Spanish authorities on Tuesday said they had arrested four people suspected of orchestrating a sanctions-busting commercial network after intercepting 13 tons of chemical products bound for Russia. The investigation began in 2022 after Western countries imposed waves of sanctions on Russia to prevent it from acquiring equipment and technologies for its war with Ukraine. Police…
Details
Zhanna Nemtsova, the daughter of the late Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, announced the creation of a non-profit foundation aimed at helping Russian independent media, saying that Russian civil society lacks a “transparent and competitive” donor system. Shortly after Moscow launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian government introduced draconian wartime censorship…
Details
The Ukrainian government has reiterated it will not renew its gas transit agreement with Russia when it expires in January 2025. The European Union is also preparing for life with even less Russian gas as it seeks to phase out Moscow’s supplies. If this gas route is lost, it may intensify Europe’s battle with Asia…
Details
Moscow said Tuesday that a defense pact it signed with North Korea earlier this year is “unambiguous,” as tensions flared over Pyongyang’s destruction of roads leading to South Korea. North Korea blew up sections of roads and rail lines on its side of the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas on Tuesday, prompting Seoul…
Details
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Tuesday temporarily handing over control of a major canned food maker to the Russian government. In April 2023, Putin authorized the government to seize the Russia-based assets of foreign companies from countries the Kremlin views as “unfriendly,” a move widely seen as retaliation to the West freezing around $300…
Details
Russian authorities will no longer try to prevent the ruble from falling past 100 against the U.S. dollar as they expect the low exchange rate will benefit Russia’s state budget amid plans for more wartime spending, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing two anonymous sources familiar with the situation. Shortly after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s…
Details
The head of Russia’s Olympic Committee announced his resignation on Tuesday, a surprise move that comes as Moscow faces isolation in international sporting organizations over its invasion of Ukraine. Stanislav Pozdnyakov, a five-time Olympic medallist, said in his resignation letter that there were “timely” reasons why Russian sport needed a new leader, but did not…
Details
Russia’s state media regulator Roskomnadzor said the popular video game platform Steam agreed to remove all banned content from its Russian store, state media reported Tuesday. Steam, a game distribution platform owned by the American company Valve, offers a catalog of more than 100,000 games, with 132 million users worldwide. There are an estimated 9.5…
Details
Alexei Moskalev, the father of a Russian girl who drew an anti-war picture at school, was released from prison on Tuesday after serving a sentence under Russia’s wartime censorship laws. In March 2023, Moskalev was sentenced to one year and 10 months in prison for repeatedly “discrediting” the Russian military. Moskalev did not attend his…
Details
Russia’s southwestern Kursk region bordering Ukraine has been engulfed in battles with Kyiv’s troops for over two months. Ukraine has claimed over two dozen Kursk region settlements since launching its surprise incursion on Aug. 6, in the most significant cross-border attack on Russian territory since World War II. With most of the territory captured by…
Details
Russia could be in a position to attack NATO by 2030 and is ramping up efforts to disrupt Ukraine’s Western backers through sabotage, German intelligence chiefs warned Monday. Germany is Ukraine’s second-biggest military backer after the United States. “In terms of personnel and material, Russian armed forces are likely to be capable of carrying out…
Details
Russia could be in a position to attack NATO by 2030 and is ramping up efforts to disrupt Ukraine’s Western backers through sabotage, German intelligence chiefs warned Monday. Germany is Ukraine’s second-biggest military backer after the United States. “In terms of personnel and material, Russian armed forces are likely to be capable of carrying out…
Details
A British woman who died after being exposed to the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok was unwittingly caught up in an “illegal and outrageous international assassination attempt,” a public inquiry was told on Monday. Dawn Sturgess, a 44-year-old mother of three children, died in July 2018 after spraying herself with what she thought was perfume from…
Details
A British woman who died after being exposed to the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok was unwittingly caught up in an “illegal and outrageous international assassination attempt,” a public inquiry was told on Monday. Dawn Sturgess, a 44-year-old mother of three children, died in July 2018 after spraying herself with what she thought was perfume from…
Details
A British woman who died after being exposed to the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok was unwittingly caught up in an “illegal and outrageous international assassination attempt,” a public inquiry was told on Monday. Dawn Sturgess, a 44-year-old mother of three children, died in July 2018 after spraying herself with what she thought was perfume from…
Details
Pope Francis’ Ukraine peace envoy met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Monday in what the Vatican said was a follow-up talk about efforts to bring home children forcibly taken to Russia and prisoner exchanges. Cardinal Matteo Zuppi was expected to “assess further efforts to facilitate the reunification of Ukrainian children with…
Details
When Russia added the Jehovah’s Witnesses to the country’s list of “extremist organizations” in April 2017, few could imagine the scale and longevity of repressions that the decision would set into motion. “I could never have imagined that this could directly affect not only me, but anyone in the community,” said Alla, whose husband was…
Details
When Russia added the Jehovah’s Witnesses to the country’s list of “extremist organizations” in April 2017, few could imagine the scale and longevity of repressions that the decision would set into motion. “I could never have imagined that this could directly affect not only me, but anyone in the community,” said Alla, whose husband was…
Details
When Russia added the Jehovah’s Witnesses to the country’s list of “extremist organizations” in April 2017, few could imagine the scale and longevity of repressions that the decision would set into motion. “I could never have imagined that this could directly affect not only me, but anyone in the community,” said Alla, whose husband was…
Details
When Russia added the Jehovah’s Witnesses to the country’s list of “extremist organizations” in April 2017, few could imagine the scale and longevity of repressions that the decision would set into motion. “I could never have imagined that this could directly affect not only me, but anyone in the community,” said Alla, whose husband was…
Details
A Moscow court on Monday sentenced Ukrainian journalist and TV presenter Yanina Sokolova to eight years in prison in absentia for making public calls to kill Russians. In August 2022, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, accused Sokolova of “openly threatening the Russian people, emphasizing the need for their merciless destruction” during a television broadcast.…
Details
A Moscow court on Monday sentenced Ukrainian journalist and TV presenter Yanina Sokolova to eight years in prison in absentia for making public calls to kill Russians. In August 2022, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, accused Sokolova of “openly threatening the Russian people, emphasizing the need for their merciless destruction” during a television broadcast.…
Details
A Moscow court on Monday sentenced Ukrainian journalist and TV presenter Yanina Sokolova to eight years in prison in absentia for making public calls to kill Russians. In August 2022, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, accused Sokolova of “openly threatening the Russian people, emphasizing the need for their merciless destruction” during a television broadcast.…
Details
A Moscow court on Monday sentenced French researcher Laurent Vinatier to three years in prison for breaking Russia’s laws on “foreign agents.” Vinatier, a 48-year-old researcher working for a Swiss conflict mediation NGO, was arrested in Moscow in June and charged with gathering information on Russia’s military without being registered as a “foreign agent,” a crime…
Details
The Kremlin said Monday it “categorically rejects” accusations from authorities in Moldova that it is interfering in the country’s upcoming presidential election and a referendum on joining the European Union. “There are still many people in Moldova who support having good relations with our country,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “These people are being…
Details
The Kremlin said Monday it “categorically rejects” accusations from authorities in Moldova that it is interfering in the country’s upcoming presidential election and a referendum on joining the European Union. “There are still many people in Moldova who support having good relations with our country,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “These people are being…
Details
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov arrived in Beijing Monday for talks with his Chinese counterpart, who called for strengthening military cooperation between the two countries. Moscow and Beijing have forged closer ties since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, an alliance that has sparked anxiety in the West as both countries seek to…
Details
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov arrived in Beijing Monday for talks with his Chinese counterpart, who called for strengthening military cooperation between the two countries. Moscow and Beijing have forged closer ties since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, an alliance that has sparked anxiety in the West as both countries seek to…
Details
Russia’s government plans to increase state maternity payments by around $500 next year as the country struggles with a shrinking number of births, Labor Minister Anton Kotyakov said Monday. First-time mothers will receive a lump sum of 677,000 rubles ($7,000) starting in 2025, Kotyakov told a meeting of federal lawmakers, a modest increase from the…
Details
Russia’s government plans to increase state maternity payments by around $500 next year as the country struggles with a shrinking number of births, Labor Minister Anton Kotyakov said Monday. First-time mothers will receive a lump sum of 677,000 rubles ($7,000) starting in 2025, Kotyakov told a meeting of federal lawmakers, a modest increase from the…
Details
Russia’s government plans to increase state maternity payments by around $500 next year as the country struggles with a shrinking number of births, Labor Minister Anton Kotyakov said Monday. First-time mothers will receive a lump sum of 677,000 rubles ($7,000) starting in 2025, Kotyakov told a meeting of federal lawmakers, a modest increase from the…
Details
Russia’s government plans to increase state maternity payments by around $500 next year as the country struggles with a shrinking number of births, Labor Minister Anton Kotyakov said Monday. First-time mothers will receive a lump sum of 677,000 rubles ($7,000) starting in 2025, Kotyakov told a meeting of federal lawmakers, a modest increase from the…
Details
A miner was confirmed killed following a rockslide at the Mokhovsky coal mine in western Siberia last week, Russian investigators said Monday. The miner had gone missing on Thursday after the rockslide buried him and another worker during excavation work at the open-pit coal mine in the Kemerovo region. Earlier, rescuers managed to pull one…
Details
A miner was confirmed killed following a rockslide at the Mokhovsky coal mine in western Siberia last week, Russian investigators said Monday. The miner had gone missing on Thursday after the rockslide buried him and another worker during excavation work at the open-pit coal mine in the Kemerovo region. Earlier, rescuers managed to pull one…
Details
A miner was confirmed killed following a rockslide at the Mokhovsky coal mine in western Siberia last week, Russian investigators said Monday. The miner had gone missing on Thursday after the rockslide buried him and another worker during excavation work at the open-pit coal mine in the Kemerovo region. Earlier, rescuers managed to pull one…
Details
A miner was confirmed killed following a rockslide at the Mokhovsky coal mine in western Siberia last week, Russian investigators said Monday. The miner had gone missing on Thursday after the rockslide buried him and another worker during excavation work at the open-pit coal mine in the Kemerovo region. Earlier, rescuers managed to pull one…
Details
Kyiv said Monday that its forces destroyed a Russian military transport plane stationed at an airfield deep inside Russian territory over the weekend. Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency said it had destroyed a Tu-134 transport aircraft overnight on Saturday. The plane was located at a military airfield in the Orenburg region, which lies around 1,000 kilometers…
Details
Ukrainian troops have forcibly taken more than 1,000 residents of southwestern Russia’s Kursk region since launching their incursion in early August, Russia’s presidential human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said Monday. “I’ve received messages regarding more than 1,000 such people from relatives trying to find them,” Moskalkova told the Argumenty i Fakty pro-Kremlin newspaper. “We know…
Details
Ukrainian troops have forcibly taken more than 1,000 residents of southwestern Russia’s Kursk region since launching their incursion in early August, Russia’s presidential human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said Monday. “I’ve received messages regarding more than 1,000 such people from relatives trying to find them,” Moskalkova told the Argumenty i Fakty pro-Kremlin newspaper. “We know…
Details
Ukrainian troops have forcibly taken more than 1,000 residents of southwestern Russia’s Kursk region since launching their incursion in early August, Russia’s presidential human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said Monday. “I’ve received messages regarding more than 1,000 such people from relatives trying to find them,” Moskalkova told the Argumenty i Fakty pro-Kremlin newspaper. “We know…
Details
Russia on Sunday said it has captured another east Ukrainian village as it closes on the important city of Pokrovsk, where its forces have been advancing for weeks. Russian troops have moved westwards in the Donetsk region for months, with Kyiv saying this weekend that the situation was “very difficult.” Moscow’s Defense Ministry said its…
Details
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that Moscow had attempted to push back Ukrainian positions in the Russian Kursk region but that Kyiv was “holding the line.” Ukraine has held on to swathes of Russia’s Kursk region since early August. “Regarding the Kursk operation, there were attempts by Russia to push back our positions, but…
Details
A fire at a petrol station in Russia’s Chechnya killed four people, including two children, emergency services said Saturday. Authorities released images of more than two dozen firefighters extinguishing the blaze at an almost totally destroyed petrol station with burnt-out cars in Chechnya’s main city, Grozny. “Unfortunately, four people died, including two children,” Russia’s Emergency…
Details
Russia and Ukraine traded attacks overnight, with Russian officials saying on Saturday that Ukrainian drone strikes had killed one person in the Belgorod border region. Russia said it had downed 47 Ukrainian drones overnight, while Ukraine reported it neutralized 24 drones fired by Moscow. The Ukrainian air force said many missiles were fired from Belgorod,…
Details
Today if you ask kids in Russia if they want a chocolate bar, they will immediately think you mean a Mars bar or Snickers or another kind of foreign candy bar. Many of these candies have been produced since the 1930s and are famous all over the world. While that’s true, before the 1917 Revolution…
Details
Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, who was President Vladimir Putin’s top political opponent before his death in February, believed he would die in prison, according to his posthumous memoir which will be released on October 22. The New Yorker published excerpts from the book Friday, featuring writing from Navalny’s diary before and after his imprisonment. “I…
Details
A Russian court on Friday ordered the arrest in absentia of CNN journalist Nick Paton Walsh for reporting from Ukrainian-held territory in Russia’s Kursk region. Moscow has launched several criminal proceedings against Western journalists who had produced reports from the Kursk region after Kyiv’s surprise August incursion. It has charged them with illegally crossing the…
Details
A Russian court has ordered the seizure of JPMorgan Chase’s assets as part of a lawsuit by Russia’s second-largest bank VTB to regain its funds blocked abroad by sanctions, Reuters reported Friday, citing court documents. The St. Petersburg Arbitration Court ruled to seize $155.8 million in any currency from all JPMorgan bank accounts, according to…
Details
Dozens of residents of a small village in Russia’s republic of Sakha (Yakutia) protested against local authorities on Wednesday after a 12-year-old local girl died from injuries sustained in an attack by a pack of stray dogs. “We came here to demand at least some action,” a local resident who attended the protest told the…
Details
Russia on Friday sentenced a Siberian man to 18 years in prison for planning an arson attack on an army office. It also sentenced two men in a region near Moscow to 16 years for setting railways on fire allegedly on the orders of Ukraine. Moscow saw a wave of arson attacks on military enlistment…
Details
Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday hailed their “close” views on world affairs, with the Russian leader saying ties with Tehran were a “priority” for Moscow. The pair held a meeting in Turkmenistan, one of the world’s most secretive states, amid soaring tensions in the Middle East, with Israeli air strikes on…
Details
Russia has raised the so-called “exit tax” and the minimum discount for foreign companies seeking to pull out of the country, the RBC news website reported Thursday, citing three anonymous sources familiar with the new rules and one lawyer. Russia has since December 2022 forced foreign companies to sell their assets to Russian buyers at steep…
Details
A Ukrainian journalist who was captured by Moscow while reporting from occupied east Ukraine has died in Russian detention, a Ukrainian official said Thursday. Victoria Roshchyna, who would have turned 28 this month, disappeared in August last year after traveling to Russian-held east Ukraine for a report. She remained missing until April 2024, when her…
Details
A jet fire at a major oil terminal in the port city of Feodosia in Russian-annexed Crimea has been put out five days after Ukrainian missile strikes there, its Russian-installed Mayor Igor Tkachenko said Friday. “As of 8 a.m. there’s no jet fire on the territory of the oil terminal,” Tkachenko wrote on Telegram, saying…
Details
Russian strikes overnight on the southern Ukrainian region of Odesa killed four people, including a teenage girl, and wounded 10 more, the regional governor said Friday. Russia has targeted Ukraine’s coastal Odesa region throughout the war, hitting cargo ships and grain silos in what Kyiv says is an attempt to destroy its export capacity. “The…
Details
A Message from The Moscow Times: Dear readers, We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has designated The Moscow Times as an “undesirable” organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a “foreign agent.” These actions are direct attempts to silence independent…
DetailsPietro Barabaschi, Director-General of the ITER International Organization, reviewed the process of development and manufacturing of key Russian systems for the international thermonuclear reactor in St. Petersburg on October 9, within the framework of his official visit to the Russian Federation. The first point of ITER Director-General’s visit was Efremov Scientific Research Institute of Electrophysical…
Details
His Majesty King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands on Thursday visited the Amsterdam newsrooms of The Moscow Times and the independent Russian news broadcaster TV Rain. In a meeting open to the press, the King was joined by The Moscow Times founder Derk Sauer and publisher Alexander Gubsky as well as TV Rain editor-in-chief Tikhon Dzyadko…
Details
At least 49 Russian citizens are currently being held in mental hospitals as a form of punishment against opposition and other activists, the human rights group Memorial said Thursday. The practice of punitive psychiatry in Russia dates back to the Soviet Union. “Russian authorities use mental health issues as a pretext for repression against anyone…
Details
A major fire at an oil refinery in Russian-annexed Crimea has sparked complaints from local residents, raising concerns over safety and environmental impact. Kyiv’s forces reported a “successful strike” on an offshore oil terminal near the Black Sea port town of Feodosia on Monday, sparking a fire that prompted local authorities to evacuate over 1,000…
Details