Month: July 2022

Iran is planning to supply hundreds of drones with combat weapon capabilities to Russia for use in Ukraine, a top U.S. official said Monday. Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, said the information received by the United States supported views that the Russian military is facing challenges sustaining its weaponry after significant losses…

Pro-Kremlin figures have expressed rare public concern after Western-supplied weapons allowed Ukraine to carry out a series of successful attacks on Russian targets far behind the frontlines. The M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), which the United States started sending to Ukraine last month, appear to have been most effective at damaging Russian military…

Ukraine warned Monday that Russian forces were preparing to intensify their fight for key cities in the Donbas, where the death toll from a weekend attack rose to 26 as rocket strikes killed six in the country’s second city. The attacks in Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine came as Europe braced for deeper cuts in gas…

Moscow-backed authorities of the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson said Monday they had foiled an attack against their local leader. In recent weeks, attacks against pro-Russian representatives have increased in the occupied southern Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. On Monday, the Moscow-backed administration claimed that its leader, Vladimir Saldo, narrowly escaped an attack. An…

Russia will extend its fast-tracked citizenship scheme to all Ukrainian citizens, not just those living in separatist or Russian-occupied areas, according to a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin on Monday.  Putin’s decree orders that “all citizens of Ukraine” be given “the right to apply for admission to the citizenship of the Russian Federation in…

The Ritz-Carlton Moscow is changing its name after its parent company, U.S. hospitality group Marriott International, pulled out of the Russian market over the invasion of Ukraine, the five-star hotel announced Monday. The luxury hotel, located steps away from Red Square on Tverskaya Ulitsa, will now be known as The Carlton Moscow, it said in…

A Russian court on Monday overturned a ruling for a 30-day ban on the unloading of oil deliveries from Kazakhstan, a source of tensions between the two countries. Last week, Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev ordered officials to find oil export routes bypassing Russia in a move that risked deepening tensions that have emerged between the…

Residents of the newly Russia-occupied city of Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine have resorted to holding church services in basements after Russia’s campaign to capture the city left its churches badly damaged. While Russia has maintained that its forces are not targeting civilian areas in Ukraine, there has been widespread evidence that apartment buildings, schools, theatres…

Prisoners with combat experience across Russia are being recruited en masse to fight in Ukraine, the Gulagu.net prisoner’s rights group has reported. Representatives from the Kremlin-linked Wagner private military contractor and Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) are reportedly offering convicts deployment or work on restoring and demining occupied Ukrainian territories. According to Gulagu.net, the recruitment…

Russia’s Nord Stream gas pipeline suspended deliveries to Germany for maintenance Monday amid European worries of an extended shutdown over its response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “From 11 July to 21 July 2022, Nord Stream AG will temporarily shut down both lines of its gas pipeline system for annual routine maintenance works,” a notice…

For many Russian IT specialists, the fallout from the invasion of Ukraine heralded disaster. For others, it has been an opportunity.  Amid Western sanctions and a flood of Western companies exiting the Russian market, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin made an emotional appeal to the country’s IT community in April, urging them “not to fear anything,”…

Newly crowned Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina broke down in tears on Saturday after she was again confronted by questions over her Russian roots. Rybakina, born in Moscow but representing Kazakhstan after switching allegiances in 2018, defeated Ons Jabeur in the women’s final. Her triumph came at a tournament where her Russian compatriots were banned following…

Russian-born Elena Rybakina powered back from a set down against Ons Jabeur to win the Wimbledon title on Saturday, denying the Tunisian world number two the chance to make African tennis history. Jabeur was in charge at the start of the match but the 17th seed, representing Kazakhstan, regrouped and dropped just four more games…

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday that Washington saw “no signs” of Russia engaging with G20 diplomats over its invasion of Ukraine after Moscow faced a barrage of criticism at talks in Indonesia. Russia’s top diplomat Sergei Lavrov stormed out of a meeting with G20 foreign ministers on the resort island of Bali…

Russian troops pursued their “relentless” shelling of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region on Saturday, as the United States promised new military aid to Kyiv including powerful rocket launchers.  Having endured long battles to capture cities in the neighboring Luhansk region, Russia is now seeking to push deeper into Donetsk to consolidate its hold over the entire…

Former McDonald’s restaurants in Russia are facing a shortage of French fries due to a poor harvest and Western sanctions over Ukraine, a business newspaper reported on Friday. The US fast-food giant announced in May that it would exit Russia in the wake of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine. A Russian businessman bought the 850-restaurant operation,…

British officials are making little effort to free two of its citizens sentenced to death by eastern Ukrainian separatists for fighting alongside Kyiv’s forces, Russia’s ambassador to Britain told Reuters on Friday. A court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) last month sentenced British citizens Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, as well as Moroccan…

A few days after the announcement that St. Petersburg would officially be twinned with occupied Mariupol, St. Petersburg governor Alexander Beglov visited the devastated Ukrainian port city seized by Russia after three months of bloody fighting.   Beglov went to see a school, where he handed out tablet computers to children, and dropped in to see…

A Russian court

Russia’s top diplomat stormed out of talks with G20 foreign ministers meeting in Indonesia on Friday as Western powers criticized Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. Washington and allies condemned Russia’s assault ahead of the meeting before Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov faced what U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called a barrage of Western criticism…

Russian officials joined leaders from around the world in expressing shock over the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday. Abe died at age 67 after being shot at a campaign event in the south-central city of Nara outside Osaka. A suspect identified by local media as a former member of Japan’s…

The mothers of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine last week have accused pro-Kremlin war correspondents of causing their deaths by revealing their positions, a BBC Russian service journalist said Thursday. The mothers said Ukrainian artillery shelling killed at least five soldiers and heavily wounded three others after the Izvestia daily published a field report on Russian…

Russian forces left a trail of destruction Thursday, seeking to push deeper into the eastern Donbas region as President Vladimir Putin said his military campaign was still ramping up. Diplomatic tensions meanwhile mounted between Ankara and Kyiv, with Ukraine accusing Turkey of ignoring calls to seize Ukrainian grain being transported by a Russian ship. A…

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday challenged the West to try and defeat Russia “on the battlefield” and said Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine marked a shift to a “multi-polar world.” Delivering one of his strongest speeches since he sent troops to Ukraine on February 24, Putin also raged against “totalitarian liberalism” that he said the West…

A Russian prosecutor on Thursday requested a seven-year prison term for a Moscow city councillor accused of criticizing Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine. Alexei Gorinov, a 60-year-old lawyer by training, was arrested in late April for spreading “knowingly false information” about the Russian army and is now on trial. Gorinov is the first elected member…

A growing number of Russian officials have been handed senior jobs in occupied parts of Ukraine in what analysts said was an attempt to strengthen ties to Moscow ahead of a possible annexation process. This week alone, appointments included a former deputy from the Russian parliament, regional government officials and a high-ranking Federal Security Service…

British and American diplomats in Moscow will refuse to adopt new addresses for their embassies after officials renamed streets in honor of eastern Ukraine’s pro-Kremlin separatist republics. City authorities renamed the area close to the British Embassy on Monday, effectively changing the building’s address to “1 Luhansk People’s Republic Square.” The move comes less than…

American basketball player Brittney Griner has pleaded guilty to drug charges before a Russian judge. The two-time Olympian denied that she had any intention of breaking Russian law when she was detained at a Moscow airport in February with cannabis vape cartridges in her luggage. “I was in a rush packing. And the cartridges accidentally…

Russian forces left a trail of destruction in their wake Thursday as they grinded deeper into Donbas with their sights set on the industrial hub of Sloviansk in eastern Ukraine as their next target. Moscow’s slow push came as diplomatic tensions mounted between Ankara and Kyiv, where Ukrainian officials accused Turkey of ignoring calls to…

Russian lawmakers have advanced new legislation to block the public from accessing information from the country’s state real estate register, a move that could hinder independent journalists from investigating the hidden wealth of the country’s elite. The bill, which passed its third and final reading in the lower-house State Duma on Thursday, restricts third parties…

The Kremlin says it hopes that the U.K.’s next leader will be “more professional,” after Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned as the country’s ruling Conservative Party leader Thursday. The politician will remain as a “caretaker” Prime Minister until elections are held later this year. “We would like to hope that someday in Great Britain more…

A disputed cargo ship carrying allegedly stolen grain from Ukraine has returned to Russian territorial waters, Turkish sources told AFP on Thursday, drawing angry condemnation from Kyiv. The marinetraffic.com website showed Zhibek Zholy moving at least 20 kilometers (12 miles) away from Turkey’s Black Sea port of Karasu before apparently switching off its transponder and…

The Russian ruble extended a recent slump Thursday, declining 17% against the U.S. dollar in 48 hours to reach its lowest level since late May.   The ruble hit 64.5 against the greenback during morning trading on the Moscow Exchange as the Russian authorities apparently intervened in currency markets to stop the ruble from strengthening and…

Moscow will not discuss swapping basketball star Brittney Griner in a potential exchange with the United States until her formal conviction on drug smuggling charges, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Thursday. Ryabkov told reporters that were currently “no nominal, formal or procedural grounds to take any further steps” regarding Griner’s exchange, the state-run…

A court in the Russian Far Eastern city of Vladivostok sentenced a dozen North Korean fishermen to long sentences for attacking Russian coast guards in a clash in the Sea of Japan in 2019. Twelve fishermen from the closed state were handed sentences from four to 13 years in prison.  The court found them guilty…

Ukrainians held prisoner by Russian and pro-Moscow forces have accused their captors of torture in a series of interviews. Paramedic Yuliia Paievska, widely known by her nickname Taira, was captured in mid-March while assisting civilians wounded in an airstrike on a theater in the port city of Mariupol. The city fell to Russian forces in…

The speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament threatened Wednesday to “claim back” Alaska if the United States froze or seized Russian assets as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine. “Let America always remember: there’s a piece of territory, Alaska,” Vyacheslav Volodin said at the last session of parliament, the State Duma, before it goes on…

French oil and gas firm TotalEnergies said Wednesday it had pulled out of a Russian oil project.  Russian oil firm Zarubezhneft will take over its remaining 20 percent stake in the Kharyaga project in the Arctic pending approval by Russian authorities. No information about the financial terms of the transaction was provided. TotalEnergies had already…

Two Russian armored vehicles, battered, charred and dented, provide a dramatic sight for visitors arriving at Warsaw’s historic Castle Square. The T-72 tank and 2S-19 self-propelled howitzer could almost be mistaken for museum pieces were it not for the mud and grass still stuck to their tracks. The two vehicles were hit and then captured…

Norwegian authorities have allowed the passage of essential goods bound for Russian miners on the country’s Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) reported Wednesday. Russian officials last week voiced outrage at Norway’s decision to halt the passage of Russian goods, including foodstuffs, destined for the roughly 400 miners in the town of…

Russian society is reeling from a historic crackdown on dissent which has intensified since President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine on Feb. 24. Rights activists fear the new legislation will be used to snuff out any last vestiges of dissent. “The changes are an adequate and timely response to the challenges that our country…

Russian lawmakers have approved the creation of a modern-day youth organization in the style of the Soviet pioneers. Children as young as six could join the new group, which was laid out in a bill passed Wednesday by Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma. Artyom Metelev, the bill’s co-author and chairman of the…

A court in southern Russia has ordered the suspension of operations of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), a major exporter of oil from Kazakhstan, the company confirmed Wednesday.  The CPC pipeline’s work will be halted for 30 days due to “irregularities in paperwork guiding elimination of oil spill emergencies” that were uncovered by a government…

Russia’s grinding, hard-fought military campaign in eastern Ukraine has seen major successes in recent weeks as its forces have captured the strategic cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk. The two cities, located in the Luhansk region, are seen as critical to gaining total control over the wider Donbas region, which had been partially held by pro-Russian…

Russian-installed authorities claim to have blocked access to YouTube and Instagram in southern Ukraine’s occupied Kherson region. “We shut down YouTube a few days ago,” Sergei Moroz, a video blogger and spokesperson for the local occupation administration, said in a video message posted on Telegram Wednesday. “We’re now without YouTube or Instagram. But it’s OK,…

Three Russian police generals, including an assistant to the country’s Interior Minister, have been detained on charges of misappropriating funds, Russian law enforcement announced Wednesday. Lieutenant General Sergei Umnov and two senior colleagues — Major General Alexei Semyonov, head of St. Petersburg’s traffic police, and Major General Ivan Abakumov — are accused of embezzling money…

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev invoked Wednesday the possibility of nuclear war if the International Criminal Court (ICC) moves to punish Moscow for alleged crimes in Ukraine.  “The idea to punish a country that has the largest nuclear arsenal is absurd in and of itself,” Medvedev, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, said on…

A Russian businessman with ties to state-owned energy giant Gazprom has died outside St. Petersburg in the latest in a series of mysterious deaths to grip the country’s gas industry in 2022. Yury Voronov, 61, headed the Astra Shipping transportation firm that worked on Gazprom’s Arctic projects, according to the company’s website. Voronov’s body was…

A Russian-flagged cargo ship at the center of a fight over grain between Kyiv and Moscow remained anchored Tuesday off Turkey’s Black Sea coast – a full four days after its unexpected arrival. Ukraine alleges that the Zhibek Zholy had set off from its Kremlin-occupied port of Berdyansk after picking up confiscated wheat. Moscow concedes that…

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that the publication of a call between President Emmanuel Macron and Russian leader Vladimir Putin was a breach of “diplomatic etiquette.” “Diplomatic etiquette does not provide for unilateral leaks of (such) recordings,” Lavrov said on a trip to Vietnam.  The details of the confidential call days before Moscow’s…

Russia’s lower house of parliament has passed new legislation giving civilians who have contributed to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine the same status as war veterans. The legislation will include doctors, technical specialists, construction workers and journalists who have worked with Russian troops in occupied areas of Ukraine, according to lawmakers. Veteran status gives the holder…