Two German construction companies are taking part in rebuilding Russian-occupied Mariupol, the Ukrainian city that fell to Moscow’s invading forces two years ago, a German press investigation claimed on Thursday. The industrial Knauf group, which manufactures plasterboard, and WKB Systems, which produces aerated concrete, have been providing materials for construction in the city that was…
Finland on Thursday said it would extend its border closure with Russia “until further notice,” after it was shut last year in response to an uptick in asylum seekers. Finland, which joined the NATO military alliance following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, says the increased flow of asylum seekers has been orchestrated by Russia, a charge…
Kyrgyzstan ended its acceptance of Russia’s Mir payment cards after its national payments operator’s Latvian software provider threatened to shut it down unless it did so, the Central Asian nation’s prime minister said Thursday. Kyrgyzstan’s Interbank Processing Center (IPC) said it would stop servicing Mir bank cards from Friday to “minimize the risk of secondary sanctions” after the…
MOSCOW – The March 22 attack on a concert venue near Moscow is likely to have extensive and far-reaching impacts on the country, experts warn. The Crocus City Hall attack, Russia’s deadliest attack in two decades, risks escalating already existing tensions in Russian society, leading to more state and law enforcement repression and an increase…
BRUSSELS — Finland views Ukrainian strikes on oil refineries and military targets inside Russia as legally justified, Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen told The Moscow Times on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers meeting. Ukrainian drone strikes on Tuesday targeted an oil refinery and a drone assembly plant in the republic of Tatarstan, the farthest-reaching…
Russia’s Wagner mercenary group is once again recruiting fighters for deployment in Africa, months after the death of its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, the investigative news outlet Vyorstka and research group Nordsint reported in a joint investigation published on Thursday. Wagner disbanded late last year and its fighters were transferred to units under the control of the…
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it has detained three more suspects in the ongoing criminal investigation into last month’s deadly concert hall attack outside Moscow, state media reported Thursday, citing the law enforcement agency’s press service. “In Moscow, Yekaterinburg and Omsk a citizen of Russia and two foreign citizens, both from the region of…
A former American city council member who faces trial in the United States on child pornography charges appears to have fled to Russia and joined the Russian military, according to footage shared by regional authorities in the northern Khanty-Mansi autonomous district. Wilmer Puello-Mota, former city councilor of Holyoke, Massachusetts, reportedly left the United States on Jan. 7…
A Chechen man committed suicide in police custody late last month, the republic of Chechya’s human rights chief said Wednesday, after previous unconfirmed reports alleged the man was tortured to death by law enforcement agents. Askhab Uspanov was found dead at a Moscow police station hours after being detained on March 22, his relatives said, the…
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it has detained and deported a former Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldier who was allegedly seeking to join the Ukrainian army, state media reported Thursday. “Yuval Lanzman, a former IDF soldier born in 1960, was detained in the Krasnodar region,” a spokesperson from the FSB branch in the southern…
Ukrainian drone attacks on oil refineries inside Russia led to a slump in the country’s gasoline production during the last week of March, the Kommersant business daily reported Thursday, citing official data. Between March 25 and March 31, Russia produced 110,700 metric tons of gasoline per day, a 12% decrease compared to the average output in…
Updated with new death toll. Overnight Russian air strikes against Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv killed at least five people and injured one dozen others, Ukrainian officials said Thursday. Three rescue workers died during a second strike on a residential building in a “densely populated district of Kharkiv,” Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on the messaging…
Overnight Russian air strikes against Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv killed four people and injured 11 others, Ukrainian officials said Thursday. Three rescue workers died during a second strike on a residential building in a “densely populated district of Kharkiv,” Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on the messaging app Telegram. Another person died in a drone…