Russia’s worst flooding in decades has submerged Soviet-era uranium mines in the Kurgan region, the investigative news outlet Agentstvo reported Monday, sparking fears that radioactive and chemical pollution could seep into the Tobol River. The Dobrovolnoye uranium deposit is located within the flood zone in Kurgan’s Zverinogolovsky district, Agentsvo reported, citing a map published by local…
A major television tower was toppled in Ukraine’s war-battered city of Kharkiv on Monday after bombardments from Russia forces, as the country’s head of military intelligence warned the situation on the front lines would likely deteriorate in coming weeks. An AFP journalist in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, saw the red-and-white spire of the 240-meter structure…
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has been living with a diagnosis of pancreatic necrosis for more than five years, the independent news website Novaya Gazeta Europe reported Monday, citing anonymous sources at the Moscow presidential hospital where he was allegedly treated. His deteriorating condition has reportedly prompted the Kremlin to start working on a succession plan to…
A Russian court has sentenced Meta spokesman Andy Stone to six years in prison in absentia on “terrorism” charges linked to the company’s wartime content moderation policy, the independent Mediazona news website reported Monday. Stone was charged with the “promotion,” “public calls for” and “justification” of terrorism after his March 2022 announcement that the Facebook and Instagram parent…
A Moscow resident has been sentenced to five years of correctional labor on charges linked to a street interview he gave to the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) news outlet, the OVD-Info rights watchdog reported Monday. Yury Kokhovets, 39, was approached by RFE/RL journalists in Moscow in July 2022 and asked whether a de-escalation…
Russia has threatened to take a tit-for-tat response after the U.S. Congress passed legislation that would allow the transfer of confiscated Russian assets for Ukraine’s reconstruction. The U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday approved long-delayed military aid to Ukraine that also contains provisions for the Biden administration to sell confiscated Russian assets and hand the…
Three people have been killed and two injured in a fire at a machine-building plant in the southern Russian city of Voronezh, Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said Monday. Eyewitness footage shared by local social media channels showed thick black smoke coming out of a two-story industrial building and spreading to nearby streets. The fire engulfed around 500 square…
Two traffic police officers have been killed and one seriously wounded in an armed attack in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Karachayevo-Cherkessia, law enforcement authorities said Monday. “The gunman fired several shots at the police officers, then stole their service weapons and ammunition,” the regional branch of Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said in…