MOSCOW – The rebranded version of KFC reopened at its first location in central Moscow on Tuesday after the U.S. fast-food chain exited Russia’s market over the war in Ukraine. The rebranded restaurant chain’s flagship location on Tverskaya-Yamskaya Ulitsa some 5 kilometers from the Kremlin was fully packed at its grand opening Tuesday evening, over…
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday called Joe Biden a senile and “desperate grandpa” after the U.S. president announced his candidacy for re-election in 2024. “Biden has taken his decision. A desperate grandpa,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram about the 80-year-old U.S. leader. “If I was in the place of the U.S. military I would…
A Russian soldier has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for treason and illegal access to state secrets, the state-run TASS news agency reported Tuesday, citing court records. The sentencing is the latest in a series of increasingly frequent court verdicts against military servicemembers since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The case against…
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Tuesday hosted four-way talks aimed at normalizing ties between Ankara and Damascus, which were severed at the start of Syria’s civil war in 2011. “Practical steps were discussed in the field of strengthening security in the Syrian Arab Republic and normalizing Syrian-Turkish relations,” the Russian Defense Ministry. Moscow stressed…
Sweden on Tuesday announced it was expelling five Russian diplomats for “activities not compatible” with their diplomatic status. Sweden’s foreign ministry said “five officials at the Russian Embassy in Sweden are being asked to leave the country” due to activities incompatible with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The foreign ministry did not specify the…
Russian authorities announced Tuesday that they will close Moscow’s Red Square to the public for an unprecedented two weeks ahead of the country’s annual parade marking the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. Each year on May 9, Russia celebrates the Victory Day holiday with a massive military parade on Red Square…
The Russian military’s spring call-up has targeted Moscow students in an apparent attempt to meet President Vladimir Putin’s target of enlisting 147,000 young men for compulsory service, the Meduza news website reported Tuesday, citing activists. The speculation follows reporting last week that authorities had started violently delivering students to enlistment offices. Students in at least three schools,…
More than 200 freshly dug graves bearing the insignia of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group have been located at a cemetery in Russia’s third-largest city of Novosibirsk, the Siberia-based news site Tayga.info reported Tuesday. Wagner wreaths can be seen next to the majority of the tombs in footage shared by the outlet. The years of death on…
A Russian man claiming to be a deserter from the Kremlin-linked Wagner mercenary group went on trial Tuesday in Oslo over a street fight in the center of the capital. Wearing a beige shirt and pants, Andrei Medvedev pleaded guilty to participating in a brawl outside a bar in February, resisting arrest and carrying an…
Demand for European vacations among Russian tourists has increased slightly this month despite ongoing flight and visa difficulties due to the war in Ukraine, the Kommersant business daily reported Tuesday. European countries have tightened visa procedures for Russian nationals over the past year and have increased rejections of applications since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.…
Kyiv’s allies on Monday slammed Russia for a Security Council meeting chaired by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about protecting the United Nations charter, which Moscow itself violated by invading Ukraine. “By organizing this debate Russia is trying to portray itself as a defender of the UN charter and multilateralism. Nothing can be further from the…