Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid a surprise visit Thursday to Kyiv as the United States unveiled more than $2.6 billion in new military aid, saying the assistance was visibly paying off on the battlefield against Russian invaders. The latest package includes $675 million to be shipped shortly in arms, ammunition and supplies, $1 billion…
Russian consumers will be able to buy the newly unveiled iPhone 14 in Russia despite Apple’s exit from the market over the invasion of Ukraine, a government minister said Thursday. “If consumers want to buy these phones, you’re welcome. They will have that chance,” Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told state-run RIA Novosti news…
China has ramped up imports of Russian energy and raw materials this year without doing the same for tech exports, the Kommersant business daily reported late Wednesday, citing Chinese customs data. China imported $72.9 billion worth of goods from Russia between January and August, a 50% increase on the same period last year. Its exports…
The United Nations cited “credible accusations” Wednesday that Moscow’s forces have forcibly taken Ukrainian children to Russia, while Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of benefitting from the eased grain blockade. Kyiv meanwhile said its forces had recaptured significant territory in a counter-offensive southeast of Kharkiv that experts say could threaten key Russian supply…
President Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia party on Wednesday proposed holding referendums on Nov. 4 to annex territories taken by Moscow’s forces in Ukraine. “It would be right and symbolic” to hold the votes on Nov. 4, Russia’s Day of National Unity, party secretary general Andrey Turchak said on its website. After the votes, he…
A growing number of Russians are choosing neighboring Belarus for their next vacation in a bid to access Western goods and financial services no longer available at home because of sanctions imposed on Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine. Unlike Russia, most foreign retailers and major payment companies retain a presence in ex-Soviet Belarus that…
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny said Wednesday he had been placed in a solitary confinement cell for the fourth time in little over a month. The opposition figure, who is serving an 11.5 year sentence on charges of fraud, parole violations and contempt of court, said he had just been released from a spell in…
Updated with Putin comments. Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed Western governments’ “sanctions fever,” defended the invasion of Ukraine and warned Europeans they could “freeze” without Russian energy exports at an economic forum in Russia’s Far East on Wednesday. “The [coronavirus] epidemic has been replaced by other global challenges that threaten the entire world,” Putin told…
Russia has put Vitaly Mansky, one of the country’s leading documentary filmmakers and a critic of the invasion of Ukraine, on a wanted list, Russian media reported Tuesday. Mansky, 58, was recently implicated in a defamation case brought by prominent film director and Kremlin supporter Nikita Mikhalkov. In a recent Youtube interview, Mansky said “at…
Myanmar has begun buying petroleum products from Russia and is expecting the delivery of diesel fuel in the coming days, the Southeast Asian country’s military leader said Wednesday. Senior general Min Aung Hlaing shared the news on his second visit to Russia in less than two months as both isolated countries seek to deepen ties in…
The UN’s atomic watchdog called Tuesday for a security zone to be set up around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is occupied by Russia, as the area was hit by more shelling. Russian troops seized control of the plant — Europe’s biggest atomic facility — in March and there have been repeated attacks in…
Russian tank losses in Ukraine have passed 1,000, according to the Oryx intelligence blog that tracks equipment losses in the fighting, highlighting the attrition suffered by Russian forces in more than six months of war. Over half of Russia’s tank losses recorded by Oryx, which verifies destroyed, captured or abandoned tanks using open source information,…
Russian gas giant Gazprom said Tuesday that China will start paying for Russian gas in rubles and yuan instead of Western currency, as Moscow seeks closer ties with Beijing in the wake of economic sanctions over the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine. “A transition was made to making payments for Russian gas supplies to China in…
BELGRADE, Serbia — The lavishly decorated main entrance of Serbia’s baroque-style parliament building was barely visible behind a sea of protest tents and a makeshift stage adorned with billboards. One of the billboards featured the face of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov alongside the caption “the world’s greatest diplomat.” “We are the same people,” one…
Twice as many people left Russia in the first half of 2022 than during the same period last year as the country faced international isolation over its invasion of Ukraine, according to data released by state statistics agency Rosstat on Tuesday. A total of 419,000 people departed Russia between January and June compared with 202,000 in…
Douglas Smith is an historian and translator, author of seven books on Russia. In the 1980s, he was a Russian-speaking guide on the U.S. State Department’s exhibition “Information USA” that traveled around the Soviet Union and served as an interpreter for late President Reagan. In 2016 he found an extraordinary cache of color photographs and…
President Vladimir Putin attended large-scale military exercises on Tuesday involving China and several Russia-friendly countries as Moscow seeks to strengthen partnerships in Asia in the face of Western sanctions. Russia has found itself increasingly isolated as tensions between Moscow and Western capitals soared since Russia sent troops into pro-Western Ukraine in February. Slapped with unprecedented…
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that employers should guarantee the jobs of men who volunteer to fight in Ukraine amid a widely reported troop shortage in Moscow’s ongoing invasion of its neighbor. Putin pledged to order the government to enshrine the provision in law after receiving complaints that some employers had threatened to fire…
Russia has raked in 158 billion euros ($158 billion) in energy exports in the six months following its invasion of Ukraine, a think tank said Tuesday. The Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air called for more effective sanctions against Moscow after the invasion sent oil, gas and coal prices soaring. “Surging fossil fuel…
Russia and China have slowed construction of what would have been the world’s first cross-border cable car due to EU sanctions, the governor of a region where Russia’s section was to be built said Monday. Construction of the Blagoveshchensk-Heihe cable car across the Amur River began in April 2021 and was due to wrap up…
Russia barred 25 U.S. citizens from entering the country Monday, including actors Ben Stiller and Sean Penn, in its latest round of personal sanctions. The Hollywood actors were included on a list published by the Russian Foreign Ministry alongside high-ranking business and political figures. “The hostile actions of the American authorities, which continue to follow…
Updated with reaction to the sentence. A Moscow court sentenced reporter Ivan Safronov to 22 years in prison Monday, Russia’s first treason conviction for a journalist since 2001. Safronov, a defense journalist at top Russian newspapers Kommersant and Vedomosti who went on to work for state space agency Roscosmos, was convicted of collecting secret information…
Chinese tech giant Huawei has moved some of its staff from Russia to Central Asia over fears of Western sanctions, the Vedomosti business daily reported Monday, citing sources close to the company. Huawei began relocating Chinese and Russian managers and heads of divisions to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to Vedomosti.…
The Afghan interior ministry told AFP that a suicide attacker was shot dead by Taliban guards at the embassy. “It was a suicide attack, but before the bomber could reach his target, he was targeted by our forces and eliminated,” Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafy Takor told AFP. Asked whether the target was the…
Updates with Novaya Gazeta statement. A Moscow court on Monday revoked the print license of independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, whose chief editor last year was co-awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. “The Basmanny court of Moscow invalidated the registration certificate of the print version of Novaya Gazeta,” the outlet said on social media. Novaya Gazeta’s chief…
Eight climbers have died on the highest active volcano in Russia’s Far East, the Interfax news agency reported Monday. A party of 12 climbers from seven Russian regions, including two Novosibirsk-based guides, set off to climb the Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula last week. Six people fell to their deaths, Interfax reported Sunday,…
The ambassadors of the United States and the European Union in Russia have left Moscow after ending their diplomatic tenures as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine plunged relations to their lowest point since the Cold War. John Sullivan, 62, left Russia on Sunday and will retire from four decades of public service under five U.S. presidents,…
How long will Russia’s war in Ukraine last? Will Kyiv regain its territories lost to Moscow under President Volodymyr Zelensky’s leadership? What will trigger the end of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko’s rule? Inquiring minds can find the answers to all these questions and more on Russian YouTube, where self-described “tarologists” give readings several times a…
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is often called “Putin’s war,” based on the assumption that Russia’s authoritarian leader has a firm grip on power and virtually single-handedly influences Russian politics. And as the only country to wage a war in Europe in the 21st century, Russia is viewed as an exceptional state that operates by its…
Updates with details of the burial, quotes from mourners, background. Last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was laid to rest Saturday in a Moscow ceremony, but without the fanfare of a state funeral and with the glaring absence of President Vladimir Putin. Several thousand mourners queued up to quietly file past Gorbachev’s open casket as it…
“What do you mean, jam from Kyiv? From where?” a patron of a Moscow restaurant shouted aggressively at the waiter. “Yes, it’s from the time of Catherine the Great,” the waiter said calmly. “Well, if that’s the case, all right then…” the diner muttered, mollified. That scene really happened about five years ago. Even then,…
Gazprom said Friday that a gas pipeline to Germany due to reopen at the weekend would remain shut until a turbine is repaired, cutting off indefinitely a key supply route to Europe. In a statement, state-owned gas giant Gazprom indicated it had discovered “oil leaks” in a turbine during a planned three-day maintenance operation. Gazprom…
Тузик: Ace (classic dog name) When I moved to Riga, the first morning I was woken up by the unmistakable pitter patter of little dog paws in the apartment above me. Later that day when I was walking my dog, we met the pitter-patterer: a very friendly, sweet-natured dog of mixed, rather confused origins –…
Sitting before a group of children on their first day back at school in the Russian region of Kaliningrad on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin set out the importance of Moscow’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine. “An anti-Russian enclave has begun to be created on the territory of today’s Ukraine that threatens our country,” Putin said. …
Russian officials threatened Friday to stop all oil and gas imports to Europe if major Western countries go ahead with plans to implement energy price caps. The angry response from Moscow came as the G7 group of industrialized nations said in a statement that it was “urgently” seeking a price cap on Russian oil and…
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who died on Tuesday at the age of 91, presided over period of artistic freedom in the U.S.S.R. that had not been seen since the post-Revolutionary era. Russian culture flourished under his leadership, particularly in the theater, in which he took an active interest. But unlike other Soviet leaders, Gorbachev did…
Russia’s banking sector lost 1.5 trillion rubles ($24.8 billion) in the first half of 2022, a top Central Bank official said Friday. This is the first time the Central Bank has disclosed financial results since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February. “The loss-making banks lost 1.9 trillion rubles and profit-making banks made 400 billion rubles,” Dmitry…
One hundred Russians have been accused or convicted under Russia’s draconian wartime censorship law on spreading “false information,” according to leading human rights lawyer Pavel Chikov. Those convicted under the so-called “war fakes” law face up to 15 years in prison. Two people have so far been sentenced to prison terms and 28 people accused…
China’s UnionPay paymentsystem has stopped accepting cards issued by Russian banks under Western sanctions over fears of penalties, the RBC news website reported Friday, citing financial industry sources. Demand for UnionPay cards in Russia surged following Visa and Mastercard’s exit in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine. A number of major Russian banks subsequently…
UN inspectors arrived at a Russian-held nuclear plant in southern Ukraine Thursday despite an early shelling attack, as the ICRC warned the consequences of a strike on the facility could be “catastrophic”. After crossing the frontline into Russian-held territory, the 14-strong team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reached the facility around 3:00 pm,…
Alexei Kovalev was found Sunday shot to death in his home in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Hola Prystan. Nearby lay his girlfriend, reportedly badly injured with stab wounds to her neck, and a Mossberg pump-action shotgun. Prior to Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February, Kovalev was a deputy in the Ukrainian parliament and a…
Russia has lost more than 900 special forces soldiers, paratroopers, marines and pilots in over six months of war in Ukraine, the BBC’s Russian service reported Thursday citing publicly available data. The deaths of such soldiers are particularly problematic for the Russian Armed Forces because they are very costly to replace. At least 337 marines…
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the funeral of the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Thursday. “Unfortunately, the president’s work schedule will not allow him [to attend],” Peskov told reporters. Instead, Putin visited Thursday the hospital where Gorbachev died two days earlier at the age of 91 and placed…
Updated to include reporting on Maganov’s health and LUKoil statement. The chairman of the board of Russia’s largest private oil company, LUKoil, died Thursday after falling from a Moscow hospital window, according to Russian media reports. Ravil Maganov, 67, plunged from the sixth-floor window of the Central Clinical Hospital, according to police sources cited by…
A report published by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday highlighted evidence of the forced relocation and abuse of civilians by Russia in occupied Ukraine. “The forcible transfer of civilians is prohibited under international humanitarian law, or the laws of war, and can be prosecuted as a war crime and a crime against humanity,” the…
Russia launched large-scale joint military exercises with China, India and several other countries in the Far East on Thursday, although they involved far fewer troops and hardware than in previous years amid Moscow’s six-month invasion of Ukraine. A total of 50,000 troops will take Vostok-2022 (East-2022) war games — compared to 300,000 who participated in…
EU foreign ministers on Wednesday agreed to suspend a 2007 visa facilitation deal with Russia but stopped short of a wider visa ban as requested by some member states. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the ministers had agreed that relations with Moscow “cannot be business as usual” and the agreement should be “fully…
On Aug. 30, Manana Aslamazyan, the former head of the organization Internews in Russia and one of the key figures in the development of television news in Russia and the CIS, died after being struck by a car in Yerevan, Armenia. She was 70 years old. Aslamazyan came to Internews in 1991 after a career…
As international sanctions bite Russia and many Western companies have stopped doing business in the country, Moscow has tried to fill the gaps with a program it calls “parallel imports.” Armenia has reported a nearly 50 percent increase in trade with Russia, raising questions about what part Armenia is playing in supplying Russia with the foreign goods…
The death of the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev prompted differing reactions from Russians on Wednesday, with criticism expressed alongside tributes, reflecting the Nobel Prize-winning leader’s polarizing legacy in the country that he called home. Many supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin — who famously described the collapse of the Soviet Union overseen by Gorbachev…
Mikhail Gorbachev struggled to make up his mind about Vladimir Putin. Over the more than 20 years after Putin came to power, the ex-Soviet leader embraced, then rejected, then embraced again the man who, much like Gorbachev in the 1980s, came to embody Russia in the eyes of the West. A grudging respect seemed to…
Russian gas giant Gazprom’s shares skyrocketed more than 30% on Wednesday after its board recommended paying dividends on record net profits in the first half of this year. State-owned Gazprom said the day before that it made a record 2.5 trillion rubles ($41.36 billion) in net profit in the first six months of this year…
Russian energy giant Gazprom on Wednesday cuts off its gas supplies to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline for maintenance work, further raising tensions on an already taut electricity market. The three-day works at a compressor station are “necessary,” Gazprom has said, adding that they had to be carried out after “every 1,000 hours…
Mikhail Gorbachev, whose actions as the last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union helped shape the world as we know it today, died after a “serious and long illness” late Tuesday, the state-run TASS news agency reported, citing the Moscow Central Clinical Hospital. He was 91. His era started in 1985…
Ukrainian missile strikes, shelling and reports of advances near the Russian-held city of Kherson on Tuesday suggested that a Ukrainian offensive in the south of the country was gathering steam. In its morning update, the president’s office in Kyiv said “heavy fighting” was “taking place in almost the entire territory of the Kherson region.” While…
The cost of foreign vacation packages for Russian tourists has increased between 50% and 70%, according to data from the Association of Tour Operators in Russia (ATOR) cited Tuesday by RBC news outlet. The hefty price increase comes as a result of some Western countries closing air space to Russian air carriers and the arrest…
Russian prosecutors asked Tuesday for Russian journalist Ivan Safronov to be sentenced to 24 years in jail on treason charges, his lawyer Yevgeny Smirnov said on Facebook. The charges against Safronov date to when he was working for top Russian newspapers Vedomosti and Kommersant where he reported on the Russian defense industry. “The prosecutors offered…
The Kremlin on Tuesday warned it would respond if the European Union makes it harder for Russians to travel to the bloc as part of measures in support of Ukraine. The idea to ban Russian tourists from Europe has divided EU nations, with some in full support and others fearing it would shut the door…
Russia fined U.S. streaming platform Twitch on Tuesday for the second time this month over its refusal to remove an interview with an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, state media reported. A Moscow court said Twitch should pay 3 million rubles ($49,500) for the video with Oleksyi Arestovich, according to the TASS news agency.…
Gunfire was reported Tuesday in southern Ukraine’s Russian-occupied city of Kherson amid Kyiv’s counteroffensive to retake the surrounding region from Russian troops. Local news outlet Most reported intense shooting on the streets of central Kherson’s Pivnichnyi and Tavriiskyi neighborhoods. Shots were also heard outside a prison colony in the southern part of the city, according…