Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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By Visiting Loyal Small-Town Russians, Putin Seeks to Ease Concert Hall Attack Blunder
Five days since the deadliest attack on Russian soil since 2003, President Vladimir Putin has still not visited the site of the attack in Moscow or met with the victims’ families. After repeatedly implicating Ukraine and the West in the attack despite the Islamic State claiming responsibility, Putin on Wednesday made a surprise visit to…
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Russia Sentences Online War Critic to 6 Years Jail
A Russian court on Wednesday sentenced a man to six years in jail for online messages denouncing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as Moscow clamps down on public criticism of the conflict. Nikolai Farafonov, 35, was found guilty of “public incitement to commit terrorist acts” by a military court in Russia’s northern republic of Komi, local…
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Moscow Attack Death Toll Rises to 143 – Authorities
The death toll from the attack on a Moscow concert hall claimed by Islamic extremists rose on Wednesday to 143, Russian authorities said. Authorities listed the names of the dead five days after last Friday’s attack, the deadliest claimed to date by Islamic State on European soil and the worst in Russia in two decades. …
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Czechs Bust Major Russian Propaganda Network
Czech intelligence has busted a Moscow-financed network that spread Russian propaganda and wielded influence across Europe, including in the European Parliament, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Wednesday. The group used the Prague-based Voice of Europe news site to spread information seeking to discourage the European Union from sending aid to Ukraine, which has been…
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Russia, Mali To Strengthen Counterterrorism Efforts
Russia and Mali agreed to strengthen their cooperation over counterterrorism in a telephone call on Wednesday according to both parties, following the attack in Moscow that killed at least 137. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to the head of the Malian junta, Colonel Assimi Goita, and the President of Congo-Brazzaville, Denis Sassou Nguesso, the Kremlin…
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Russian Investigators Say Received 143 Missing Persons Reports After Concert Attack
Russian investigators have received more than 140 missing persons reports after last week’s deadly concert hall attack near Moscow. The official death toll from Friday night’s mass killing at the Crocus City Hall music venue stood at 140 as of Wednesday afternoon, while another 360 people were listed as wounded. Islamic State affiliate ISIS-K has claimed…
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‘I’m Trying to Forget It’: Moscow Concert Attack Survivors Grapple With Trauma
MOSCOW — “I think we survived by a miracle,” said one man who survived the deadly Moscow concert hall attack that claimed the lives of at least 140 people. Days after camouflaged gunmen stormed Crocus City Hall, those who managed to escape the horror and chaos are still grappling with the tragedy and the trauma…
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Woman Injured in Drone Crash at Belgorod Government Building
A woman was injured after a drone crashed into a government building in western Russia’s Belgorod on Wednesday, regional authorities said. “An enemy drone crashed into an administrative building in [the city of] Belgorod,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on the messaging app Telegram. “The explosion shattered windows on the building’s third and fourth floors and damaged its…
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Russian Attacks Kill 3 as Ukraine Calls for More Air Defenses
Russian attacks on eastern and southern Ukraine killed at least three people on Wednesday, officials said, as Kyiv called for more Patriot air defense systems to battle a surge in missile strikes. Moscow has escalated aerial attacks on Ukraine in the past few weeks, targeting key infrastructure — including power stations — in retaliation for…
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Police Raid Warehouse Near Moscow for Migrant ‘Document Check’
Russian police have detained dozens of workers at a warehouse of the online retailer Wildberries on suspicion of breaking migration laws, state media reported Wednesday. Wildberries’ press service said a “document inspection” had been carried out at its warehouse in the Moscow region town of Elektrostal, which reportedly employs 8,000 people. “The inspection is over, 38 warehouse [workers]…
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Elena Skvortsova Hides Street Art in Plain Sight
If you happen upon a small ceramic statue tucked inside a drainpipe or half-buried in a pile of leaves, chances are it’s a work by Elena Skvortsova. Skovtsova is a ceramicist living in Moscow. She creates decorative plates, small statues, vases, and other works that she exhibits in galleries and on the street. She often tucks…
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Niger Regime Chief Talks ‘Security Cooperation’ With Putin
The head of Niger’s military regime General Abdourahamane Tiani spoke on Tuesday by telephone to Russian President Vladimir Putin about “strengthening security cooperation,” according to an official communique. The two countries had already agreed in January to strengthen military ties when Niger Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine led a delegation to Moscow. Niger, one of…
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Russia Calls U.K. Courts ‘A Farce’ Over Assange Case
Russia called Britain’s judiciary a “farce” Tuesday over its treatment of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who must wait weeks to learn if he can appeal against extradition to the United States. The 52-year-old, who has been held in a London prison since 2019, is wanted by the United States over his role in the publication…
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Lukashenko Says Helped Russia Stop Concert Gunmen From Fleeing to Belarus
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Tuesday that he had helped his counterpart Vladimir Putin keep suspected gunmen from entering Belarus after they fled from the scene of the deadly Moscow concert hall attack late last week. Russian law enforcement agents detained four suspected assailants early Saturday in the western Bryansk region, which is close to…
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Russian Security Chiefs Blame Concert Attack on Ukraine, West
Top Russian security officials claimed Tuesday that Ukraine and the West were partly responsible for the deadly concert hall attack outside of Moscow late last week, which saw camouflaged gunmen indiscriminately kill at least 139 people and wound dozens more. The head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov said that while those who…
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Ukraine Says Weekend Missile Attack Damaged 4 Russian Ships
Ukraine said Tuesday that it had damaged four Russian naval ships in a weekend missile attack against annexed Crimea. The Ukrainian navy had previously said that the overnight attack between Saturday and Sunday damaged only two amphibious landing ships — the Yamal and the Azov. According to new information, “Ukraine’s Defense forces [also] successfully damaged the…
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Moscow Court Remands Eighth Suspect in Concert Hall Attack
A Moscow court on Tuesday remanded an eighth suspect in connection to the deadly concert hall attack outside the Russian capital late last week. Alisher Kasimov, a 32-year-old Russian citizen born in Kyrgyzstan, is accused of renting out his Moscow region apartment to four suspected gunmen behind the mass shooting at the Crocus City Hall music…
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Russia’s FSB Says Bomb Attack Plotter Killed in Blast During Arrest Attempt
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) thwarted an attempted bomb attack against a humanitarian aid collection point in the Samara region, state media reported Tuesday. A 30-year-old “accomplice” of the Russian Volunteer Corps — one of the pro-Kyiv militias fighting against the Russian army in Ukraine — allegedly died after an explosive device he was carrying…
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Russia Extends Evan Gershkovich’s Pre-Trial Detention Ahead of Arrest Anniversary
A Moscow court on Tuesday extended the pre-trial detention of U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich until June 30, ensuring that he will have spent more than one year behind bars following his arrest last year on espionage charges. Russian prosecutors have accused the Wall Street Journal reporter of espionage, the first such charge against a Western…
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Ukrainian Shelling of Russia’s Belgorod Region Injures 5
Ukrainian strikes have left five people wounded in western Russia’s Belgorod region, authorities said Tuesday, in the latest bout in escalating cross-border attacks between Russia and Ukraine. Recent months have seen a sharp uptick in Ukrainian attacks along Russia’s western border, as well as incursions by pro-Kyiv militias comprised of Russian volunteer fighters. Belgorod region…
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The implementation of the Obninsk.Tech project was discussed at ATOMEXPO-2024
During the session, the expansion of the Youth Council was announced. On March 25, as part of the ATOMEXPO-2024 International Forum, the Obninsk.Tech – Innovations in Nuclear Education session was held, dedicated to the discussion of a project to create a unique international innovation cluster of global nuclear education. The discussion brought together a wide…
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Russian Rights Chief Says Torturing Concert Attack Suspects ‘Inadmissible’
Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova has criticized the alleged violent detention of the four suspected gunmen in last week’s deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall, state media reported Tuesday. “Despite the drastic nature of detaining criminals and no criminal punishment stipulated for actions that inflict harm during detention, it’s absolutely inadmissible to use torture…
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Consortium Leader of MBIR Reactor International Research Centre, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and Rusatom Bel concluded a Cooperation Agreement
The agreement ensures the cooperation on International Research Centre project based on MBIR. On March 25, 2024, within XIII International Forum ATOMEXPO-2024 in Sochi a Cooperation Agreement on the project of the International Research Center based on Multipurpose fast research reactor (IRC MBIR) was signed between the Consortium Leader of IRC MBIR, National Academy of…
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ROSATOM is set to develop nuclear medicine technologies in Serbia
An agreement to this effect was signed at the ATOMEXPO 2024 International Forum. A Memorandum of understanding on nuclear medicine cooperation was signed between the Rosatom State Corporation and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Serbia on March 25, 2024 at the ATOMEXPO International Forum. The document was signed by ROSATOM’s Director General…
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Putin Says ‘Radical Islamists’ Behind Moscow Concert Attack
President Vladimir Putin on Monday night said for the first time that “radical Islamists” were behind Friday’s attack on a concert hall outside Moscow, but otherwise doubled down on his previous claim that Ukraine may have somehow been involved and suggested that Washington was allegedly trying to cover it up. Eleven people were detained on…
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Moscow Court Remands 3 More Suspects Over Concert Hall Attack
A Moscow court has ordered three more men to be put in pre-trial detention in connection with the deadly concert hall attack outside Moscow late last week, the independent news website Mediazona reported Monday. Two brothers, Aminchon and Dilovar Islomov, as well as their father Isroil Islomov, all of whom had worked in northwestern Russia’s Tver…
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‘Endless Wave of Violence’: Leading Russian Anti-Torture Activist on Concert Attack Suspects’ Treatment
Four men accused of killing at least 137 people in the deadly attack on Crocus City Hall appeared in a series of late Sunday court hearings in Moscow with visible bruises, cuts and other injuries. Unverified graphic footage of the suspects’ interrogations had earlier been published on social media, leading some observers to conclude that…
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The Plenary Session of ATOMEXPO 2024 focused on the challenges faced by the global atomic power community
The participants noted that barriers to the development of nuclear power generation need to be brought down for the sake of the future of humankind One of the key topics of the 13th ATOMEXPO 2024 International Forum, held at Sirius University of Science and Technology, was the clean energy generation of the future, an essential…
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What Was Putin Doing During the Moscow Concert Hall Attack?
On March 7, U.S. officials warned the Russian government that they had information about a planned terrorist attack possibly targeting concerts in Moscow. Fifteen days later, camouflaged gunmen attacked the Crocus City Hall concert venue near Moscow, killing at least 137 people, with the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group claiming responsibility. The deadliest attack in…
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Siberian Teenagers Assaulted Over Unconventional Hairstyles
Two teenage girls in Siberia were hospitalized after a young man assaulted them over their unconventional hairstyles, local media in the Krasnoyarsk region reported Monday. Security camera footage in the town of Minusinsk showed the young man approaching and punching one of the girls seated at a cafeteria table. Her friend, who is then seen attempting to…
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ROSATOM starts testing of unique equipment for BREST-OD-300 nitride fuel fabrication
The fuel manufacturing unit is the first facilities to be commissioned at the Pilot Demonstration Energy Complex in Seversk. During the international forum ATOMEXPO-2024 in Sochi, ROSATOM has held a video conference with Seversk in West Siberia (Tomsk region), thus making a ceremony of starting the tests of the unique carbothermal fusion equipment at the…
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Jailed Kremlin Critic Kara-Murza’s Wife Urges Prisoner Swaps
The wife of jailed and ailing Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza said on Monday she was in favor of prisoner exchanges to rescue him and other political prisoners in Russia. Following the death of Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny at an Arctic penal colony last month, his team claimed that a deal to free him as…
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The 13th edition of the ATOMEXPO International Forum has started
A major international nuclear industry event, the two-day ATOMEXPO 2024 International Forum opened on March 25, 2024 in the Science and Arts Park Sirius of the Sochi’s Sirius Federal Territory, supported by the Rosatom State Corporation. This is the 13th edition of the Forum, bringing together over 4.5 thousand participants from 75 countries. Its key…
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Kyrgyzstan Warns Citizens Against Travel to Russia After Concert Attack
Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Ministry on Monday urged citizens of the Central Asian republic to not make unnecessary trips to Russia in the wake of last week’s deadly attack at a concert hall outside of Moscow. “Russia is currently implementing anti-terrorist measures [with] intensified entry and exit checks of those crossing the border,” senior diplomat Bakyt Kadyrov…
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Russian Missile Attack on Kyiv Wounds 9
Nine people including a teenage girl were wounded on Monday after Ukrainian air defense systems downed two Russian missiles over Kyiv, sending metal debris crashing to the ground. Emergency workers in hardhats could be seen clearing concrete and bent metal from one building ripped apart during the attack, the third aerial bombardment of the capital…
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Binance Crypto Firm’s Successor in Russia Announces Closure
A recently established crypto exchange that took over the Russian operations of Binance, the world’s largest exchange, announced Monday it will begin shutting down over the next month and a half. “CommEX platform has decided to begin suspending some services starting from March 25, 2024, and will completely shut down the official website on May 10,”…
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Central Asian Teen Hailed for Saving Dozens from Moscow Concert Hall Attack
A teenager working as a part-time coat check attendant at Moscow’s Crocus City Hall has gone viral for helping dozens of people safely evacuate the building during Friday’s deadly attack. Islam Khalilov, a Moscow high school student whose family comes from the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan, quickly moved to open doors and provide exit directions…
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Four Moscow Attack Suspects Remanded Pending Trial
Four men accused of carrying out the Moscow concert hall attack that killed at least 137 people were ordered in court Sunday to be remanded in custody pending trial. All four have been accused of “terrorism” and risk a life sentence in prison, said a statement from Moscow’s Basmanny District Court. They were ordered to…
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Russian Opposition Blasts Putin’s Broken Security Promises After Moscow Attack
Russia’s opposition has slammed Vladimir Putin’s broken security promise in the wake of the Moscow concert hall attack, saying the country’s intelligence agencies were too focused on hunting Kremlin critics instead of actual threats. Questions have swirled over how the country’s powerful security apparatus was unable to thwart the deadliest attack in Russia in two…
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Day of Mourning in Russia as Toll From Concert Hall Massacre Climbs to 137
Russia observed a national day of mourning on Sunday after a massacre in a Moscow concert hall killed 137 people, the deadliest attack in Europe to have been claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group. President Vladimir Putin has vowed to punish those behind the “barbaric terrorist attack,” saying four gunmen trying to flee to…
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Kyiv Says 2 Russian Ships Hit in Crimea Strikes
Ukraine claimed Sunday to have hit two Russian military ships stationed at the annexed peninsula of Crimea in overnight strikes, as it suffered another night of “massive” Russian aerial attacks. Ukraine’s ally and neighbor Poland said a Russian cruise missile headed for western Ukraine breached its airspace overnight, after it had put its armed forces…
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Putin Allies Demand Return of Death Penalty After Moscow Attack
Senior members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime have called for the country to bring back the death penalty following Friday’s attack on a Moscow concert hall. Critics have sounded the alarm over the demand, including due to Russia’s broad use of counter-terrorism and anti-extremist laws to target Kremlin opponents and supporters of Ukraine. Russia…
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‘Terrorists Have No Nationality’ Tajik President Tells Putin
The president of Tajikistan condemned the Moscow concert hall attack in a call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Sunday, amid allegations the gunmen were Tajik citizens. Russian media, including Telegram channels with links to the security services, and a lawmaker have alleged that the four suspected assailants were Tajiks. Russian authorities have said only…
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Kyiv and Ukraine’s Lviv Region Report ‘Massive’ Russian Attack, No Casualties
Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with Sunday’s strikes also coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A attack by militants on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people has also…
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AUTO-GRAPH: Boris Akunin Asks Political Prisoners 13 Questions
FROM THE COMPILER* There are many political prisoners in Russia, and their number is only increasing. It’s axiomatic: the less freedom there is in a country, the more people are imprisoned for their beliefs. Before February 24, 2022, the authorities usually sentenced political prisoners on far-fetched criminal charges. Now political repression has become blatant. People…
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Russia Says It Shot Down Ukraine Missiles Fired at Crimea
Russia said Saturday evening it had repulsed a barrage of Ukrainian missiles fired at the city of Sevastopol in Crimea, the city’s governor saying two people had been injured. “According to initial information, more than 10 missiles have been shot down,” Sevastopol’s Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said on Telegram. He added that a child and a…
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Putin Wants To Blame Ukraine for Moscow Attack – Zelensky
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday accused Russia’s Vladimir Putin of seeking to “shift the blame” onto Kyiv for the Moscow concert hall attack that killed 133 people. “What happened yesterday in Moscow is obvious: Putin and the other scum are just trying to blame it on someone else,” Zelensky announced, after Putin said the…
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‘It Could Have Been Me’: Russians Mourn Victims of Deadly Concert Hall Attack
MOSCOW – Russians are mourning the victims of the attack on a popular live music venue in Moscow’s suburbs that left at least 133 dead, including children, and injured dozens more. People are laying flowers, toys and candles outside Crocus City Hall, the concert hall in the Moscow suburb of Krasnogorsk, in memory of the…
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Russian State Media Release Interrogation Videos of Concert Attack Suspects
Russian state-run media on Saturday released videos of law enforcement agents interrogating three men suspected of carrying out the deadly attack on a Moscow region concert hall the night before. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) earlier on Saturday announced the arrest of 11 people, including four suspected assailants, in connection to the attack on Friday.…
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Spacecraft Carrying First Belarus Woman Cosmonaut Lifts Off
Maryna Vasileuskaya, Belarus’ first woman cosmonaut, was aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft that blasted off successfully on Saturday headed for the International Space Station, Moscow’s Roscosmos space agency said. “The Soyuz took off from Baikonur” in Kazakhstan at 12:36 GMT, a Roscosmos statement said, adding that the spacecraft went into orbit “as planned.” Initially programmed…
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Moscow Concert Attack: What We Know
An attack by gunmen on a Moscow suburban concert hall Friday left at least 133 dead, according to Russian authorities. Here is what we know about the attack on the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk ahead of a concert by the Piknik rock band: Attackers in ‘tactical uniforms’ The attack began around 8:15 pm before…
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Russian Army Claims Seized Ukrainian Village Near Bakhmut
Russia on Saturday claimed a new territorial victory over Ukrainian forces struggling to find weapons and troops while the two sides staged deadly new aerial attacks on each other. As a militant attack on a Moscow concert hall became a new flashpoint dispute between the arch-rivals, Russia’s armed forces said they had seized the Ukrainian…
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Putin Vows Retribution for ‘Barbaric’ Moscow Attack
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday called an attack on a concert hall that killed more than 100 a “barbaric terrorist act” and vowed harsh retribution to all those involved. In a televised address, Putin said all four gunmen had been arrested before they had a chance to cross the border into Ukraine. “I am…
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Russia Arrests Concert Hall Gunmen as Death Toll Rises
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday vowed to punish those behind a “barbaric terrorist attack” on a Moscow concert hall that killed at least 133, saying Russia had arrested four gunmen who were trying to flee to Ukraine. Kyiv has strongly denied any connection, and Putin made no reference to claims of responsibility by the…
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Cracking the Myth of the Russian Monastery Kitchen
In Russia today there is a belief that the food served in Russian Orthodox monasteries is the apotheosis of Russian cooking. Some people insist that the monasteries preserved the very best that had survived from ancient Russian cuisine — beautifully prepared, delicious, healthy food. But isn’t there a contradiction here? On the one hand, Christianity…
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World Leaders Condemn Russian Concert Hall Attack
World leaders denounced a deadly attack by gunmen on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed more than 60 people and wounded over 100. Attackers dressed in camouflage uniforms entered the Crocus City venue ahead of the start of a rock concert, opened fire and threw a grenade or incendiary bomb, according to a…
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One Dead, Oil Refinery on Fire After Drone Attacks in Russia
One person died Saturday in the Russian border region of Belgorod adjoining Ukraine and a fire broke out at an oil refinery further east in Samara after drone attacks, officials said. Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram that two districts in his region had been hit by drones. “It’s shaping up to be a…
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At Least 60 Killed, 145 Injured in Mass Shooting Outside Moscow
A group of armed men opened fire at a concert hall in a Moscow suburb on Friday night, killing at least 60 people and injuring 145 others, Russian authorities said, marking one of the deadliest such attacks in Russia in recent decades. A video shared online showed at least two masked men entering the Crocus…
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Islamic State Group Claims Russia Gun Attack
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a gun attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday, which Russian authorities said killed at least 40 people. IS fighters “attacked a large gathering… on the outskirts of the Russian capital Moscow,” the group said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app. The IS statement said…
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Timeline of Attacks in Moscow Since 1999
Russia is reeling from a mass shooting and blaze at a Moscow rock concert, which the government has labeled a “terrorist attack.” Here is a look back at previous attacks on the city in the past 25 years. Apartment building bombed, 118 dead (1999) A bomb blast in the early hours of Sept. 13, 1999,…
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