“In Russia, it is now impossible to make any film without approval,” writer Dmitry Glukhovsky said in a recent interview with Radio Liberty. Glukhovsky, who has been convicted in absentia of spreading “fake news” about the Russian army, went on to describe a system of censorship in which Federal Security Service (FSB) officers proofread scripts…
Ukraine on Monday reacted angrily to a social media post by billionaire Elon Musk that made fun of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s repeated calls for Western military and financial aid to fight Russian forces. Musk has provided Ukraine with Starlink satellite services that have been vital to the Ukrainian army, but some have criticized his statements…
Moscow last month experienced its hottest September in 176 years, scientists from the Meteorological Observatory at Moscow State University (MGU) have said, marking the third-warmest September since records began. The average temperature in the Russian capital this September reached 15.5 degrees Celsius, surpassing the historic average of 12.2 C by over three degrees. Temperatures climbed higher only in…
Japan has cut off a lucrative $2-billion backchannel for used-car exports to Russia, Reuters reported Monday, citing trade data and market participants. Japan, the world’s leading used-car exporter, initially banned the export of luxury vehicles and heavy trucks to Russia after Moscow invaded Ukraine last year. In August, Tokyo expanded the ban to include new…
Moscow said Monday that Western fatigue over the war in Ukraine “will grow,” as the future of Washington’s support for Kyiv hangs in the balance following a decision by the U.S. Congress to drop additional aid to the war-torn country. A compromise struck between American lawmakers over the weekend left out fresh funding for Ukraine…
A Ukrainian soldier who captured a Russian T-72 tank with mechanical problems filmed himself calling the tank’s manufacturer in Russia for technical support. The soldier, who goes by the callsign “Kochevnik,” called two people said to be senior figures at the Uralvagonzavod tank manufactory in Nizhny Tagil, as shown in a video published by the Telegram channel Ukrainian Militant. “[The…
Russia’s first-ever climate litigation case is currently moving through the European Court of Human Rights as activists make a last-ditch attempt to challenge the president and the government for failing to meet global climate goals. The case, brought by Russia’s oldest independent human rights organization the Moscow Helsinki Group, along with the environmental group Ecodefense…
A bust of Josef Stalin has appeared at a memorial site dedicated to victims of Soviet political repression, the regional media outlet 7×7 reported. Stalin’s bust could be seen alongside new statues of his predecessor Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet secret police, Felix Dzerzhinsky, and Politburo member Mikhail Kalinin, who in 1940 signed orders to…
The European Union signaled its long-term support for Ukraine on Monday as its foreign ministers convened in Kyiv for a historic first gathering outside the bloc’s borders. The meeting came as disagreements grow among EU members over support for Ukraine and as Kyiv’s forces make limited gains in a high-stakes counteroffensive against Russian troops. “We…
ST. PETERSBURG — Dozens of people gathered at Yevgeny Prigozhin’s grave site on Sunday to pay tribute to the late Russian mercenary chief on the 40th day since his death in a mysterious plane crash. According to Orthodox Christian tradition, the souls of the deceased remain on Earth for 40 days before finding their eternal…
Russia was targeted by another wave of Ukrainian drones and shelling on Sunday, wounding three people and forcing an airport to divert flights, officials said. Since Ukraine launched its counteroffensive in early June, Russian regions have accused Kyiv’s armed forces of almost daily drone strikes and shelling on civilian targets. “On Sunday morning, the armed…
In 2010, when 25-year-old Christopher Miller arrived in the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, then known as Artemivsk, he knew nothing about the country that was his U.S. Peace Corps posting. Fresh from a stint as a local journalist in Oregon, the young American found himself in a newly independent country that was struggling to…
The flood of refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh dwindled to a trickle Saturday as Armenia said nearly the entire population of the breakaway territory had already fled since Azerbaijan seized back control. An AFP journalist at the Kornidzor crossing into Armenia saw only several ambulances arrive as border guards said they were waiting for a final few…
A bowl full to the brim of a mouth-watering thick broth with vegetables, meat and a spoonful of sour cream. This is how many of us imagine a good start to any dinner. Soup in Russian cuisine is sacred. And what is the most famous and most common soup? It’s cabbage soup, which in Russian…
The Kremlin has launched a sweeping propaganda campaign to convince young Russians that their country has built the world’s most free and fair elections since President Vladimir Putin came to power, officials have told The Moscow Times. In an unprecedented move, Russian authorities on Monday held a nationwide school lesson marking the 30th anniversary of…
President Vladimir Putin on Friday said that Russian prisoners who died in Ukraine had redeemed themselves in the eyes of society. To boost regular troops fighting in Ukraine, the army and mercenary group Wagner have extensively recruited from Russian penal colonies. “They are dead,” Putin said during a televised meeting, referring to prisoners who died…
Russia’s military will enlist 130,000 young men for compulsory service this fall, according to a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin on Friday. Combined with the 147,000 men drafted during the spring draft, Russia’s Defense Ministry will field 277,000 conscripts in 2023. From Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, Russia’s military will be allowed to call up men…
Непотопляемый: unsinkable On the list of Tricky Bits (highly technical term) in translation are words in two languages that have the same meaning (translator does fist pump to empty room) but different connotations (translator swears impressively in two languages). I remembered this the hard way, that is, by using one of these bad matches in…
Russian athletes will be allowed to compete at the Paris Paralympics in 2024 under a neutral flag after officials voted against an outright ban. A majority of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) on Friday allowed Russian athletes to compete “in an individual and neutral capacity” without national flags, colors or emblems. Russia has been suspended…
Russian athletes will be allowed to compete under a neutral flag at the Paris Paralympics in 2024 after officials on Friday voted against an outright ban. A majority of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) voted to allow Russian athletes to compete “in an individual and neutral capacity” without national flags, colors or emblems. The decision…
Vienna, Austria, September 29, 2023 – Rosatom took part in the 67th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which was held in Vienna on September 25-29, 2023. The event brought together the world’s lead experts and representatives of the nuclear industry from 177 countries. During his speech at a plenary session, the…
Russian state television showed footage of northern Poland during a report on the Russian city of Kaliningrad, local media said Friday. A Rossiya 1 news program that aired Thursday reported on President Vladimir Putin’s meeting on the development of the Kaliningrad region, a western exclave that borders Lithuania and Poland. “The region remains competitive in the face…
Diana Akue has been on her guard lately. The Gabonese doctoral economics student in the city of Yekaterinburg avoids going out at night and exercises greater caution around strangers than she used to. As a black woman living in Russia for the past nine years, Akue has faced her share of discrimination — from being…
The U.K. on Friday announced new sanctions against almost a dozen senior Russian officials and the country’s election commission over “sham” elections held in occupied Ukrainian territory this month and last year. The move takes the number of individuals and entities sanctioned by Britain in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly 20 months ago to more…
Russia hosted Taliban leaders for talks on regional security Friday as it seeks to forge ties with Afghanistan’s new rulers and assert itself as a major power in the region. Since U.S. forces pulled out of Kabul in August 2021, Russia and China have taken advantage of the vacuum, holding talks with the Taliban despite…
President Vladimir Putin’s cultural support foundation has awarded 1.6 billion rubles ($16.4 million) to arts and culture projects that drum up support for the war in Ukraine. Russia’s Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives on Thursday announced 303 winners of its annual competition for receiving state funding, with projects including music festivals featuring songs about the war in Ukraine, patriotic-infused…
The one-act play by Ukrainian playwright Sasha Denisova “My Mama and the Full-Scale Invasion” opened in Washington, D.C. on September 11 at the Woolly Mammoth Theater. Directed by Yury Urnov and translated by Misha Kachman (who also served as set director), the largely autobiographical play is inspired by Denisova’s 82-year-old mother — Olga Ivanovna —…
President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree allowing for the sale of Italian banking group Intesa Sanpaolo’s Russian operations. Intesa, Italy’s largest bank, stopped new financing to corporate Russian clients and fresh investments in Russian assets after Moscow invaded Ukraine last year. In a “special decision” dated Thursday, Putin exempted Intesa from his 2022 ban…
The Russian military will not mobilize reserves as it gears up for an annual call-up of young men for compulsory military service, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday. “There are no plans for additional mobilization measures,” deputy head of the military’s mobilization department, Rear Admiral Vladimir Tsimlyansky, said in a briefing. The fall military call-up will…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has tasked a former aide of late Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin to oversee volunteer fighter units in Ukraine, according to a Kremlin statement on Friday. “At the last meeting, we talked about you overseeing the formation of volunteer units that can carry out various tasks, first and foremost, of course, in…
A missile that killed two people in a Polish village in November, raising fears of a dangerous spike in the Ukraine conflict, belonged to Kyiv’s forces, Warsaw said Thursday. Two workers at a grain drying facility died in the blast in Przewodow, some six kilometers (four miles) from the Ukrainian border, raising fears of an…
Kazakhstan’s leader said Thursday his country would not help Russia circumvent Western sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine, amid suspicions that Moscow is still receiving vital goods via Central Asian nations. “Kazakhstan has unambiguously stated that it will follow the sanctions regime,” said President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev following talks in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf…
School students in Russia’s Far East have come out in support of their gym teacher after he was suspended for beating one of their classmates, media reported Thursday. Valery Baulin was suspended from his position at a school in Vladivostok after a video posted on social media showed him punching and choking a 12-year-old student during class. A…
Rosatom took part in the International Industrial Exhibition INNOPROM. Kazakhstan, where the guests could have a look at state-of-the-art technologies in the field of power engineering and medicine. ROSATOM’s representatives stated their readiness to expand cooperation with partners from Central Asian countries. “Rosatom is known for its nuclear projects, but the activities of the State…
Finland’s Supreme Court has ordered a Russian asylum seeker to return his two children to their mother in Russia despite their fears of being viewed as “traitors,” Finnish media reported Wednesday. According to the Helsingin Sanomat daily, the father applied for asylum on behalf of himself and his children — aged 10 and 12 — after…
Moscow on Thursday said Armenians fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh after Azerbaijani’s takeover of the region had nothing to fear, an apparent rejection of Armenia’s claims of ethnic cleansing in the disputed territory. “It’s difficult to say who is to blame [for the exodus], there is no direct reason for such actions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “People…
YEREVAN, Armenia – Tigran has been protesting outside the Russian embassy every day since Azerbaijan launched its offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh. On the embassy’s steps, flowers have been laid in memory of the peacekeepers who were killed by Azerbaijani shelling last week. “Are these bloody flowers for the occupiers?” reads the poster that Tigran, 19, holds…
Arseni Morozov’s band had just finished a set in a fundraiser for Ukrainian refugees in a Tbilisi, Georgia bar when the owner unexpectedly took the stage. “Please don’t speak Russian between songs,” he asked the audience. “Not everyone here understands it.” Morozov, the lead singer of the Russian garage rock band Sonic Death, quickly apologized.…
Swedish prosecutors on Thursday called for a Russian-Swede to be sentenced to up to five years in prison for allegedly passing Western technology to Russia’s military. Sergei Skvortsov, who was arrested in a dramatic raid on his suburban Stockholm home in November 2022, has lived in Sweden since the 1990s where he has run import-export…
September 26, 2023, Mersin Province, Türkiye – A working meeting between Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom, and Alparslan Bayraktar, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Türkiye, has taken at the Akkuyu NPP Construction Site. At the Akkuyu NPP Construction Site, the official delegation was met by project leaders headed by…
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday met with Ramzan Kadyrov in what may have been an attempt to dispel rumors that the Chechen leader is in poor health. Earlier this month, unverified claims spread on social media that Kadyrov was suffering from serious kidney problems, with some sources even suggesting that he had died. In response, Kadyrov published…
The Kremlin said Thursday that a decision by Armenia to join the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin, would be “extremely hostile.” Russia has repeatedly warned Armenia against ratifying The Hague-based court’s founding treaty, known as the Rome Statute. Its adherents are expected to make the arrest…
A mass cyberattack on Russia’s air booking system Leonardo sparked flight delays among major carriers on Thursday. Russia’s flagship airline Aeroflot said the denial-of-service attack resulted in delays of up to an hour for departures at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport. Aeroflot’s subsidiary Rossiya Airlines reported similar delays at Sheremetyevo, according to Interfax. Less than an…
Russia said Thursday that it plans to raise defense spending by almost 70% next year, funneling massive resources into its Ukraine offensive to fight what it calls a “hybrid war” unleashed by the West. With Moscow’s “special military operation” now dragging through its 20th month, both sides have been digging deep and procuring weapons from…
Russian authorities said Thursday that an attempted incursion on the country’s southwestern border with Ukraine had been thwarted. “Border guards, together with other security forces, engaged in a battle on the border,” the Belgorod region’s emergency response center said. It did not provide further details. The statement was issued following rumors that a Ukrainian sabotage…
A Russian man accused of passing information to Ukrainian intelligence services about defense fortifications in annexed Crimea has been arrested, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Thursday. Video shared by the state-run TASS news agency showed masked agents apprehending the unidentified man, who was then filmed giving a confession. “I understood the information would be used…
At least three pro-war Russian journalists have received severed pig’s heads from unknown senders over the past week, according to media reports. The journalists — including state media columnist Timofey Sergeitsev, military expert Konstantin Sivkov and TASS news agency photojournalist Mikhail Tereshchenko — reported having previously received death threats. Sergeitsev, who last year authored a…
Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the government to respond “more promptly” to rising fuel prices Wednesday, as the cost of wholesale petrol continued to grow despite an export ban. Russia’s government announced last week it was temporarily limiting exports of petrol and diesel fuel to “stabilize” the domestic market, amid reports of shortages in some…
The Kremlin on Wednesday vowed to “protect the rights” of Ruben Vardanyan, the ex-leader of the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh detained by Azerbaijan, only to backtrack on the promise moments later when journalists pointed out that Vardanyan is no longer a Russian citizen. Azerbaijan’s state border service said Wednesday it detained Vardanyan as he attempted to cross the…
Rosneft, which owns the largest network of filling stations in Russia, acts as an ambassador for the development of domestic tourism.
The Kremlin said Wednesday that a Ukrainian Nazi veteran inadvertently honored in the Canadian parliament last week should be brought to justice. The speaker of Canada’s parliament resigned following the incident, which saw lawmakers publicly applaud 98-year-old Ukrainian veteran Yaroslav Hunka, who fought for the Nazis during World War II. “Canadian authorities have a duty…
Two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut landed back on Earth Wednesday after spending a year at the International Space Station (ISS), Russia’s Roscosmos space agency said. “Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Francisco Rubio, who spent a year on board the ISS, landed near the city of Jezkazgan in Kazakhstan,”…
Wagner mercenary fighters have returned to the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, CNN reported Wednesday, citing a Ukrainian serviceman. Reporters embedded within the Ukrainian military interviewed a drone operator who had spotted the mercenaries back on the Bakhmut battlefield to plug a manpower shortage. “[Wagner] came back, they swiftly changed their commanders and returned here,”…
Moscow on Wednesday accused Washington and London of helping Ukraine coordinate a missile strike on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in annexed Crimea last week. “There is not the slightest doubt that the attack was planned in advance using Western intelligence assets, NATO satellite equipment and reconnaissance aircraft,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria…
The world’s largest crypto exchange Binance announced Wednesday that it was selling its Russian operations to a newly created “community exchange” and fully exiting the country. Binance’s announcement follows reports that the U.S. Justice Department was investigating the company for potential violations of war-related sanctions on Moscow. “Binance has entered into an agreement to sell…
Moscow has added 23 British nationals to its entry ban list in retaliation for London’s war-related sanctions, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. The ministry did not publish the full list of names — which is said to include individuals from journalists and academics to military and political figures — but it did single out eight Britons who would…
Residents in Russia-annexed Crimea were turned away from a bomb shelter during an air raid alert Monday evening, video shared on social media showed. The woman who filmed the video, which was shared by the Baza news channel on Telegram, said several families were barred from entering the bomb shelter located inside a community center in…
Russia’s former leader Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday he visited troops near the frontline in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, upon orders from President Vladimir Putin. Several high-ranking Russian officials have visited occupied regions of Ukraine since Moscow’s offensive began last year, including Putin, who paid an unannounced visit to the southeastern Ukrainian port of Mariupol in…
Jailed Russian journalist Ivan Safronov has turned up in a Siberian hospital as he awaits transfer to a prison colony, his supporters said Tuesday. The “FreeSafronov!” group said it had been unable to find out Safronov’s location since Sept. 13, when he was removed from a prison in the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk “to another facility.”…
Russia on Tuesday began hearing an appeal lodged by jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny against a court decision to jail him for 19 years in a maximum security prison on extremism-linked charges. Navalny was Russia’s loudest opposition voice over the last decade and galvanized huge anti-government rallies before he was jailed in 2021 on fraud…