Putin built identical offices across Russia to conceal his location, a Russian intelligence officer who defected says

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Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on the restoration of residential infrastructure in the border areas destroyed during emergency situations, via a video conference at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting via a video conference at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, on February 1, 2023.

Mikhail Kimentyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images

A Russian war fanatic was planning to buy military drones, hackers said. They made him buy $25,000 worth of sex toys instead.

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A composite image showing a Russian drone above Kyiv, Ukraine, in October 2022 and a dildo.
A composite image showing a Russian drone above Kyiv, Ukraine, in October 2022 and a dildo.

REUTERS/Roman Petushkov; iStock/Getty Images; Insider

The dollar's dominance on the world stage isn't going away. Here's why.

Tech Insider

Happy Friday eve, readers. I'm Phil Rosen. As a financial journalist, I'm always trying to distill complex ideas into plain language (for my own understanding as much as yours). 

As for Opening Bell, I've found it helpful to remember that the stock market operates as a zero-sum game.

Like poker or chess, one player's win means another player's loss. 

Putin is so paranoid about being tracked, he travels in a secret grey train that stealthily blends in with other Russian locomotives, says a former elite Russian security officer

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Russian President Vladimir Putin travels by an aeroexpress train in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, on October 28, 2013.
Russian President Vladimir Putin travels by an aeroexpress train in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, on October 28, 2013.

MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/RIA-NOVOSTI/AFP via Getty Images

Putin is still worried about COVID-19 and makes his staff quarantine for weeks, says an elite Russian security officer who defected

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Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping via a video link at the Kremlin in Moscow on December 30, 2022.

Even Putin's media stooges are mocking Trump's arrest, joking that he may have to seek asylum in Russia

Tech Insider : Politics
A still from Tuesday's
A still from Tuesday's "60 Minutes" show on Russian state TV, which used AI-generated images of Trump.

Courtesy of Russian Media Monitor.

Wagner Group mercenaries are getting a lot more help from Russia's military than Prigozhin would like you to think

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Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Russia's Wagner mercenary force, speaks in Paraskoviivka, Ukraine in this still image from an undated video released on March 3, 2023.
Yevgeny Prigozhin in the Bakhmut region in an image from an undated video released on March 3.

Concord Press Service/via REUTERS

NATO just got hundreds of tanks, 62 fighter jets, and a whole lot of artillery after Finland joined the military alliance

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Swedish and Finnish tanks are seen during a military exercise called
Swedish and Finnish tanks during a military exercise called "Cold Response 2022," which gathered around 30,000 troops from NATO member countries plus Finland and Sweden in Evenes, Norway, March 22, 2022.

REUTERS/Yves Herman

Two Ukrainian men in wheelchairs were forcibly deported to Russia and subjected to months of abuse. Then they escaped.

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bohan ol
Oleksandr (left) and Bohdan (right).

Bohdan and Oleksandr

Russia is looking for money from 'friendly' nations to indirectly support its war in Ukraine, UK intel says

Tech Insider : Politics
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with employees of a plant of Tulazheldormash railroad machinery and equipment manufacturer in Tula, Russia, April 4, 2023.
Russian President Vladimir Putin at a manufacturing company in Tula, Russia, April 4, 2023.

Sputnik/Ramil Sitdikov/Pool via REUTERS

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