Muscovites were continuing to brave the threat of arrest to lay flowers at an improvised memorial to the victims of a missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, AFP journalists witnessed on Monday. The rare criticism of Russia’s almost year-long military campaign in Ukraine comes on the back of sweeping legislation that all but…
Russian citizens relocating to Turkey in recent weeks are being refused residence permits, independent Russian-language media outlet Current Time reported Monday. Since Dec. 26, Russian citizens who left Russia following the invasion of Ukraine and the military mobilization have been denied short-term residence permits for tourism in several cities, the report shows. “[We were told…
A former member of Russian mercenary group Wagner who fled to Norway about 10 days ago has been arrested for violating immigration law, Norwegian police said Monday. Twenty-six-year-old Andrei Medvedev crossed the Russian-Norwegian border in the far north in the early hours of Jan. 13 and sought asylum in the Scandinavian country. His lawyer told…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was welcomed by his South African counterpart for talks in Pretoria on Monday, in a visit that has sparked criticism against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine. A continental powerhouse, South Africa has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and resisted taking sides over the war. The conflict…
Russia has expelled Estonia’s ambassador from Moscow in a move against its “Russophobic” Baltic neighbor, Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced Monday as Tallinn pledged additional military aid to Ukraine. In a statement, the Russian ministry slammed Estonia’s announcement of the expulsion of 21 Russian diplomats and embassy staff to reach parity between personnel. “Tallinn has elevated total Russophobia…
A Russian proxy official in east Ukraine has claimed to have visited Soledar, the flattened town in the Donetsk region of Ukraine that Moscow said it captured this month. Denis Pushilin, Moscow’s top official responsible for Donetsk, said late Sunday he had visited the destroyed salt mining town with Zurab Makiev, a member of Russia’s…
The private messaging app Telegram has for the first time overtaken WhatsApp in traffic volume in Russia, the Vedomosti business daily reported Monday, with experts predicting the Russian-founded messenger will also surpass the user count of its Meta-owned competitor this year. Telegram accounted for 60-80% of total traffic exchanged in Russia by the start of 2023 and…
Soviet-era Ukrainian tanks captured during Russia’s invasion of its western neighbor have appeared at a World War II museum outside St. Petersburg ahead of the exhibit’s expected opening, according to photos and reports published over the weekend. Russian-speaking social media users criticized as inappropriate the placement of armored vehicles seized during the nearly year-long invasion…
Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency is suspected of directing associates of a St. Petersburg-based white supremacist militant group to carry out a recent letter bomb campaign in Spain, The New York Times reported Sunday, citing unnamed U.S. officials. Six letter bombs were sent to high-profile government, military and diplomatic targets in Spain in late November and early…