The United States placed more than 120 companies from Russia as well as several Kyrgyzstan firms on its sanctions blacklist Thursday for what it said were their contributions to Russia’s war on Ukraine. The sanctions aimed at further choking off Russia’s access to critical raw and manufactured materials as well as financing in order to hinder its war machine,…
Russian prosecutors have requested a 20-year prison sentence for jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on a new string of “extremism” charges, his team reported Thursday. Navalny, 47, has been charged with creating an extremist community and an organization that infringes on the rights of citizens; financing extremism; making calls to extremism; and involving minors in dangerous acts…
Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, many Russian artists have been using their craft to show their resistance to the war and the Kremlin’s ever-widening crackdown on Russian society. With his latest collection of paintings, “Acting Out,” award-winning artist Pavel Otdelnov sought to produce a “reflection on the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe caused by…
Business at RTSB-RUS, a logistics company that ships cargo by rail across Russia, has boomed over the last 18 months. Amid an exodus of Western rivals and a surge in trade with China, its freight volumes jumped nearly fourfold in 2022 alone, Chief Executive Alexander Baskakov told The Moscow Times. Elevated cargo shipments are just…
Moscow on Thursday announced that British diplomats working in Russia will need to notify authorities in advance about their movements around the country. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it had summoned Britain’s charge d’affaires Tom Dodd to inform him of a “notification procedure for the movement of employees of British diplomatic missions on the territory of our country.”…
The United Kingdom on Thursday lifted sanctions against the exiled former banking tycoon Oleg Tinkov. The decision was announced just days after British billionaire Richard Branson called on his government to lift the “unwarranted” sanctions imposed against Tinkov last year. Allies of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny had also previously urged London to lift sanctions…
Ukraine said Thursday that ships going to Russian-controlled ports on the Black Sea would be treated as possibly carrying military cargo, a day after Russia announced a similar move. Tensions are rising over the Black Sea after Russia exited a deal protecting maritime exports from Ukraine. “Starting from 00:00 on July 21, 2023, all vessels in the Black Sea…
The armed forces of Belarus on Thursday began the first publicly known training drills with Russia’s exiled Wagner fighters. Video shared by the Belarusian Defense Ministry showed members of its Special Operations Forces and masked men in military fatigues with Wagner patches performing combat tasks at a training facility. “We’re trying to absorb everything like…
Russia’s clergy should forgo displays of “provocative luxury” at a time when citizens are making sacrifices and limiting themselves, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church has said. According to Patriarch Kirill, a cleric has the right to decently “furnish his life,” but his lifestyle should not “demonstratively contrast with the way of life of…
On Wednesday several Russian media reported that the head of the St. Petersburg Russian Museum, Alla Manilova, cancelled a show dedicated to the late artist Timur Novikov’s works, which was set to open the next day. The show, which reportedly includes more than 80 works by Novikov and other artists, was fully mounted and ready…
On Wednesday July 19 several Russian media reported that the head of the St. Petersburg Russian Museum, Alla Manilova, cancelled a show dedicated to the late artist Timur Novikov’s works, which was set to open the next day. The show, which reportedly includes more than 80 works by Novikov and other artists, was fully mounted…
Authorities in Russia’s southwestern Belgorod region are recruiting female fighters for defense units along the border with Ukraine. State television broadcast reports this week featuring an all-female unit undergoing military training in the western part of the region, which has been targeted by armed incursions in recent months. Channel One and Rossia showed footage of…
On July 20, 2023, the official opening ceremony of the International BRICS Expert Forum on Nuclear Medicine took place in Moscow. The Forum was arranged by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation and ROSATOM. The Forum is preceding the BRICS Health Ministers’ Meeting scheduled for August 4, 2023 in South Africa. The Forum…
Russian strikes hit the Ukrainian port of Odesa for a third consecutive night since Moscow pulled out of a grain export deal, officials said Thursday, as Crimean authorities said a teenager had died in Kyiv’s latest attack on the peninsula. At least 20 people were wounded following strikes on Odesa and the southern port city…
Russian and Belarusian gymnasts will be allowed to compete in international competitions as “individual neutral athletes” from Jan. 1, the sport’s governing body said. In March 2022, gymnasts from both countries were banned from taking part in international competitions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) said in a statement on…
Russia’s Wagner mercenary outfit expects to deploy around 10,000 fighters in neighboring Belarus after its failed mutiny last month, a Wagner-affiliated Telegram channel said late Wednesday. Another 15,000 Wagner fighters “have already gone on vacation,” said the channel Razgruzka Vagnera (“Unloading Wagner”), citing a senior commander by only his call sign Marx. The channel previously…
A Ukrainian drone attack on Crimea damaged administrative buildings and killed a teenage girl, the region’s Moscow-installed governor said on Thursday, days after Kyiv struck a strategic bridge that links the peninsula to mainland Russia. “As a result of an attack by an enemy drone, four administrative buildings were damaged in one of the settlements…