President Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia party on Wednesday proposed holding referendums on Nov. 4 to annex territories taken by Moscow’s forces in Ukraine. “It would be right and symbolic” to hold the votes on Nov. 4, Russia’s Day of National Unity, party secretary general Andrey Turchak said on its website. After the votes, he…
A growing number of Russians are choosing neighboring Belarus for their next vacation in a bid to access Western goods and financial services no longer available at home because of sanctions imposed on Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine. Unlike Russia, most foreign retailers and major payment companies retain a presence in ex-Soviet Belarus that…
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny said Wednesday he had been placed in a solitary confinement cell for the fourth time in little over a month. The opposition figure, who is serving an 11.5 year sentence on charges of fraud, parole violations and contempt of court, said he had just been released from a spell in…
Updated with Putin comments. Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed Western governments’ “sanctions fever,” defended the invasion of Ukraine and warned Europeans they could “freeze” without Russian energy exports at an economic forum in Russia’s Far East on Wednesday. “The [coronavirus] epidemic has been replaced by other global challenges that threaten the entire world,” Putin told…
Russia has put Vitaly Mansky, one of the country’s leading documentary filmmakers and a critic of the invasion of Ukraine, on a wanted list, Russian media reported Tuesday. Mansky, 58, was recently implicated in a defamation case brought by prominent film director and Kremlin supporter Nikita Mikhalkov. In a recent Youtube interview, Mansky said “at…
Myanmar has begun buying petroleum products from Russia and is expecting the delivery of diesel fuel in the coming days, the Southeast Asian country’s military leader said Wednesday. Senior general Min Aung Hlaing shared the news on his second visit to Russia in less than two months as both isolated countries seek to deepen ties in…
The UN’s atomic watchdog called Tuesday for a security zone to be set up around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is occupied by Russia, as the area was hit by more shelling. Russian troops seized control of the plant — Europe’s biggest atomic facility — in March and there have been repeated attacks in…