Explosions killed three people in two villages in Russia’s Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine on Tuesday, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. A woman was killed in what Gladkov said was Ukrainian shelling in the village of Shebekino, around seven kilometers from the Ukrainian border in the south of the Belgorod region. “During the…
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday oversaw the launch of a new nuclear-powered icebreaker as Russia pushes to develop the Arctic and seeks new energy markets amid sanctions over Ukraine. Addressing a St. Petersburg ceremony for the launch of the Yakutia icebreaker by video link, Putin spoke of the vessel’s “strategic” importance to Russia. In addition…
Russian energy giant Gazprom on Tuesday accused Ukraine of diverting natural gas supplies transiting its territory to Moldova and threatened to cut deliveries through a key pipeline to Europe in response. The allegations are the latest point of tension over energy deliveries between Kyiv, European capitals, and Moscow, which has reduced natural gas deliveries to…
Anti-gay legislation under consideration by the Russian parliament could drive the country’s embattled LGBT+ community entirely underground, activists and experts told The Moscow Times, as the Kremlin doubles-down on what it calls “traditional values” amid the Ukraine war. Russian lawmakers last month backed a bill to expand an existing ban on LGBT “propaganda” in its…
A Colonel in the Russian General Staff responsible for overseeing mobilization has been placed under a two-month house arrest for allegedly demanding a washing machine as a bribe from a fellow officer, the Kommersant business daily reported on Tuesday. Colonel Ivan Mertvishchev pleaded guilty to demanding the unusual bribe from a Moscow military commissar whose…
A member of the Russian Armed Forces was handed a one-year suspended sentence back in August for deserting his unit in Ukraine, a court in Pskov announced on Monday. Professional soldier Mikhail Guryanov was found guilty by the court of abandoneding his unit on Apr. 6. He was subsequently apprehended and detained by the Russian…
Ukrainian investigators said Tuesday that a prison official in the recently liberated city of Kherson was suspected of committing treason for releasing inmates before the Russian army’s retreat. On Nov. 11, the Russian army pulled forces from the southern city of Kherson, in a major setback in a region President Vladimir Putin claimed to have…
Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, adopted a resolution Tuesday condemning the alleged killings of captive Russian troops by Ukrainian forces and urging Western counterparts to drop their support for Kyiv. Russian military and civilian authorities, as well as influential state media figures and bloggers, accused Kyiv of committing war crimes after videos…
Ukraine’s security service said Tuesday it had raided a historic Orthodox monastery in Kyiv over suspected links to Russian agents. The Kremlin denounced the searches as the latest chapter in Kyiv’s “war” against the Russian church. Located south of the city center, the 11th-century Kyiv Pechersk Lavra is a UNESCO World Heritage site and seat…
Russia’s state media watchdog has denied ordering state television to censor war-related words after several entertainment channels censored the lyrics “war” and “peace” in recent broadcasts, state media reported Monday. Vadim Subbotin, deputy head of the Roskomnadzor regulator, maintained that the agency does not keep a list of banned words apart from explicit language, according…
Russian troops allegedly dumped and burned the bodies of fallen fellow soldiers at a landfill site on the outskirts of the recently liberated southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, The Guardian reported Monday. Workers and local residents told the publication they had witnessed black bags being unloaded from Russian open trucks and set on fire over…
Russia on Tuesday said it hoped Turkey would exercise “restraint” and refrain from “any excessive use of force” in Syria, where Ankara has carried out air strikes and is threatening to launch a ground offensive against Kurdish fighters. “We hope to convince our Turkish colleagues to refrain from resorting to excessive use of force on Syrian…
Russia on Tuesday called for Turkey to exercise “restraint” and warned against “destabilizing” Syria, where Ankara has carried out air strikes and is threatening to launch a ground offensive against Kurdish fighters. “We understand and respect Turkey’s concerns regarding its own security. We believe this is the legal right of Turkey,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov…