Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and his allies have called on supporters to protest against President Vladimir Putin and the invasion of Ukraine by turning up to vote “at noon” in the March presidential election. “Go vote against Putin and the war, and urge everyone to do the same,” Navalny said Thursday on X (formerly Twitter). Navalny,…
Moscow has instructed its diplomats to “pursue” exiled Russian celebrities who speak out against their country’s war in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing two anonymous sources familiar with the matter. The Foreign Ministry’s instructions were reportedly issued to Russian diplomats posted in so-called “friendly” countries — those that have avoided taking sides over Russia’s invasion.…
Moscow said Thursday that it hopes Armenia joining the International Criminal Court (ICC) would not affect relations between the two countries. Armenia, which formally joined the Hague-based court on Thursday, has gradually distanced itself from Russia in recent months. Yerevan is now required to arrest President Vladimir Putin if he sets foot on Armenian territory,…
Dmitry Bykov is not upset that his books have been banned in Russia. To the contrary, he is quite pleased. “I’m grateful to [the Russian government] because I don’t want to have anything to do with them,” he told The Moscow Times via video call. For years, Bykov has been one of Russia’s most celebrated…
Russian investigators concluded Friday that two missiles launched from a U.S.-made surface-to-air system shot down a military transport plane near the Russian-Ukrainian border last week. Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said over 100 fragments of MIM-104A anti-aircraft missiles, as well as hundreds of body parts, were recovered from the crash site in the western Belgorod region. …
Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) said Thursday that its special forces had destroyed a Russian warship off the coast of annexed Crimea using a group of waterborne drones. “The enemy ship was patrolling the Black Sea near Lake Donuzlav in occupied Crimea,” the GUR said in a statement. Ukrainian military officials identified the vessel as…
A Moscow court has commuted the suspended sentence of U.S investor Michael Calvey after he pleaded guilty to controversial fraud charges, the state news agency Interfax reported Thursday. Calvey and his French business partner Philippe Delpal were accused of a $34 million embezzlement scheme related to loans issued by a bank owned by Calvey’s Baring…
A court in the central Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod has jailed a woman for wearing rainbow earrings, the human rights group Egida reported late Wednesday, marking the second case of its kind after Russia banned the so-called “LGBT movement” as an “extremist” organization in November. According to Egida, law enforcement agents tasked with combating…
“I can only cry in response,” Rostislav Murzagulov says when asked whether he feels homesick for his native republic of Bashkortostan. For Murzagulov, a former PR chief of Bashkortostan’s head Radiy Khabirov, visiting his home republic in Russia’s Ural Mountains region is a distant prospect. Once a self-described “systemic liberal politician,” Murzagulov resigned from his…
Updated with Kremlin’s statement. Turkish banks have started closing Russian corporate accounts following threats of secondary sanctions from the United States, the Vedomosti business daily reported Thursday, citing financial consultants and business owners. U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order in December announcing secondary sanctions on foreign banks suspected of supporting Russia’s war against…
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that air defense systems had shot down 11 Ukrainian drones over regions in the western part of the country. “Tonight, the Kyiv regime attempted to commit terrorist attacks against structures on Russian territory using drones,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement. “Air defense systems intercepted and destroyed drones over…