ST. PETERSBURG — Four years after achieving global football celebrity as host of the 2018 World Cup, Russia’s exclusion from international competitions in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine has led to declining standards in domestic matches, fan apathy and foreign players leaving in droves. The Brussels Bar, a sports bar in Russia’s second-largest…
A Moscow court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by the jailed Russian journalist Ivan Safronov against his 22-year jail sentence for treason earlier this year. The decision to uphold Safronov’s sentence, which was announced at a closed-doors hearing, means that the journalist will soon be transferred from the detention facility where he is currently being…
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that the threat of nuclear conflict in Ukraine was still on the rise, but stressed that Moscow had no intention of launching a pre-emptive strike amid concerns that nuclear arms could be used in Ukraine. “Such a threat is growing, needless to say,” the Russian leader said during…
Time magazine named President Volodymyr Zelensky as well as “the spirit of Ukraine” as its 2022 person of the year on Wednesday, for the resistance the country has shown in the face of Russia’s invasion. Calling Zelensky’s decision to remain in Kyiv and rally his country amid the ongoing war “fateful,” Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal…
The Russian embassy in Berlin on Wednesday denied maintaining links to far-right terror groups in Germany after a Russian woman was among 25 people arrested in a series of police raids over a suspected plot to overthrow the government. “The Russian Embassy in Germany would like to make clear that Russian diplomatic and consular offices…
The Kremlin has urged members of the presidential Human Rights Council “not to upset” Russian leader Vladimir Putin with thorny questions about the war in Ukraine when they meet Wednesday, independent media reported, citing unnamed sources close to the council. According to the investigative news website Vyorstka, HRC chairman Valery Fadeyev cleared the topics to…
Western airlines should prepare to return to Russian airspace when the war in Ukraine has ended, the head of the global airline trade group said Tuesday. Flights between Russia and the West came to a virtual standstill following mutual airspace bans in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February. The closures limited Russian-owned…
Russia’s oil giant Rosneft said Wednesday its profit over the past nine months had been badly hit by the seizure of its German-based refineries by Berlin. “In 3Q 2022, the most significant negative impact on income came from the transfer of the company’s assets in Germany… which resulted in the recognition of an additional loss…
The BBC has named Russian pop diva Alla Pugacheva, jailed anti-war activist Alexandra Skochilenko and prominent journalist Taisia Bekbulatova on its list of the year’s most influential women. The Russian entries in the 2022 edition of the annual 100 Women list of inspiring and influential women highlight the “female faces of conflict and resistance in Ukraine…