Day: January 9, 2023
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St. Petersburg Politician Charged Over Bucha Massacre Claims
A member of St. Petersburg’s legislative assembly, Boris Vishnevsky, has been charged with “discrediting the Russian army,” the local newspaper Zaks.ru reported Monday. Prosecutors charged prominent opposition deputy Boris Vishnevsky and former deputy Maxim Reznik with spreading “material about the city of Bucha” and information on the “large number of civilians killed,” the court told…
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Choices Narrow in Russian Bookstores Amid Anti-LGBT Law, Wartime Restrictions
Ordinary Russians are unable to access an increasingly broad range of literature as bookshops and libraries pull titles from their shelves amid a wartime crackdown on political dissent and a November law banning LGBT “propaganda.” In particular, failing to comply with the controversial — and vague — anti-LGBT law puts shops at risk of large…
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From Moscow to Chita: Russia’s Winter Season in Photos
Though Russia’s prolonged Christmas and New Year’s holidays have come to an end, the winter season across the country is far from over. A January cold wave that arrived in Russia late last week continues to bring record-breaking low temperatures to parts of the Volga and Ural regions, Siberia and the capital Moscow. Here are…
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Five Russians Fleeing War Stranded in Seoul’s Incheon Airport – Report
Five Russian nationals who all separately fled Russia’s autumn mobilization drive hoping to find a safe haven in South Korea have been stuck in limbo at Seoul’s international airport for as long as two months, The Korea Times daily reported Monday. All five men reportedly claimed asylum upon arrival at Seoul’s Incheon International Airport only to…
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Navalny Returned to Solitary Confinement on New Year’s Eve
Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny said on Monday that the authorities at the prison where he is serving his nine-year term had placed him in solitary confinement on New Year’s Eve for the 10th time since his sentence began. “My prison goons actually bothered enough to convene their commission on the weekend of December…
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‘Putsch Into Nowhere’: Russian Officials Slam Brazil Riots, Back Lula
Supporters of Brazil’s right-wing ex-president Jair Bolsonaro stormed government buildings in Brasilia on Sunday, one week after the inauguration of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Russian officials offered support for Lula, who now presides over the country that like Russia is a member of the club of BRICS emerging economies: — Konstantin Kosachev, chairman…
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Russia Threatens War Movie Star With Criminal Case Over Ukraine Criticism
An exiled Russian war movie star faces criminal charges over his criticism of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, authorities announced Monday. Actor Artur Smolyaninov “made a series of statements against Russia in an interview to a Western publication,” Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said in a short statement. It did not identify the…
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Independent News Outlet Staff Go on Trial in Belarus
Five employees of what used to be authoritarian Belarus’s largest independent news outlet went on trial Monday in Minsk, facing several charges including tax evasion and “inciting enmity,” a rights group said. The outlet Tut.by covered large-scale protests in 2020 that erupted after President Alexander Lukashenko claimed a sixth term in office in a contested…
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Russia’s Ruling Party Uses AI to Purge Anti-War Voters – Reports
Russia’s ruling party is purging its ranks of opponents to the war in Ukraine with AI and algorithms that track voters’ social media activity, the Vedomosti business daily reported Monday, citing unnamed sources within the pro-Kremlin party. The tools scour two popular Russian social networks, VKontakte and Odnoklassniki, for “politically significant actions” that include likes and…
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Head of Russian Region Bordering Ukraine Trains With Wagner
The head of a Russian region on the Ukrainian border that has faced regular attacks throughout the war said he has undergone combat training with the notorious Wagner mercenary group. Kursk region Governor Roman Starovoit said he, his colleagues in the regional administration and a volunteer territorial defense unit visited Wagner’s training camp in the…
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Ukraine Rejects Russian Claim of Devastating ‘Retaliatory Strike’
Russia said Sunday it had carried out a devastating “retaliatory strike” in eastern Ukraine to avenge a recent deadly attack on its troops, a claim quickly denied by Kyiv. “More than 600 Ukrainian servicemen were killed” by a missile strike on troops stationed in two buildings used as barracks in Kramatorsk, said a Russian defense…