Day: December 15, 2022

The blockade of the Lachin corridor, the only road connecting the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, has sparked concern of a humanitarian disaster in the region, not to mention a fresh outbreak of hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The crisis has also renewed scrutiny of Russia’s 2,000 peacekeeping troops in the region, who despite…

The U.S. announced financial sanctions targeting one of Russia’s wealthiest men, Vladimir Potanin, the Treasury Department and State Department said Thursday, adding to efforts that curb Moscow’s ability to fund its war in Ukraine. The actions come after similar moves were taken against Potanin and his network by the U.K. and Canada, the State Department…

The Vatican confirmed on Thursday that it had apologized to Russia after Pope Francis made comments in which he singled out the allegedly cruel role of Russian ethnic minorities in the Ukraine conflict.  Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni was asked about Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova saying earlier on Thursday that the Vatican had apologized for…

Swedish fashion retailer H&M announced on Thursday that it had closed its last remaining stores in Russia and Belarus, wrapping up its progressive withdrawal from both countries due to the invasion of Ukraine.  After ceasing sales in Russia in March following Russian troops being ordered into Ukraine, H&M announced in July that it would withdraw…

The trial of Russian artist Sasha Skochilenko, who was arrested in April for an anti-war protest in which she replaced supermarket price tags with information about the death toll in Ukraine, opened at a St. Petersburg court on Thursday. Skochilenko, 32, who has been held in pre-trial detention for over six months, was charged with…

Moscow on Thursday slammed Poland’s designation of Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism,” calling it part of a targeted Western campaign that has no legal bearing. The Polish lower house of parliament, the Sejm, issued the designation in a late Wednesday resolution. It condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and includes a disputed amendment blaming Moscow…

A Russian man has been sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison on treason charges, security services said Thursday, in the latest case involving alleged attempts to pass sensitive information to Ukraine. Vyacheslav Mamukov, from the Far East city of Khabarovsk, was accused of trying to sell “state and commercial secrets related to transport…

The Russian-occupied city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine has been hit by the most intense wave of Ukrainian shelling since hostilities first broke out eight years ago, its Moscow-installed mayor said. “At precisely 7 a.m., Ukrainian fascists subjected the center of Donetsk to the most massive strike since 2014,” Alexei Kulemzin wrote on the Telegram…

Georgia’s jailed ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili called off a hunger strike he had announced a few hours earlier Wednesday over the authorities’ failure to ensure a video link between the hospital where he is being held and his court hearing. Saakashvili has been a key figure of politics in the ex-Soviet Caucasus country for two decades…

Two workers were killed in a powerful blast at the largest oil refinery in Siberia, authorities said Thursday, in the second such incident in recent weeks. Processing unit fumes may have caused the blast at the Rosneft oil giant-owned Angarsk Petrochemical Company, according to emergency officials. The Irkutsk regional branch of Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said…