Day: May 25, 2023

Arch foes Armenia and Azerbaijan are advancing toward normalizing ties following mutual recognition of territorial integrity, the two countries’ leaders said Thursday as they held talks in Moscow. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met separately with Russian President Vladimir Putin before the three held joint negotiations late on Thursday. The…

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday that Russia had begun moving nuclear weapons to its western neighbour and ally, after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to transfer them in March. There were no new comments from Russia on bringing the nuclear weapons to Belarus. “The transfer of nuclear munitions has begun,” Lukashenko said told…

Russian human rights activist Andrei Ivashev was sentenced to six years in prison on extremism charges for a series of social media comments, the independent 7×7 media outlet reported Thursday.  Ivashev, 62, is well known in the northern republic of Komi for his criticism of the region’s Governor Vladimir Uyba, as well as one-man pickets…

Moscow’s prestigious Higher School of Economics (HSE) announced Thursday that it will pay for the education of those who fight in Ukraine and their family members. One of Russia’s top-ranked universities, HSE had long been seen as a bastion of liberal values. But in recent years, the university has increasingly aligned itself with the Kremlin’s positions.…

Russia on Thursday summoned the envoys of Germany, Sweden and Denmark over Moscow’s frustration with the lack of progress on probes into the sabotaged Nord Stream gas pipelines. Built to carry Russian gas to Germany, the pipelines in the Baltic Sea were ruptured by subsea explosives months after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops to…

Georgian Airways plans to launch transit flights connecting Russia to European countries via Tbilisi, the airline’s founder said in an interview with Russian media outlet RTVI. Russia has been largely cut off from Europe since its invasion of Ukraine prompted the European Union to ban Russian airlines from its airspace and vice versa. Russians traveling…

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, Moscow-born Ukrainian Marika Semenenko decided to flee abroad. “It was clear from the beginning that it would be impossible to speak out against the war and staying silent wasn’t an option for me,” the entrepreneur and activist who has since settled in Armenia told The…

Kazakhstan’s president on Thursday criticized the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and appeared to caution against political integration between its members. Kazakhstan, an oil-rich state and traditionally been Moscow’s closest ally in Central Asia, has been shaken by the invasion of Ukraine that sparked fears about Russia’s geopolitical ambitions. Speaking at a plenary session of…

Tajikistan has summoned Russia’s ambassador after police allegedly beat and interrogated more than 100 Tajik students at a university in Russia’s Far East, the foreign ministry said. It marked a rare instance of discord between Tajikistan, the poorest of Central Asia’s ex-Soviet republics, and Russia, on which it is still economically reliant. The incident occurred…

Russia’s Supreme Court has ordered the closure of the country’s oldest liberal opposition party, the independent news website Mediazona reported Thursday. The Party of People’s Freedom (Parnas) is the second iteration of the Republican Party of Russia, which was originally formed in 1990 and advocated for human rights and federalism before it too was dissolved. Parnas’ members have…

The defense ministers of Russia and Belarus on Thursday signed a document on the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory, the state-run TASS news agency reported, citing the Defense Ministry of Belarus.  Russia will retain control over its non-strategic nuclear weapons stationed in neighboring Belarus, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at…

Russia will expel five Swedish diplomats in a tit-for-tat move, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced Thursday as tensions persisted over allegations of Russian spying and Stockholm’s bid to join NATO in response to the invasion of Ukraine. “The Swedish ambassador was informed that Russia reciprocated by declaring five Swedish diplomats ‘personae non grata’,” it said…

Russia has arrested two Ukrainians who had allegedly planned to target nuclear power plants in the country, the FSB security service said on Thursday. “A sabotage group from the Ukrainian foreign intelligence service… tried to blow up some 30 power lines of nuclear power plants in Leningrad and Kalinin” in early May with the aim…

Six drones were downed or blocked overnight in Russian-annexed Crimea, the region’s Moscow-appointed governor said on Thursday. “During the past night, six drones were shot down or blocked … in different parts of Crimea,” Sergei Aksyonov wrote on Telegram, adding “there were no victims or injured.” The incident comes after Moscow deployed jets and artillery…

Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has started withdrawing fighters from the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said Thursday. The announcement comes days after he claimed full control of the war-ravaged city, an assertion that Kyiv disputes. Prigozhin, a Putin ally who has clashed with Russia’s Defense Ministry throughout its 15-month invasion of Ukraine,…

Russia has called off a showcase biennial air show amid reports of security concerns and military equipment shortages arising from the 15-month war in Ukraine, state news agencies reported Wednesday. Russia’s International Air and Space Salon (MAKS) has been used by the authorities to display Russia’s achievements in high-end technology since it was inaugurated in…