Russian ministers accompanying President Vladimir Putin on his visit to Pyongyang on Wednesday were forced to leave the negotiation room by a North Korean official who appeared to be angered that they had entered before leader Kim Jong Un. The incident took place during the live broadcast of Putin’s visit by North Korean state media.…
Russian forces have escalated attacks near Toretsk, a frontline town in eastern Ukraine that has remained relatively calm over recent months of fighting, officials said Wednesday. Overwhelmed and outgunned, Ukrainian forces have struggled to hold the line in the eastern Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claims to have annexed in a 2022 referendum condemned by…
Russia has accused France of stoking conflict in the South Caucasus after the country this week signed a deal to sell artillery systems to Armenia. “Paris is provoking another round of armed confrontation in the South Caucasus, and they are doing it in different ways. This [sale] is another step,” Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova…
Russian President Vladimir Putin was greeted by cheering crowds during a state visit to Pyongyang on Wednesday, marking what North Korea’s Kim Jong Un called a “new era” in relations between the historic allies. The visit to North Korea, Putin’s first since 2000, comes nine months after Russia hosted Kim on a visit to the…
Former presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin has stepped down from his position in local government, Russian media reported Wednesday. Nadezhdin, who earlier this year tried to mount an anti-war campaign for the 2024 Russian presidential election before election authorities barred him from running, had served as a deputy of the Dolgoprudny city council in the Moscow…
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a mutual defense agreement on Wednesday with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, who offered his “full support” on Ukraine. The pledge of military cooperation was part of a strategic treaty signed during a summit in Pyongyang, where Putin was making his first visit in 24 years. “It is really a…
Congratulations! Did you think you might win the Pushkin House Book Prize? I had a little hope, but the shortlist was so strong this year. It was a great honor just to be included in the shortlist, but I didn’t think I’d win… I had heard that the Pushkin House prize is rarely given to…
Canada has sanctioned over a dozen high-ranking Russian law enforcement officials believed to be responsible for the death of opposition activist Alexei Navalny, the country’s Foreign Minister announced Tuesday. According to a Canadian Foreign Ministry statement, the new sanctions target individuals involved in the poisoning of Navalny in 2020, his arrest in Moscow upon returning to…
An ex-commander from Russia’s notorious Wagner mercenary group who fled to Norway last year has been sentenced to 120 days in prison for beating a woman and assaulting a bartender, The Barents Observer reported Tuesday. The Vestfold District Court in Norway found Andrei Medvedev guilty of beating his friend and assaulting a bartender who refused…
Officials in Moscow said Wednesday that they are waiting for the United States to respond to its prisoner swap proposals, days before American reporter Evan Gershkovich was set to face trial in Russia on espionage charges. President Vladimir Putin said in February that talks on a prisoner swap involving Gershkovich were underway, but the Kremlin…
A Russian court in the Far East city of Vladivostok on Wednesday sentenced an American soldier to three years and nine months in prison for making death threats and theft, state media reported. Gordon Black was arrested last month in Vladivostok, where he was visiting a Russian woman he met and dated while stationed in…