Chinese court to try Chinese Australian journalist next week


 Cheng Lei, a Chinese-born Australian journalist for CGTN, the English-language channel of China Central Television, attends a public event in Beijing on Aug. 12, 2020. The Chinese Australian journalist who has been held in China since August 2020 will be tried next week, the Australian government said Saturday, March 26, 2022. Cheng was initially detained and later formally arrested on suspicion of supplying state secrets overseas.

AP Photo/Ng Han Guan

Fri, March 25, 2022

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese Australian journalist who has been held in China since August 2020 will be tried next week, the Australian government said Saturday.

Cheng Lei, who was a prominent journalist for China's state-run international network CGTN, was initially detained and later formally arrested on suspicion of supplying state secrets overseas.

The Chinese government has notified Australia that her trial will be held on Thursday, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said in a statement posted online.

“We expect basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment to be met, in accordance with international norms,” the statement said.

The National Press Clubs of the United States and Australia as well as the journalist’s former CGTN colleagues and friends wrote open letters last year calling for her immediate release.

“Cheng Lei’s yearlong detention is an assault on journalism and on human rights," a U.S. National Press Club statement said.

Australia has raised concern about Cheng's welfare and detention conditions. Payne's statement said that government officials last visited her on March 21. They have asked to be allowed to attend the trial.

Cheng was born in China and graduated from the University of Queensland. Before becoming a journalist, she worked as an accountant and financial analyst in Australia for Cadbury Schweppes and ExxonMobil from 1995 to 2000, according to her CGTN profile.

She moved to China in 2001 and joined state broadcaster CCTV the following year. She then was the China correspondent for CNBC Asia for nine years before returning to CCTV in 2012. She was the anchor of a business program on CGTN, the state broadcaster's international arm.

Mexico's president downplays U.S. claim of Russian agents in Mexico

TROTSKY WAS KILLED BY A RUSSIAN SPY IN MEXICO

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks

 during a news conference in Mexico City

Fri, March 25, 2022

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's president on Friday said he had no information about comments from a U.S. general that Russian intelligence agents are based in Mexico, and reiterated Mexico's non-interventionist stance.

"We don't have information on this," President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told a regular news conference when asked about the general's remarks, adding that the government would not impede any foreigner from carrying out legal activities.

"Mexico is a free, independent, sovereign country ... We're not going to Moscow to spy on anybody, nor to Beijing... nor to Washington," he said.

U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck told a Senate hearing on Thursday that Russia's military intelligence service has its "largest portion" of members in Mexico. He added they "keep an eye very closely on their opportunities to have influence on U.S. opportunities and access."

Russia's embassy in Mexico did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Lopez Obrador has sought to remain neutral in the Ukraine conflict, even as the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, has urged Mexican lawmakers to join the United States in supporting Kyiv against Russia's invasion.

Russia's ambassador to Mexico, Viktor Koronelli, addressed lawmakers at a newly inaugurated "Mexico-Russia friendship committee" this week, encouraging Mexico to defy "Uncle Sam."

(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon and Raul Cortes; Editing by Alistair Bell)

Yemen's Houthis suspend strikes on Saudi Arabia for three days

Smoke billows from a Saudi Aramco's petroleum storage facility after an attack in Jeddah

Sat, March 26, 2022
By Aziz El Yaakoubi

RIYADH (Reuters) -Yemen's Houthi group said on Saturday it was suspending missile and drone strikes on Saudi Arabia for three days, in a peace initiative it said could be a lasting commitment if the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen stopped air strikes and lifted port restrictions.

The group also announced a three-day suspension of ground offensive operations in Yemen, including in the gas-producing region of Marib, said Mahdi al-Mashat, the head of the Houthis' political office, in a speech broadcast on television.

"This is a sincere invitation and practical steps to rebuild trust and take all the sides from the arena of talks to the arena of acts," Mashat said.

The unilateral initiative came as the war between the Iran-aligned group and the Saudi-led coalition entered its eighth year, and violence has worsened over recent months. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, and left millions facing starvation and disease.

The Saudi-led coalition pounded the Houthi-controlled sea ports of Hodeidah and Salif with air strikes on Saturday, a day after the group launched broad attacks on Saudi Arabia, including on an oil facility in Jeddah, causing a huge fire that sent up a big plume of black smoke.

Crude prices rose more than 1% to over $120 a barrel on Friday, following the Jeddah attacks.

CEASEFIRE CONDITIONS

Lifting restrictions imposed by the coalition's warships on Yemen's Red Sea ports has been a major Houthi condition for a ceasefire. Saudi Arabia says there is no blockade on the ports and that it is only preventing arms smuggling.

Saturday's initiative would last if the coalition reopened the ports and stopped its air strikes, Mashat said, adding that the group would extend the suspension of ground operations if Saudi Arabia announced a withdrawal of foreign troops from Yemen and stopped backing local militias.

It is unlikely that the kingdom would agree to such conditions, as Riyadh seeks an inclusive ceasefire simultaneously with reopening the ports and Sanaa airport.

The Saudi-led coalition offered a unilateral ceasefire last year. The Houthis rejected the offer, saying the humanitarian situation and reopening of the ports needed to be addressed before any peace talks.

Mashat said the group was ready to release all prisoners, including the brother of Yemen's president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The United Nations is also trying to secure a temporary truce for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that starts in April, and ahead of Riyadh's hosting of Yemeni parties for consultations later this month.

The conflict is widely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, but the Houthis say they are fighting a corrupt system and foreign aggression.

(Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

SHOULD DO THE SAME TO LINDSEY GRAHAM
Russian ambassador files lawsuit against Italian newspaper over article suggesting Putin's death

Fri, March 25, 2022

Russian Ambassador to Italy Sergey Razov filed a lawsuit on Friday against the Italian newspaper La Stampa after it published an analysis suggesting killing Russian President Vladimir Putin as a means of stopping the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The analysis, titled "If killing Putin is the only way out," said that killing the Russian president might be the only option if all others are exhausted, Reuters reported.

Razov believed that the Italian news outlet was condoning and soliciting a crime to happen from their analysis, according to Reuters.

"Needless to say that this goes against the rules of journalism and morality," the Russian ambassador told reporters.

But the editor of La Stampa said in a video on its website posted in response that the Russian ambassador's remarks were hypocritical given Russia's own history. He also said the conclusion the analysis came to was that killing Putin could worsen the conflict and that killing tyrants was often not productive.

"We do not take lessons from an illiberal regime that slaughters humanity and truth," Massimo Giannini said, according to Reuters.

The analysis comes as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) received blowback several times for calling for Putin's assassination.

During a press conference earlier this month, a reporter asked him if he still stood by his previous comments calling on Putin to be killed.

"Yeah, I hope he will be taken out one way or the other," Graham said.

"I don't care how they take him out. I don't care if we send him to the Hague and try him. I just want him to go. Yes, I'm on record," Graham added. "And if [the late Sen.] John McCain were here, he'd be saying the same thing, I think."

However, Republicans and the White House have distanced themselves from Graham's rhetoric, saying it was not a good idea.

Climate change is making the end of winter more dangerous

Late winter is getting a little warmer – but killing freezes after a warm spell are a growing risk


As the U.S. warms, some areas of Florida that once were at risk of a spring frost no longer are. 

March 26, 2022 

By Debbie Carlson

The end of winter in the U.S. is getting more dangerous for food growers – and that could be another risk for food prices.

The changing weather patterns could significantly hurt food and agriculture businesses, such as those in the Invesco Dynamic Food & Beverage ETF PBJ, +1.01%, including ADM ADM, +3.38%, and General Mills GIS, +1.55%, and may cause crop prices to fluctuate, as tracked by Invesco DB Agriculture Fund DBA, +0.77%.

Using new information derived from its 1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration updated its spring freeze map, which shows the most common date range where areas across the U.S. can expect to see temperatures dip under 32 degrees Fahrenheit for the last time before summer.

NOAA is the U.S. government’s scientific regulatory agency that forecasts weather and monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditions, and its climate normals reflect the impacts of the changing climate on day-to-date experiences. Normals are baselines to compare the current weather to what would normally be expected for the time of year. These cover 30-year periods and are updated every 10 years.

Looking at the new map versus the previous map from 1981-2010, there seems to be little change. While subtle, it’s there and it shows how climate change is warming parts of the country.

Here’s the new map:

NOAA

And here’s the previous one:

NOAA

Squares on the map represent areas that are susceptible to freeze any time of the year, and a close read shows there are fewer of them, especially in the Rocky Mountains, areas of northern Wisconsin, Michigan and New England, says Mike Palecki, U.S. climate normals project manager for NOAA.

Some squares disappeared because a recording station stopped, Palecki says, but overall it shows a greater trend of some areas no longer being at risk for a freeze year-round. That’s particularly noticeable in the West and in the Rocky Mountains, where the number of locations that can have a freeze year-round are only happening at even higher elevations.

On the flip side, there are more places now – look at Florida, Texas and California – that were at risk from some freeze that haven’t seen any frost no longer experience frost. That underscores how those areas are warming faster. Those places are marked with circles on the map. It also shows how as a country, the western U.S. is warming at a faster rate than the eastern U.S.

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A more troubling trend

Not visible on the map is a more troubling trend, especially for farmers and home gardeners. Palecki says the data from climate normals shows there’s more heat accumulating before the last frost date, with early springtime warmer in much of the U.S., except for small areas in the Dakotas.

Known as growing degree days, this data are used to estimate plant and insect growth during a season. With more warmth in early spring, there’s a better chance of having plants start to grow before the last frost. That leaves tender plants at risk of a late killing frost.

“The possibilities of a cold air mass coming down from Canada into Chicago have not changed very much during the course of the spring. So you can have considerable warmth in say, March and early April, but you can still have that cold air mass that brings the last frost down to your area just the same,” he says.

Palecki says this type of weather pattern has been a problem for the cherry crops in northern Michigan. Trees blossom in warm early spring temps, but frosts cause the flowers to drop and no cherries are produced. According to Michigan Climate Action Network, Michigan cherry farmers have seen serious crop losses in 2002, 2012 and 2015. Washington state, another big cherry grower, has also experienced big losses.

These maps are from NOAA; so far the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which produces zone maps for horticulture use hasn’t updated its data. But these maps are useful for home gardeners. Don’t jump the gun and plant those tender summer tomato and pepper plants after a week of warm weather in early spring.

NEO-LIBERAL STATE CAPITALI$M
Russia plans reserve fleet of railway wagons for 'state tasks'


A passenger train moves along an illuminated bridge across the Yenisei River in Krasnoyarsk

Fri, March 25, 2022,

(Reuters) - Russia plans to establish a reserve fleet of railway wagons for "state tasks", according to a letter seen by Reuters, as state needs expand because of its military operation in Ukraine.

Valentina Matviyenko, chair of the upper house of parliament and a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, said this week that, as Russia now had a "mobilisation economy", private rail firms should support state interests and allow Russian Railways to use their wagons.

The letter, dated March 22, says the reserve railcars would enable "transportation of socially significant cargoes" and asks Russian Railways, the federal anti-monopoly service, the ministry of transport and the main industry association to respond by April 10. None of these responded to a Reuters request for comment.

State monopoly Russian Railways controls tracks and infrastructure, but the more than 1.1 million rail wagons in Russia are majority-owned by private firms including Freight One, Globaltrans, Transcontainer and the Russian Railways subsidiary, Federal Freight.

Matviyenko said she planned to ask the Security Council - which is chaired by Putin and advises him on policy including the use of Russian military forces abroad - to look into private rail operators.

The head of Russian Railways, Oleg Belozerov, told Security Council members on Tuesday that the state operator should be given about 10% of the existing fleet to use.

Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it called a special operation to degrade its southern neighbour’s military capabilities and root out people it called dangerous nationalists.

Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Nick Macfie)

UK isn’t dependent on Vladimir Putin for diesel, insist ministers – but imports have doubled

Hayley Dixon
Fri, March 25, 2022

Average pump prices show that diesel has now risen to around 178.72p

 a litre since Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Britain has nearly doubled imports of Russian diesel in the last decade despite ministers insisting the UK is “not dependent” on Vladimir Putin for energy.

An analysis of official data by The Telegraph has found that Russian diesel used in the UK supply has increased from 10 per cent in 2010 to 18 per cent in 2020.

It comes amid soaring prices as the invasion of Ukraine has sent the oil market into turmoil. Average pump prices show that diesel has now risen to around 178.72p a litre.

Ministers are preparing a new energy strategy and Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, has in recent weeks held talks with other leaders about ending the “addiction” to Russian supplies.


Since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, ministers have been keen to stress that the country gets just 4 per cent of its natural gas from Russia, but fewer mentions have been made of other energy sources.

Analysis of the Government’s Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics (Dukes) also shows that the percentage of the UK’s demand for coal that was imported from Russia has risen from 16 per cent in 2010 to 35 per cent in the first three quarters of 2021.

However, the volume of coal imported has decreased significantly as Britain has reduced its reliance on the fossil fuel for electricity significantly in recent years, with plans to eliminate it entirely by 2024.

The Dukes analysis shows that the UK imported 2,081 thousand tonnes of diesel from Russia in 2012, the first year that data is available, compared to 3,608 thousand tonnes in 2020.

In 2010 the UK produced 74 per cent of the country’s diesel needs, by 2020 it was down to 63 per cent.

Alongside Germany and France, it is one of the largest importers from Russia within Europe, where Moscow exports about 700,000 to 800,000 barrels of diesel per day.

In response to Putin’s “illegal invasion of Ukraine”, Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary vowed to phase out Russian imports of oil by the end of the year.

But last week the Prime Minister appeared to have walked away empty-handed from talks with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that were designed to encourage the states to produce more oil and export it to the UK.

Experts say that imports from other countries could also have originated in Russia and have questioned how dependency will be reduced.

A government spokesperson said: “We are not dependent on Russian energy.

“In the case of diesel, UK demand is met by a combination of domestic production and imports from a diverse range of reliable suppliers beyond Russia, including the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, and USA.

“The government will publish a British Energy Security Strategy which will set out how the UK will become more self-sufficient and move away from Russian energy imports.”

Redacted classified UFO report reveals new info on 'shapes,' investigation into 'unexplained' phenomena


Tyler Olson
Fri, March 25, 2022

A classified government report on "Unexplained Aerial Phenomena" shows the U.S. is investigating the shapes of objects sometimes seen by military pilots, and reveals details of the plan to investigate them.

A highly redacted version of the report, provided to Congress last June, was published this week by Freedom of Information Act activist John Greenewald on his website The Black Vault.

A shorter public version of the report was published around the same by the director of national intelligence (DNI). The longer declassified version published by The Black Vault closely mirrors that report but with additional specific details, especially about the shapes of the "Unexplained Aerial Phenomena" (UAP).

UFO REPORT REVEALS OFFICIALS CAN'T EXPLAIN THE MYSTERIOUS SIGHTINGS

"The most common shape described by military personnel in their reporting was a [redacted]," one part of the classified report published by The Black Vault reads. "Military aviators described many of these [redacted] objects as [redacted] or that [redacted]. Several sightings were [redacted] and resembled [redacted] shapes like a [redacted] or a [redacted]."

The phenomena long have been publicly reported, including as early as 2019 by The New York Times. In a 2019 story, the Times reported U.S. Navy pilots have been seeing these objects for years, with an especially high rate of sightings on the East Coast between 2014 and 2015.

The 2021 report by the DNI said the government recorded 144 reports from 2004 to 2021, including 80 that "involved observation with multiple censors."

The classified version published by The Black Vault also reveals further details about the nature of the reports.

PENTAGON LAUNCHING NEW UFO INVESTIGATION UNIT, REPLACING NAVY GROUP: REPORT

"In 18 incidents, described in 21 reports, observers reported unusual UAP movement patterns or flight characteristics," it says. "Some UAP appeared to remain stationary in winds aloft, move against the wind, maneuver abruptly or move at considerable speed without discernable means of propulsion. In a small number of cases, military aircraft systems processed radio frequency (RF) energy associated with UAP sightings."

That description is consistent with previously published video of the UAP, including some that was declassified by the Pentagon in 2020, as Fox News previously reported.

The most heavily redacted parts of the report published by The Black Vault are from pages and sections that do not appear on the initial unclassified version at all. Those include sections about "common shapes" and "less common/irregular shapes" reported by observers of the phenomena. The entire sections about the shapes are redacted.

The government has said that UAP "probably lack a single explanation," but that it classifies them into five categories. Those are "airborne clutter," including birds and balloons; "natural atmospheric phenomena," including ice crystals or thermal fluctuations; "USG or industry developmental programs," meaning "classified programs by U.S. entities;" and "foreign adversary systems," from Russia, China or other countries. There's also a final catch-all "other" category which the government says "we may require additional scientific knowledge to successfully collect on, analyze and characterize."

Neither the classified nor unclassified reports rule out aliens.

The classified report published by The Black Vault includes what appears to be descriptions of multiple UAP instances reported by Navy pilots, though the details are heavily redacted. It also says that the federal Unexplained Aerial Phenomena Task Force (USATF) plans to "leverage" data sharing of non-military departments in the federal government to learn more about the phenomena.

The report published by The Black Vault also includes a section on the "Geospatial Intelligence," "Signals Intelligence," "Human Intelligence," and "Measurement and Signature Intelligence," used to observe the phenomena. The details in that section are also heavily redacted.

Another appendix in the report published by The Black Vault reveals that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and its resources could be useful in learning more about the UAP.

"Given the national security implications associated with potential threats posed by UAP operating in close proximity to sensitive military activities, installations, critical infrastructure, or other national security sites, the FBI is positioned to use its investigative capabilities and authorities to support deliberate DoD and interagency efforts to determine attribution," the report said.

Analysis-Trudeau political deal offers Canada stability in raucous times


Canada's PM Trudeau speaks in the House of Commons in Ottawa

Fri, March 25, 2022
By Steve Scherer

OTTAWA (Reuters) -After a raucous start to the year and on the heels of a pandemic election that most voters did not want, a deal between Trudeau's ruling Liberals and their leftist rivals to keep power until 2025 may offer a measure of political stability for Canadians, analysts said.

Already this year a trucker protest brought gridlock to Canada's capital and blocked trade at a vital border crossing, prompting Trudeau to invoke rare emergency powers just after the main opposition Conservatives ousted their leader.

With Canada the home to the biggest Ukrainian diaspora outside of Russia, war in Ukraine and hitting the two-year mark of the COVID-19 pandemic is further fueling anxiety.

"Canadians are feeling very uncomfortable right now. A message of stability is not a bad thing," said Darrell Bricker, chief executive officer of pollster Ipsos Public Affairs.

The deal with the left-leaning New Democrats on Tuesday means the Trudeau government is likely to remain in power for years to come. Minority governments like the current one normally last only a couple years.

"With everything that we've gone through over the past few years, to see more bipartisanship emerge I think will be welcomed by a lot of voters," said Karl Belanger, the former national director of the New Democrats.

Stability is also good for a tarnished Trudeau, who has been in power seven years but has failed to win a majority in the past two elections, including last September.

He can now try to get his top agenda items - like spurring green technologies and cutting emissions - off the ground without worrying his government will suddenly collapse.

As one government source put it, the Liberal-NDP deal "is a good way to give up nothing and get stability and predictability. ... It means I have job security".

Garry Keller, a Conservative strategist at public affairs consultancy StrategyCorp, said the Liberals "get the stability that they wanted."

While Trudeau may be the immediate benefactor, it also gives the Conservatives more time to imbed a new leader after their convention in September.

Whoever becomes the fourth Conservative leader in seven years can "not only get ready for an election, but introduce themselves and build a narrative with Canadian voters," Keller said.

For the New Democrats, who have never held federal power, the move may allow leader Jagmeet Singh to convert policies he has long promoted into reality, including dental care for low earners and a national prescription drug coverage program.

But as Belanger pointed out, the true winner from the deal "we'll see only when we when we have an election," and now that could be in 2025.

(Reporting by Steve Scherer; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

A popular Russian blogger and 

TikToker says the Ukrainian

conflict is a 'catastrophe'

Erin Snodgrass,Selima Hussain

Fri, March 25, 2022, 

Natalia KonstantinovaCourtesy of Natalia Konstantinova.

• A Russian blogger told Insider that the Ukrainian conflict feels akin to a "civil war."

• The two former Soviet countries share a similar culture, language, and customs.

• "Ukraine is absolutely a different country," Natalia Konstantinova told Insider. "But we have so many ties together."

A popular Russian blogger and TikToker told Insider that her country's unprovoked assault in Ukraine is a "catastrophe."

Natalia Konstantinova, who runs the popular TikTok and Instagram accounts @natashasrussia from which she educates her hundreds of thousands of followers on all things Russian culture, said the past four weeks have been difficult to process as Russian forces continue targeting Ukrainian cities and civilians.

"It's actually devastation," Konstantinova said of what's happening in Ukraine. "It's catastrophe because something has happened that none of us could imagine."

For weeks leading up to the invasion, Western intelligence suggested such an attack was possible, but both Russians and Ukrainians were skeptical that full-on war was around the corner.

Now, one neighbor attacked the other; a conflict that Konstantinova compared to a "civil war."

"Ukraine is absolutely a different country," she told Insider. "But we have so many ties together. We have a lot of relatives. We have a lot of friends."

The two former Soviet countries share a similar culture, language, and customs. Some regions in Ukraine are even primarily Russian-speaking. Many Russians have family members and friends living in Ukraine, exemplary of the deep historical ties between the two countries.

But much of Russian President Vladimir Putin's pre-war propaganda focused on the false notion that Ukrainian sovereignty was nonexistent; that the country was created by and dependent on Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that conditions for peace must include Ukrainian sovereignty as well as security guarantees and the restoration of territorial integrity.

Konstantinova, who said she has friends in Ukraine whom she tried to help at the onset of the war, acknowledged that the current Ukrainian and Russian plights are not comparable.

"Ukrainians suffer the most because they lose their homes," she said. "They lose their families."

The United Nations on Thursday said the Ukrainian civilian death toll now exceeds 1,000 and more than 3 million people have fled the country.

Still, she said, Russian citizens are feeling the blowback of Putin's war, as well.

"It affects us also," she said. "Like so much."

Konstantinova said Russians are dealing with rising prices and a depressing economy as a result of international sanctions. As a blogger, Konstantinova said she and other Russian content creators are struggling to make ends meet after a slew of payment systems and financial institutions suspended operations in the country.

Konstantinova withdrew all her money from PayPal before the system was blocked in Russia, so she's not yet certain what the impact will be on her finances now that the platforms are null.

"We will see next month how it's gonna be, as people can't donate directly anymore," she said.

She also said she's had to combat an uptick in online attacks and internet hate targeting her nationality and aiming to make her "ashamed" of being Russian.

"So all of us get these messages that we are baby killers, that we are awful," she said. "That we are the killers, we are the evil ones."

But Konstantinova said she refuses to buy into that idea.

"It's not a shame to be Russian right now. Nobody should be ashamed of their nationality or ethnicity," she said. "It is a shame to be Putinist, yes."

While she doesn't condone the online attacks, she told Insider she does understand the sentiment behind them.

"I know that they see in me like the whole population of the Russian Federation," she said. "And they see in me a person who's responsible for all of this. But it's not true."

The attacks, she said, are likely coming from people who feel helpless — a feeling she understands fully.

"You sit there and you can't do anything and it's probably the worst feeling ever," she said. "We see it and we can't change anything."

By speaking out against the war — or as Russians have been instructed to call the conflict, the "special operation" —Konstantinova knows that she risks consequences amid the country's crackdown on public dissent.

Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new law that would punish anyone who shares "false information" about the war with up to 15 years in prison. The country also banned Facebook and Instagram under a new "extremism law."

As such, she is extra cognizant of her platform and believes it gives her a responsibility to inform and educate.

"There are so many people who live here, and for right now I see that if I have this tool to connect average people from abroad to average people who live here — so I'm gonna use it till like no, till the end," she said. "Until I'm detained or something. So, it's a great responsibility.