The Russian resort town of Sochi, which hosted the 2014 winter Olympics, has some of the highest luxury housing prices in the world, with only Hong Kong and Monaco boasting pricier real estate, a study by consulting agency NF Group has found. At present, $1 million would allow you to buy just 29 square meters…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday announced a new foreign policy strategy aimed at curtailing Western “dominance” while drawing the country closer to China and India. The new strategy appears to view the deterioration of Moscow’s relations with the West over its invasion of Ukraine as a long-term geopolitical reality. “The Russian Federation intends to…
A court in the republic of North Ossetia-Alania in Russia’s North Caucasus has found a Russian national guilty in absentia of attending an anti-war rally in Georgia and issued him with a fine for “discrediting” the Russian army, independent regional news outlet Caucasian Knot reported. Vladimir Zagalov, who comes from North-Ossetia-Alania but has been living…
The Russian authorities’ decision to arrest Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on spying charges came under intense scrutiny Friday, with speculation over why the Kremlin decided to take a step that was not only provocative but has no analogy in post-Soviet Russia. As the dust settled on Gershkovich’s detention on Thursday in the Ural…
Проходимец: rogue Двор (courtyard) is a deceptive word in Russian. You think it’s easy to understand and translate. It means a court — as in royal — or a courtyard — as in the space belonging to a house. But in cities some of the дворы are tricky to translate. The big issue is whether…
The Russian company that made President Vladimir Putin’s limousine has taken over Japanese car maker Toyota’s St. Petersburg plant, the Russian Trade and Industry Ministry announced Friday. The former Toyota production facilities have been transferred to the Central Scientific Research Automobile and Automotive Engine Institute (NAMI), a subsidiary of the ministry. NAMI was responsible for…
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed an order allowing Russia’s Defense Ministry to enlist 147,000 men for their compulsory military service in the upcoming spring call-up. The number of draftees to be called up this year marks an increase of 12,500 compared to last year’s recruitment figures. The Defense Ministry will kick off the conscription…
Georgia has more than tripled its exports of automobiles to Russia in the first months of 2023 amid claims that Tbilisi is helping Moscow skirt Western sanctions, the Kommersant business daily reported Friday. The former Soviet republic in the South Caucasus delivered 978 passenger vehicles to Russia between January and February, worth a total value…
Belarusian strongman and close Kremlin ally Alexander Lukashenko called Friday for a “truce” in Ukraine and for talks “without preconditions” between Moscow and Kyiv. “We must stop now, before an escalation begins. I’ll take the risk of suggesting an end of hostilities … a declaration of a truce,” Lukashenko said during a televised state-of-the-nation address.…
As Ukraine marked the first anniversary of the mass killing of Ukrainian civilians by Russian forces in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield has made the case that Russia “should not be” a permanent member of the UN Security Council in an interview with AFP. “Russia is a…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that Ukraine would “never forgive” Moscow for its occupation of Bucha, a year after the town became a symbol of alleged Russian war crimes. Russian forces pulled back from the commuter town northwest of Kyiv on March 31, 2022, just over one month after President Vladimir Putin ordered his…