The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Thursday it had suspended Russia’s national Olympic body with “immediate effect” for violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine’s membership. “The Russian Olympic Committee is no longer entitled to operate as a National Olympic Committee, as defined in the Olympic Charter, and cannot receive any funding from the Olympic movement,”…
Dutch authorities are investigating Yandex’s ride-hailing app Yango over fears that it could share European customers’ data with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Bloomberg reported Wednesday. The Dutch Data Protection Authority confirmed the probe into Yango after Finland in August temporarily suspended user data transfers to Russia, a move prompted by a new law in…
The threat of Russian operations against Finland’s critical infrastructure “has increased” since the country joined NATO, the Finnish intelligence service said Thursday as Helsinki investigates potential sabotage of its natural gas pipeline. “The threat of espionage and influencing operations against critical infrastructure has increased,” Antti Pelttari, the director of the Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo), told…
Around 400 Russian nationals are seeking to evacuate the Gaza Strip as the Israeli military continues to bombard the coastal enclave in retaliation to Hamas’ surprise attack, Russia’s diplomatic mission in Palestine said Thursday. Alia Zaripova, the spokeswoman for Russia’s representative mission in Ramallah, said Moscow was working to evacuate its citizens from the besieged territory,…
Russian emigre Anna could hear explosions from her apartment in Beersheba, a city in southern Israel not far from the Gaza Strip that was hit by rocket fire as the Hamas militant group launched its surprise attack on the country. “In Russia, I wasn’t afraid of shelling. I was afraid of my own government,” said…
Russia’s Orthodox Church on Wednesday appointed a bishop who is reputed to be President Vladimir Putin’s spiritual adviser to head the diocese of annexed Crimea. The church’s governing body published a ruling transferring Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) from the Diocese of Pskov and Porkhov, which he has headed since 2018, to the Crimean Diocese. Metropolitan Tikhon was filmed…
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Ukrainian forces were “holding our ground” in Avdiivka, after Moscow said it had improved its position in the frontline eastern town. The Donbas town is symbolically and strategically important to Kyiv and near the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk, seized by separatist forces in 2014. “Avdiivka. We are holding our…
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Kyrgyzstan early Thursday, marking his first trip abroad since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for his arrest. Putin has seldom traveled abroad since invading Ukraine in February 2022 and has until now remained inside the country since the March 2023 ICC warrant. Though Kyrgyzstan is a…
Journalist Khaybar Akifi was severely wounded in a drone attack that also killed his four-year-old daughter and his wife’s parents in Russia’s border region of Belgorod, several media officials said. “Right now (Akifi) is in a coma after a Ukrainian drone strike that killed his daughter and his wife’s parents,” the head of the state…