Wealthy Russians have continued to move cash through Swiss bank accounts even after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, including family members of a tycoon publicly backing the war, a media investigation showed Thursday. Leaked documents analyzed by the Tamedia group showed that family members of Alexander Ponomarenko, the head of Moscow water company Mosvodokanal, had…
Pegasus spyware may have been used to hack the cellphones of journalists from the independent Novaya Gazeta Europe news website, the outlet reported Thursday. The disclosure comes one day after Meduza, another leading independent Russian news website, said the spyware had been detected on the phone of its CEO Galina Timchenko in the first known…
Ukraine’s prosecutor general said Thursday the International Criminal Court (ICC) had opened a field office in Kyiv, as part of efforts to hold Russian forces accountable for potential war crimes. Kyiv has called for a special tribunal to be created to hold Moscow responsible for violations committed during its invasion, launched on Feb. 24, 2022.…
Updated with the U.S. State Department’s response. Moscow on Thursday said it was expelling two U.S. Embassy employees for allegedly “liaising” with a former U.S. consulate worker accused by Russian authorities of spying for Washington. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the two American diplomats, Jeffery Sillin and David Bernstein, were engaged in “illegal activities by liaising with a Russian citizen,…
Estonian and Lithuanian officials have warned that passenger vehicles with Russian license plates could soon be confiscated following a Baltics-wide entry ban. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia issued back-to-back entry bans this week for Russian-registered cars after the European Commission clarified that existing regulations prohibit the import or transfer of goods originating in Russia. “These cars [with Russian…
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gifted each other rifles after the two held a high-profile summit in Russia’s Far East, the Kremlin said Thursday. The Russian leader has sought to strengthen alliances with other hardline leaders ostracised by the West, and met with Kim amid speculation they would agree…
American-born mixed martial artist Jeff Monson has been elected to office in the regional parliament of Russia’s republic of Bashkortostan, as the Central Election Commission on Wednesday officially recognized the results of this past weekend’s vote. Monson will now serve among the 87 ruling United Russia party members who were elected to Bashkortostan’s 110-seat state assembly, known…
On the eve of the opening of the Bolshoi Theater’s 248th season the theater’s general director, Vladimir Urin, spoke candidly about the theater’s policies and politics in an interview with the government-owned Rossiskaya Gazeta newspaper. Urin told the newspaper that the “theater remained ‘Bolshoi’ in these difficult times,” but over the course of the interview…
Organizers in Kazakhstan have canceled a popular Russian sketch comedy group’s tour following backlash over its visit to Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory, Kazakh media reported Thursday. Kamyzyaki, veterans of Russia’s longest-running comedy television show KVN, performed and gave interviews last weekend at a World War II event in Donetsk, an eastern Ukrainian region partially controlled by Russian forces. Social…
The European Parliament has recognized Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko as an “accomplice” to Russia’s military aggression and war crimes in Ukraine, according to a resolution adopted on Wednesday. The resolution condemns Minsk’s involvement in Russia’s “unjustified, illegal, and unprovoked war against Ukraine.” This involvement includes stationing and training Russian troops in Belarus, which Moscow used…
A Russian warplane intentionally fired at a British spy aircraft over the Black Sea last year, the BBC reported Thursday, citing three anonymous Western defense sources with knowledge of the incident. One of two Russian Su-27 fighters that shadowed an unarmed Royal Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance plane “released” a missile in international airspace off the…
Russia said it destroyed nearly two dozen Ukrainian drones trying to attack annexed Crimea and patrol ships in the Black Sea on Thursday. “At about 5:00 am, the Ukrainian armed forces attempted to attack the Black Sea Fleet patrol ship Sergey Kotov in the Black Sea with five unmanned sea boats,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said…
The family of jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich said Wednesday they have appealed to the United Nations to help seek his release from detention in Russia, where the American journalist has been held since March on spying charges. Gershkovich’s parents and sister said they had submitted a petition to the UN Working Group…
Russia said it destroyed multiple Ukrainian drones in its border regions of Bryansk and Belgorod during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, with no casualties reported. The Russian Defense Ministry said six drones had been shot down in four separate locations over the Bryansk region, which is located around 400 kilometers southwest of Moscow. “Air…
Ukraine’s armed forces Friday said the village of Andriivka near the key frontline town of Bakhmut had been “liberated,” a day after claims it had been retaken were dubbed premature. On Thursday, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar backtracked on an announcement that Kyiv had wrested control of the eastern village from Russian forces, after Ukrainian…
“We will always be with Russia,” Kim said, according to footage broadcast on Russian TV. “An old friend is better than two new ones,” Putin said, quoting a Russian proverb and referencing the Soviet Union’s role in the Korean War. Kim then “said goodbye to Putin, wishing him good health” and headed to his next…