Russian authorities have started collecting the personal data of academics who are in contact with foreigners, the independent investigative outlet Mozhem Obyasnit reported Thursday. The practice was compared to that of the Soviet era, when contacts between Russians and foreigners were strictly monitored. It also comes amid what the UN has called an alarming rise in Russia’s…
Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) has been accused of creating a network of bot farms in Lithuania and Georgia for spreading “anti-government messages,” including information about the Kremlin invasion of Ukraine and its consequences for Russian citizens. The SVTV media outlet, created by libertarian politician Mikhail Svetov, published an investigation that claims that FBK created a…
The number of real estate deals made by Russians in Spain has reached its highest level since the 2014 annexation of Crimea, the RBC news website reported Thursday, citing Spanish notary public data. The 2,137 transactions on the purchase and sale of housing made by Russian nationals in January-June 2023 mark a 50% increase from the…
Russia on Thursday arrested a former regional official on allegations of financing the Ukrainian armed forces, state media reported. Moscow has made a string of arrests of people it says have sponsored the Ukrainian army since Russia launched its full-scale military campaign against its neighbor in February last year. The FSB security agency said Thursday…
Finland’s government announced Thursday it will shut down around half of its border crossings with Russia to address an increase in asylum seekers entering the country. Four checkpoints on Finland’s southeastern border with Russia will close at midnight Saturday local time, according to a cabinet statement cited by the Finnish broadcaster Yle. They will remain shuttered…
When Alexandra Skochilenko swapped price tags at a St. Petersburg supermarket with statements criticizing Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and highlighting civilian deaths in the conflict, she didn’t expect that it could lead to her imprisonment. “Back then, it seemed safe,” Skochilenko’s girlfriend Sofia Subbotina told The Moscow Times in a phone interview. “But these past…
Three lawyers representing jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny have been added to state financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring’s list of “extremists and terrorists,” the independent Mediazona news website reported Thursday. Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser and Igor Sergunin were arrested on Oct. 13 in Moscow on accusations of participating in “extremist” activities for passing on letters written by Navalny…
A Russian court has sentenced Vladimir Milov, an exiled ally of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, to eight years in prison in absentia for speaking out against Moscow’s war on Ukraine, media reported Thursday. Moscow’s Basmanny District Court found Milov guilty of spreading “false information” about the Russian military in a March 2022 YouTube stream…
Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s shattered eastern frontline town of Avdiivka, its mayor said Thursday. The industrial town near the Russian-held regional stronghold of Donetsk has been under fierce attack for more than a month. “It is very hot. Indeed, in the last few days, the enemy has become more active,” Avdiivka’s Mayor…
Two executives of the major Russian brewery Baltika have been arrested on suspicion of attempts to sell the rights to its brands to Danish brewer Carlsberg, media reported Thursday, citing anonymous sources. Police and Federal Security Service (FSB) agents carried out more than a dozen searches at offices affiliated with Baltika in St. Petersburg, the…