Moscow residents were startled awake in the middle of the night as Ukrainian drones crashed close to the Russian Defense Ministry building in the city center on Monday and another hit an office building in a southern area of the capital. “Around 3:30-3:40 a.m. I heard a very loud sound of an explosion and then…
President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a controversial law that bans legal and surgical sex changes, a move that deprives transgender Russians of the right to access gender-affirming services. The law, which makes “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person” and “the state registration of a change of gender without an operation”…
A record $253 billion has been pulled out of Russia since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Russian Central Bank has said. The net capital outflow from Russia starting February 2022 and ending June 2023 was calculated by the Bank’s Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Forecasting. “Net inflows on current…
Russia said Monday that drone attacks in central Moscow and annexed Crimea could warrant a harsh response, after Ukraine claimed an attack on the capital. “We regard what happened as yet another use of terrorist methods and intimidation of the civilian population by the military and political leadership of Ukraine,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said. “The Russian Federation reserves the…
President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed into law a bill to raise the upper age limit for military reservists eligible for mobilization by five years. The amendments to Russia’s law on military duty and military service introduce a four-year transition period — between 2024 and 2028 — during which the reservist age limit will be…
Russian experts have participated in the international scientific and technical conference TopFuel 2023 held in Xian, China. The event was dedicated to the development and operation of nuclear fuel for pressurised water reactors (PWR), boiling water reactors (BWR), and VVER-type reactors. Specialists from TVEL Fuel Company and other ROSATOM enterprises involved in nuclear fuel production…
A former regional coordinator of jailed Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny was sentenced to nine years in prison for participating in an “extremist” organization, the activist’s allies announced Monday. Vadim Ostanin, 46, was detained in December 2021 alongside five other Navalny allies across Russia when the authorities blacklisted the Kremlin critic’s activist network as “extremist.”…
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had blocked a foreign cargo ship accused of supplying Ukraine with explosives from entering Russian waters, state-run news agencies reported Monday. The vessel, traveling from Turkey to southern Russia’s port of Rostov-on-Don to load grain, was banned from crossing the Kerch Strait that leads to ports in occupied…
Ukrainian drones hit two buildings in Moscow and an ammunition depot in annexed Crimea on Monday, Russian officials said. Authorities in Moscow reported two Ukrainian drones had been downed over the Russian capital during the night. “Around 4:00 a.m. today, drone strikes on two non-residential buildings were recorded. There is no serious damage or casualties,”…