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A new Russian military drone equipped with stealth technologies has taken flight for the first time, according to footage published by Russia’s Defense Ministry. The military said over the weekend the Okhotnik (“Hunter”) combat drone made “several circles” for more than 20 minutes at an altitude of up to 600 meters before landing. [embedded content]…

Outspoken designer Artemy Lebedev has announced his emigration from Russia in an emotional video address that has left many viewers dubious about its sincerity. A well-known designer and popular blogger famous for his provocative views, Lebedev owns the design studio Art.Lebedev. The studio has developed the official logos of the Russian cities of Moscow, Yekaterinburg…

More than a quarter of children in Russia live below the poverty line, double the national average across all age groups, according to official data. As the number of Russians living in poverty grows amid declining real incomes, researchers say children are significantly more likely to experience economic hardship than other population segments. The United…

Russian election officials have issued a final decision to block opposition candidate Lyubov Sobol from running for Moscow’s city council next month. Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) said it had received 19 appeals from various candidates including Sobol against the Moscow commission’s decision to disqualify them from the ballot on Sept. 8. That decision, based…

U.S. authorities have arrested a Russian immigrant on suspicion of illegally smuggling restricted firearms parts inside packages of jeans and sneakers into Russia. Vladimir Kuznetsov, 58, is alleged to have exported parts to assemble sniper rifles and other firearms without licenses “by methodically mislabeling the packages” for two and a half years. U.S. law enforcement…

Russian authorities ordered mobile operators to cut access to mobile data services during last weekend’s opposition protests in Moscow, marking the first documented case in Moscow’s history, Russia’s Internet Protection Society NGO has said. Russia’s first documented instance of authorities ordering to stifle mobile internet access took place in the country’s republic of Ingushetia in October,…

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday pressed Russian leader Vladimir Putin for a resumption of peace talks after four Ukrainian soldiers were killed by shelling in the eastern Donbass border region. Conflict between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed forces has killed an estimated 13,000 people since 2014. A ceasefire deal brokered by France and Germany ended…

Russia’s law enforcement and security officials have committed more crimes in 2018 than they did the previous year, according to a media report citing official data. Authorities investigated 6,613 crimes committed by members of 10 key security and law enforcement agencies in 2018, according to data from the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office cited by the…

Russia called outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman a professional diplomat late on Tuesday, but said he had been unable to improve battered Russia-U.S. ties because he had been hamstrung by domestic U.S. politics, the state-run TASS news agency reported. Huntsman, who was appointed by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2017, said in a…

Russian prosecutors said on Tuesday that some of the vast Siberian wildfires that environmentalists have dubbed a climate emergency were started on purpose by arsonists trying to conceal illegal logging activity. President Vladimir Putin called in the army last week to help firefighters battle fires raging in remote Siberian forestland that had spread to an…

Moscow residents are more likely to support the recent wave of opposition protests in Russia’s capital than oppose them, according to the independent Levada Center polling agency. Thousands have taken to the streets of Russia’s capital for the past four weekends in support of the opposition candidates barred from running for the Moscow City Duma…

Russia‘s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday it had summoned the Japanese ambassador in Moscow to complain about what it said was criticism from Tokyo that bordered on “an attempt to interfere in Russia‘s domestic affairs.” Tokyo earlier this month called a visit by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to one of four islands claimed by both Japan…

The U.S. ambassador to Russia has resigned after two years as he considers a run for governor in his home state of Utah, the state’s Salt Lake Tribune newspaper reported Tuesday. Jon Huntsman served as the U.S. envoy to Moscow for two years during a fraught period in relations between the two countries. During his…

A newly formed Federal Security Service (FSB) cybersecurity branch will gain the power to block websites without a court order, Russia’s national domain coordinator announced Tuesday. The FSB branch joins the ranks of several IT firms, as well as the state media watchdog Roskomnadzor, that hunt down websites that spread malware and are used for…

Russia has told Norway its navy and air force will hold exercises near the Nordic nation’s Arctic waters later this month, a worrying sign of greater assertiveness by its eastern neighbor, the Norwegian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday. NATO member Norway and neighboring Russia have both increased their military presence along NATO’s northern flank following…

Moscow prosecutors have asked a court to strip a couple of parental rights for “endangering” their toddler by bringing him to an opposition protest two weeks ago. Footage published shortly after the July 27 demonstration in support of opposition candidates barred from running in Moscow’s local elections claimed to have identified an “instigator” as a…

Moscow prosecutors have asked a court to strip a couple of parental rights for “endangering” their toddler by bringing him to an opposition protest two weeks ago. Footage published shortly after the July 27 demonstration in support of opposition candidates barred from running in Moscow’s local elections claimed to have identified an “instigator” as a…

Russia’s labor force has declined for the third year straight, totaling 75 million people of working age during the first three months of 2019, researchers say. Russia is attempting to increase labor productivity by the end of President Vladimir Putin’s current term in 2024, following a failed attempt to increase productivity by 2018. Unpopular pension…

Nine men have been placed in pre-trial detention while one is wanted on suspicion of taking part in “mass unrest” by protesting in support of opposition candidates barred from running in Moscow’s local elections. Police detained more than 2,000 people overall during protests on July 27 and Aug. 3 in central Moscow, using violence in…

As Russia’s Northern Fleet strives to complete its newest Arctic base on the coast of the remote Laptev Sea, construction works have been progressing at a hectic pace. The establishment of the garrison in Russia’s Far East town of Tiksi was first announced by the Northern Fleet’s then-Head Commander Nikolai Yevmenov in September 2018. In a meeting with regional…

At least four civilians have been wounded in a rocket attack on Russia’s military base in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry has said. Rebel commanders and rights groups have said Russia and its Syrian ally stepped up aerial strikes last week in a new and bloodier phase of a three-month-old assault on the last opposition…

A series of blasts at a Russian military base in the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk may have been caused by “human error,” a senior Defense Ministry official said Tuesday. Dramatic footage posted online Monday showed huge explosions on the horizon after an ammunition depot caught fire, with flames leaping into the sky followed by belching…

Police in St. Petersburg have reportedly detained at least 11 LGBT activists, three of whom were taken away in an ambulance, at an unauthorized Pride event on Saturday. Local administrations in recent years have either banned gay pride parades outright or backtracked on earlier promises to allow them, often citing a 2013 law banning “homosexual…

Fans of FC Zenit St. Petersburg have been accused of racism following the signing of black Brazilian winger Malcom, an allegation that the club has since denied. FC Zenit signed Malcom from Spanish champions Barcelona for an initial fee of $44.39 million last week. Days later, a banner spotted in the fan section during Zenit’s…

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Monday that Moscow would be forced to start developing short and intermediate-range land-based nuclear missiles if the United States started doing so after the demise of a landmark arms control treaty. The United States formally left the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty with Russia on Friday after determining that…

Yegor Zhukov, a student at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, was detained on Aug. 2 on suspicion of “mass unrest,” a crime punishable with up to eight years in prison, after he took part in Moscow’s mass opposition protest on July 27.Zhukov’s classmates say he has been targeted for openly showing his opinion on the…

Thousands of people took to Moscow’s streets for the fourth weekend in a row to demand that city authorities allow opposition-minded candidates to be allowed on the ballot for the Sept. 8 City Duma elections. Opposition candidate Lyubov Sobol, virtually the only leading opposition figure who hadn’t yet been jailed ahead of Saturday’s protest, was…

The annual International Army Games takes place this month in Patriot Park on the outskirts of Moscow, giving various combat units from the military a chance to compete against one another and show off their skills. Teams from 25 countries have gathered to battle it out with a tank biathlon, military police firing lines, field…

Japan has rebuked Russia’s planned military exercises on a Pacific island claimed by both countries in the latest row over the territory that has kept the countries from signing a formal peace agreement marking the end of World War II. Tokyo said last week it regretted Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to one of…

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Moscow police have detained students picketing in support of a schoolmate who faces a maximum prison sentence of eight years after taking part in recent opposition demonstrations that have rocked the capital. Yegor Zhukov, a student at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics (HSE), is among 10 people detained on suspicion of “organizing and conducting mass…

Russia said on Monday it would take measures to defend itself if the United States stationed missiles in Asia following the collapse of a landmark arms control treaty and that it expected Japan to deploy a new U.S. missile launch system. U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Saturday that he was in favor of…

Russia‘s anti-Kremlin opposition said it was planning a nationwide protest next weekend despite police forcibly detaining over 1,000 people on Saturday for attending what they said was an illegal march in Moscow to demand free elections. Saturday’s protest, conceived by opposition activists as a peaceful walk to protest against the exclusion of their candidates from…

Russian police forcibly detained 1001 people attending a protest in Moscow on Saturday to demand free elections, including prominent activist Lyubov Sobol, after authorities warned the demonstration was illegal. Police removed Sobol, an ally of jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny, from a taxi and bundled her into a van minutes before the start of what…

For the past three weeks, thousands of protesters have been demonstrating against the exclusion of opposition candidates from the ballot for city elections in September. As the Kremlin ramps up the pressure on demonstrators, Muscovites who don’t usually attend protests, have been joining the movement. Meet Zhenya, a 25-year-old protester who has vowed to keep…

“They (the authorities) are wiping their feet on us,” said Elena, a student attending Saturday’s protest. Another attendee, Yevgeny Snetkov, a 61-year-old engineer, described as brazen the way the authorities had prevented opposition candidates from running. “I had no option left but to protest,” he said. Some protesters chanted “Putin is a thief” as they…

A helicopter circled overhead. Riot police clad in protective gear and balaclavas lined the sidewalks. Columns of police wagons sped past. There was a sense of foreboding in the air in central Moscow on Saturday afternoon as the authorities prepared for the latest demonstration to demand that opposition candidates be allowed to run in the…

Russian investigators said on Saturday they had opened a criminal investigation into the alleged laundering of 1 billion roubles ($15.3 million) by an anti-corruption foundation set up by jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny. Russia‘s Investigative Committee made the announcement in a statement while an opposition protest organised by Navalny’s allies was taking place in Moscow.

Russian police on Saturday detained prominent opposition activist Lyubov Sobol ahead of a planned protest in Moscow to demand free elections. Thousands of Russian opposition protesters are expected to try and rally again in Moscow on Saturday despite a sweeping police crackdown and ban on the event. Sobol had called on people to attend the demonstration,…

U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed another round of sanctions on Russia over the poisoning of a former spy in Britain, the White House said on Friday, a move Moscow said would hurt already strained U.S.-Russia ties. The move came hours before a landmark Cold War-era arms control treaty expired, after Washington withdrew, accusing Moscow of violating it, which Russia denies. Washington…

Nearly 1,400 demonstrators were detained, some violently, during last Saturday’s rally to demand that independent candidates be allowed onto the ballot in Moscow’s city council elections. While officials warned citizens not to attend the unauthorized protest, thousands of people took to the streets to voice their discontent. The ensuing scenes of riot police dispersing protesters soon became powerful…

Russian-speaking social media users fumed after a viral video showed red foxes begging drivers for food in an area of Siberia affected by widespread wildfires. The wildfires cover 3.1 million hectares — an area the size of Belgium — of mostly remote, uninhabited forest, the Federal Forestry Agency said on Friday in what environmentalists have…

Russia’s Paratroopers Day — an event that in previous years has been marked with street strolling, beer guzzling and general merrymaking — began as a quieter, more sober affair this year (at least while the sun was still up). Ahead of the raucous roaming through central Moscow and fun in the fountains still to come,…

A Moscow court has ordered five suspects in the criminal case into “mass unrest” over last weekend’s opposition protests to be kept in custody until Sept. 27. Alexei Minyaylo, Ivan Podkopayev, Samariddin Radzhabov, Kirill Zhukov and Yegor Zhukov were among 10 people detained on suspicion of “organizing and conducting mass riots” last Saturday. Police had detained,…

Russia‘s Foreign Affairs Ministry said Friday that a move by the United States to impose another round of sanctions on Moscow over the poisoning of a former spy in Britain hurt ties and was regrettable. Washington last year imposed a first batch of sanctions on Russia after determining that Moscow had used a nerve agent…

Russian football fans clashed with riot police on July 20 at Russia’s Rostov Arena. Video footage posted online showed police brutally beating fans, with around 30 people injured as a result. FC Spartak was outraged by the police’s actions and has since filed a complaint with Russia’s Prosecutor General.