Russia Calls for ‘Restraint’ in Restive Karabakh

Moscow on Thursday called for “restraint” following a new escalation in fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region that has left three people dead.  Earlier in the day Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan voiced rare criticism of ally Moscow, questioning the work of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh. “We express our extreme concern…

Italian Doctors Confirm Ex-Putin Aide’s Rare Disease as Poisoning Not Ruled Out

Italian doctors have confirmed the rare neurological disorder that debilitated President Vladimir Putin’s former senior aide as authorities continue to await in-depth test results to rule out poisoning, according to a family friend and Italian media.  Veteran reformer and former Kremlin climate envoy Anatoly Chubais, 67, was hospitalized with what he said was Guillain-Barré syndrome…

Putin Recognizes Border Guards as War Veterans

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law Thursday recognizing border guards who repel cross-border attacks from Ukraine as war veterans.  The legislation confers war veteran status to active and retired members of the security forces who “repel an armed invasion and provocations on the border and in territories adjacent to war areas in Ukraine since…

Russia Jails Crusading Ex-Cop for 5 Years

A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced an activist for police labor rights to five years in prison for extortion and distribution of pornography. Arrested in May 2020, former policeman Vladimir Vorontsov has been in detention for nearly three years. Vorontsov, who quit the Moscow police force in 2017 after 13 years, has denied any wrongdoing.…

U.S. Sanctions Putin ‘Girlfriend,’ More Oligarchs for ‘Complicity’ in Ukraine War

The United States blacklisted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s purported girlfriend and the tycoon owner of the second-largest estate in London on Tuesday in the latest round of sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine. Also hit with U.S. business bans were several other oligarchs believed to be close to Putin, four officials Russia has named to administer occupied…

Russia Brands Azov Regiment ‘Terrorists,’ Paving Way for Captured Fighters’ Imprisonment

Russia’s Supreme Court declared Ukraine’s Azov Regiment a “terrorist” organization Tuesday, paving the way for the unit’s captured fighters to be tried in Russian courts and potentially face lenghty prison terms.  Moscow has regularly decried the Azov battalion for its past extremist right-wing links, using it to justify its invasion of Ukraine that the Kremlin…

Ex-Yandex Head Takes EU to Court Over Sanctions

The former head of Russia’s top tech firm Yandex Tigran Khudaverdyan has challenged sanctions against him over the Ukraine war in a European Union court. Khudaverdyan filed a lawsuit on June 7 demanding the European Council lift its “discriminatory and disproportionate” sanctions against him. The lawsuit was first reported by TV channel RTVI on Monday…

Medvedev Questions Neighbors’ Sovereignty in ‘Hacked’ Post

A post claiming the ex-Soviet nations of Georgia and Kazakhstan were “artificial” creations appeared Monday evening on former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s social media account — but was quickly deleted.  Medvedev aide Oleg Osipov said Tuesday morning that Medvedev’s account on Russian social network VK had been hacked, news agency Interfax reported.  Since the start…

Russia Hits 39 U.K. Citizens With Travel Bans, Blacklists London-Based Arts Foundation

Russia has added 39 British nationals to its list of individuals banned from entering the country.  Among those included on the list are former U.K. prime minister David Cameron, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, and Foreign and Commonwealth Office communications director Helen Bower-Easton, as well as The Times columnist David Aaronovitch and The Economist deputy…

Russia Suspends Gas Supplies to Latvia

Russian energy giant Gazprom Saturday suspended gas supplies to Latvia following tensions between Moscow and the West over the conflict in Ukraine and sweeping European and U.S. sanctions against Russia.  The declaration came a day after Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of bombing a jail holding Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian-held territory, with…

Stepanida’s Rasstegai

The word rasstegai sounds funny in Russian. It sounds like the imperative of the word “unbutton,” which is why people joke: Rasstegai is not a command, it’s a pastry. Actually, the name comes from a word for an old Russian garment. Rasstegai, the lexicographer Vladimir Dal writes, is an “open, unbuttoned, loose shift.” It’s also…

Chowing Down the Russian Way

Хавать хочу: I wanna eat When you are on a diet — сидеть на диете — it’s best not to flip through cookbooks, click on Instagram recipes, or read anything that makes you salivate like one of Pavlov’s dogs. You must not, for example, read about много пельмешек, маленьких, ладненьких, кругленьких (many little meat dumplings…

Kremlin Expresses Solidarity With China Over Taiwan

The Kremlin expressed “solidarity” on Friday with China’s stance on Taiwan after Chinese President Xi Jinping warned U.S. leader Joe Biden not to “play with fire” over the self-ruled island. “Certainly we are in solidarity,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “We respect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and believe that no country in the…

Russia and Ukraine Trade Blame in Deadly POW Jail Strike

Russia and Ukraine accused one another over the shelling of a prison in separatist-held eastern Ukraine that killed at least 40 Ukrainian prisoners of war.   “Ukrainian security forces fired [U.S.-supplied long-range missile systems] HIMARS rockets at a pre-trial detention center near Olenivka tonight,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement carried by state news agencies. …

Russia’s Population Decline Hits Record Rate

Russia’s population shrank by a record average of 86,000 people a month between January and May, state statistics agency Rosstat has said.   The decline surpasses the previous record contraction of 57,000 people a month in 2002, when Russia’s population shrank to 145.3 million from nearly 146 million the previous year.  Russia’s population has fallen to…

8 Foreigners Dead in Moscow Hostel Fire

Eight foreigners have been killed and four injured in a fire at a Moscow hostel, news agencies reported early Friday. The flames broke out on the first floor of the building in southwestern Moscow due to likely equipment failure or a power grid emergency, the state-run TASS news agency cited an unnamed emergency services source…