National Security

Russian airlines have largely defied Western sanctions aimed at grounding their fleets by building a shadow supply chain for Boeing and Airbus spare parts routed through India, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Kazakhstan.

A former Austrian intelligence official was convicted Wednesday of spying for Russia in the largest espionage trial in Austria’s postwar history, delivering a verdict that officials hope will help repair the country’s standing as a hub of hostile foreign intelligence activity.

Britain issued a new sanctions waiver on Tuesday allowing the import of certain diesel and jet fuel processed in third countries from Russian-origin oil, even as the United States separately tightened sanctions on networks it accused of supporting Hamas and helping Iran move oil and petrochemical revenue.

Iran has launched a bitcoin-backed insurance service for shipping companies seeking to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange has moved billions of dollars across two blockchains whose founders are among the most prominent backers of a digital currency venture co-founded by U.S. President Donald Trump and his family.

Polish lawmakers on Friday approved a bill regulating cryptocurrencies as a scandal over the collapse of the country’s biggest crypto exchange widened and questions deepened over whether President Karol Nawrocki, who has twice vetoed similar measures, will sign it into law.

Federal authorities Friday announced the arrest of a senior commander of the Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kata’ib Hezbollah, accusing him of directing nearly 20 terrorist attacks across Europe and Canada and plotting to strike Jewish institutions in New York, Los Angeles, and Scottsdale, Arizona.

U.S. officials believe Chinese companies have been negotiating arms sales to Iran and plotting to route the weapons through third countries to disguise their origin.

Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies have named former presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak as an official suspect in a 460-million-hryvnia ($10.5 million) money-laundering scheme, marking a significant escalation in a graft investigation that has shaken President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government.

Artificial intelligence is amplifying the cyber threats facing the global financial system and could trigger a system-wide shock unless regulators and banks build stronger defenses, the International Monetary Fund warned Thursday.