Month: June 2022

Russia on Thursday summoned Britain’s ambassador to Moscow to protest at Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s “offensive” remarks about President Vladimir Putin, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Russia told the envoy, Deborah Bronnert, it “firmly” opposed “the openly offensive comments by the British authorities towards Russia, its leader, its officials as well as…

President Vladimir Putin denied Thursday that Russia bore any responsibility for a looming global food crisis due to the conflict in Ukraine. Ukraine, a major exporter of grain, especially corn and wheat, has seen its production blocked by Moscow’s military offensive, sparking a surge in prices and fears of food shortages that will particularly affect…

Columns of heavy smoke were visible in the first images of Snake Island published by the Ukrainian military Thursday as Russia announced it had retreated from the strategic outpost near the Danube Delta.  Russia’s decision to withdraw was likely the result of repeated Ukrainian attacks, including those launched with Western-supplied weaponry.  “From a military point…

Moscow said Thursday that G7 plans to cap the price of Russian oil would lead to a shortfall on world markets and soaring prices for European consumers. “This is another attempt to interfere in market mechanisms, which can only lead to market imbalance,” Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said, warning of “price increases” and market…

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that a new “Iron Curtain” was descending between Moscow and the West amid the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. “As far as an Iron Curtain is concerned … essentially it is already descending,” Lavrov told journalists during a press conference in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. “The process has…

Following Russia’s bombing of a drama theatre in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in March, St. Petersburg-based artist Alexandra Skochilenko swapped supermarket price tags with stickers containing information about the attack that reportedly killed hundreds of civilians. A fellow store customer reported her act of resistance to the police. “I was extremely outraged by the…

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for three people over alleged war crimes during the 2008 conflict between Russia and Georgia in South Ossetia, it said Thursday. Mikhail Mayramovich Mindzaev, Gamlet Guchmazov and David Georgiyevich Sanakoev, who were officials in the pro-Moscow breakaway republic, allegedly detained civilians to use as “bargaining chips” in negotiations, the ICC…

The head of one of Russia’s leading universities was detained Thursday in connection with a fraud investigation targeting a former senior education official. Vladimir Mau, head of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), was detained as a suspect in a 21-million-ruble ($399,810) embezzlement case, Russia’s Interior Ministry said.  Investigators have…

Russian lawmakers Thursday approved legislation allowing officials to block foreign news outlets in retaliation for clampdowns against Russian state media abroad.  The bill gives Russia’s Prosecutor General the right to ban foreign outlets without court approval if another government is found carrying out “hostile actions against Russian media abroad.” The new measures also give officials…

For his first trip abroad since he sent his country’s armed forces into Ukraine in February, Russian President Vladimir Putin chose Tajikistan. And few are entirely certain why.  The official agenda for Putin’s June 28 working visit sounded mostly unexceptional. The Kremlin said in a pre-trip statement that talks with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon would dwell on…

Russia’s state energy giant Gazprom and top lender Sberbank decided Thursday not to pay their investors dividends for 2021, sending the companies’ shares downward. Gazprom’s canceled 2021 dividends would have marked an all-time record payout for the company, giving investors an expected 1.24 trillion rubles ($23.37 billion). “The shareholders decided that in the current situation…

Russian forces have withdrawn from the strategic Black Sea outpost of Ukraine’s Snake Island.  Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed Thursday that the withdrawal was a voluntary show of “goodwill” as Moscow seeks to discredit claims that it is enforcing a naval blockade in the area. “On June 30, as a step of goodwill, the Russian Armed…

More than a third of Russian movie theaters were forced to temporarily close in June as visitor numbers dwindled amid the disappearance of Hollywood blockbusters, the Kommersant business daily reported Thursday. Russia’s film industry was thrown into turmoil after the five major Hollywood studios — Disney, Warner Bros, Universal, Sony Pictures and Paramount — halted…

Russia on Thursday began shipping grain from Ukraine’s occupied territory, with a vessel carrying 7,000 tons of cereal sailing from Ukraine’s occupied port of Berdyansk. Kyiv has for weeks accused Russia and its allies of stealing its grain from southern Ukraine, contributing to a global food shortage caused by grain exports blocked in Ukrainian ports.…

Chinese smartphone maker Honor has stopped shipments to Russia over fears of secondary sanctions for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the Vedomosti business daily reported Thursday.  Honor halted deliveries to Russia as early as March without an official announcement, the publication cited two unnamed industry sources saying.  The United States and its Western allies announced export…

Auto production in Russia has slowed to a crawl after major automakers exited and Western governments imposed debilitating sanctions on Moscow in response to its invasion of Ukraine.  Russia manufactured 3,700 cars in May, 97% fewer than the same month last year, the country’s statistics agency Rosstat said late Wednesday. Output fluctuated at the start…

The United States vowed Wednesday to reinforce Europe’s defenses in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as NATO declared Moscow the West’s greatest threat — prompting  Vladimir Putin to lash out at the alliance’s “imperial ambitions.” Meeting in Madrid, NATO leaders said Russia “is the most significant and direct threat to allies’ security and…

Hotels in Crimea have seen guest numbers fall by more than a third compared to last year amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  Just half of all hotel rooms in the popular resort were filled in June, despite tour operators slashing prices, Russian news outlet RBC reported Wednesday.  The closure of the peninsula’s airport in Simferopol…

Russian officials have voiced outrage and threatened retaliation after they said Norway blocked a shipment of essential goods, including food and medical supplies, destined for Russian miners on the Svalbard archipelago. Norwegian authorities last month stopped two containers carrying 20 tons of Russian goods, including seven tons of food, at its sole land border checkpoint…

Satellite images and GPS data indicate that Russia could be exporting grain smuggled out of occupied Ukrainian territory, investigations by the BBC and the Financial Times have revealed.   Russia has been accused by Western powers of using food as a weapon in its war with Ukraine by targeting the country’s grain storage facilities and blockading…

Russia’s lower house of parliament has passed a new bill expanding the criteria for individuals and organizations who can be labeled “foreign agents.” According to the new law passed by the State Duma, any organization or person deemed “under foreign influence” can be listed as a “foreign agent,” barring them from activities such as receiving…

Moscow said Wednesday that the NATO summit in Madrid served as proof the alliance was seeking to contain Russia and that it saw Finland and Sweden’s NATO bids as a “destabilizing” factor. “The summit in Madrid confirms and consolidates this bloc’s policy of aggressive containment of Russia,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, Russian news agencies reported.  “We…

Russia’s finance minister said Wednesday the government could use excess energy revenues for foreign currency interventions to rein in the ruble, which has surged to a seven-year high. A strong ruble is not desirable for the Russian government, which fears it can hit budget revenues and exports. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Russia was “ready to sacrifice”…

President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian schools to appoint dedicated “patriotic advisers” as part of an ongoing push to instill “spiritual-moral values” in the nation’s students amid the war in Ukraine. Schools in 45 Russian regions will need to install so-called “advisers on the principals of educational work” from Sept. 1, according to a presidential…

Official statements and footage released by Russia’s Defense Ministry suggests the Kremlin has reshuffled the country’s military command structure in recent weeks, according to analysts, as the ongoing Russian offensive in Ukraine yields few territorial gains.  Russian Deputy Defense Minister Gennady Zhidko’s appearance alongside Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on a visit to eastern Ukraine over…

Southern Ukraine’s occupied Kherson region is preparing to vote on officially joining Russia, a Moscow-backed official said Wednesday. “We’re preparing for the referendum and we will carry it out,” Kirill Stremousov, deputy chief of the Kherson region’s Moscow-installed administration, said in a video address. “The Kherson region will decide to join the Russian Federation and…

Russia said Wednesday it had shot down a Ukrainian drone overnight, marking the latest cross-border intrusion on a Russian border region amid Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Kursk region Governor Roman Starovoit said a Soviet-era Tu-141 reconnaissance drone crossed into Russian airspace late Tuesday before being shot down. Footage shared by Starovoit showed what he said…

An EU ban on insuring ships transporting Russian oil could potentially hurt Moscow more than its embargo on the nation’s crude, analysts say. The European Union recently unveiled the insurance ban in a sixth set of economic sanctions aimed at punishing Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. In a further knock, G7 leaders are seeking…

Russia is working actively to “normalize” the situation in Afghanistan, President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday during a visit to neighboring Tajikistan, evoking Moscow’s responsibilities in the area. “We are doing everything to normalize the situation [in Afghanistan] and we are trying to build relations with the political forces that control the situation,” Putin said during talks…

Bulgaria will expel 70 Russian diplomatic staff, the EU country’s prime minister announced on Tuesday, the biggest number ordered out in one go from the Balkan nation. “Bulgaria is going to expel 70 Russian diplomats. Our services identified them as people who worked against our interests,” Prime Minister Kiril Petkov told reporters. “Everyone who works…

Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska said Tuesday it would be a “colossal mistake” for Russia to destroy Ukraine with its military offensive, a rare rebuke from a member of Russia’s business elite.  “Is it in Russia’s interest to destroy Ukraine? Of course not, that would be a colossal mistake,” he told a rare press conference in Moscow. He repeated…

Russia has shirked blame for Monday’s deadly missile strike on a central Ukrainian shopping mall that killed at least 20 people and injured dozens, calling accusations that it targeted civilians “fake” and a “provocation.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the attack in the city of Kremenchuk, which took place while some 1,000 civilians were inside…

Russia will by Thursday midnight block the renewal of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) permanent mission in Ukraine, ending a 23-year presence in the war-torn country, say diplomatic sources. Russia “has the power to block the mandate at the end of June and it said it was going to do so,” Danish ambassador…

Russia will end its war on Ukraine as soon as Kyiv surrenders, the Kremlin said Tuesday as Western leaders searched for new ways to amp up economic pressure on Moscow.   “The Ukrainian side can end everything before the end of today,” the state-run TASS news agency quoted Peskov as saying to reporters.  “An order for…

French tire group Michelin said Tuesday it plans to transfer its activities in Russia to local management, the latest foreign firm to exit the country following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Hundreds of Western companies ranging from furniture store IKEA to fast-food chain McDonald’s and sports retailer Nike have left Russia since the war erupted in late February and sanctions…

Moody’s ratings agency has confirmed that Russia defaulted on foreign debt for the first time in a century after bondholders did not receive $100 million in interest payments. “Missed coupon payment constitutes a default,” Moody’s said in a statement late Monday.  Bloomberg had earlier reported that Russia has defaulted on its foreign debt after the…

Russian aviation authorities are preventing jobless pilots from finding work with foreign airlines, the Kommersant business daily reported Tuesday, citing five unnamed industry sources.  Airlines started laying off Russian pilots in the spring after most international flights were grounded due to the risk of aircraft seizures in line with Western sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.…

Moscow opposition politician Ilya Yashin has been sentenced to jail a month after being found guilty of “discrediting” the Russian military. Independent journalist Irina Babloyan said she and Yashin were on a walk at a park in central Moscow’s Khamovniki district late Monday evening when police officers detained him and took him in an unknown…

A Russian missile strike on a crowded mall in central Ukraine killed at least 18 people in what Group of Seven leaders branded “a war crime” at a meeting in Germany where they looked to step up sanctions on Moscow. The leaders vowed that Russian President Vladimir Putin and those responsible would be held to…

A Russian missile has struck a busy shopping mall in central Ukraine, officials in Kyiv said Monday, with at least two deaths and 20 injuries among the more than 1,000 civilians said to have been inside. Video footage shows plumes of black smoke rising from the burning shopping center in the industrial city of Kremenchuk…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday urged world powers to do their utmost to help end Russia’s invasion by the end of the year, as G7 leaders planned new sanctions and vowed to support Kyiv “as long as it takes.” U.S. President Joe Biden and his peers from the Group of Seven rich nations, meeting…

Ukraine’s richest oligarch has filed a lawsuit against Russia in Europe’s top human rights court, citing “grievous violations” in Russia’s seizure of Ukrainian property and resources since the start of Moscow’s invasion in late February. Rinat Akhmetov, a steel tycoon who owns Ukraine’s largest steel manufacturer Metainvest, filed the lawsuit in the European Court of…

Updated at 5:24 p.m. on June 27 to add Russia’s denial. Russia shot down reports that it defaulted on its external debt Monday, after a deadline on $100 million in interest payments passed. Bloomberg had earlier reported that Russia has defaulted on its foreign debt after the expiration of the grace period on about $100 million in interest…

U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, who is in detention in Russia on drug charges, will go on trial in Russia on July 1, a court said on Monday. Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and WNBA champion, was detained at a Moscow airport in February after she was found carrying vape cartridges with cannabis oil…

“No war” and “They are lying to you” were not messages Russian viewers expected to see during a news bulletin on state-run television.  But that was exactly what happened when producer Marina Ovsyannikova stormed a live broadcast waving an anti-war poster shortly after Russia’s attack on Ukraine.  “The atmosphere was terrible at Channel One at…

Russia-based web searches for pirated Microsoft products including the Windows operating system have skyrocketed after the company halted sales in the country over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the Kommersant daily reported Monday.  The U.S. tech giant behind the software that runs on over 1 billion devices worldwide announced the suspension of new sales in Russia…

Russian student Sofia Sapega has sought a pardon from Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko a month after being sentenced to six years in prison on extremism charges, the BBC’s Russian service reported Monday.  Sapega and her then-boyfriend, Belarusian dissident Roman Protasevich, were detained in May 2021 when Minsk authorities forcibly diverted their international flight as it flew…

President Volodymyr Zelensky will urge world powers to step up their support for Ukraine when he addresses the G7 summit on Monday, as Kyiv reels from the first Russian strikes on the capital in weeks. U.S. President Joe Biden and his counterparts from the Group of Seven wealthy democracies, meeting in the Bavarian Alps, have…

Political science graduate Yevgeny Zhukov used to own a small coffee shop in Moscow, but when the war in Ukraine began he decided to pack up and leave. Joining the tens of thousands of Russians that have fled their country, Zhukov traveled to neighboring Georgia where he helped set up an NGO to aid Ukrainian…

Four G7 powers will ban Russian gold exports in a new bid to stop oligarchs from buying the precious metal to avoid the impact of sanctions against Moscow, Britain said Sunday. The joint action taken by Britain, Canada, Japan and the United States, “will directly hit Russian oligarchs and strike at the heart of (President…

Updated at 5:30 p.m. on June 26 to clarify the number of victims. Russia’s early morning strikes on Kyiv on Sunday killed one person and wounded six, including a seven-year-old girl, the Ukrainian capital’s mayor said, updating the toll. “A body was found. Six residents were wounded. Four of them were hospitalized, including a seven-year-old…

Russia will deliver missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to Belarus in the coming months, President Vladimir Putin said Saturday as he received Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. “In the coming months, we will transfer to Belarus Iskander-M tactical missile systems, which can use ballistic or cruise missiles, in their conventional and nuclear versions,” Putin said…

Ukraine’s Severodonetsk was “fully occupied” by the Russian army, its mayor said on Saturday, after weeks of fighting over the key eastern city. “The city has been fully occupied by the Russians,” mayor Oleksandr Striuk said. The Ukrainian army on Friday said it would withdraw its forces from the city of some 100,000 inhabitants before…

Russia has quietly made it easier to build pipelines in nature reserves, scrapped regulations on automobile emissions and pushed back measures to reduce pollution as part of a broad rollback of environmental regulations that looks set to gather pace amid the war in Ukraine and a deep economic recession.  Business organizations are lobbying for many…