Hundreds of websites on the Russian-speaking internet were inaccessible Tuesday evening as a DNSSEC failure took .ru and .рф domains offline. Users both inside and outside Russia complained of outages of major web-based platforms like Tinkoff Bank, online marketplaces Avito and Wildberries, search engine Yandex and telecoms provider MTS. The Moscow Times’ Russian service was among the…
A Russian photographer went on trial Tuesday for posting a rainbow flag online, marking the first case of a person being charged for displaying the LGBT symbol since Russia banned the so-called “international LGBT public movement” as an “extremist” organization. Russia’s Supreme Court in November outlawed the “international LGBT movement,” with individuals facing up to…
A court in Yerevan on Tuesday rejected Russia’s request to extradite a man who fled the republic of Chechnya after being tortured because he was suspected of being gay, an LGBTQ+ rights group said. Salman Mukaev was detained by security services in his native Chechnya in 2020, after which he was subject to interrogation and torture, according to…
Russia on Tuesday criticized a decision by several countries to suspend their funding for the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency, calling it a form of “collective punishment.” A number of donors including the United States announced they would halt funding to the UNRWA agency over Israel’s accusations that some of its staff were involved in…
The European Parliament on Tuesday announced a probe into a Latvian lawmaker accused in an investigative report of spying for Moscow over the past two decades. According to the Russian-language newspaper The Insider — an independent investigative outlet based in Latvia — Tatjana Zdanoka, who joined the European legislature in 2004, began collaborating with Russia’s…
Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) on Tuesday published Vladimir Putin’s financial earnings, showing that he made 67.6 million rubles ($753,000) over the past six years. Putin’s income between 2018 and 2024 was derived from his salary, income from securities and bank deposits, military and civilian pension, as well as earnings from property sales. As with previous financial…
Two teenagers who set fire to a railside equipment box in Moscow have been charged with carrying out sabotage for Ukraine, Russian investigators said Tuesday. The incident is the latest in a spate of suspicious fires and derailments on Russia’s rail network that Moscow has blamed on Kyiv and its supporters. “Two suspects were identified…
Two presidential hopefuls announced Tuesday that they will not be running in the March election and called on supporters to cast their vote for President Vladimir Putin as he seeks re-election. Sergei Baburin, who leads the Russian All-People’s Union, an extra-parliamentary conservative party, said he was withdrawing from the race shortly after submitting the 100,000…
The history of Mosfilm begins on January 30, 1924 with the release of the silent film “Up on Wings” that tells the story of Russian aviation, directed by Boris Mikhin. At the time, Mosfilm was on Zhitnaya Ulitsa in the former studio of Alexander Khanzhonkov, a director and entrepreneur who founded the first cinema factory…
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday slammed Japan’s prime minister after he said his government remains committed to signing a peace treaty with Moscow to resolve the territorial dispute over an island chain claimed by Tokyo. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a policy speech to parliament earlier Tuesday that Tokyo “remains fully committed” to negotiations…
Kamila Valieva’s doping ban has resulted in the Russia Olympic Committee team being demoted from the gold to bronze medal in the 2022 Winter Olympics team skating event, the International Skating Union (ISU) said Tuesday. The then 15-year-old’s positive test in December 2021, for which she received a four year ban on Monday, has led…
The anti-war Russian-Belarusian rock band Bi-2 said Tuesday that its members face deportation from Thailand after they performed a concert on the resort island of Phuket last week. Seven members of Bi-2, some of whom are dual citizens of Israel and Australia, were detained by Thai immigration authorities on Wednesday following the Phuket concert. Bi-2…