Russians have applied for more visas to Europe’s visa-free Schengen area so far this year than in 2023, despite bureaucratic and geopolitical hurdles, the business newspaper Kommersant reported Wednesday, citing travel industry data. Demand for business and tourist visas to the 29-nation Schengen Zone rose by 35% between January and October compared to the same…
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Donald Trump’s sweeping presidential election victory over Vice President Kamala Harris was welcomed by Russian officials on Wednesday, with many expressing cautious hope for better relations with Washington under the new leadership. Unlike incumbent Joe Biden, who has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies in its fight against the full-scale Russian invasion, Trump has built…
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Russia’s Central Bank signaled a high likelihood of raising its key interest rate next month as the country’s rumbling war economy continues to drive inflation far above target levels, according to a new summary of policymakers’ meeting in October. Late last month, the regulator hiked its key rate to a record-high 21%, taking it even further than the emergency rate…
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President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday presided over the launch ceremony for Russia’s latest nuclear-powered icebreaker, as Moscow aims to expand its presence in the Arctic and replace markets lost to Western sanctions. “Strengthening the nation’s icebreaker fleet is crucial to our plans for Arctic development and boosting cargo traffic on the Northern Sea Route,” Putin…
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Russia’s Supreme Court upheld the four-year prison sentence for nationalist and former rebel commander Igor Girkin, his wife and Russian media reported Wednesday. Girkin, a convicted war criminal in the West and better known by his alias Igor Strelkov, was convicted of “inciting extremism” in January. The 53-year-old was arrested last summer after he criticized…
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Russian President Vladimir Putin does not plan to offer his congratulations to Donald Trump, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday, as the former U.S. president was on the cusp of securing a second term in the Oval Office. “I’m not aware of any plans by the president to congratulate Trump,” Peskov told reporters shortly after…
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Donald Trump Wednesday on his “impressive victory” in the U.S. election and said he hoped his presidency would bring a “just peace in Ukraine closer.” A likely second Trump term raises questions over Washington’s long-term support for Ukraine — which has fended off Russia’s full-scale invasion for almost three years — as the…
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Donald Trump claimed a “magnificent” victory over Kamala Harris in the fight for the presidency on Wednesday as results put him on the verge of one of the most stunning comebacks in U.S. political history. A Trump victory holds immense significance not only for Americans, but also for international relations — particularly with Russia. U.S.-Russia…
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Lawmakers from Russia’s upper-house Federation Council voted unanimously on Wednesday to ratify a mutual defense treaty with North Korea, as Western news outlets report that Ukrainian forces have engaged in clashes with North Korean soldiers sent to fight in the Kursk region. President Vladimir Putin signed the agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a…
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Ukrainian drones targeted the North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, media reported and authorities reported early Wednesday, in the first such attack on the region since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “This morning, air defense forces destroyed an unmanned aerial vehicle over Kaspiysk,” Dagestan head Sergei Melikov said on Telegram. Kaspiysk, a port city named after…
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Moscow is responsible for sending incendiary devices in packages from Lithuania to other countries in Europe, an adviser to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda told local media Tuesday. The accusations come a day after The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed Western security officials, reported that Russia was orchestrating a covert sabotage campaign that involved sending packages…
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A Ukrainian drone crashed into an apartment complex in the southwestern Russian city of Belgorod, injuring at least one person, regional authorities said Tuesday. Belgorod region governor Vyachelsav Gladkov said emergency workers rescued a man from the fifth floor of the apartment complex. According to Gladkov, the man suffered from a smoke inhalation injury but…
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The head of Russia’s republic of Komi announced Tuesday that he was stepping down from office, making him the third regional executive to resign in two days after the governors of Rostov and Tambov “Our president has entrusted me with a new federal-level role,” Komi head Vladimir Uyba said in a video on Telegram. He did…
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Russia launched 55 satellites into orbit on Tuesday, including two privately built Iranian devices, in a demonstration of deepening cooperation between Moscow and Tehran. A Soyuz rocket lifted off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East at 2:18 a.m. Moscow time, carrying the payload, Russia’s Roscosmos space agency reported. In total, Roscosmos said the…
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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Moldovan authorities of blocking thousands of Moldovans living in Russia from voting in Sunday’s presidential election and questioned the legitimacy of the results. “We can objectively assess these elections by noting that hundreds of thousands of Moldovans who live in the Russian Federation were not given the chance to vote,”…
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A Russian strike on an infrastructure facility in eastern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia killed six people and wounded nine others, the regional governor said Tuesday. The industrial city, which had an estimated pre-war population of more than 700,000 people, lies around 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the nearest Russian positions on the front line. “Six people were…
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A Moscow court on Tuesday upheld a 12-and-a-half year prison sentence for a U.S.-Russian man, Robert Woodland, convicted earlier this year on drug charges. At an appeal hearing at the Moscow City Court on Tuesday, Judge Irina Khorlina ruled to leave the original sentence “unchanged,” an AFP journalist reported from the courtroom. Woodland, 32, took…
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The governors of Russia’s Rostov and Tambov regions announced their resignations on Monday, kicking off what political analysts refer to as “gubernatorpad,” or President Vladimir Putin’s annual shakeup of regional heads. “Today, the country’s leadership is setting other tasks for me at the federal level that will need to be carried out,” Tambov region Governor…
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An engineer at a Russian tank manufacturer has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for high treason, after being found guilty of giving military information to Ukraine, a court said on Tuesday. Danil Mukhametov, 32, was working as an engineer at Uralvagonzavod in Nizhny Tagil in Russia’s Urals when he was detained in 2023…
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Estonia’s coalition government on Monday said it hoped to amend the constitution to ban Russian and Belarusian residents from voting in municipal polls next year, to prevent potential meddling by Moscow and Minsk. More than 80,000 Russian citizens hold a residence permit in the former Soviet republic of 1.3 million people, which gained its independence…
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Russia demanded that Ukraine drastically reduce its military and cede partially occupied territories, as well as that the West lift its sanctions, in the early stages of peace talks during Moscow’s 2022 invasion, the investigative outlet Systema reported Monday, citing a draft treaty proposal it said it obtained. Russia and Ukraine entered peace talks on Feb.…
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Russian President Vladimir Putin met with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui in the Kremlin on Monday, Moscow announced. The meeting took place amid western claims that Russia plans to deploy thousands of Pyongyang’s troops to the Ukraine conflict. Choe has been in Russia for a week and has pledged that North Korea would…
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South Korean intelligence believes Russia could fight alongside Pyongyang in the event of a war against Seoul, the South Korean daily the Korea Herald reported Sunday, citing a lawmaker briefed on the matter. The United States said last week that 10,000 North Korean soldiers were training in Russia and could be deployed to fight Ukraine within…
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More than 3,300 foreigners have been awarded Russian citizenship this year in return for aiding Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, according to Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk. In a Telegram post published Sunday, Volk praised her Interior Ministry colleagues for swiftly assisting “a foreign citizen from a neighboring country” who risked being deported from Russia to…
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Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is in the company of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler because of the iPhone’s impact on society, the head of one of Russia’s biggest state broadcasters said Monday. Channel One CEO Konstantin Ernst called the iPhone “extremely harmful and monstrous for humanity” for “destroying human connection,” according to the independent news website Agentstvo.…
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Indonesia and Russia kicked off their first joint naval drills on Monday, as the Southeast Asian archipelago’s new leader seeks to boost ties with Moscow. The region’s biggest economy maintains a neutral foreign policy, refusing to take sides in the Ukraine conflict or in great power competition between Washington and Beijing. But newly inaugurated Indonesian…
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Russia on Sunday claimed to have captured another Ukrainian village, just a dozen kilometers from the key eastern logistics hub Pokrovsk, as its troops advance rapidly. The Russian Defense Ministry said it had “liberated the settlement of Vichneve following offensive operations”. Russia has been making swift advances in the eastern Donetsk region for weeks, taking…
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Soon Russia will be marking a rather curious holiday, the “Day of National Unity” on November 4 when a peasant and a prince — Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky — supposedly led a volunteer army to liberate Moscow from Polish invaders a half-millennium ago. It would seem to be a very patriotic and important holiday,…
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Moscow on Saturday denied Washington’s claims that Russia was behind a fake video showing a Haitian immigrant claiming to have voted multiple times. Three U.S. intelligence agencies on Friday said in a joint statement that “Russian influence actors” created the video as part of “Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of…
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Surging butter prices in Russia have led to increased thefts in some supermarkets and prompted Moscow to boost imports of the staple food product from nearby countries. According to Rosstat, the state statistics agency, butter prices jumped 25.7% from Jan. 1 to Oct. 28. Rusprodsoyuz, a union of food producers, reported that a kilogram of…
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The widow of anti-Kremlin activist Ildar Dadin, who was killed fighting for Ukraine last month, accused the Freedom of Russia Legion of burying her late husband without her permission and suggested that members of the pro-Kyiv paramilitary group may have covered up the cause of his death. Dadin had fought alongside the Ukrainian armed forces…
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War-fatigued Russians are turning to entertainment for distraction in what could threaten Russia’s “civilizational identity,” said the head of Russia’s Orthodox Church. “After almost three years of active military operations, we see there’s a certain weariness among our fellow citizens of reports from the front lines,” Patriarch Kirill said at the church’s World Russian People’s…
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Russian law enforcement authorities on Friday launched a criminal investigation into a deadly Ukrainian drone strike on a convent in the southwestern Kursk region. Two young men were said to have been killed when drones dropped explosives on the Trinity Convent in the village of Durovo-Bobrik, around 30 kilometers (18.5 miles) from the border with Ukraine’s…
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Self-exiled entrepreneur Yevgeny Chichvarkin said Friday that he is temporarily stepping away from Russia’s opposition, criticizing activists for “fighting each other” instead of uniting against the Kremlin. “I’ve decided to withdraw from the Russian opposition for now, until my colleagues and friends refocus on fighting the bloody, monstrous, disgraceful Putin regime,” Chichvarkin said in a video…
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North Korea’s foreign minister met with her Russian counterpart in Moscow on Friday, assuring him that Pyongyang would stand by Russia until it achieves “victory” in its war against Ukraine. The meeting between the two foreign ministers comes amid Western reports that North Korea sent thousands of troops to Russia, possibly for further deployment on the battlefield in Ukraine.…
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Russia’s military said early Friday that its air defense systems destroyed 83 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions and annexed Crimea overnight, with at least one of the drones crashing into an oil depot and sparking a fire. In southern Russia’s Stavropol region, Governor Vladimir Vladimirov said an unmanned aircraft “fell” into an oil depot…
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A former employee of the U.S. consulate in the Far East city of Vladivostok has been sentenced to four years and ten months in prison for “secret collaboration with a foreign state,” Russian state media reported Friday. Robert Shonov, a Russian citizen, had worked for more than 25 years at the U.S. consulate. He was forced…
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The United States said Thursday that up to 8,000 North Korean troops have reached Russia’s border region with Ukraine ready for combat, after Pyongyang’s firing of a long-range missile ramped up tensions days before the U.S. election. Seeking advantage in his grinding invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has brought in troops from North Korea,…
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Kramatorsk, UKRAINE — Sitting on the steps of his church, now transformed into a refugee center, Evgueny, the congregation’s pastor, enjoys the last rays of sunshine before winter. In the distance, two explosions a few seconds apart make the windows of the small reception center tremble. “Those are gliding bombs,” Evgueny explains without flinching. With…
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Finnish prosecutors on Thursday pressed charges against Russian nationalist fighter Vojislav Torden, accusing him of having committed war crimes in eastern Ukraine in 2014. Torden, formerly known as Yan Petrovsky, was detained at Helsinki Airport in July 2023 on suspicion of committing terror crimes in Ukraine. In February, a Finnish court handed him a suspended…
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Russia’s Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that law enforcement authorities are no longer bound by statutes of limitations when seeking state seizure of assets in anti-corruption cases. “Prosecutors should not be constrained by time limits in anti-corruption lawsuits,” the court said. Those accused of corruption “must be denied the ability to use the statute of limitations…
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German prosecutors said Thursday that they charged a German-Russian man who fought with a pro-Moscow militia in eastern Ukraine with terror offenses and for threatening state security. The suspect, identified only as Dieter S., was one of two men arrested in April on suspicion of planning attacks in Germany to undermine support for Ukraine, with…
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A senior lawmaker in Russia’s upper-house Federation Council on Thursday called for a ban on Halloween celebrations in schools and universities, denouncing the holiday as a “Western” cultural import. “We need to do everything to ensure that this Western holiday is simply forgotten by the public and never again remembered,” Natalia Kosikhina, a senator from…
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BERLIN – “Alexander*a” is a multimedia performance that immerses audiences in the world of pioneering revolutionary and politician Alexandra Kollontai. As one of the first female diplomats in history, Kollontai also became a powerful advocate for women’s liberation within the early Soviet government. Directed by Vika Privalova — a multidisciplinary artist born in Russia who…
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An animal rights activist from the Moscow region is facing criminal charges of treason, the independent news website Mediazona reported this week, citing the woman’s family. Federal Security Service (FSB) agents raided the home of Yevgenia Konforkina and her parents in the Moscow region town of Lyubertsy last week Thursday. “They broke into our house…
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Russia and Iran will sign a strategic partnership agreement “in the near future,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday, as political and military ties between the two countries deepen. Both under heavy Western sanctions, Russia and Iran have strengthened their ties since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with Iran widely believed to be supplying Russia with…
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Two children were among three killed in a Russian airstrike on an apartment building in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, with dozens more injured, the local governor said Thursday. A guided aerial bomb — a powerful weapon used widely by Russia — hit a building in the city on Wednesday evening, according to Ukraine…
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Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina warned Thursday that “more drastic changes” in monetary policy may be needed as the country’s rumbling war economy drives inflation far above target levels. Nabiullina’s comments, made to a group of State Duma lawmakers, come a week after the Central Bank hiked its key rate to a record-high 21%,…
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At least four people were killed and 11 injured when a gas explosion ripped through an apartment building in the North Caucasus republic of Karachayevo-Cherkessia, regional authorities said Thursday. Video of the explosion site published by regional emergency officials showed the partially collapsed top two floors of the five-story building in the regional capital of…
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The head of Russia’s human rights council on Wednesday called Moscow’s major crackdown on dissent part of “sanitary measures” while the country fights in Ukraine, denying the existence of political repression. Russia has banned criticism of its war on Ukraine, handing out prison terms or fines to those who denounce it. All of President Vladimir…
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Russian police in annexed Crimea charged a woman with child neglect after her 10-year-old daughter allegedly posted a video online that “discredited” the Russian army, authorities said Wednesday. The video, shared on Russian Telegram channels, showed a girl choosing between Russian and Ukrainian flags, with an angry face emoji next to the Russian flag and…
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Washington on Wednesday unveiled a new round of sanctions against almost 400 people and companies it accused of supplying Russia with advanced technology to support its “war machine.” The U.S. Treasury Department announced sweeping sanctions against 275 individuals and entities in countries including India, China, Switzerland and Turkey, with the restrictions aimed at “disrupting global…
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Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that it summoned the Finnish ambassador in Moscow to protest the seizure of Russian state properties in connection to a Ukrainian lawsuit. A Finnish court ordered the confiscation of $4.25 billion in Russian-owned assets at the request of Ukraine’s national gas provider Naftogaz. The order relates to a ruling last year…
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Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny started writing his posthumously released memoir “Patriot” while recovering from a nearly fatal nerve agent poisoning in Germany. Eventually incorporating his prison diary, the book provides new insights into his early life and political career, as well as the conditions he faced in the months leading up to his death in…
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A history teacher in the Far East Russian city of Khabarovsk created a club for students to learn about Juche, the state ideology of North Korea, Russian media reported Tuesday. According to the club’s founder, Vladislav Kushnirenko, members of the club are currently undertaking work to “debunk myths” about the isolated country after having visited…
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North Korea’s Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui arrived in Moscow Wednesday to hold “strategic” talks with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. The visit comes amid Western warnings that thousands of North Korean troops are training in Russia and could be deployed to fight Ukraine. “Choe Son Hui is coming to Moscow on an official visit…
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Russian law enforcement authorities in annexed Crimea charged a woman with treason for allegedly buying non-fungible token stamps in support of the Ukrainian military, the Memorial human rights group said. Lyudmila Kolesnikova, 34, said in a letter to volunteers that she had been placed in pre-trial detention after being arrested by Federal Security Service (FSB)…
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The Kremlin on Wednesday dismissed a recent report by the Financial Times claiming that Russian and Ukrainian officials are discussing a potential pause on strikes on each other’s energy infrastructure. “There’s a lot of fake news nowadays, and it has nothing to do with reality,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked to comment…
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Russia’s military said Wednesday that its forces captured the village of Kruhliakivka in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, where it has been stepping up pressure on Kyiv’s forces for months. The village was home to around 1,200 people before the full-scale invasion and lies around 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Kupiansk, an embattled Ukrainian stronghold…
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The head of Chelyabinsk region’s Korkino district announced her resignation Wednesday amid mounting criticism from regional authorities over ethnic unrest that erupted following a local woman’s murder. On Thursday night, enraged residents in the town of Korkino gathered outside homes believed to belong to Romani families, damaging property and clashing with riot police. About 40…
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