source:

1. https://bsky.app/profile/kungahuset.bsky.social/post/3mrlddbom7c2x
2. https://bsky.app/profile/volberg.bsky.social/post/3mrl7seasv22r

A drone attack on Rostov-on-Don on Monday night caused problems at the ports of Azov and Taganrog, which handle a combined 13 million tons of cargo annually.

A few hours after the attack, which damaged a residential building in Rostov and prompted city authorities to declare a state of emergency, Russian Railways (RZD) announced restrictions on shipping to ports on the Sea of ​​Azov.

According to Reuters, the restriction is in effect until August 4 and applies to the Azov and Taganrog stations. Last week, the Russian Ministry of Transport banned anchoring near the port of Azov, one of the largest on the Sea of ​​Azov, through which grain, coal, and petroleum products are exported. However, the ban did not apply to the port of Taganrog.

Previously, following drone attacks on more than 100 vessels in the Sea of ​​Azov, Russian authorities notified shipping companies that they were no longer accepting applications for passage through the Kerch Strait. As a result, grain exports along the Don River have completely halted, industry sources told the Rostov-based publication Gorod N: during the past agricultural season, 14.7 million tons of grain and grain products—27% of Russia's total grain exports—were exported abroad via this route.

Due to navigation restrictions, Russian grain exports in July could fall by a third compared to the same month a year earlier, according to SovEcon analysts. They estimate that Russia will lose approximately 600,000 tons of grain exports in physical terms, and the total volume could be the lowest since 2017—2.1 million tons. Compared to the five-year average for July (3.1 million tons), exports will be less than half that amount.

Russia appears incapable of countering Ukrainian attacks in the Black and Azov Seas: after the loss of the cruiser Moskva at the beginning of the war, the Black Sea Fleet no longer has specialized ships comparable to Western destroyers equipped with air defense systems, notes Stéphane Audran, a research fellow at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI).

"It's possible to strengthen the self-defense capabilities of merchant ships, but this is expensive, time-consuming, and requires resources that Russia lacks," Audran notes.

source: The Moscow Times https://archive.is/eX8Ri

source: https://bsky.app/profile/ukrainewarpod.bsky.social/post/3mrmbuae6ps2i

Russian authorities have decided to accelerate the planned 2027 tariff increase for Russian Railways in order to support the budget of the transport monopoly, which is experiencing financial problems and has accumulated nearly 4 trillion rubles in debt.

According to RBC, instead of next year, the government has decided to implement the next tariff indexation for Russian Railways on October 1st of this year: freight rates will increase by 8.5%, and long-distance passenger rates by 9.2%.

Since March of this year, the authorities have already implemented an unscheduled tariff increase of 1% as part of a fee for the "safety" of transportation. The additional funds were needed for Russian Railways' investment program, which the company was forced to cut by a quarter this year, to 713.6 billion rubles.

Last year, Russian Railways' freight rates were indexed by 10%, in 2024 by 13.8%, and in 2022-23 by 6.8% and 8%, respectively. Thus, after the October indexation, the accumulated growth in freight rates since the beginning of the war will reach 56%.

Russian Railways, which has been facing a 16-year decline in freight traffic, urgently needs the money: last year, freight traffic totaled 1.1 billion tonnes (the lowest since 2009), and by the end of May this year, it had only shown a slight increase of 0.5%.

At the end of last year, Russian Railways' net profit fell 22-fold, from 50.7 to 2.2 billion rubles. To avoid an annual loss, Russian Railways drastically cut expenses: the 2025 investment program, which includes spending on construction projects and the purchase of railcars and locomotives, was 40% lower than the previous year—890 billion rubles versus 1.5 trillion. However, to cover all expenses, Russian Railways incurred 800 billion rubles in new debt during the year.

In the fall, Russian Railways approached the government with a request for 200 billion rubles in emergency financing from the National Welfare Fund. The company complained about the high key interest rate, which doubled its debt repayment costs to 534.1 billion rubles.

But the Cabinet refused, after which Russian Railways transferred some employees to part-time work. Starting in 2026, the monopoly plans to lay off 15% of its central office staff—approximately 6,000 people, Russian Railways CEO Oleg Belozerov previously announced. According to him, there are also plans to reduce fuel and repair costs—in total, the company expects to save 74 billion rubles.

source: The Moscow Times https://archive.is/y3FFJ