The United Nations’ top court on Wednesday mostly rejected Ukraine’s claims that Russia was financing “terrorism” in eastern Ukraine, saying only that Moscow had failed to investigate alleged breaches. Kyiv had accused Moscow of being a “terrorist state” whose support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine was a harbinger of the full-fledged 2022 invasion. It…
A pro-war symbol and one of President Vladimir Putin’s favorite quotes have been chosen as the official logo and slogan of the 2024 presidential election, in what observers say is an effort to indirectly influence the public to vote for the incumbent leader. The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced Monday that the Latin letter “V”…
Russian authorities are taking steps to hinder voting by its citizens living abroad in the upcoming presidential election, in what some observers call a move to restrict votes cast by anti-war emigres. Those hoping to vote from outside the country will face a reduction in polling places and no option to vote online — while…
The rate of forest destruction caused by wildfires in Russia’s northern latitudes more than tripled between 2012 and 2021 compared to the previous decade, according to a new study by the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). Using satellite data, researchers calculated the extent of woodland devastation due to wildfires in…
Russian investigators have concluded that a U.S. Patriot air defense system was used to shoot down an Il-76 military transport plane that crashed near the border with Ukraine last week, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday. “It’s been definitively established that the plane was shot down by an American Patriot air defense system,” Putin said during…
The “Multi-D Digital Products for the Construction of a Complex Engineering Facility” project launched by Atomstroyexport JSC (which is part of the Rosatom State Corporation Engineering Division), has become the winner of the “KulibIT-2023 ”National Digitalization Award” in two categories, to take a special prize from the competition organizers. The final competition was held in…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has awarded Serbia’s former top spy with the Order of Friendship for maintaining close ties between the two countries’ intelligence agencies, the nationalist political party that the ex-spy chief heads announced Tuesday. Aleksandar Vulin, who resigned from Serbia’s Security and Information Agency in November, received the state decoration from Russia’s Foreign Intelligence…
Turkish and Chinese companies have helped Russia replenish its dwindling stocks of ammunition by exporting large volumes of a key component used to produce gunpowder, the Moscow Times’ Russian service reported Wednesday, citing customs data. The EU banned shipments of nitrocellulose — a highly flammable compound used as the main ingredient of modern gunpowder — to Russia in…
Russia and Ukraine traded hundreds of prisoners of war on Wednesday, just a week after Moscow said Kyiv had shot down a plane carrying captured Ukrainian soldiers to an exchange. The crash of a Russian military cargo plane near the border with Ukraine — which Russia said killed 65 Ukrainian POWs — had thrown doubt…
Russia views NATO as a “threat” and is taking measures to deal with it, the Kremlin said on Wednesday when asked about the alliance’s large-scale military drills. Some 90,000 troops will take part in the NATO military alliance’s Steadfast Defender 24 exercise, the biggest since the 1988 Reforger drill during the Cold War. “Of course…
Russian lawmakers on Wednesday passed a bill in its third and final reading that would allow authorities to confiscate the property of those convicted of “discrediting” and spreading “fakes” about the army. The bill, introduced into the lower-house State Duma last week, also proposes seizing money, property and other valuables from those found guilty of…
Thailand’s prime minister and security chiefs are to rule on a dissident Russian-Belarusian rock band held on immigration charges, a minister said Wednesday, as calls mounted for them not to be deported to Russia. Thai officials detained members of the band Bi-2, who have criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine, last…
Members of the anti-war Russian-Belarusian rock band Bi-2 have flown to Israel from Thailand, where they faced deportation after performing at a concert on the resort island of Phuket last week, according to a post on the group’s official Facebook page. Seven members of Bi-2, some of whom are dual citizens of Israel and Australia,…
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday chewed out the chief engineer of the country’s leading producer of self-propelled artillery systems over what he suggested was the slow output at the manufacturing plant. “Stop goofing around, guys,” Shoigu said during a tour of the Uraltransmash machine-building plant in the city of Yekaterinburg. “We should have had these…
There is “growing evidence” that Russia is using “shadow tanker fleets” to circumvent a Western oil price cap, a watchdog committee of British lawmakers warned on Wednesday. Arguing Britain and its allies must maintain sanctions and military support for Ukraine for “as long as it takes,” the panel from parliament’s unelected upper House of Lords…
An unmanned drone crashed near the center of St. Petersburg on Wednesday, causing an explosion at an oil refinery, local media reported, marking the second such incident in the city over the past month. According to the news outlet Fontanka, which cites anonymous sources, a Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system shot at the drone at around…
MOSCOW – Anti-war Russian presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin said Wednesday he submitted 105,000 signatures endorsing his candidacy for the Central Election Commission’s (CEC) review. Nadezhdin, 60, the nominee from the center-right Civic Initiative party, has seen an uptick in support in recent weeks with Russians standing in long lines to endorse his bid in the…