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Russia’s wealthiest business magnates pulled a record amount of cash from their companies in the form of dividends in 2024, Forbes Russia has said in a new report.

The news comes as the country’s economy teeters on the edge of recession.

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Total payouts from major Russian corporations to 50 of the wealthiest businessmen in the country reached a historic high of 1.769 trillion rubles ($20 billion) in 2024. In comparison, these figures had remained under 1.4 trillion rubles ($18.2 billion) in both 2022 and 2023.

At least 11 individuals received over 50 billion rubles ($650 million) each in dividends last year.

The top recipient was Alexei Mordashov, the controlling shareholder of steel giant Severstal, who, along with affiliated entities, received 201.8 billion rubles ($2.62 billion).

Close behind was Lukoil co-owner Vagit Alekperov, who took home 201 billion rubles ($2.61 billion).

Steel tycoon Vladimir Lisin, who rejoined the billionaire rankings this year, claimed third place with nearly 152 billion rubles ($1.98 billion), most of it in dividends from his company NLMK.

Rounding out the top five were Leonid Mikhelson, a key shareholder in gas and petrochemical firms Novatek and Sibur (104 billion rubles, or $1.35 billion), and Alisher Usmanov, the head of holding company USM (96.2 billion rubles, or $1.25 billion).

The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), a lobbying group representing the country’s largest corporations, including many of the individuals named, has been voicing concern about the state of the economy for the past two years. It warned that borrowing costs are now unsustainable due to the Central Bank’s key interest rate, with many companies approaching technical default.

The RSPP said that the Russian economy has exhibited clear signs of recession, particularly in the civilian sectors still reeling from Western sanctions, since late 2024.

Meanwhile, more than 50 firms opted to retain earnings in 2024. According to Igor Danilenko, director of investments at Renaissance Capital, these companies maintained liquidity and directed profits to operational goals and investments.

But the country’s richest individuals appear to have chosen to prioritize personal payouts over corporate stability.

Severstal CEO Alexander Shevelev even warned that if current financial pressures persist, steel companies may be forced to halt production entirely.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37950684

Archived

The former head of the UK’s civil service has described the Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a “dictator” and said Donald Trump had put “helpful pressure” on Europe to increase defence spending.

Simon Case, who served as the cabinet secretary until December, when he stepped down on health grounds, said China had sent a clear message to “prepare for serious conflict” in Taiwan.

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The UK has committed to spend the equivalent of 2.6% of GDP in 2027, and it and other Nato members have signed up to increasing spending to 5% by 2035 on militaries and related security.

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Case said: “There’s some actually quite helpful pressure, if you ask me – [this is a] slightly unpopular view – from the White House about us pulling our fingers out in Europe and actually stepping up to the plate on our defence spending."

“But the reason that matters is because President Xi has publicly set out his timetable for, as he would put it, reunifying Taiwan. We’re incredibly bad at reading what dictators say in public. We spend millions of pounds on secret intelligence, which is absolutely amazing, but we’re really bad at missing what they actually say in public, which is, this is the timetable at which I want everybody to be ready for us to prepare for serious conflict.”

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Case also raised the threat of Russia starting further conflicts in Europe, beyond Ukraine.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37950684

Archived

The former head of the UK’s civil service has described the Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a “dictator” and said Donald Trump had put “helpful pressure” on Europe to increase defence spending.

Simon Case, who served as the cabinet secretary until December, when he stepped down on health grounds, said China had sent a clear message to “prepare for serious conflict” in Taiwan.

[...]

The UK has committed to spend the equivalent of 2.6% of GDP in 2027, and it and other Nato members have signed up to increasing spending to 5% by 2035 on militaries and related security.

[...]

Case said: “There’s some actually quite helpful pressure, if you ask me – [this is a] slightly unpopular view – from the White House about us pulling our fingers out in Europe and actually stepping up to the plate on our defence spending."

“But the reason that matters is because President Xi has publicly set out his timetable for, as he would put it, reunifying Taiwan. We’re incredibly bad at reading what dictators say in public. We spend millions of pounds on secret intelligence, which is absolutely amazing, but we’re really bad at missing what they actually say in public, which is, this is the timetable at which I want everybody to be ready for us to prepare for serious conflict.”

[...]

Case also raised the threat of Russia starting further conflicts in Europe, beyond Ukraine.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37950684

Archived

The former head of the UK’s civil service has described the Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a “dictator” and said Donald Trump had put “helpful pressure” on Europe to increase defence spending.

Simon Case, who served as the cabinet secretary until December, when he stepped down on health grounds, said China had sent a clear message to “prepare for serious conflict” in Taiwan.

[...]

The UK has committed to spend the equivalent of 2.6% of GDP in 2027, and it and other Nato members have signed up to increasing spending to 5% by 2035 on militaries and related security.

[...]

Case said: “There’s some actually quite helpful pressure, if you ask me – [this is a] slightly unpopular view – from the White House about us pulling our fingers out in Europe and actually stepping up to the plate on our defence spending."

“But the reason that matters is because President Xi has publicly set out his timetable for, as he would put it, reunifying Taiwan. We’re incredibly bad at reading what dictators say in public. We spend millions of pounds on secret intelligence, which is absolutely amazing, but we’re really bad at missing what they actually say in public, which is, this is the timetable at which I want everybody to be ready for us to prepare for serious conflict.”

[...]

Case also raised the threat of Russia starting further conflicts in Europe, beyond Ukraine.

[...]

Archived

The former head of the UK’s civil service has described the Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a “dictator” and said Donald Trump had put “helpful pressure” on Europe to increase defence spending.

Simon Case, who served as the cabinet secretary until December, when he stepped down on health grounds, said China had sent a clear message to “prepare for serious conflict” in Taiwan.

[...]

The UK has committed to spend the equivalent of 2.6% of GDP in 2027, and it and other Nato members have signed up to increasing spending to 5% by 2035 on militaries and related security.

[...]

Case said: “There’s some actually quite helpful pressure, if you ask me – [this is a] slightly unpopular view – from the White House about us pulling our fingers out in Europe and actually stepping up to the plate on our defence spending."

“But the reason that matters is because President Xi has publicly set out his timetable for, as he would put it, reunifying Taiwan. We’re incredibly bad at reading what dictators say in public. We spend millions of pounds on secret intelligence, which is absolutely amazing, but we’re really bad at missing what they actually say in public, which is, this is the timetable at which I want everybody to be ready for us to prepare for serious conflict.”

[...]

Case also raised the threat of Russia starting further conflicts in Europe, beyond Ukraine.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37950350

Archived

• [Security firm] Silent Push Threat Analysts followed a tip from Mexican journalist Ignacio Gómez Villaseñor about a threat actor targeting “Hot Sale 2025,” an annual sales event similar to “Black Friday” in the U.S.
• The team pivoted from that Mexico-centric campaign into thousands of websites that broadly targeted a more global audience with abundant waves of fake marketplace scams.
• We identified a private technical fingerprint associated with this infrastructure, which contains Chinese words and characters to strongly indicate that the developers of this network are from China.
• Our analysts observed this threat actor group building multiple phishing websites with pages spoofing well-known retailers, including Apple, Harbor Freight Tools, Michael Kors, REI, Wayfair, and Wrangler Jeans.
• The threat actor has also been caught abusing online payment services, including MasterCard, PayPal, and Visa, as well as payment security techniques such as Google Pay, across the campaign’s network of scam websites.

[...]

Archived

• [Security firm] Silent Push Threat Analysts followed a tip from Mexican journalist Ignacio Gómez Villaseñor about a threat actor targeting “Hot Sale 2025,” an annual sales event similar to “Black Friday” in the U.S.
• The team pivoted from that Mexico-centric campaign into thousands of websites that broadly targeted a more global audience with abundant waves of fake marketplace scams.
• We identified a private technical fingerprint associated with this infrastructure, which contains Chinese words and characters to strongly indicate that the developers of this network are from China.
• Our analysts observed this threat actor group building multiple phishing websites with pages spoofing well-known retailers, including Apple, Harbor Freight Tools, Michael Kors, REI, Wayfair, and Wrangler Jeans.
• The threat actor has also been caught abusing online payment services, including MasterCard, PayPal, and Visa, as well as payment security techniques such as Google Pay, across the campaign’s network of scam websites.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37949537

Archived

• Le Chat by Mistral AI is the least privacy-invasive platform, with ChatGPT and Grok following closely behind. These platforms ranked highest when it comes to how transparent they are on how they use and collect data, and how easy it is to opt out of having personal data used to train underlying models.
• Platforms developed by the biggest tech companies turned out to be the most privacy invasive, with Meta AI (Meta) being the worst, followed by Gemini (Google) and Copilot (Microsoft). DeepSeek.
• Gemini, DeepSeek, Pi AI, and Meta AI don’t seem to allow users to opt out of having prompts used to train the models.
• All investigated models collect users’ data from “publicly accessible sources, ” which could include personal information.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37949537

Archived

• Le Chat by Mistral AI is the least privacy-invasive platform, with ChatGPT and Grok following closely behind. These platforms ranked highest when it comes to how transparent they are on how they use and collect data, and how easy it is to opt out of having personal data used to train underlying models.
• Platforms developed by the biggest tech companies turned out to be the most privacy invasive, with Meta AI (Meta) being the worst, followed by Gemini (Google) and Copilot (Microsoft). DeepSeek.
• Gemini, DeepSeek, Pi AI, and Meta AI don’t seem to allow users to opt out of having prompts used to train the models.
• All investigated models collect users’ data from “publicly accessible sources, ” which could include personal information.

[...]

Archived

• Le Chat by Mistral AI is the least privacy-invasive platform, with ChatGPT and Grok following closely behind. These platforms ranked highest when it comes to how transparent they are on how they use and collect data, and how easy it is to opt out of having personal data used to train underlying models.
• Platforms developed by the biggest tech companies turned out to be the most privacy invasive, with Meta AI (Meta) being the worst, followed by Gemini (Google) and Copilot (Microsoft). DeepSeek.
• Gemini, DeepSeek, Pi AI, and Meta AI don’t seem to allow users to opt out of having prompts used to train the models.
• All investigated models collect users’ data from “publicly accessible sources, ” which could include personal information.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37947475

Archived

THE Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG), a civil society and human rights organization, is pleading with the government of Zimbabwe to urgently rein in the operations of a Magunje-based Chinese miner over a web of human rights violations.

alleged that China-based West International Holdings, in partnership with local Labenmon Investments, following documented human rights abuses, forced displacements, and environmental destruction linked to the Magunje cement and mining projects, has presided over gross human rights abuses.

CNRG said the two companies are jointly investing US$1 billion to construct a cement plant in Magunje, Mashonaland West, with a production capacity of 900,000 tons of cement per year, and 1.8 million tons of clinker, supported by a 100MW captive power plant. The investment is also expected to generate 5,000 jobs.

"However, the promise of economic opportunity is being undermined by allegations of land grabs, community exclusion, and rights violations in the host area.

"Following growing distress calls from the community, CNRG visited the area and documented overwhelming evidence of land dispossession, intimidation, pollution, and labour exploitation in the name of clean energy and development," said CNRG.

Part of the findings was that families were uprooted from their ancestral land without compensation after the companies took advantage of fraudulent consultation exercises.

The organisation reported that eight villagers from Kapere, including the Headman, were arrested for protecting their land and have been repeatedly appearing in Karoi Magistrate Court, despite the absence of the complainants.

CNRG staff were also threatened by armed Zimbabwe National Army personnel at a mining site in Kemapondo village.

Magunje Dam, a vital source of water for thousands of residents, is allegedly being polluted by effluent discharge from the cement plant, leading to the destruction of farmlands and gardens following fires ignited by the company during a land-clearing exercise.

The mining rights-based organisation said workers employed by the companies are operating under unsafe conditions, political discrimination, lack of contracts and low wages that are pegged below the National Employment Council (NEC) agreed rates.

[...]

Mining operations have long been fraught with environmental disasters and human rights issues. For China, the growing coverage of these issues increasingly challenges its framing of its operations as mutually beneficial and aligned with global green energy goals.

In 2024, President Xi Jinping said China's relations with Africa were enjoying their "best period in history". This view is echoed in China's media coverage, with focus on the successes and emphasis on the "win-win" narratives about its operations.

The "win-win" slogan was found to resonate in North African social media discussions, where users expressed greater trust in China than other Western or regional partners.

A timeline of rights abuses by Chinese mining companies in Africa by British broadcaster BBC presents a different perspective - one that is more prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa than it is in the north. It offers a glimpse into the steady negative coverage threatening China's image in its longstanding relationship with Africa.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37947475

Archived

THE Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG), a civil society and human rights organization, is pleading with the government of Zimbabwe to urgently rein in the operations of a Magunje-based Chinese miner over a web of human rights violations.

alleged that China-based West International Holdings, in partnership with local Labenmon Investments, following documented human rights abuses, forced displacements, and environmental destruction linked to the Magunje cement and mining projects, has presided over gross human rights abuses.

CNRG said the two companies are jointly investing US$1 billion to construct a cement plant in Magunje, Mashonaland West, with a production capacity of 900,000 tons of cement per year, and 1.8 million tons of clinker, supported by a 100MW captive power plant. The investment is also expected to generate 5,000 jobs.

"However, the promise of economic opportunity is being undermined by allegations of land grabs, community exclusion, and rights violations in the host area.

"Following growing distress calls from the community, CNRG visited the area and documented overwhelming evidence of land dispossession, intimidation, pollution, and labour exploitation in the name of clean energy and development," said CNRG.

Part of the findings was that families were uprooted from their ancestral land without compensation after the companies took advantage of fraudulent consultation exercises.

The organisation reported that eight villagers from Kapere, including the Headman, were arrested for protecting their land and have been repeatedly appearing in Karoi Magistrate Court, despite the absence of the complainants.

CNRG staff were also threatened by armed Zimbabwe National Army personnel at a mining site in Kemapondo village.

Magunje Dam, a vital source of water for thousands of residents, is allegedly being polluted by effluent discharge from the cement plant, leading to the destruction of farmlands and gardens following fires ignited by the company during a land-clearing exercise.

The mining rights-based organisation said workers employed by the companies are operating under unsafe conditions, political discrimination, lack of contracts and low wages that are pegged below the National Employment Council (NEC) agreed rates.

[...]

Mining operations have long been fraught with environmental disasters and human rights issues. For China, the growing coverage of these issues increasingly challenges its framing of its operations as mutually beneficial and aligned with global green energy goals.

In 2024, President Xi Jinping said China's relations with Africa were enjoying their "best period in history". This view is echoed in China's media coverage, with focus on the successes and emphasis on the "win-win" narratives about its operations.

The "win-win" slogan was found to resonate in North African social media discussions, where users expressed greater trust in China than other Western or regional partners.

A timeline of rights abuses by Chinese mining companies in Africa by British broadcaster BBC presents a different perspective - one that is more prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa than it is in the north. It offers a glimpse into the steady negative coverage threatening China's image in its longstanding relationship with Africa.

[...]