, he told Yahoo Finance on Tuesday.
• Gross said millennial retail traders simply believe that stocks go up, and think they deserve double-digit gains.

Legendary investor Bill Gross is still betting Reddit darlings GameStop and AMC will tumble, despite their recent comeback.

"I simply think that AMC and GameStop are lottery tickets," the Pimco cofounder told Yahoo Finance in a Tuesday interview.

"It's not that people don't win lotteries, and certainly the apes — as they call themselves — that are behind this have their day. And so, let's have them have their day."

"Apes" is Reddit slang for retail investors who are bullish on heavily-shorted stocks.

Meme stocks have soared in recent days as retail traders attempt to revive the Reddit-fuelled trade, despite the market bracing for an ever-more aggressive Federal Reserve.

Shares in video-game retailer GameStop are 46% higher, and movie-theater chain AMC's stock is up by a whopping 61% in the last seven days. But Gross noted their high volatility makes them inherently risky.

"The real valuation here is a question of volatility, and the volatility on AMC and GameStop is 120 or so," he said, referring to percentage volatility.

Volatility for an average stock, which reflects the amount a share price has differed over a period, tends to be 15%. 

Trading in both stocks was halted briefly on Tuesday morning, after they saw violent swings in price and high volume.

The original "Bond King" holds bearish bets against both stocks and has been using options to short them — that is, betting their price will fall.

"If you can sell options that are out of the money levels, then ultimately these lottery ticket companies — which have very little behind them, in my opinion — will go down," he said.

A person who sells a call option is selling the right to a buyer to purchase an underlying security at a set price before a certain date.

After the astonishing Reddit-fuelled GameStop short squeeze in early 2021, the buzz behind meme stocks faded at the start of this year during a rout in the broader market. Some market observers said retail traders were rotating into cryptocurrencies.

Gross recently told the Financial Times he'd lost sleep and money betting against AMC and GameStop. But after sticking to his short strategy, he found himself up by as much as $20 million. 

He now admits his bearish bets aren't faring well yet again, given that the meme stock mania has returned.

Gross isn't surprised by the influence that millennial retail traders have on the market.

"It's hard to go against momentum, and it's hard to go against the crowd, because it's a crowd that determines direction and upward momentum, if we're in a bull market," he said.

"Will they ever become more negative and bearish? It'll take some time. They simply think that stocks go up, that double digits are what they deserve. And we shall see."

Read More: Bitcoin bull run back on or a false dawn? Analysts weigh in on where the crypto market is heading next after this month's robust rally — and share the key indicators to watch

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Russia brought back a US astronaut from the ISS despite the two countries cutting most ties over the invasion of Ukraine

Mark Vande Hei hugging Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov goodbye on the ISS on March 29, 2022.

NASA

• US astronaut Mark Vande Hei departed the ISS on Wednesday to return to Earth. 
• He left on a Russian Soyuz capsule, amid tension between Russia's space program and the US.
• Russia's space chief Rogozin has taken to disparaging the US on social media over its sanctions. 

US astronaut Mark Vande Hei set off Wednesday to return Earth on a Russian space capsule. Vande Hei spent 355 days in the International Space Station (ISS) — the longest ever trip in low-Earth orbit.

Vande Hei boarded the Russia Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft on Wednesday with Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov.

The trip is an example of increasing rare US-Russian cooperation after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Western retaliatory sanctions severed many of the ties between the two.

The spacecraft undocked from the ISS at 3:21 a.m. ET and was on its way back to Earth at the time of publication.

—International Space Station (@Space_Station) March 30, 2022

Vande Hei, Shkaplerov, and Dubrov are due to land in Kazakhstan at 7:28 a.m ET. NASA set up a live stream of Vande Hei's return.

Vande Hei's record-breaking achievement was marred by raised tensions between Russia and the US.

In recent weeks, Russia's space agency chief Dimitry Rogozin has criticized the US sanctions in aggresive social-media posts, including a public spat on Twitter with former US astronaut Mark Kelly.

A heavily edited video aired by the State-Owned RIA Novosti and shared by NASA Watch on March 5 hinted at the possibility that Russia could refuse to return Vande Hei to Earth, stranding him in orbit.

It showed Russian cosmonauts seemingly waving goodbye at Vande Hei before boarding a shuttle departing from the ISS.

Rogozin, however, said on March 11 that Vande Hei would come back to Earth as planned, and dismissed what he called "hysterical" news reports suggesting otherwise, per Space.com. NASA also confirmed the return would proceed as normal.

Mark Vande Hei works on an agriculture experiment on the International Space Station, January 6, 2022.

NASA

Vande Hei's trip broke the longest spaceflight record — previously set by Kelly in 2016 — by 15 days. During his trip, he studied muscle loss in space, kidney health, and fire safety among other topics, as shown in a tweet below.

—ISS Research (@ISS_Research) March 25, 2022

Roscosmos cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov handed over command of the ISS to NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn on Tuesday in a collegial ceremony, during which he said the crew "worked together very hard." 

"We worked very hard, like one crew, and we did not have problems," he said.

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JPMorgan won a court order authorizing the seizure of a Russian oligarch's $75 million superyacht in Gibraltar, report says

Dmitry Pumpyansky's superyacht Axioma.

SuperyachtTimes.com

• JPMorgan won a court order authorizing seizure of a Russian oligarch's superyacht, per Bloomberg.
• Gibraltar's government told Insider that the bank "is acting pursuant to its mortgage rights."
• The yacht is owned by the billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky, who has been sanctioned by the UK and EU.

Investment bank JPMorgan Chase won a court order that authorized the seizure of a Russian oligarch's superyacht in Gibraltar last week, Bloomberg reported on Monday.

The government of Gibraltar, a British overseas territory on Spain's south coast, said on March 21 that it had impounded a $75 million yacht owned by the billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky, who was sanctioned by the UK and European Union over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

JPMorgan won the court order which allowed port authorities in Gibraltar to seize the yacht, called Axioma, according to Bloomberg.

"JPMorgan is acting pursuant to its mortgage rights," a spokesperson for the Gibraltar government told Insider. "Her Majesty's Government of Gibraltar is exercising rights to enforce freezing sanctions also."

JPMorgan declined to comment to Bloomberg. The bank didn't immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

On the day of the seizure, Gibraltar's government said in a statement sent to Insider that the yacht was "confirmed to be the subject of an arrest action by a leading international bank in the Supreme Court of Gibraltar."

The government added that it normally wouldn't have allowed Axioma to enter British territorial waters but it was permitted "in the interests of creditors with proper claims against the vessel and who seek the assistance of the Admiralty jurisdiction of the Supreme court to enforce such claims."

Pumpyansky, who is the owner of Russia's biggest steel-pipe-maker, TMK, has a net worth of $1.1 billion, Forbes reported. The Gibraltar government told Insider that he was the owner of Axioma, which has two swimming pools, a gym, and a cinema onboard, according to SuperYachtFan.

European countries have seized a number of yachts and other assets belonging to Russian oligarchs, who have been targeted by sanctions aimed at pressuring President Vladimir Putin into withdrawing from the invasion of Ukraine. 

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Global stocks edge higher as Russia-Ukraine peace talks in focus, while oil rises on Saudi Aramco price boost reports

Ukrainian troops walk near a destroyed bridge in the town of Irpin outside of Kyiv, March 12, 2022.

REUTERS/Marko Djurica

• US futures and European stocks rose on Tuesday ahead of peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv.
• The talks are the first in 2 weeks, while Western officials discuss non-Russian energy supplies and more sanctions.
• Oil briefly rose on reports Saudi Aramco may boost prices of its crude, as COVID cases rise in China.

Global stocks rose on Tuesday ahead of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, as the two sides attempt to broker a ceasefire agreement.

US futures rose, with those on the S&P 500 up 0.32%, Dow Jones futures up 0.32%, and with Nasdaq 100 futures gaining 0.25%. European stocks also rose, with the UK's FTSE 100 up 0.88%, the German DAX climbing 1.24%, the French CAC 40 jumping 1.59%, while the pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 1.07%.

"S&P 500 futures moved beyond the 100-day moving average yesterday and are extending the gains today basically confirming that the market for now is shrugging off the war in Ukraine, higher interest rates, and tight commodity markets," Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank, said.

Oil rose following reports Saudi Arabia had raised its official monthly selling prices to Asian customers to record highs — a sign traders interpret as a lack of concern about a drop-off in demand in China, where surging COVID cases have forced financial hub Shanghai into lockdown.

Brent crude was last up 0.3% at $109.79 a barrel, having risen to as much as $111.59 earlier in the day, while WTI crude fell 0.2% to $105.86 a barrel, below a session high of $107.66.

Oil fell by almost 7% on Monday, after as a surge in cases of COVID in China and lockdowns in various major cities threatened to undermine demand for oil in the world's largest energy importer. 

"For the first time since war broke out in Ukraine more than a month ago, the price movement was not primarily attributable to news about the war. Instead, it was caused mainly by the lockdown in the Chinese business hub of Shanghai," said Commerzbank.

As war in Ukraine enters its second month, peace talks so far have brought little in the way of progress. Flows of key raw materials such as wheat, coal and nickel from both Russian and Ukraine have been disrupted by conflict, which in turn has seen commodity prices soar.

Western officials are considering further sanctions on Russia, while US and German officials are discussing alternative sources of fuel, given Germany's huge reliance on Russian oil and gas.

Mark Haefele, Chief Investment Officer, UBS Global Wealth Management, said: "In the near term, we believe the most critical question for markets, one that will determine which of these scenarios plays out, is when will we reach – or have we already reached – peak sanctions and oil prices?"

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Putin was handed a note from Zelenskyy seeking peace by Roman Abramovich, but replied 'tell him I will thrash them,' report says

The Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.

Getty/Peter Macdiarmid

• Abramovich gave Putin a note from Zelenskyy outlining how the war could end, The Times of London reported.
• But Putin reacted to the handwritten note by saying: "Tell him I will thrash them," the report said.
• Abramovich has been taking part in peace talks. Those talks have made little progress so far.

The Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich handed Russian President Vladimir Putin a handwritten note from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seeking peace, but Putin rejected it, The Times of London reported.

Abramovich met with Putin in Moscow earlier this month, where he was handed the note from Zelenskyy to give to Putin, The Times reported. Abramovich has been involved in the peace talks, and Zelenskyy said that Abramovich had been trying to help. 

According to the report, the note laid out the terms that Zelenskyy would accept to end the war, which started when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

But Putin was not convinced, saying: "Tell him I will thrash them," The Times reported.

On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Abramovich and Ukrainian peace negotiators experienced symptoms consistent with a poisoning attack earlier in March.

The investigative news outlet Bellingcat then reported that it could "confirm that three members of the delegation attending the peace talks between Ukraine and Russia on the night of 3 to 4 March 2022 experienced symptoms consistent with poisoning with chemical weapons."

Abramovich was seen in Istanbul, Turkey, for the latest round of peace talks on Tuesday.

Representatives for both countries have met multiple times since the start of the war, but have made little progress.

Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Russian businessmen were offering help to Ukraine as they were keen to avoid Western sanctions over the invasion.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Zelenskyy asked the US not to sanction Abramovich because he could be helpful in peace talks, and the US Treasury then stopped plans to do so.

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Russian stocks fall again as Moscow Exchange expands trading to all shares after month-long shutdown

Moscow's stock exchange has reopened after a monthlong closure.

Maxim Shemetov/Getty Images

• Russia's Moex stock index slipped for a second day as trading on the Moscow Exchange was extended to all stocks.
• Moscow Exchange suspended trading for a month following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
• Strict limits on buying and selling have not stopped equities from falling for the last two sessions.

Russian stocks fell again on Monday, as the Moscow Exchange expanded to trading to include all shares after closing the market for a month.

The country's benchmark Moex index was down 1.6% about two-and-a-half hours into the shortened four-hour session.

Some of the biggest companies fell for a second day, after the index closed in the red Friday. Lender Sberbank was down 3.6%, oil company Lukoil was 1.7% lower, and natural gas firm Novatek was down around 0.9%.

The Moscow Exchange expanded trading to cover all Russian shares Monday. Last week, it tentatively reopened trading in 33 of the biggest companies, having suspended the market since February 25, the day after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Stocks rose around 4% Thursday, but fell by a similar amount Friday. The index has fallen around 40% so far this year as of Monday, having crashed 33% on the day the invasion of Ukraine began. Russian stocks have been the worst performers in the world in 2022.

Authorities have put restrictions in place in an effort to limit the damage to Russian assets. The trading day has been shortened to four hours; foreigners are banned from selling stocks; and short-selling — where investors bet a share will fall — is also banned.

The government has ordered the country's sovereign wealth fund to put aside $10 billion to potentially support financial markets. However, Bloomberg reported Friday that the money has not been used so far.

Western investors have been scrambling to cut their exposure to Russia, which has become an international pariah and which is expected to enter a brutal recession this year. Those efforts have been complicated by international sanctions and the strict limits on trading within Russia, however.

Last week, the US slammed the reopening of the Moscow Exchange as a "charade." White House economic adviser Daleep Singh said: "This is not a real market and not a sustainable model."

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