Month: June 2022

The Kremlin said Monday it sees the “protection” of eastern Ukraine’s pro-Russian separatist Donetsk and Luhansk peoples’ republics (DNR and LNR) as the key goal of its nearly 16-week military campaign. “The republics’ protection is the main goal of the special military operation in general,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the state-run RIA Novosti news…

When Vadim and Fyodor waited outside the first McDonald’s to open in the Soviet Union, they stood in line with an estimated 30,000 other people for more than three and a half hours.  Thirty-two years later, the pair were again in line on Sunday as McDonald’s reopened in Russia after a lightning sale and hurried…

Former Crimean Prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya has been dismissed from her post in the Russian government, weeks after criticizing Moscow’s war in Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin removed Poklonskaya from her post as the deputy head of Rossotrudnichestvo, Russia’s federal agency for international outreach, on Monday. The 42-year-old took up the role in February 2022, after declining…

Nearly 70 Moscow metro passengers and pickters have been detained across the Russian capital on the Russia Day national holiday Sunday, an independent watchdog has said. “At least 67 people were detained by police on Russia Day,” the OVD-Info police-monitoring website said. “Most of them — 43 people — were detained in the Moscow metro…

Russian forces said Sunday they had struck a site in western Ukraine storing US- and EU-supplied weapons, as fighting intensified in an eastern region where the country’s top commander said the land “is covered in blood.” The strike on the town of Chortkiv, a rare attack by Russia in the relatively calm west of Ukraine,…

The head of the Russian Committee for the Prevention of Torture said Sunday he had disbanded the organisation after it was branded a “foreign agent” by authorities, a label he called an “insult”.  “We don’t want to continue working by being labelled ‘foreign agents’. We consider this term an insult and slander,” Sergei Babinets said…

The restaurant that launched McDonald’s in Russia in 1990, heralding Moscow’s opening after decades of Soviet rule, reopened Sunday with a new name and logo in a potent reminder of the upheaval sparked by the conflict in Ukraine. The U.S. fast-food giant announced on May 16 that it would exit Russia in the wake of…

A pro-Russian separatist leader in eastern Ukraine said Sunday he would not alter the death sentences handed to two Britons and a Moroccan for fighting with the Ukrainian army.  “They came to Ukraine to kill civilians for money. That’s why I don’t see any conditions for any mitigation or modification of the sentence,” Denis Pushilin,…

Authorities in the Moscow-occupied city of Kherson in southern Ukraine handed out Russian passports to local residents for the first time on Saturday, news agencies reported. Russia’s TASS agency said 23 Kherson residents received a Russian passport at a ceremony through a “simplified procedure” facilitated by a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in…

After fleeing Russia in the days after the start of the invasion of Ukraine, Mikhail entered the European Union illegally by fording a river in Bosnia and Herzegovina and making his way over the border into Croatia. His successful crossing followed three failed attempts to get into the EU. “I was afraid of police, bears,…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country’s forces were “doing everything” to stop the Russian offensive, with fierce battles in the east and the south. Kyiv said Friday it had launched new air strikes in the captured southern region of Kherson, one of the first areas to be taken by Russia after the February 24 invasion. But…

Local authorities in cities across Russia have removed banners with the letter “Z” – a symbol of support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – in recent days as the war appears to enter a new phase of bloody fighting and limited territorial gains in eastern Ukraine.  The head of the A Just Russia political party,…

A Russian suspect accused of downing Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 told Dutch judges on Friday he had “nothing to do with the disaster,” as the long-running trial concluded. Oleg Pulatov is one of four men on trial in absentia for shooting down the jetliner in July 2014 as it passed over war-torn eastern Ukraine, killing…

President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia has been able to “get a grip” on inflation after data showed almost a month of no inflation.  “From the second half of May, price growth has stopped completely. Now inflation is at the zero mark,” Putin told a government meeting.  But while stable prices might sound like…

The Russian government will buy over 970 million rubles’ ($17 million) worth of Russian flags and coats of arms to install in rural schools as part of a wider push for “patriotic” education amid the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov in April said that starting Sept. 1, schools will raise the Russian…

Russia’s Central Bank cut its key interest rate on Friday as the country’s economy recovers faster than expected following sanctions imposed on Moscow over its military action in Ukraine. The Bank of Russia cut the rate to 9.5% from 11%, saying in a statement that “inflation is slowing faster and the decline in economic activity…

A former Russian government official was detained at a Moscow airport this week on suspicion of embezzling over $15 million from a Siberian metro construction project’s budget, media reported Friday. According to the RBC news website, Federal Security Service (FSB) agents apprehended Oleg Mitvol, a former ecology official and a Moscow city prefect in the…

Dmitry Medvedev as Russian president chomped on a burger at an American diner with Barack Obama, praised independent media and made ambitious promises of reform to create a more open Russia. But with the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine raging for over three months, he now vows to make enemies of Russia “disappear,” warns of military…

Seven in 10 European businesses expect to cut their investments in Russia this year as Western sanctions over the Ukraine invasion and Moscow’s countermeasures have forced them to revise their outlooks, according to an Association of European Businesses (AEB) survey. The companies’ forecasts mark a dramatic reversal from their strong performance in 2021, when three-quarters of…

The first vehicle bridge between Russia and China opened to freight traffic Friday as Moscow pivots to Beijing amid the crisis in relations with the West over its invasion of Ukraine. Most building work on the Blagoveshchensk-Heihe bridge across the Amur River was completed in late 2019.  Transportation between the border cities with close economic…

Ukraine has depleted its stocks of Soviet and Russian-designed weaponry and is now completely dependent on allies for arms to defend against Russia’s invasion, U.S. military sources say.  Once part of the Soviet Union, Ukraine’s army and its defense industry were built around Soviet and Russian-standard equipment, small arms, tanks, howitzers and other weapons not…

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday compared his current actions to Peter the Great’s conquest of the Baltic coast during his 18th-century war against Sweden. After visiting an exhibition in Moscow dedicated to the 350th birthday of tsar Peter the Great, Putin told a group of young entrepreneurs that “you get the impression that by fighting…

Moscow is set to rename a square close to the capital’s German embassy in honor of one of Ukraine’s breakaway republics. If authorities approve the plans, the embassy’s address will change to “Luhansk People’s Republic Square.” The separatist region is backed by Russian forces, with President Vladimir Putin recognizing the area as an independent country…

Russia’s flagship IT company Yandex will stop showing national borders on its online maps. Speaking on Thursday, the company said that their updated digital maps would “focus on natural features rather than on state boundaries.”  “Our task is to display the world around us. So the map will show mountains, rivers, and other data usually…

Three foreign men fighting alongside the Ukrainian army have been sentenced to death by a court in eastern Ukraine’s self-proclaimed Donetsk Peopleʼs Republic following a lightning-fast trial, Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti reported Thursday. British fighters Shaun Pinner, 48, and Aiden Aslin, 28, as well as Moroccan national Saadun Brahim, were charged with terrorism, committing a…

McDonald’s Russian owner has picked a new logo, menu and app name ahead of its re-opening under a new brand this month, the company confirmed to state media Thursday. The U.S. fast food giant recently ended its three-decade presence in Russia after it sent troops into Ukraine, selling all 850 of its locations to a…

Relatives of Russian soldier Amir Shaikenov came across a photo of a dead man in Ukraine on social media that caused his family immediate alarm.  The soldier in the picture taken in the Ukrainian city of Bucha bore a striking resemblance to Shaikenov, whose elite military unit, the 76th Air Assault Division, was deployed to…

Russia said Thursday it was ready to broker a peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia, as Moscow seeks to reassert its influence on the world stage after invading Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks with his Armenian counterpart in the capital Yerevan on Thursday, reaffirming Moscow’s willingness to help negotiate a deal following the…

Two years after an oil spill at a facility owned by Russian mining giant Nornickel sparked one of the worst-ever environmental disasters in the Arctic, the company says the environment in the area of the spill is in satisfactory condition.  Investigations by a visiting environmentalist indicate otherwise. “Two years have passed, there have been some…

The Kremlin received nearly 42,000 complaints in April from the relatives of soldiers missing in Ukraine, investigative outlet iStories reported Thursday. Official data revealed that President Vladimir Putin’s administration received 41,666 requests related to missing or captured soldiers. The Russian government has not released any official figures on its Ukraine death toll since March 25,…

Dozens of Russian ships on Thursday took part in military exercises in the strategic Baltic Sea after Sweden and Finland recently announced bids to join NATO.   Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that ships of its Baltic fleet, will “perform training tasks for the defense of sea lanes and fleet bases.” It said that…

At least 20 Russian billionaires have launched legal challenges against European Union sanctions imposed after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.  More than 1,000 Russian individuals, including President Vladimir Putin, are on the EU sanctions list, which sees them hit by travel bans and asset freezes. Former Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich, industrialist…

A Ukrainian journalist on Wednesday took advantage of a visit to Ankara by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to confront him with an unwanted question about grain exports from Ukraine, amid fears of world hunger if the issue is not resolved. Lavrov was in Turkey to discuss the establishment of secure corridors for Ukrainian grain…

A British man fighting in Ukraine has been captured by pro-Russian separatists, an international legion backing the Kyiv government said on Wednesday. “It was announced in the Ukrainian press that the Russians had completed a criminal investigation against three foreigners whom they were preparing to put on trial and that they risked the death penalty,”…

Russian forces are now largely in control of the key eastern Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk amid fierce fighting, Kyiv said Wednesday, as UN chief Antonio Guterres starkly warned the war’s impact on the world was worsening. The strategic city has become the focus of Russia’s offensive as it seeks to seize an eastern swathe of…

Russian flag carrier Aeroflot hopes to raise $3 billion by issuing new shares amid ongoing economic turmoil sparked by Western sanctions and Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Aeroflot shareholders approved the emergency issue of new shares worth 185.2 billion rubles on Wednesday, news agency Reuters reported. More than half of that amount, 107 billion rubles ($1.74…

Russia’s Interior Ministry has created a new department to help enforce martial law, the country’s state-run TASS news agency reported Tuesday. The Main Directorate of Rapid Response will also coordinate ministry forces if a state of emergency or a counter-terrorism operation is declared in the country. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the new measures reflected…

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual telephone marathon, Direct Line, will not be held this June for the first time in almost two decades. It is the first time that the program, which see ordinary citizens speak directly to the Russian leader about their daily problems, has been delayed since 2004.  In a statement, Kremlin’s spokesman…

Hackers targeted Russian radio station Kommersant FM on Wednesday, broadcasting the Ukrainian national anthem and anti-war songs to protest Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The station was quickly pulled off the air. “The radio station has been hacked. The internet stream will soon be reinstated,” the station confirmed in a statement. The hackers’ anti-war offering included…

Russia and Turkey made little headway on Wednesday in talks aimed at securing safe passage for Ukrainian grain exports, as a Russian sea blockade triggered new warnings of deadly famine. Prior to the war, Ukraine was a major exporter of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, but shipments have been blocked since Russia invaded its neighbor…

Europe’s highest human rights court ordered Moscow to overturn its ban on the country’s Jehovah’s Witnesses Tuesday, just hours before Russian lawmakers passed legislation ending its jurisdiction. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said Tuesday that Russia violated 1,444 worshippers’ right to religious freedom when it declared the Christian organization an “extremist” group in…

The value of Russian imports from Belarus has surpassed that of goods arriving from Germany, news service Bloomberg reported Wednesday. Data from Moscow’s largest trading partners shows that Russian imports have plummeted amid a global backlash against the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. Figures show a 40% drop in imports to Russia in April compared to…

Up to 400 workers at Georgia’s Borjomi mineral water factory have gone on strike as the firm’s Russian owner has been hit by sanctions and the company stopped paying salaries. The Georgian government, meanwhile, says it has worked out a plan to bail out the company by taking over the Russian shares. Borjomi’s salty tasting…

The Kremlin hopes to annex southern Ukraine’s Kherson region just as it did Crimea, a senior Russian lawmaker said Tuesday. Moscow annexed the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, staging a referendum later condemned as illegal by the West.  “The Kherson region’s admission into Russia will be complete, similar to Crimea,” State Duma member…

Moscow chief rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt fled Russia two weeks after the invasion of Ukraine due to pressure to support the military campaign, his daughter-in-law said Tuesday. Journalist Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt, the wife of Goldschmidt’s son Benyamin, tweeted that Goldschmidt “refused” to support the war. Goldschmidt and his wife, Dara Goldschmidt, traveled to Hungary in March to…

Russia claimed Tuesday that its forces had taken full control of residential neighborhoods in eastern Ukraine’s Severodonetsk, after Kyiv said its outnumbered troops were fighting on in the key eastern hub. The brutal weeks-long contest for the key city in the Luhansk region continued to grind on, with civilians fleeing and some 800 taking refuge…

A Russian court on Tuesday ordered the arrest in absentia of science fiction writer Dmitry Glukhovsky, who faces up to 10 years in prison for criticism of Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine. The 42-year-old, who is believed to be abroad, has spoken out against the offensive in posts on social media and opinion pieces for…

Russia’s Higher School of Economics (HSE) will allocate 10% of its state-funded places to children of soldiers who served in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine starting this fall, the university rector said Tuesday. “There are 3,800 state-funded places [in total]. Almost 400 children [of soldiers fighting in Ukraine] will enter the Higher School of Economics through…

Russian authorities have placed Andrei Soldatov, one of the country’s leading independent investigative journalists and security services experts, on the federal wanted list.  Soldatov found out a criminal case had been opened against him on Monday after two Russia-based banks notified him that his accounts were frozen and he subsequently found himself in the federal…

A Russian bank is set to open a branch in Ukraine’s occupied Kherson region this week, an official in the region’s Moscow-appointed administration announced Tuesday. “I think in the near future, a month or a month and a half, people will be able to open accounts and try to pay via the internet,” said Kirill Stremousov,…

A Russian court sentenced four members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the U.S.-based Christian evangelical movement, to six years in prison for “extremism,” investigators said Tuesday. The four adherents of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who hail from the city of Chita in eastern Siberia, were found guilty of organizing “extremist” activities between 2017 and 2020, the Investigative…

Deutsche Bank has relocated hundreds of its Russia-based IT specialists to Germany following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Financial Times reported Tuesday.  The Frankfurt-headquartered bank has relocated approximately half of its 1,500 highly skilled software developers based in Moscow and St. Petersburg as well as their families in the past three months, citing difficulties…