President Vladimir Putin hailed Russia and China’s growing trade ties last week on his first foreign visit since winning re-election. According to the Russian leader, while a turnover of $100 billion in bilateral trade between Moscow and Beijing was considered a major success a few years ago, this figure now exceeds $200 billion. “Chinese data…
Russia on Tuesday announced the start of tactical nuclear weapons drills close to Ukraine, in what it said was a response to Western “threats.” Throughout its two-year offensive on Ukraine, Moscow has repeatedly talked up its arsenal of nuclear weapons and its readiness to deploy them if it senses an existential threat. The West has…
A Moscow court ruled Tuesday that investigators acted lawfully when they refused to look into two alleged murder attempts against the jailed Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza. Kara-Murza, 42, fell severely ill in 2015 and 2017 with symptoms that he said indicated he was poisoned, but Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, did not open…
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov announced Tuesday that the head of the North Caucasus region’s government has stepped down, becoming the second high-ranking regional official to resign over the past week. “My dear brother Muslim Khuchiyev resigned as chairman of the government of the republic of Chechnya in connection with his transfer to another job,” Kadyrov…
The Finnish government on Tuesday introduced a bill into parliament that would allow authorities to turn away asylum seekers at the country’s border with Russia, an announcement that comes months after Helsinki first shuttered its eastern frontier over an influx of asylum seekers it says was organized by Moscow. Finland closed its border with Russia in…
Russia is likely to keep banking on various coercion tactics to bolster its military manpower in Ukraine, experts say, a strategy that has proven effective at ensuring a continuous supply of fresh recruits to the front lines for the past two years. The Russian military has been pushing to capture more Ukrainian territory this month…
A Russian army general who previously oversaw the defense of occupied Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region has been arrested on fraud charges, the state-run TASS news agency reported Tuesday, citing an anonymous source. “The ex-commander of the 58th Guards Combined Arms Army, Ivan Ivanovich Popov, was arrested on suspicion of fraud,” an unnamed law enforcement official was…
A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced a 77-year-old scientist to 14 years in prison on treason charges after he was accused of sharing top secret information related to Russia’s hypersonic missile program with Germany. The St. Petersburg City Court found Anatoly Maslov guilty of state treason and ordered him to serve 14 years in a…
Authorities in Far East Russia’s republic of Sakha (Yakutia) have declared a state of emergency after seasonal flooding submerged hundreds of homes and forced residents to move to temporary shelters. Nearly 450 homes and more than 550 land plots have been flooded since the Lena River, with a length of 4,294 kilometers, started overflowing last week…
A woman was killed and three others were wounded in a drone strike on western Russia’s Belgorod region, local authorities said Tuesday. “A kamikaze drone attacked a moving car where a driver and three passengers were sitting,” Belgorod region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram, characterizing the strike as a “targeted attack on civilians.” “Sadly,…
Polish authorities have arrested nine members of an alleged Russian spy ring who are suspected of planning acts of sabotage throughout Europe, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Monday. “We currently have nine suspects detained and indicted, who have been directly implicated in the name of Russian [intelligence] services in acts of sabotage in Poland,” Tusk…