Hundreds of migrant workers hailing predominantly from Central Asia have been rounded up in a wave of police raids that has swept several Russian cities in recent weeks. The round-ups appear to primarily target male migrants who recently received Russian citizenship but failed to complete their compulsory military registration. Some are handed military summons on…
The United States announced indictments Thursday of nine Russians allegedly part of the Trickbot cybercrime group which plied ransomware schemes to extort businesses including hospitals during the Covid-19 pandemic. The nine, some of whom were alleged to have links to Russian intelligence services, were named in a series of indictments across multiple U.S. states where…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his government to fund research into artificial intelligence as competition with the West to develop such technology heats up, according to a Kremlin document published Thursday. Generative AI bots burst into the spotlight late in 2022 after U.S.-made ChatGPT demonstrated its ability to engage in human-like conversations, prompting Russia…
Russian air defense systems in the southern Volgograd region downed a drone Thursday afternoon, local authorities and media said, the first such reported incident in the region since the start of the war in Ukraine. Russia’s Defense Ministry “intercepted and neutralized the drone,” Volgograd region Governor Andrei Bocharov said on the Telegram messaging app Thursday…
A group of Russian teachers has quit their jobs after refusing to allow Ukraine war veterans to teach required lessons that they believe promote war to children. The incident reflects the dilemma facing Russian teachers who wish to keep politics out of the classroom. At least 10 teachers and the principal of School No. 12 in…
Russian authorities said Thursday they will “postpone” local elections in two municipalities near the border with Ukraine amid ongoing threats from drone and artillery strikes. Local elections scheduled in the western Belgorod region’s town of Shebekino and the village of Zhuravlyovka were just two of the 4,270 regional and municipal races set to take place across Russia,…
Russian President Vladimir Putin is not planning to make a video address at the upcoming G20 summit in New Delhi this weekend, the Kremlin said Thursday. The meeting comes amid fraught relations between Moscow and the West over the conflict in Ukraine, which caused deep tensions at last year’s summit in Bali. Asked whether Putin…
On the day I went to see “Patriots,” a play about the Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, a Russian missile struck the Chernihiv Drama Theater, killing seven and injuring 156 more. The attack could not help but inform my perception of “Patriots” that day, but on any day Russia’s war against Ukraine has been the elephant…
The Kremlin on Thursday denounced U.S. plans to provide depleted uranium tank rounds to Ukraine, saying Washington would be responsible for any negative lingering impact of the munitions’ use. Depleted uranium munitions are controversial due to their association with health problems such as cancer and birth defects in areas where they were used in past…
The former commander of the city of Moscow’s air defense force has been charged with bribery in connection with the expropriation of Russian Defense Ministry-owned land, the Kommersant business daily reported Thursday, citing case materials. Investigators accuse Major General Konstantin Ogienko of receiving through his subordinate part of a 30-million-ruble ($300,000) sum promised by a civilian…
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday there was no sign Russia had launched a deliberate attack on Romania after possible drone debris was found near its border with Ukraine. Stoltenberg said Romania, a member of the U.S.-led military alliance, on Wednesday informed its NATO allies of the discovery and that it “demonstrates the risk of incidents…
British American Tobacco will complete its exit from Russia by selling its assets to a consortium of local management members over the next month, the multinational company said Thursday. The maker of Kent and Rothmans cigarettes said the deal would keep its estimated 3,000 Russian and Belarusian employees afloat for at least two years. “BAT has now…
A Russian court has sentenced Siberian journalist Mikhail Afanasyev to more than 5 years in prison for spreading “fake news” about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Afanasyev, the chief editor of the republic of Khakasia’s Novyi Fokus outlet, was among the first to be detained on Russia’s wartime censorship laws in the spring of 2022. Investigators…
At least three Russian regions were targeted in overnight drone strikes, including the site of Russia’s central command center for its military campaign in Ukraine, officials and media reported Thursday. Two drones were shot down by air defense systems in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, some 60 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, according to Rostov region…
The European Union condemned the strike along with the “escalation” of Russian attacks on “civilian objects” that has seen hundreds killed or wounded in recent weeks. “Intentional attacks against civilians are war crimes,” the bloc said in a statement. Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that “this Russian war of aggression…