Day: May 12, 2022

Russia reported its first civilian killed since the start of its war in Ukraine on Wednesday after a strike on a village near the two countries’ shared border. The casualty escalates a series of explosions and fires that have afflicted Russia’s border regions since Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. In addition to killing one…

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday Western countries were worse hit by sanctions imposed on Moscow over Ukraine than Russia, which he insists has been resilient in the face of “external challenges.” Western countries have slapped Russia with a barrage of unprecedented sanctions after Putin sent troops into neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24. Western governments…

When Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine in February, Russian general Yakov Rezantsev apparently told his troops that they would not be at war for long. “This operation is going to be over in mere hours,” Rezantsev said, according to an intercepted conversation released by the Ukrainian security services. The Moscow Times was unable to verify the recording. …

Russia’s Gazprom will stop transporting natural gas via the section of its Yamal-Europe pipeline that runs through Poland, the state gas giant announced Thursday. The announcement comes a day after Russia said it was sanctioning more than 30 energy companies — including Poland’s EuRoPol GAZ S.A., the owner of the Polish part of the Yamal-Europe…

HOLLYWOOD–Oligarch Roman Abramovich’s British crown jewel soccer club Chelsea has been conditionally sold to a Hollywood billionaire’s consortium for $5.2 billion. The lead buyer is industrialist Todd Boehly, co-owner of Dodgers baseball and Lakers basketball sports clubs in Los Angeles. He is also the interim CEO of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). One of…

Russia’s former Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev was released from prison Thursday after serving a five-year jail term for corruption. Ulyukayev, 66, walked free two weeks after being granted early release from the eight-year sentence he received in December 2017 on good behavior. The ex-minister had been found guilty of soliciting a bribe, a charge…

Finland’s possible NATO membership “definitely” threatens Russia’s security, the Kremlin said Thursday, adding that Moscow is ready to take further steps to “balance the situation.” Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said their country must “apply for NATO membership without a delay” in a joint statement Thursday after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine…

For almost half a decade former Russian soldier Marat Gabidullin was a fighter with the controversial mercenary outfit Wagner, deployed in the east of Ukraine and then in Syria, where he was badly wounded. But now as fighting rages in Ukraine, he believes the Kremlin should stop foreign military interventions and focus instead on improving the lives of people…

Russia’s government has put forward a law to force ride-hailing apps to give the FSB domestic intelligence agency real-time access to their data. “The document prescribes the obligation of the taxi ordering service to provide the FSB with automated remote access to the information systems and databases used to receive, store, process and transmit taxi orders,” a statement published Wednesday by the lower-house State Duma…

One person has died in an explosion at a Russian military base in the country’s Far East, the state-run TASS news agency reported Thursday. Another seven people were injured in the blast in the village of Teysin in the Khabarovsk region. A source in the emergency services told TASS that the victim was a military…

Updated at 12:40 p.m. on May 12. Russia reported one civilian casualty in a strike on a town near the border with Ukraine, the first such death since the start of the country’s invasion of its western neighbor. Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region, said Wednesday that one person had been killed and seven…

German manufacturing giant Siemens announced Thursday that the company will “wind down” its presence in the Russian market following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.  In a statement, Siemens CEO Roland Busch vowed that the firm would “continue to support” its estimated 2,900 Russian employees and provide humanitarian assistance in Ukraine. “This was not an easy decision,…

Russian freight traffic by rail fell for the first time in six years last month as Western sanctions and China’s virus lockdown disrupted supply chains, the Vedomosti business daily reported Thursday. Shipments by train in April 2022 totaled 512,100 TEU, the standard measurement for cargo meaning Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit — marking a 6% decrease from…

Ukraine announced it will hold its first war crimes trial over the Russian invasion, as Moscow accused Kyiv of shelling a Russian city in the war’s latest flashpoint. The conflict has devastated cities and displaced millions, with fears also growing of its broader international impact as gas supplies to Europe were disrupted by a halt…

The United States has placed limitations on intelligence sharing with Ukraine to avoid heightening tensions with Russia, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.  Two new prohibitions include information that would help Ukraine kill senior Russian military officers and any information that would help Ukraine attack Russian targets outside its borders. The U.S also has a rule…