The Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) sprung its third coolant leak in under a year Monday, raising new questions about the reliability of the country’s space program even as officials said crew members weren’t in danger. Flakes of frozen coolant spraying into space were seen in an official live feed of the…
Updated to add details from the Financial Times’ report. Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman has left Britain and intends to move to Israel, the RBC news website reported Monday, citing an unidentified source familiar with the matter. Alfa Group, the investment conglomerate which Fridman co-founded, confirmed this information to RBC. “The businessman is currently in Moscow…
Reports circulated last week that Russia had withdrawn much of its Black Sea Fleet from Sevastopol in annexed Crimea. This followed a wave of attacks from Ukraine attacking warships, submarines, and infrastructure in the strategic naval base. Though the news was met with celebration among Ukraine’s allies, with the British Armed Forces Minister calling it…
A rocket fired by Hamas militants hit a mosque near Jerusalem dedicated to Akhmat Kadyrov, a Chechen separatist fighter in the 1990s who later switched sides and pledged allegiance to Russia, Israel’s foreign ministry reported Monday. According to the ministry, a Hamas rocket “directly hit the Akhmat Kadyrov mosque,” the second-largest mosque in Israel. No injuries…
Russia’s government is set to spend four times more on “patriotic education” in 2024 than in 2022, the RBC news website reported Monday, citing a draft budget proposal. A total of 45.85 billion rubles ($450 million) will be allocated toward various youth movements, school officials engaged in “patriotic” education, state insignia, and monitoring of youth online.…
Updated to include death toll. One Russian citizen has been killed and at least four others were missing following the Hamas Islamist group’s surprise weekend attack on Israel, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Monday, citing the Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv. At least 800 people have died during the ground, air and sea…
At least four Russian citizens are missing following the Hamas Islamist group’s surprise weekend attack on Israel, Russia’s Embassy in Tel Aviv said Monday. The embassy said there was still no word on whether Russians were among the 800 people who died during the ground, air and sea attacks that caught Israel by surprise on…
Israel on Sunday formally declared war against the Hamas militant group after its fighters launched an unprecedented surprise attack against the country, which by Monday had already resulted in the deaths of more than 1,100 people in both Israel and Gaza. Russian officials and media figures have not signaled explicit support for either of the…
The number of luxury cars in Russia surged last year despite Western sanctions in retaliation to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the RBC news website reported Monday, citing an analysis of federal tax audit data. The number of cars with a sticker price of 10 million rubles ($98,500) or more increased by 22% from 2021-2022, reaching an…
The United Nations on Monday voiced concern over Moscow’s “mass conferral” of Russian passports in Ukrainian territory it controls, saying that those who refuse the documents are “ensnared in a web of exclusion.” The UN human rights office OHCHR said residents who do not take up Russian citizenship were being denied access to essential public…
Moscow and the Arab League will work to “stop the bloodshed” in Israel and Gaza, Russia’s Foreign Minister said Monday as he met the group’s chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit. Aboul Gheit was in Moscow for talks following Saturday’s unprecedented attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. “I am sure that Russia and the…
Russia has charged prominent Russian lawyer Ilya Novikov in absentia for joining the Ukrainian military, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said Monday. Novikov left Russia after the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and joined the Ukrainian territorial defense forces, according to the FSB’s statement. It said that Novikov “underwent military training, participates in combat operations and is engaged in…