Day: October 11, 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday told UN nuclear agency chief Rafael Grossi he was “open to dialogue” on Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in territory controlled by Moscow’s forces in southern Ukraine. In televised comments with Grossi ahead of their meeting in Saint Petersburg, Putin told the IAEA chief he was “ready to discuss all…

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko claimed Monday that Ukraine was readying an attack on Belarus and announced the formation of a “joint military group” with Russia.  “Ukraine is not just discussing but planning strikes on the territory of Belarus,” Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said during a meeting with security officials, according…

Russia has added U.S. tech giant Meta to its list of “terrorists and extremist” organizations, according to state financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring’s database. Moscow banned Meta products Facebook and Instagram in March after authorities accused the company of tolerating “Russophobia” during Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, making the popular social media platforms inaccessible to Russian users…

The day Russia invaded Ukraine, social entrepreneur and political activist Alexei Minyaylo gathered his friends and partners to brainstorm how to “end this madness.” The answer came quickly: public opinion polling. “The authorities always use polls to create the illusion of a majority and that’s a very powerful social mechanism,” Minyaylo told The Moscow Times. …

Russia’s recession will be less severe than expected due to oil exports and relatively stable domestic demand, according to the latest International Monetary Fund forecasts released on Tuesday. While the IMF estimates Russia’s economy to have contracted by 21.8% during the second quarter at a quarterly annualized rate, for the year as a whole the Russian…

Kyiv has returned home dozens of Ukrainian children who had been taken to Russia amid Moscow’s invasion, Ukraine’s ministry for reintegrating temporarily occupied territories said Tuesday. The 37 children were “forcibly removed” from the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine at the end of August and taken to the southern Russian town of Kabardinka, the ministry…

Japanese automaker Nissan will sell its Russian assets – including a factory in St. Petersburg – to the Russian government, the Industry and Trade Ministry said Tuesday.  The Kommersant business daily reports that the Japanese car manufacturer’s departure follows a similar scheme as French automaker Renault, which exited the Russian market in May.  Russian car…

Russians are increasingly buying books about Nazi Germany and World War II following President Vladimir Putin’s “partial” mobilization of civilian reservists for the war in Ukraine. Sales of books about World War II surged by 20% despite an overall decline in book sales across Russia, the Kommersant business daily reported Tuesday, citing leading bookstores and…

Billionaire Silicon Valley investor Yuri Milner said Monday he had renounced his Russian citizenship. “My family and I left Russia for good in 2014, after the Russian annexation of Crimea. And this summer, we officially completed the process of renouncing our Russian citizenship,” the Moscow-born Milner tweeted. Milner, founder of the internet investment firm DST Global and…

With Russia firing a hail of missiles into Ukraine on Monday and Belarus making fresh threats against Kyiv, President Vladimir Putin is seeking to escalate the nearly eight-month war and compensate for humiliating recent losses, Western analysts say. According to Ukrainian authorities, 41 out of 75 missiles were intercepted, but the remainder struck cities around the country,…