Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia’s mission is to “build a new world” as he blamed a Western “military and financial pyramid scheme” for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “We are, in fact, faced with the task of building a new world,” Putin said in a grievance-filled speech at the annual Valdai Discussion Club. He…
President Vladimir Putin last week introduced a bill greenlighting Russia’s exit from the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM), the world’s most comprehensive legally binding treaty devoted to safeguarding the rights of minority groups. Russia is home to representatives of as many as 193 ethnic groups who speak at least 270 languages…
Russia’s top shaman has given his blessing to the Kremlin’s military offensive in Ukraine, praising troops and denouncing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as an “enemy,” state media reported Thursday. Shamanism, a religious practice that involves connecting with the spirit world, is prevalent across the indigenous peoples of Siberia and resurged in popularity after being heavily…
Russia’s jailed opposition politicians — including Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin — on Thursday called on political prisoners and supporters to stage a one-day hunger strike. The Kremlin critics said the protest will be held on Oct. 30, which used to be known as the Day of Political Prisoners in the Soviet Union. Already…
Russian athletes training at schools in St. Petersburg have been banned from unauthorized travel abroad, state-run media reported Wednesday, citing three anonymous sources familiar with the matter. Athletes, coaches and other personnel at state and municipal sports schools in the city are now required to seek prior approval to attend training camps or competitions outside Russia,…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was attending a European summit in Spain, said he had no doubts that the strike had been deliberate. “The Russian military could not fail to know where they were hitting,” he said. “It was not a blind strike.” Zelensky also said he had secured agreements from several countries to provide…
“The search and rescue operation is ongoing,” Klymenko said. “There may still be people under the rubble.” Zelensky, who was attending a European summit in Spain, condemned the attack on social media. “The brutal Russian crime of hitting an ordinary grocery store with a rocket is a completely deliberate terrorist attack,” he wrote. The attack…
Russia’s military will sever its contract with the late Yevgeny Prigozhin’s food catering business and begin using the services of a competitor company, the Kommersant business daily reported Thursday. RBE Group, which had supplied Russia’s Defense Ministry with rations until being replaced by Prigozhin’s Concord Catering, will again provide food services to the army, according to…
The official ceremony dedicated to the delivery of the first batch of nuclear fuel has been held at Rooppur NPP construction site in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh (the general designer and general contractor is Rosatom State Corporation Engineering Division). Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of the People’s Republic…
The Volga River, one of Russia’s major waterways and Europe’s longest, holds significant economic and cultural importance for Russians. Stretching over 3,500 kilometers through central and southern Russia before meeting the Caspian Sea, this vital transportation artery traverses several urban centers, including Volgograd, a city of 1 million inhabitants. Here, just 200 meters from the…
Russian mercenary group Wagner in 2022 signed a contract with a Chinese firm to acquire two satellites and use their images, aiding its intelligence work as the organization sought to push Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to a document seen by AFP. The contract was signed in November 2022, over half a year into Moscow’s…
Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has moved its warships from annexed Crimea to southern Russia after a string of attacks on its headquarters, the independent news outlet The Bell reported Wednesday, citing satellite images shared by pro-war military bloggers. The frigates Admiral Essen and Admiral Makarov, three submarines, five large landing ships and several small missile…
Russia on Thursday accused Ukraine of using cluster munitions to attack a border town, injuring one person and damaging several buildings. Moscow has repeatedly accused Kyiv of using the controversial weapons since the United States agreed to supply them in July, including to attack Russia’s border regions. “The border town of Rylsk was shelled with…
Russia’s navy will establish a base on the coast of Georgia’s separatist region of Abkhazia, its leader told state-run media Thursday, amid mounting attacks by Ukraine on the Russian Black Sea Fleet. “We have signed an agreement, and in the near future there will be a permanent point of deployment for the Russian navy in…
Russia this year has seen a huge uptick in the number of its soldiers facing trial for murders committed outside the conflict zone in Ukraine, the independent news outlet Vyorstka reported Thursday, citing military court records. At least 147 Russian soldiers went on trial for murder between January and September, representing an almost 10-fold increase…
A deadly blast at a prison in occupied eastern Ukraine last year, which Kyiv and Moscow blamed on each other, was not caused by Ukrainian HIMARS rockets, United Nations investigators have determined. On July 29, 2022, at least 51 Ukrainian prisoners of war died in the bombardment of the Moscow-controlled Olenivka jail in the eastern…