Day: July 18, 2022

Russian lawmakers on Monday submitted legislation that would ban any information deemed “LGBT propaganda” by Russian authorities. Current Russian law bans the display of “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relationships” toward minors. If passed, the latest bill would restrict “information that denies family values” as well as “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” aimed at any age…

A former Russian state television worker who protested the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine on the air faces new charges of “discrediting” the military and said she expects further pressure and intimidation from law enforcement following her return to the country. Marina Ovsyannikova was briefly detained in Moscow on Sunday evening after a July 15 social…

A Moscow court has fined Google 21 billion rubles ($360 million) for failing to remove content concerning Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine, the nation’s telecommunications regulator said Monday. Roskomnadzor said the Google-owned video platform YouTube had failed to block “false information” on the offensive in Ukraine, “extremist and terrorist propaganda” and content “calling on minors to participate…

Almost two dozen people, including several children, were killed in Thursday’s Russian attack on the city of Vinnytsia in central Ukraine, which President Volodymyr Zelensky described as an act of terrorism. Images from the strikes and their aftermath have spurred a renewed round of international condemnation against Moscow:

The independent Dozhd television channel is resuming its broadcasts from outside Russia on Monday, ending a monthslong hiatus sparked by harsh wartime information laws passed in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “The team is in a great mood but everyone is, of course, a little nervous because we haven’t been live for four…

Russia must work to overcome “colossal” high-tech problems caused by Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said Monday. “This is a huge challenge for our country,” Putin said, accusing Western countries of deliberately blocking access to high-tech products for Russia. “Realizing the colossal amount of difficulties we are…

Russians are facing longer-than-normal waiting times for Schengen visas as tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions have left European embassies in Moscow short-staffed and demand for summer travel surges.  Limited appointment slots are available at most embassies’ visa centers, with all slots at the visa centers of France, Greece and Spain fully booked for July, according to travel…

Russian shelling in battle-scarred east Ukraine on Monday left six dead, Kyiv said, as the country was reeling from President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision to sack two senior law enforcement officials. EU foreign ministers were convening meanwhile to discuss toughening sanctions against Moscow and the bloc’s foreign policy chief warned of the “life and death” consequences…

Russia’s defense minister has instructed the country’s Armed Forces based in eastern Ukraine to prioritize strikes on Ukraine’s long-range weapons, according to a statement circulated by news agencies Monday. Sergei Shoigu issued the instructions to the Vostok (“East”) Battalion as part of his second publicly announced visit to the frontline since Russia invaded Ukraine in…

Russia’s most modern and technologically advanced tank, the T-90M, has appeared in photos and videos in Ukraine just a handful of times since the beginning of the invasion.  One video posted online last week showed a T-90M on a mud road, hidden under trees.  But its relative rarity — and technological sophistication — has not…