Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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German Cybersecurity Chief Sacked Over Alleged Russia Ties
Germany’s cybersecurity chief has been sacked after a TV satire show accused him of having ties to the Russian intelligence services, an interior ministry spokesman told AFP on Tuesday. Arne Schönbohm, head of the Federal Cyber Security Authority (BSI), had been relieved of his duties “with immediate effect,” the spokesperson said. “The background to this…
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Estonian MPs Declare Russia a ‘Terrorist Regime’
Estonian lawmakers on Tuesday condemned Moscow’s annexation of Ukrainian territory and declared Russia a “terrorist regime.” The statement was adopted by 88 votes in favor in the country’s 101-seat legislature. Ten MPs were absent and three abstained. The parliament “declares Russia a terrorist regime and the Russian Federation a country that supports terrorism,” the statement…
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Russia Makes Latest Arrest for ‘Cooperating With Foreign State’
Russia has handed down one of its first criminal cases on secretly working with a foreign government to undermine national security to a Moscow resident, Interfax reported Tuesday. Lawmakers criminalized “confidential” cooperation with foreign individuals, states or organizations in June, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine plunged the country into isolation and catalyzed a historic crackdown…
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Nord Stream Probe ‘Tailored’ Against Russia – Kremlin
The Kremlin said Tuesday that the investigation into the explosions that tore through the Nord Stream gas pipelines was being “tailored” to place the blame on Russia. Explosions in early September sent natural gas bubbling up from the pipelines on the floor of the Baltic Sea to the surface in a major environmental disaster that…
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Russian Border Regions Blame Ukraine for Fresh Attacks
Officials in two Russian regions bordering Ukraine blamed Kyiv for new strikes on their territory Tuesday. Train traffic in the Belgorod region was temporarily brought to a halt after shelling struck a railway station and damaged the railroad tracks, the region’s Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on his official Telegram channel. One man was wounded by…
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ExxonMobil Exits Russia With ‘Unilateral Termination’ of Sakhalin-1 Assets
American oil giant ExxonMobil has completed its exit from the Russian market after President Vladimir Putin ordered the expropriation of its assets, the company said. ExxonMobil had been in negotiations with the Russian authorities to sell its more than $4 billion in assets — including its largest Russian investment, a 30% stake in the Sakhalin-1…
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14 Killed in Russian Fighter Jet Crash Into Residential Building
Updates with new casualty figures. A military aircraft crashed Monday into a residential building in the southern port town of Yeysk in Russia’s Krasnodar region, Interfax news agency reported, citing local officials. Russia’s Defense Ministry said a Su-34 fighter jet crashed after taking off from a local airfield for a training flight, the state-run RIA…
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Fighter Jet Crashes Into Residential Building in Southern Russia
Updates with initial casualty figures. A military aircraft crashed Monday into a residential building in the southern port town of Yeysk in Russia’s Krasnodar region, Interfax news agency reported citing local officials. Russia’s Defense Ministry said a Su-34 fighter jet crashed after taking off from a local airfield for a training flight, the state-run RIA…
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State TV Journalist Who Denounced War in Ukraine Flees Russia
Former Russian state television journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, 44, has escaped house arrest and left Russia, her lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov told Russian media outlet Avtozaklive on Monday. “Marina Ovsyannikova was forced to leave Russia and is now safe, under the protection of a European country,” Zakhvatov said. The former editor on Russian state TV’s flagship news…
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Iran to Bolster Weapons Aid to Russia for Use in Ukraine: Reports
Iran is planning to aid Moscow’s war in Ukraine by sending more weapons to Moscow, according to anonymous U.S. and Western security officials, the Washington Post reported. The planned weapons delivery from Tehran could include two types of surface-to-surface missiles, officials said, adding to the Iranian attack drones reportedly supplied to Moscow back in August. …
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Diabetics in Russia Suffer Wartime Supply Disruption, Price Rises
For several weeks following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Alina used a needle every other hour to prick her two-year-old diabetic son’s finger and measure his glucose levels. “Pricking the fingers of a two-year-old baby so many times a day is just torture,” she told The Moscow Times. “[But] we had no choice.” Prior to the…
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Moscow Mayor Announces End of Mobilization in the Capital
Army draft offices will close in Moscow from Monday as the Kremlin’s quotas for recruiting reservists to fight in Ukraine have been met in the capital, city mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced. “Assembly points for mobilized people will close on October 17, 2022, at 2:00 pm,” Sobyanin said on his website. He said “the task of partial…
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Russian ‘Kamikaze Drones’ Strike Kyiv: Ukraine
Updates with Zelensky comments and Defense Ministry statement. Russian-launched “kamikaze drones” attacked Kyiv early Monday, the Ukrainian presidency said, describing the strikes as an act of desperation nearly eight months into a war that has claimed thousands of lives. Air raid sirens sounded in Kyiv shortly before the first explosion at around 6:35 a.m., followed…
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New Strikes in Russian Belgorod Region Bordering Ukraine – Governor
The Russian Belgorod region bordering Ukraine was hit by strikes on Sunday, leaving at least four people injured in the latest attacks in the area, Russian officials said. “As a result of shelling in Belgorod, three people from the same family were injured,” regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov posted on Telegram on Sunday after visiting the…
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Zelensky Says Situation “Most Difficult” Near Bakhmut in Donetsk
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday the situation was “the most difficult” near the eastern town of Bakhmut, a few days after pro-Russian forces announced they were moving closer to the city. “A very severe situation persists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions” in the Donbas, Zelensky said in his daily address, “the most difficult…
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Norway Detains Second Drone-Carrying Russian
Norway said Saturday it arrested a Russian national carrying a drone and camera equipment after he was seen taking photos of an airport in the far north, the second such arrest in a week. Norway is on high alert following reports of mysterious drone sightings close to offshore oil and gas drilling platforms run by…
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Russia Says 11 Killed in ‘Terrorist’ Attack at Military Site
Russia said two gunmen from an ex-Soviet state on Saturday attacked a military training ground killing 11 people who had volunteered to fight in Ukraine and wounding 15 others. Russia’s defense ministry said the attack in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, happened during a firearms training session. Russia launched what it calls a special…
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First Russian Soldiers Arrive in Belarus For Joint Force
The first Russian soldiers to take part in a new joint force with Belarusian troops have arrived in Belarus, Minsk’s defense ministry said on Saturday. “The first convoys of Russian servicemen from the regional force group have arrived in Belarus,” the ministry said, adding that their mission was “exclusively to strengthen the protection and defence…
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The Paradox of Pelmeni
Pelmeni are a paradoxical dish. Although Siberian pelmeni most likely came from China originally — from famous New Year’s dumplings called jiaozi — their name — pelmeni — is from the group of Finno-Ugric languages. They are considered a “national Russian dish,” although up to the mid-19th century or even later pelmeni were a truly…
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Iran Denies Providing Russia With Weapons ‘to be Used’ in Ukraine
Iran has once again rejected allegations that it has supplied Russia with weapons “to be used in the war in Ukraine,” its Foreign Ministry said Saturday. Kyiv and many of its Western allies have accused Moscow of using Iranian-made drones in attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks. The topic is expected to be discussed by…
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From Mobilization to Death in 10 Days: Russia’s Draftees Killed in Ukraine
St. Petersburg lawyer Andrei Nikiforov was drafted into the Russian army four days after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “partial” mobilization in a bid to solve the military’s manpower problems in the ongoing Ukraine war. Less than two weeks later, Nikiforov became one of the first mobilized men to be killed as Ukraine pushed…
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Putin Tells Reporters Russia Has No Plan to ‘Destroy’ Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin shed some light on his current state of mind regarding the war in Ukraine at a press conference in the Kazakh capital Astana on Friday. Among the takeaways from the president’s rare Q&A session was the announcement that Russia’s “partial” mobilization campaign would be coming to an end in a matter…
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Why is There a Dog in Your Email?
@: собака (dog) Today I have a very exciting topic: Russian punctuation and typographical marks. No, really! Don’t you want to know why @ is a собака (dog) in Russian and what you call those claw-like Russian quotation marks? Haven’t you asked yourself if дефис the same thing as тире? And surely you have pondered…
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Outrage as Russian Military Recruiters Resort to Rounding Up Conscripts
Russian military recruiters appear to be employing new and increasingly desperate methods to round up men for the Kremlin’s “partial” mobilization drive. Military and law enforcement officials in Moscow and St. Petersburg on Friday were seen inspecting the identity papers of passers-by around the entrance to metro stations and handing out draft notices to eligible…
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UN Envoy: Rape Used as Part of Russian ‘Military Strategy’ in Ukraine
Rapes and sexual assaults attributed to Moscow’s forces in Ukraine are part of a Russian “military strategy” and a “deliberate tactic to dehumanize the victims,” UN envoy Pramila Patten told AFP in an interview on Thursday. “All the indications are there,” the UN special representative on sexual violence told AFP, when asked if rape was…
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Appetite for ‘De-Russification’ Builds in Ukraine
At a bookshop in Kyiv, 33-year-old Yulia Sydorenko was dumping an entire collection of old books – some gifts from childhood friends – that have recently lost their appeal. Why? They were written in Russian. “Since February 24, Russian books have no place in my house,” Sydorenko said, referring to the day Russian President Vladimir…
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Danone Plans to Withdraw From Most of its Business in Russia
French food giant Danone announced plans on Friday to transfer the control of its essential dairy and plant-based business in Russia, retaining only its infant nutrition branch. One of the few multinationals to have remained in Russia since the Ukraine war, Danone said the move to “transfer the effective control” of the dairy business could…
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U.S. Pushes Allies to Assemble Air Defenses for Ukraine
The United States is pressing allies to hastily build Ukraine a patchwork air defense network using NATO-compatible equipment – some ultra-modern, others older – to protect strategic targets from Russian strikes. The effort was given added urgency after Moscow pummeled Ukraine with missiles this week, damaging energy facilities nationwide and leaving at least 20 people…
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Kherson Region Head Requests Kremlin Help with Evacuations
The Kremlin-installed governor of Ukraine’s Kherson region, which the Kremlin says it has annexed, appealed to Moscow to help evacuate civilians from the area on Thursday, in yet another sign that the Ukrainian military’s southern counteroffensive is continuing to gain ground. “Сities in the Kherson region are coming under daily rocket attacks,” Vladimir Saldo said…
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Israel Says it Plans to Open Transit Camps for Russian Jews in Azerbaijan
The Israeli government has said it intends to open temporary camps in Azerbaijan for Russian Jews seeking to move to Israel in the wake of the war in Ukraine. On Oct. 2, the government of Israel approved a proposal to facilitate the immigration of Russian Jews to Israel, amid the largest wave of Russian emigration…
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Russian Lawmakers Propose Granting Prisoners Amnesty for Enlisting
Russian lawmakers have proposed a bill that would allow the granting of amnesties to prisoners enlisting to fight in Ukraine, according to Senator Olga Kovitidi on Thursday. “If a convict shows courage and heroism while performing military duty … the court may release him from serving his sentence … or commute the remainder of the…
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IKEA announces 10,000 layoffs in Russia
Swedish furniture giant IKEA announced that it would be making around 10,000 of its remaining Russian staff redundant on Thursday, despite posting a 6% rise in full-year sales in what it described as a “challenging” year due to inflation and scaling back in Russia. The 2022 fiscal year “was a challenging year for the world,…
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Russia Denounces Exclusion From Nord Stream Leaks Probe
Russia’s foreign ministry said Thursday it had summoned envoys of Germany, Denmark and Sweden to express “bewilderment” over Moscow’s exclusion from an investigation into leaks on the Nord Stream pipelines. Multiple leaks were discovered on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines connecting Russia to Germany, further raising political tensions already sky-high since the Kremlin…
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Russian Authorities Resort to Raiding Hotels to Catch Draft Dodgers
The Russian authorities have resorted to raiding hostels and hotels in search of men who may be eligible for military service as part of the country’s “partial” mobilization, according to multiple media reports. Two Moscow locations of the Travel Inn hostel chain were visited by the police last week, according to a report by broadcaster…
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Putin Tells Erdogan Russia Could Create ‘Gas Hub’ in Turkey
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday told his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Moscow would consider developing a “gas hub” in Turkey, with Russia’s supplies to Europe disrupted by Ukraine-related sanctions and leaks at key pipelines. “Turkey has turned out to be the most reliable route for deliveries today, even to Europe. We could…
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In Photos: Ukrainians Remain Defiant Amid Russian Missile Strikes
The Kremlin has responded with fury to the attack on the Crimean Bridge on Saturday, launching a devastating series of missile attacks on Ukrainian cities in which it has targeted civilian infrastructure in an attempt to terrorize the local population. By now quite accustomed to the privations of war, Ukrainians have responded with hardened resolve…
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Russian Plan for the Reconstruction of Mariupol Leaked
A copy of an ambitious Russian plan for the reconstruction of the city of Mariupol — the occupied Ukrainian port city largely reduced to rubble by Russian forces in one of the most brutal battles in the Ukraine conflict to date — was published on Wednesday by Russian news website The Village. The plan, which…
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Reading the Tea Leaves of Russia’s Pro-War ‘Z-Universe’
One of the by-products of the Ukraine war has been the emergence of the online “Z-Universe,” an enormous network of websites and social media accounts named after a popular pro-war symbol. It is most active on Telegram, which, unlike Twitter and Facebook, is not banned in Russia. All its participants spread pro-Kremlin and anti-Ukrainian propaganda,…
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‘Everything Has Collapsed’: Mobilization Tanks Small Businesses
In his brand new co-working space in Chelyabinsk, a city in central Russia, entrepreneur Maxim Novikov is counting the empty seats. The space is usually overflowing with designers, programmers and young Russians working on their start-ups. But since President Vladimir Putin announced a mobilization of hundreds of thousands of young Russian men last month, the…
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Macron Says Putin Must ‘Return to the Table’ for Ukraine Talks
Russian President Vladimir Putin must “return to the table” to discuss making peace in Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday, adding that he thought Kyiv would have to negotiate with him at some point. “Today, first of all, Vladimir Putin must stop this war, respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and come back to the table…
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UN General Assembly Condemns Russia ‘Illegal Annexation’ of Ukraine Land
The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to condemn Russia’s annexation of parts of Ukraine after Moscow vetoed a similar effort in the Security Council. The General Assembly approved the resolution with 143 in favor and five against but 35 nations abstained including China, India, South Africa and Pakistan despite a major US…
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Over 90K ‘Irrecoverable Losses’ Suffered by Russian Soldiers in Ukraine: iStories
Over 90,000 Russian soldiers have died, cannot be accounted for, or have suffered such serious injuries that they are unable to return to service, independent Russian media project iStories reported on Wednesday, citing sources close to the Kremlin. The figure falls roughly in line with estimates made by the Pentagon and other Western governments in…
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Putin Says ‘Ball in EU’s Court’ on Restarting Nord Stream Deliveries
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said his country was a reliable energy supplier and blamed the West for disruptions on the market at an energy forum in Moscow. After the Nord Stream pipelines connecting Russia to Europe were damaged by explosions, Putin said “the ball was in the EU’s court” to resume deliveries. “If…
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In Latvia, Putin’s War on Russian Media Plays Out on the Big Screen
Viewers in Latvia’s capital of Riga came out last week to see a screening of “F@ck This Job,” a documentary about independent Russian broadcaster TV Rain (Dozhd) and its struggle to survive Vladimir Putin’s war on the independent media. It was directed and narrated by Vera Krichevskaya, a co-founder of TV Rain with Sindeeva, who…
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Kremlin, Musk Deny Meeting Before Controversial Ukraine Peace Plan Tweet
The Kremlin on Wednesday denied reports that Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin before he tweeted his proposal for ending the war in Ukraine. The U.S. billionaire sparked controversy last week when he tweeted a proposed peace deal involving re-running referendums on annexation under UN supervision in Moscow-occupied areas;…
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Russian Cities Scrap New Year Festivities as War Encroaches on Everyday Life
Dozens of Russian cities have canceled or scaled back planned New Year’s Eve celebrations as the war strains local budgets and calls grow for money to be diverted to mobilized Russian soldiers lacking basic equipment and supplies. “After Feb. 24, most people believed it [the war] would not affect them personally. But now it will…
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Russia’s Military Mobilization Targets the Homeless, Poor – Reports
Russian authorities are mobilizing men from the country’s most vulnerable groups to send to the front in Ukraine, the independent Mediazona news website reported Tuesday. In Moscow, security officers have taken men to military enlistment centers from charity centers for the homeless and needy as well as hostels where labor migrants live, Mediazona reported. The…
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Russia Opens Criminal Case Over Note Left on Grave of Putin’s Parents
Authorities in St. Petersburg have launched criminal proceedings against a pensioner who allegedly placed a handwritten note wishing death to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the grave of his parents. Irina Tsybaneva, 60, was arrested at her St. Petersburg home on Monday on charges of “desecration of the bodies of the dead and their burial…
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Russia-Germany Oil Pipeline Partly Shut After Leak
The Druzhba oil pipeline linking Russia and Germany has been partly shut after a leak was discovered in Poland, the Polish PERN operator said on Wednesday. “The cause of the incident is not known for the moment. Pumping in the affected line was immediately stopped. Line 2 of the pipeline is functioning normally,” the operator…
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Russia Says Arrested 8 Suspects in Crimean Bridge Blast
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it has arrested eight suspects in last week’s apparent attack that tore apart the Crimean Bridge and killed three people, Interfax reported Wednesday. Five Russians, three Ukrainians and one Armenian were detained over their alleged involvement in the Oct. 8 explosion that collapsed a road segment and caused a…
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Putin Tells IAEA’s Grossi Moscow is ‘Open to Dialogue’ on Ukraine Nuclear Plant
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday told UN nuclear agency chief Rafael Grossi he was “open to dialogue” on Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in territory controlled by Moscow’s forces in southern Ukraine. In televised comments with Grossi ahead of their meeting in Saint Petersburg, Putin told the IAEA chief he was “ready to discuss all…
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Explainer: Is the Belarus-Russia ‘Joint Military Group’ a Threat to Ukraine?
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko claimed Monday that Ukraine was readying an attack on Belarus and announced the formation of a “joint military group” with Russia. “Ukraine is not just discussing but planning strikes on the territory of Belarus,” Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said during a meeting with security officials, according…
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Russia Adds Meta to List of ‘Terrorist and Extremist’ Orgs
Russia has added U.S. tech giant Meta to its list of “terrorists and extremist” organizations, according to state financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring’s database. Moscow banned Meta products Facebook and Instagram in March after authorities accused the company of tolerating “Russophobia” during Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, making the popular social media platforms inaccessible to Russian users…
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Startup Pollsters Challenge Accepted Wisdom on Russians’ War Support
The day Russia invaded Ukraine, social entrepreneur and political activist Alexei Minyaylo gathered his friends and partners to brainstorm how to “end this madness.” The answer came quickly: public opinion polling. “The authorities always use polls to create the illusion of a majority and that’s a very powerful social mechanism,” Minyaylo told The Moscow Times. …
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Oil Exports Helping Cushion Russian Economy – IMF
Russia’s recession will be less severe than expected due to oil exports and relatively stable domestic demand, according to the latest International Monetary Fund forecasts released on Tuesday. While the IMF estimates Russia’s economy to have contracted by 21.8% during the second quarter at a quarterly annualized rate, for the year as a whole the Russian…
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Ukraine Says Returned 37 Children ‘Deported’ to Russia
Kyiv has returned home dozens of Ukrainian children who had been taken to Russia amid Moscow’s invasion, Ukraine’s ministry for reintegrating temporarily occupied territories said Tuesday. The 37 children were “forcibly removed” from the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine at the end of August and taken to the southern Russian town of Kabardinka, the ministry…
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Nissan to Exit Russian Market, Sell Assets to Moscow
Japanese automaker Nissan will sell its Russian assets – including a factory in St. Petersburg – to the Russian government, the Industry and Trade Ministry said Tuesday. The Kommersant business daily reports that the Japanese car manufacturer’s departure follows a similar scheme as French automaker Renault, which exited the Russian market in May. Russian car…
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Russians Buy Books on Nazi Germany, WWII Following Mobilization Call
Russians are increasingly buying books about Nazi Germany and World War II following President Vladimir Putin’s “partial” mobilization of civilian reservists for the war in Ukraine. Sales of books about World War II surged by 20% despite an overall decline in book sales across Russia, the Kommersant business daily reported Tuesday, citing leading bookstores and…
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Silicon Valley Billionaire Milner Renounces Russian Citizenship
Billionaire Silicon Valley investor Yuri Milner said Monday he had renounced his Russian citizenship. “My family and I left Russia for good in 2014, after the Russian annexation of Crimea. And this summer, we officially completed the process of renouncing our Russian citizenship,” the Moscow-born Milner tweeted. Milner, founder of the internet investment firm DST Global and…
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Putin Seeks Escalation with Ukraine Missile Blitz – Experts
With Russia firing a hail of missiles into Ukraine on Monday and Belarus making fresh threats against Kyiv, President Vladimir Putin is seeking to escalate the nearly eight-month war and compensate for humiliating recent losses, Western analysts say. According to Ukrainian authorities, 41 out of 75 missiles were intercepted, but the remainder struck cities around the country,…
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