Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Jailed Russian journalist Ivan Safronov has turned up in a Siberian hospital as he awaits transfer to a prison colony, his supporters said Tuesday. The “FreeSafronov!” group said it had been unable to find out Safronov’s location since Sept. 13, when he was removed from a prison in the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk “to another facility.” […]

Russia on Tuesday began hearing an appeal lodged by jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny against a court decision to jail him for 19 years in a maximum security prison on extremism-linked charges. Navalny was Russia’s loudest opposition voice over the last decade and galvanized huge anti-government rallies before he was jailed in 2021 on fraud […]

The commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has appeared in a video published by the Defense Ministry on Tuesday following claims by Kyiv that he was killed in a recent missile strike. Ukraine said earlier this week it had killed Admiral Viktor Sokolov and 34 officers in an unprecedented strike on the fleet’s naval headquarters […]

A Russian soldier from the republic of North Ossetia has accused military police officers of violently beating him and other servicemen during deployment in occupied Ukraine, media reported Tuesday. Arsen Temirayev said in a video posted on social media that Russian military police officers had attacked him and his fellow soldiers in southern Ukraine’s partially […]

The Kremlin said Tuesday that U.S. Abrams tanks supplied to Ukraine would not change the outcome of its offensive and would “burn,” after Kyiv received shipments of the vehicles. Kyiv announced Monday it had received deliveries of the U.S. Abrams battle tank, boosting its forces as they seek to break through heavily fortified Russian defensive lines. […]

U.S. tech company Meta will not launch its WhatsApp Channels service in Russia following threats that it could be blocked for allowing the public dissemination of information, The Moscow Times’ Russian service reported Monday.  “The product will not be available to users inside Russia in the near future,” an anonymous Meta representative told the outlet. […]

Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova has expressed restrained disapproval of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov after he shared a video on social media of his son beating a Russian teenager accused of burning the Koran. Kadyrov on Monday evening posted the graphic video of his son Adam, 15, kicking and punching Nikita Zhuravel, 19, who was detained in May on suspicion […]

Several villages in Russia’s Kursk region bordering Ukraine lost power Tuesday morning after a Ukrainian drone dropped explosives on an electricity substation, the region’s governor said. Since Russia launched hostilities against Ukraine last year, Russian regions bordering Ukraine have repeatedly accused Kyiv’s forces of attacking civilian infrastructure, including the power grid. “In the morning, a […]

The doping case of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, whose positive test ignited a scandal at the 2022 Winter Olympics, will be heard behind closed doors on Tuesday by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). At the Beijing games last February, Valieva, then 15, became the first female skater to land a quadruple jump […]

UN investigators probing violations in Ukraine since Moscow’s invasion warned on Monday that rhetoric broadcasted by Russian state media could amount to incitement to genocide. Speaking before the UN Human Rights Council, the head of the investigation team, Erik Mose, voiced concern “about allegations of genocide in Ukraine.” “Some of the rhetoric transmitted in Russian […]

Russia said Monday it had placed Piotr Hofmanski, the president of the International Criminal Court, on its wanted list. In March the Hague-based court announced an arrest warrant for Putin for allegedly unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children, which is a war crime. The ICC also issued a warrant against Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s presidential commissioner for children’s […]

Home video footage has emerged of Russian President Vladimir Putin during a “secret” trip to Finland with his former boss in the early 1990s. At the time of the trip, Putin served as the decision maker on export permits under St. Petersburg’s ex-mayor Anatoly Sobchak. The home videos, obtained by Finnish broadcaster Yle, showed Sobchak and […]

Yevgeny Yasin, a former Russian economy minister, academic and prominent liberal reformer, has died at the age of 89 after a reported illness, his family and colleagues said Monday. Yasin, born in the Soviet Ukrainian port city of Odesa, headed a Soviet commission on economic reform during the final years of Perestroika and later became a co-author […]

Russian feminist and anti-war activist Anastasia Yemelyanova was found dead in Turkey, her colleagues said late Sunday. Yemelyanova’s fiancé was detained on charges of murder in the eastern Turkish city of Erzurum, fellow activist Anastasia Polozkova wrote on Instagram. “Nastya [Yemelyanova] was killed three days ago,” Polozkova said, adding that she had gone missing on […]

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Sunday signalled a major foreign policy shift away from Russia following Moscow’s refusal to enter the latest conflict over disputed Nagorno-Karabakh. Pashinyan told the nation in a major television address that his former Soviet republic’s current foreign security alliances were “ineffective” and “insufficient.” He added that Armenia should join […]

Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, jailed for 25 years on treason charges and for denouncing Moscow’s Ukraine offensive, has arrived to serve his sentence at a maximum-security Siberian prison, his lawyer said Sunday. Kara-Murza — a dual Russian-British citizen — was handed the unprecedentedly long sentence in April, with international leaders and supporters calling for […]

A Ukrainian drone strike hit an administrative building in the center of Russia’s southern Kursk city, authorities said Sunday. Kyiv has targeted Russian cities with almost daily attacks in recent months of Moscow’s offensive, ongoing for 19 months. Kursk is around 90 kilometres from the border with Ukraine. “In Kursk, a Ukrainian drone attacked an […]

Russia’s top diplomat on Saturday accused Armenian leaders of worsening tensions but voiced hope the country would stay in Moscow’s orbit following furor over Azerbaijan’s recapture of the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. Speaking at the United Nations, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov charged that Western powers were “pulling the strings” to undermine Russian influence but added, “unfortunately, […]

Western powers through their support for Ukraine are “de facto” fighting against Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday, as Kyiv claimed fresh advances on the ground. “You can call it anything you want, but they are fighting with us, they are straight-up fighting with us,” Lavrov told journalists at the United Nations. “We […]

A fugitive Russian lawmaker has managed to retain his position in parliament a full year after being convicted on bribery charges, the investigative news website Mozhem Obyasnit reported Friday. Last August, State Duma deputy Vadim Belousov was found guilty of accepting a bribe of 3.2 billion rubles ($49 million) — described as the largest in modern […]

Russia on Thursday slammed Bulgaria after it expelled the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in the southern Balkans nation. Bulgarian authorities ordered the Russian Orthodox Church representative in Sofia, Archimandrite Vassian, to leave Bulgaria alongside two Belarusian priests following accusations that they acted in the interests of the Kremlin. Bulgaria’s National Security Agency said the three […]

Updated with Defense Ministry’s statement that one soldier went missing. The headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in annexed Crimea was targeted by a missile strike on Friday, state media and Kremlin-installed officials said. Russia’s Defense Ministry had said earlier that one serviceman was killed in the strike on Sevastopol, where the Black Sea Fleet is based, […]

The Kremlin said on Friday it hopes Russia could once again become part of the Olympic community despite sanctions against Russian athletes over Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has suggested allowing athletes from Russia and Moscow’s ally Belarus to compete as individuals under a neutral flag at the 2024 Olympics in […]

Scores of Russian officials have signed up to fight in the Ukraine war since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion nearly 19 months ago.  Coming from all corners of the country and holding various positions, these officials harbor a range of motivations for going into military service. While some believe donning army fatigues may help advance […]

Russia has imposed “temporary restrictions” on the export of gasoline and diesel in order to stabilize domestic fuel prices, the government said Thursday. “Temporary restrictions will help saturate the fuel market, which will in turn reduce prices for consumers,” Russia’s cabinet of ministers said in a statement. A decree signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin […]

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has apologized for the deaths of Russian peacekeepers killed during Baku’s military campaign this week to regain control of the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Kremlin said Thursday. “[Aliyev] emphasized that the most thorough investigation into the incident will be carried out and all those responsible will be duly punished,” the […]

One in five mobilized Russian soldiers who died in the Ukraine war were killed less than two months after being enlisted, the independent investigative outlet IStories and the war monitoring project Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) reported Thursday, citing publicly available data. IStories and CIT said their figures are based on data related to the deaths of […]

Moscow said Thursday it had downed multiple Ukrainian drones overnight in annexed Crimea and the Black Sea, as well as in parts of western Russia. “Air defense systems destroyed 19 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and the territory of the Republic of Crimea,” the Russian Defense Ministry said on the messaging app Telegram. Mikhail […]

The Kremlin has ordered media and lawmakers to blame Armenia for Azerbaijan’s latest attack on the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, Russia’s independent news outlets Meduza and Vyorstka reported Wednesday, citing anonymous sources. The circulated instructions to media and officials follow Armenia’s frustration over what it sees as Russia’s failure to guarantee its security amid escalating […]

When lawyer Olga Slastunina chose Troitsk as her new home back in 2006, the presence of the vast Troitsky Forest on her doorstep was one of the main draws.  This green expanse, which she describes as “an absolute marvel,” created a special atmosphere in Troitsk, an academic town of 60,000 inhabitants that became a part […]

Azerbaijan on Wednesday announced it had halted its military operation in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh after separatist Armenian forces agreed to lay down their arms and hold reintegration talks. Baku and the ethnic-Armenian authorities in Karabakh said a ceasefire deal had been brokered by Russian peacekeepers to stop the fighting a day after Azerbaijan […]

Norway will be the last European nation that borders Russia to ban Russian-registered vehicles amid an uproar over an EU directive on import restrictions. Over the past week, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland have implemented bans on passenger vehicles with Russian license plates. “Norway will introduce restrictions on importing and using Russian-registered cars in […]

Several residents and rescue workers were killed when a gas explosion ripped through a late Soviet-era apartment building outside Moscow, authorities and state media reported Wednesday. Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said first responders arrived soon after being alerted in the early morning of an incident in the suburb of Balashikha, northeast of Moscow. Footage shared by […]

Ukrainian drones likely attacked Wagner-backed paramilitary forces in Sudan, CNN reported Tuesday, citing anonymous Ukrainian and Sudanese military sources as well as footage of the aerial strikes.  Videos shared by CNN show 14 separate drone attacks on the stronghold of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the city of Omdurman, located across the Nile River […]

Russia said early Wednesday it had destroyed four Ukrainian drones overnight in two western regions. In the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, an attack at around 9:00 pm by two drones had been “thwarted,” the Russian Defense said on the messaging app Telegram.  Another attack was reported in the Oryol region, which is located further […]

The outbreak of fresh hostilities between South Caucasus foes Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh marks the latest example of Moscow’s diminished sway in the region, experts have said. Azerbaijan on Tuesday launched a military operation in the majority-Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh nearly three years after fighting a brutal war with Yerevan […]

Russia has threatened to block the adoption of a new political declaration at the UN Sustainable Development Goals Summit in New York, arguing that sanctions undermine its own progress toward achieving them, the Coalition for Sustainable Development of Russia (CSDR) said Monday. In a joint letter to the UN General Assembly, Russia — along with […]

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu arrived in Iran Tuesday for meetings to deepen Moscow’s defense ties with Tehran, Russian news agencies reported. Moscow has sought to strengthen its alliances with other countries ostracised by the West, including Iran, which has supplied Moscow with attack drones for its offensive in Ukraine. “During the visit, the Russian […]

A ban on Russian-registered vehicles by Moscow’s European Union neighbors appears set to hurt not only ordinary Russians but also political dissidents and Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia. Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland have implemented bans on passenger vehicles with Russian license plates in recent days amid intense debate over the enforcement of an EU directive […]

Speculation over Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s health condition has mounted in recent days following claims in Ukrainian media that he is in a coma or even dead.  Kadyrov, 46, has ruled the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya for 15 years, earning a reputation for brutality both within his region and towards civilians in Ukraine. In […]

South Korea summoned the Russian ambassador on Tuesday, the foreign ministry said, to warn Moscow over military cooperation with North Korea the country’s leader Kim Jong Un met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia. Kim spent nearly a week touring Russia’s Far East before returning home Monday, visiting a space centre and weapons factories. The […]

A Moscow court on Tuesday rejected U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich’s appeal against the three-month extension of his pre-trial detention on spying charges, media reported Tuesday.  Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal and former Moscow Times journalist, had challenged the judge’s August decision to extend his custody until Nov. 30.  The Moscow City Court […]

Turkey has become a leading destination for exports of coal from Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions this year, according to an investigation by Reuters published Tuesday.  About 160,400 tons of coal — or 95% of all shipments — from the regions were delivered to the NATO member state between February and July this year, […]

Azerbaijan on Tuesday launched a military operation against the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region and demanded the total withdrawal of Armenian forces from the disputed mountainous territory as a precondition for peace. Fears of a fresh war have been growing in recent months, with Armenia accusing Azerbaijan of a troop build-up and decrying a blockade of its […]

Azerbaijan on Tuesday launched a military operation in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region and demanded the total withdrawal of Armenian forces from the disputed mountainous territory as a precondition for peace. Fears of a fresh war have been building in recent months, with Armenia accusing Azerbaijan of a troop build-up and decrying a blockade of its […]

The Kremlin is considering running media personality Alexei Venediktov as Vladimir Putin’s “liberal” rival in the 2024 presidential elections, the Vedomosti business daily reported Tuesday, citing four anonymous sources close to the presidential administration. Venediktov is the former editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy, a liberal-leaning radio station that was blocked by authorities days after Russia invaded Ukraine […]

The Kremlin has instructed Russian state-run media outlets to stop referring to Volodymyr Zelensky as “president” of Ukraine, the independent news website Holod reported Monday, citing the recipients of the presidential administration’s directive.  Television broadcasters and online publications are instead advised to use the phrase “the Zelensky regime” or call the Ukrainian president by name […]

Moscow and Beijing are closely aligned in their positions on the United States and resolving the Ukraine conflict, the Russian Foreign Ministry said following talks between their top diplomats on Monday. The statement came after China’s Wang Yi kicked off a four-day visit to Moscow with a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the […]

MTSKHETA-MTIANETI, Georgia — In the mountain village of Zemo Mleta, locals’ memories of Georgia’s 2008 war with Russia run deep. “Some of my friends fled their homes in South Ossetia after the horror that happened in 2008,” said Tamar, a woman selling souvenirs at a roadside market. The five-day conflict ended with the region of […]