This article was first published by Politika.Kozlov. Russia may be preparing to free between 20 and 30 political prisoners and journalists in an imminent exchange with the United States and Germany, a source familiar with the planning said, in what, if confirmed, would be the largest swap since the end of the Cold War. Previous…
Moscow’s forces consolidated their territorial gains in eastern Ukraine in July, taking control of almost 200 square kilometers (77 square miles) of land, or roughly the size of Washington D.C., according to an AFP analysis published on Wednesday. The analysis, based on data from the Institute for the Study of War, shows an increase over…
A member of Ukraine’s Azov battalion has died in Russian custody, independent Russian media reported and Ukraine’s human rights commissioner confirmed Wednesday. Oleksandr Ishchenko was among 24 former and current Azov members, including nine women, who were arrested in southern Russia on terrorism charges in March-May 2022. Russia’s Memorial human rights organization considers all of them to be political prisoners.…
A Slovenia court on Wednesday sentenced two Russian nationals suspected of spying for Moscow to more than a year and a half in prison but then ordered their expulsion from the country. The couple, who went by the names of Ludwig Gisch and Maria Rosa Mayer Munos, pleaded guilty at Wednesday’s hearing on charges of…
Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza was removed from his prison in Siberia and is being transferred elsewhere, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing Russia’s prison service. Prison authorities told the agency that Kara-Murza, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence for treason and other charges, was removed from the IK-16 penal colony in the Omsk region and sent to…
The lawyer of former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan said she was unable to confirm the whereabouts of her client after receiving multiple requests from journalists amid growing speculation that Russia is preparing a prisoner exchange with the West. “I had asked the prison’s administration, but they’re not responding,” lawyer Olga Karlova was quoted as saying…
Russia’s lower-house State Duma on Wednesday rejected a bill that would have granted draft deferments to men with three or more children, as some families demand a return of their loved ones from Ukraine. The military initially granted deferments to fathers with three or more children under the age of 16 after President Vladimir Putin announced…
A Ukraine-based paramilitary unit of Russian citizens opposed to the Kremlin announced Wednesday that it was breaking ties with former Russian lawmaker turned opposition figure Ilya Ponomaryov. The Freedom of Russia Legion said in a statement that it would “unilaterally revoke” its signature from the Irpin Declaration, “thereby terminating participation in any political projects.” The…
President Vladimir Putin ordered a signing-on bonus of 400,000 rubles ($4,600) for new recruits to fight in Ukraine, the latest sign of a scramble to boost Russian troop numbers amid growing battlefield losses. A presidential decree published Wednesday promises the federally issued lump sum to anyone who signs a military contract for a minimum of one…
TVEL Fuel Company of Rosatom has started implementation of nuclear fuel supply contract for units 3 and 4 of the Kudankulam NPP. The contract embraces the entire lifetime of the power units from the starting loading of the reactor cores. Units 3 and 4 of the Kudankulam NPP of the Russian design, powered by VVER-1000…
The Kremlin said it “strongly condemns” the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran after the militant group announced his death early Wednesday. Hamas said the political leader was killed in an Israeli strike in Iran, where he was attending the inauguration ceremony of the country’s new president. The group vowed that the killing would…
The European Parliament’s biggest group has expressed concern over espionage risks emanating from Hungary’s recent decision to relax visa rules for Russian and Belarusian nationals, according to a letter seen by AFP on Tuesday. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban — the only EU leader to have maintained close ties with the Kremlin since Russia launched…
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday decided to pardon a German man facing the death penalty, the country’s state news agency reported. Lukashenko “took the decision to pardon the German citizen Rico Krieger… taking into account all the circumstances,” Belta news agency reported, citing the president’s press service. Krieger, 30, was shown on Belarusian public…
A large fire broke out on Tuesday at a production facility in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, local media reported, with photos and videos on social media showing a large column of black smoke billowing into the sky. According to local media reports, the blaze erupted late Tuesday afternoon at NPO Avtomatiki, a subsidiary…
The Kremlin is increasingly turning to creative measures to boost its troops without formally declaring another unpopular mobilization as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine grinds on. From TV marathons promoting war recruitment to increasing payments, Russian regions are looking for ways to address the need for fresh troops on the front line. The Kremlin said last year…
Two more Russian political prisoners have been moved to unknown locations, lawyers and relatives said Tuesday, coming days after the transfer of four high-profile dissidents that has fueled speculation of a potential prisoner swap between Moscow and the West. Imprisoned activists Lilia Chanysheva, Ksenia Fadeyeva and Oleg Orlov were reportedly moved from their jail cells…
The Kremlin on Tuesday said Venezuela’s opposition must accept that it lost the presidential election after protestors took to the streets to challenge official results showing a victory for Nicolas Maduro. Several foreign countries including nine in Latin America have questioned Sunday’s election results, while Venezuela’s security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at…
Spanish authorities have granted an emergency request for the replica of an 18th-century Russian frigate to make a port call so that it can replenish provisions and replace broken parts, media reported Tuesday. The EU implemented a ban on Russian vessels docking at its ports as part of a broader sanctions package in response to…
Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank said Tuesday that it will continue to scale back its Russian business as it navigates a “very difficult” exit from the country, where it generated half of its post-tax profit in 2024 so far. In its semi-annual earnings report, Raiffeisen Bank International said its Russian division posted 705 million euros ($763.6 million) of the…
Authorities in southwestern Russia said Tuesday a fire that had broken out after a Ukrainian attack over the weekend had finally been extinguished. Acting Kursk region Governor Alexei Smirnov said that “emergency responders have extinguished a fire at an oil depot.” Three fuel tanks were hit in a Ukrainian drone attack in the early hours…
When a Russian lawmaker said late last week that the country would start throttling YouTube loading speeds on desktop browsers by up to 70%, it appeared to confirm many Russians’ fears that the country would gradually cut off access to the video platform. Over the past decade, YouTube has become a vital platform for dissenting viewpoints…
Germany said on Monday it was not deterred by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threats to relaunch production of intermediate-range nuclear weapons if the United States confirms its intention to deploy missiles to Europe. “We will not be intimidated by such statements,” foreign ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer told a government press conference. In early July, Washington…
The whereabouts of four Russian political prisoners — Lilia Chanysheva, Ksenia Fadeyeva, Oleg Orlov and Alexandra Skochilenko — are unknown after their apparent transfer to new prison facilities, lawyers and relatives said on Monday. Prison authorities in Russia often subject high-profile inmates to secret and lengthy transfers across the country. Shortly before his death at…
Olympic organizers on Monday confirmed that they canceled the accreditation of some reporters after Russia’s state-run TASS news agency said several of its journalists could no longer cover the Paris Games. TASS reported on Sunday that the removal of its journalists’ accreditation, essential for covering sporting events, was “completely unexpected” and came after the journalists…
Rapper Timati has called for ending the merger of Russia’s leading online retailer Wildberries with the outdoor advertising firm Russ Group. Wildberries and Russ Group announced a merger last month to create a joint digital trading platform called RWB, which the Kremlin said received the personal approval of President Vladimir Putin. Reports surrounding the deal…
Russian mercenaries have suffered heavy losses in two-day fighting against Tuareg rebels near Mali’s border with Algeria, Russia’s Wagner mercenary group confirmed on Monday in a rare statement. A mainly Tuareg separatist coalition claimed earlier on Sunday it took a major victory over Mali’s army and its Russian allies. In its statement, Wagner detailed “fierce…
The Kremlin on Monday rejected U.S. media claims that Russia may be plotting attacks on critical infrastructure in France during the Olympic Games. NBC News reported Sunday that acts of sabotage against France’s high-speed train network ahead of the opening ceremony last week Friday showed a broad array of security threats to the Olympics, including a “Russian-backed sabotage…
A passenger train derailed on Monday in southern Russia, injuring dozens of people, the country’s state-owned railway company said. Russian Railways said the train — which was traveling through the Volgograd region — collided with a truck that drove into a railroad crossing at 12:35 local time. Eight passenger cars were thrown from the tracks, it added. “The…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday congratulated Nicolas Maduro on his victory in Venezuela’s presidential race, as the election results were rejected by the opposition and several foreign countries. “I am confident that your role as head of state will continue to enhance the progressive development of [Russian-Venezuelan relations],” Putin was quoted as saying in…
The Wagner mercenary group confirmed Monday that some of its fighters were killed alongside soldiers from Mali’s army as they battled against rebel forces in recent days. The rebel movement, the Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security and Development (CSP-PSD), said in a statement on Saturday that its troops “decisively obliterated” the Wagner-backed Malian army…
At least one person has died and two others missing after a torrent of water poured over a cofferdam in northwestern Russia early Monday and flooded the surrounding area, authorities said. Water washed away the temporary barrier between two locks of the White Sea-Baltic Canal in the republic of Karelia, regional head Artur Parfenchikov wrote…
Russia’s TASS state news agency said Sunday the Paris Olympics organizing committee had stripped four of its journalists of accreditation to cover the Games after they attended initial events. TASS said that the removal of the reporters’ accreditation, essential to cover the Games, was “completely unexpected” after the journalists had entered France, received passes and…
“An infected mouse escapes from the Institute of Functional Immortality, where the development of a means to prolong Putin’s life is underway. An apocalypse occurs in Moscow: most of the city’s inhabitants die, some survive, and the rest turn into zombies.” …
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday threatened to relaunch production of intermediate-range nuclear weapons if the United States confirmed its intention to deploy missiles to Germany or elsewhere in Europe. “If the United States carries out such plans, we will consider ourselves liberated from the unilateral moratorium previously adopted on the deployment of medium- and…
Mali’s army and its Russian allies suffered a major setback and significant losses Saturday while fighting separatists in the country’s north, a spokesman for the rebels told AFP. The West African nation’s military leaders that took power in a 2020 coup have made it a priority to retake all of the country from separatist and…
A Russian navy ship arrived in Cuba on Saturday for a three-day stay, six weeks after Moscow sent a submarine and other naval vessels to visit the communist state off Florida’s coast. The Smolny training ship was greeted with salvos from Cuban artillery before it anchored in Havana’s harbor, where residents and tourists gathered to…
Russia on Saturday slammed the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games as a “massive failure”. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova gave a long list of shortcomings at Friday’s ceremony, which was not broadcast live on Russian television. “I wasn’t planning to watch the opening. But after seeing the photos, I couldn’t believe it wasn’t…
Russia on Saturday claimed the capture of another village in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region where there is heavy fighting as Moscow’s forces advance towards the city of Pokrovsk. The Defense ministry said Russian troops “liberated” the village of Lozuvatske, about 24 kilometers (15 miles) east of Pokrovsk and near the Russian-occupied small town of Ocheretnye.…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday he “does not listen” to what he called Ukraine’s contradictory statements on peace talks. Lavrov spoke after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba visited China for talks this week. President Volodymyr Zelensky then said Beijing sent a “clear signal” it supported Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Answering questions from Russian journalists…
The opening of the Olympic Games not only makes us cheer for the athletes, it also makes us reminisce a bit. Looking back on the few weeks in July-August 1980 when the Soviet Union hosted the Olympics, we can see that Moscow finally had the ideal public catering that “the Bolsheviks had been talking about…
Heavy rainfall led to the collapse of a reservoir dam in the Ural Mountains region of Chelyabinsk on Friday night, Russian authorities said, forcing residents of nearby villages to evacuate their homes. A dam at the Kialimskoye reservoir, measuring around 500 meters long, was unable to hold back rising waters and broke, unleashing a flood torrent toward…
The head of a research institute that supplies communication systems to the Russian military set himself ablaze on Red Square Friday, media outlets reported, citing anonymous sources. Mash, a Telegram news channel with purported links to Russian law enforcement, said eyewitnesses saw a man douse himself with a flammable liquid and then ignite in flames.…
Russian politicians fighting to defend so-called “traditional” values are turning their attention to the country’s vibrant music scene, lambasting pop stars for performances and outfits deemed to be too revealing or sexual. Pop singer Natalya Chistyakova-Ionova, who is best known by her stage name Glukoza, became embroiled in scandal after pro-Kremlin censorship activist Yekaterina Mizulina…
KHARKIV REGION, Ukraine — An old green Soviet Lada speeds along a dirt road, skidding as it races forward. Behind the car, thick black smoke billows into the July sky. A Grad missile has just struck a small village in the Kharkiv region, less than 6 miles from the front lines. Oleksiy, 65, is cultivating…
Only 15 Russian athletes will take part in the Paris Olympics after the International Olympic Committee banned athletes from Russia and Belarus from competing under their own flag. These athletes will be allowed to compete as “individual neutral athletes.” The IOC says there are strict conditions for Russian or Belarusian athletes to be eligible to…
A recent volcanic eruption in Far East Russia has blanketed the remote landscape of a major nature preserve with ash, the Kamchatka peninsula’s park service said Friday. Bezymyanny volcano, one of Kamchatka’s most active, erupted on Wednesday, with ash spewing up to 12 kilometers into the Earth’s atmosphere and plumes extending around 2,500 kilometers southeast of the…
A store owner in St. Petersburg who was jailed last year for publicly opposing the war in Ukraine was released from prison on Friday, local media reported. In August 2023, Dmitry Skurikhin was ordered to spend one year and six months in prison for “discrediting” the Russian military after he painted his store in pacifist slogans. He was arrested after…
The EU on Friday said 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) had been made available to support Ukraine, the first chunk of money earned from profits on frozen Russian assets. EU member states had agreed in May to use billions of euros in profits from frozen Russian Central Bank assets to help arm Ukraine and fund…
The Kremlin’s spokesman on Friday said Moscow had not been informed of the arrest in France of a Russian man over a suspected “destabilization” plot targeting the Paris Olympics. The man was detained Tuesday in Paris but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists that France had not informed Russian officials. “We have no information. We…
Former Deputy Defense Minister Dmitry Bulgakov has been arrested on corruption charges, Russian law enforcement authorities announced on Friday, adding that the army general was moved to a detention center in Moscow. Bulgakov, 69, is the seventh high-ranking Defense Ministry official to have been arrested since April in an apparent purge of the military’s top ranks as…
Writer Ivan Filippov’s novel “Mouse” (“Miysh’”), about a zombie apocalypse in Moscow, was pulled from Russian bookstore shelves this month on the Prosecutor General’s Office’s orders. The news came from Georgy Urushadze, founder of the book’s publisher Freedom Letters. Luckily for the publisher, sales of the book only increased after the announcement. Freedom Letters is one of…
Russia’s Central Bank on Friday raised its key interest rate from 16% to 18%, a widely anticipated move as the country struggles to fight inflation amid surging spending on the war in Ukraine and widespread labor shortages across the economy, which are driving up wages. “Inflation has accelerated and is developing significantly above the Bank…
Authorities in Moscow have added an unprecedented 54 Indigenous groups and the U.S.-based Free Russia Foundation to the country’s growing list of “extremist” organizations. Russia’s Justice Ministry labeled the 55 seemingly unrelated organizations as “structural divisions” of the vaguely defined “Anti-Russian Separatist Movement,” which Russia’s Supreme Court banned as an “extremist” organization last month. Rights groups…
American composer Philip Glass has accused a theatre in Russian-annexed Crimea of planning to stage a ballet premiere that uses his music without permission. Glass, an 87-year-old composer famed for his minimalist works, took to X (formerly Twitter) to complain about what he said was an act of “piracy” by a theatre in the Black…
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov oversaw combat readiness exercises at a military training facility in northwestern Russia, the defense ministry said on Friday. “Belousov reviewed the organization of combat training of military personnel at one of the training grounds of the Leningrad Military District,” the army said in a statement. The statement added that the training…
A Russian man suspected of detonating a car bomb in Moscow earlier this week has been extradited from Turkey, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Friday. “Internationally wanted Russian citizen Yevgeny N. Serebryakov, born in 1995, was detained in Bodrum (Turkey) jointly by the FSB and Russia’s Interior Ministry, and with the assistance of Turkish…
A major state-owned Chinese construction company is prepared to help expand the public rail and road networks in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, the mayor’s office announced Thursday. Novosibirsk Mayor Maxim Kudryavtsev said in a statement that his administration met with representatives from the China Railway Tunnel Group, a subsidiary of the government-owned China Railway…
Since at least April, the Russian military has been in upheaval, punctuated by arrests of senior Defense Ministry officials on charges including bribery and abuse of power. This turmoil appears to have peaked in May with the dismissal of longtime Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who faced accusations of mishandling the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. While…
The Kremlin said Thursday that it was still open to negotiations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky despite Moscow’s questions about his legitimacy as leader. “Russia is generally open to the negotiation process, but we first need to understand if the Ukrainian side is ready,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “From a practical point of…
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko traveled to Russia on Thursday for talks with close ally Vladimir Putin, state media reported. Lukashenko’s trip follows moves he has made over the past month that some observers interpret as an effort to ease tensions with the West after being hit with sanctions for allowing Russian troops to use Belarusian…