Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told the European Union that Russian and Chinese leaders expect Ukrainian peace talks by the end of 2024, the Spanish daily El Pais reported Wednesday, citing his confidential reports filed after visiting the countries. One of President Vladimir Putin’s closest Western partners, Orban has sparked the ire of the EU…
Editors’ Note The Moscow Times was founded in 1992 in Russia with the mission of delivering independent, high-quality news about the country, newly emerged from the Soviet Union, to English speakers. For over 30 years, we have stayed true to this mission, expanding with a Russian-language service in January 2022. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine…
Over the weekend, people across Russia and Belarus gathered to celebrate Ivan Kupala Night – an ancient Slavic festival to mark midsummer. This folk holiday has both pagan and Christian roots, coinciding with the birth of John the Baptist. As such, water is a key motif during the festivities. Revelers often douse each other, and…
NATO allies announced Wednesday they had started the long-promised transfer of F-16 jets to Ukraine as leaders meet for a summit in Washington clouded by political uncertainties in the United States. With the pomp of the three-day gathering in the US capital, President Joe Biden is aiming to rally the West and also reassure U.S.…
NATO allies on Wednesday announced they had started transferring F-16 jets to Ukraine while stepping up promises to Kyiv on eventual membership in the alliance, at a 75th anniversary summit clouded by political uncertainties in the United States. With the pomp of the three-day gathering in the U.S. capital, President Joe Biden is aiming to…
A Moscow-based sex party organizer has said that it has resumed events and pledged to donate money to soldiers who fought in Ukraine after previously shutting down due to Russia’s ban on the so-called “international LGBT movement.” “In this difficult time for our country, we will work with a limited entertainment program, and we will…
Female students in Russia’s republic of Karelia will be paid 100,000 rubles ($1,100) in exchange for giving birth to a healthy baby, according to a new decision by regional lawmakers. Experts warn that the policy — one of several across Russia aimed at boosting the country’s flagging birth rates — is an insufficient and short-sighted…
Jailed Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza is in “relatively stable” condition after being transferred to a prison hospital last week, his lawyer said Wednesday. This is the first update on Kara-Murza’s condition since he was hospitalized, with his wife saying prison and hospital staff had prevented his lawyer from seeing him for six consecutive days. “Kara-Murza’s…
Japan has arrested a Russian trade firm executive suspected of illegally exporting more than two dozen goods that could be converted for military use, Japanese media reported Wednesday, adding that it is the first such case since Russia invaded Ukraine over two years ago. Andrei Sova, who heads the trading company Astrade in Osaka, is…
The Kremlin said Wednesday that it could not intervene in the situation of imprisoned government critic Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was hospitalized last week without access to lawyers or family, raising fears over his state. Kara-Murza, one of President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critics and a dual British and Russian citizen, is serving a 25-year sentence…
Western-designed components are used in the type of Russian missile that struck a Kyiv children’s hospital this week, the Financial Times reported Wednesday, citing experts and Ukrainian officials. At least 43 people were killed and almost 200 wounded in a Russian missile barrage across Ukraine on Monday, including a direct hit at the Okhmatdyt children’s…
RN-Vankor (a subsidiary of Rosneft’s oil and gas production complex), started delivery of cargo via the Yenisei River and the Northern Sea Route to production facilities located in the north of the Krasnoyarsk region
The BN-800 reactor at the Beloyarsk NPP has been loaded with MOX fuel containing americium and neptunium. During the scheduled refueling at the Beloyarsk NPP’s Unit 4, its BN-800 fast neutron reactor has been for the first time loaded with lead-test assemblies of uranium-plutonium MOX fuel also containing the so-called minor actinides, the most radiotoxic…
Saudi Arabia privately warned it could sell off European debt holdings if the G7 seized nearly $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing unidentified sources familiar with the matter. In what one source described as a “veiled threat,” the kingdom’s finance ministry reportedly implied it would start selling debt…
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Wednesday that it had prevented “terrorist attacks” against high-ranking Defense Ministry officials in Moscow and on the flagship Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier in northern Russia. The FSB detained a Russian citizen who was allegedly sending bombs disguised in gift packaging to three Defense Ministry division heads in the Russian…
Russian strikes killed three people in southern Ukraine, including at the Black Sea port of Odesa, authorities said on Wednesday. Russia has carried out nightly attacks on cities across Ukraine since launching its invasion in February 2022. “The aggressor targeted port infrastructure in the Odesa region. Unfortunately, two people were killed — a security guard…
The United States has disrupted a Russian disinformation campaign involving AI-powered bots used to create fake profiles on the social media platform X, the Justice Department said Tuesday. Officials seized two internet domains and searched 968 social media accounts that Russian operatives allegedly used to create an artificial intelligence “bot farm” and peddle disinformation in…