Norway Arrests Man Suspected of Spying for Russia

Norway’s intelligence service said Monday its agents had arrested a Norwegian man suspected of passing sensitive information to Russia. “The man is formally suspected of providing information to a foreign country that could damage fundamental national interests,” the PST intelligence agency wrote on Twitter. A PST official later confirmed the country in question was Russia.…

Russia Outlaws Children’s Criminal Underground Movement

Russia has blacklisted a popular informal movement that pushes youngsters into the criminal underground as an extremist organization, Interfax reported Monday. AUE (“Arestantsky. Uklad. Edin,” or “Prison. Order. Universal”) is based on prison culture and consists mostly of children and teenagers ruled indirectly by adult criminals. Authorities warn that AUE “poses a real threat to…

Belarus State TV Workers Join Anti-Lukashenko Strike

Belarusian state television and radio workers walked off the job Monday, becoming the latest public employees to support the opposition in calling for new elections after last week’s official results showed a landslide victory for strongman President Alexander Lukashenko. The unprecedented show of resistance comes after several state television presenters resigned last week in protest…

Russia Approaches 930K Coronavirus Cases

The highest number of new cases were in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Russia’s fatality rate has remained low compared to other badly-hit countries, raising speculation that Moscow could be underreporting figures. Russian authorities began easing anti-virus measures in June ahead of a massive World War II military parade in Moscow and a nationwide vote on…