Day: March 24, 2023
-
European Central Bank Asks Raiffeisen to Scale Back Russian Operations
The European Central Bank (ECB) has called on Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank to scale down its operations in Russia, Reuters reported Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The news comes just a day after Ukraine’s National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) added the Austrian banking group to its list of international sponsors of…
-
UN Says Both Russia and Ukraine Summarily Executing Prisoners of War
The United Nations on Friday said it was “deeply concerned” by what it described as the summary executions of prisoners of war being carried out by both Russian and Ukrainian forces on the battlefield in Ukraine. The head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, said her organization had documented killings, often…
-
French DIY Retailer Leroy Merlin to Cede Control of Russian Stores
The French home improvement retailer Leroy Merlin will transfer control of its stores in Russia to local management, parent company ADEO announced Friday, more than a year since the invasion of Ukraine triggered an exodus of Western businesses. Leroy Merlin was embroiled in controversy last month when a media investigation implicated the company and the French retailer…
-
Explainer: Which Russian Far-Right Groups are Fighting in Ukraine?
The Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), a Russian far-right unit fighting on the side of Ukraine, hit the headlines earlier this month after carrying out an incursion across the Russian border. The attack on Russia’s Bryansk region, in which two people were allegedly killed, was designed to encourage Russian citizens to commit anti-state violence and expose…
-
Kremlin Cancels Earth Hour Over the WWF’s Foreign Agent Status
The Kremlin on Friday said that Russia would skip this year’s annual Earth Hour event on Saturday after the country’s authorities designated the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) a “foreign agent.” The move comes as Russia continues to crack down on foreign-linked groups, including environmental organizations, following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Earth Hour, which WWF…
-
Shame That Is Cringeworthy
Патрики: Patriki, slang for the Patriarch Ponds neighborhood in Moscow I’ve gotten way behind in my youth slang. In my recent reading, I was stumped by the word падик. The phrase was about some people в падике (in the [mysterious] padik) so I knew it was a place or a structure. For a while, I…
-
Kazakhstan to Strengthen Screening of Re-Exports to Russia
In a fresh attempt to avoid punishment for aiding Russia in bypassing Western sanctions, Kazakhstan will launch an online system to track all goods entering and leaving the country next month. The system, which a senior official told Eurasianet is due to come into effect on April 1, appears to be Kazkhstan’s most concerted effort so…
-
Gazprom Invited to Recover Object Found Near Nord Stream Pipeline
Denmark has invited Russian energy giant Gazprom to help recover a mystery object that was spotted near the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline six months after sections of it were sabotaged. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who revealed the discovery of the object earlier this month, said experts believe that the object could be a signal…
-
Baring Vostok Investors Leave Russia After Fraud Sentences End
Star U.S. investor Michael Calvey and his French business partner Philippe Delpal have left Russia having complied with the travel restrictions imposed on them with their suspended sentences in a highly controversial fraud case, Interfax reported Friday, citing unnamed sources. A Moscow court in August 2021 handed Calvey a five-and-a-half-year suspended sentence in a trial…
-
Former Presidential Guard Jailed for 6 Years for Deserting Russian Army
A court in Siberia has sentenced a Russian citizen to six-and-a-half years in jail on charges of desertion for fleeing to neighboring Kazakhstan to avoid Russia’s mobilization drive last fall, media reported Friday. Former presidential guard officer Mikhail Zhilin, 36, sought asylum in Kazakhstan after entering the former Soviet republic illegally from Russia last fall. As a…