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…
Only 16 Russians and 17 Belarusians have accepted invitations to compete under a neutral banner at the Paris Olympics, according to the latest count on Tuesday. The updated list, which covers 10 disciplines ranging from cycling to swimming and tennis, could change if competitors withdraw, a spokesperson for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) told AFP.…
Over two years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the share of Russians who favor peace talks to end the war has reached an all-time high of 58%. This is one of the key findings from the latest survey by the Levada Center, Russia’s last major independent pollster, conducted at the end of June. Levada Director Denis…
Nearly 600,000 people in southern Russia have been left without electricity amid an abnormal heat wave that led to a spike in energy consumption, the Energy Ministry said Tuesday. The power cuts have affected the Rostov region (324,000 people affected), the Krasnodar region and the republic of Adygea (181,000), and the Astrakhan region (94,300). “Energy workers…
A Moscow court has arrested exiled opposition figure Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, in absentia on charges of “participating in an extremist organization.” Navalnaya announced that she would continue Navalny’s work shortly after his death in an Arctic prison in February. Russian authorities designated Navalny’s activist network, including the disbanded Anti-Corruption…
Jailed opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza’s lawyers are still being denied access to the politician almost a week after he was moved to a prison hospital, his wife Evgenia said Tuesday. Kara-Murza, 42, was transferred to a prison hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk on July 4. He has suffered from a nerve condition since falling…
Bulgaria’s state-owned gas supplier Bulgargaz said Tuesday it was taking Gazprom to court and seeking millions of euros in damages over the Russian company’s cut of supplies after its invasion of Ukraine. Bulgaria, which was almost totally dependent on Russia for its gas, and Poland were the first EU countries that saw their supplies halted…
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that waging war instead of engaging in dialogue is “not the solution” more than two years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “I know that war cannot solve problems, solutions and peace talks can’t succeed among bombs, guns and bullets. And we need to find…
Recast with Indian foreign minister’s comments. Russia has agreed to discharge Indian nationals from its military after Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue with President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Moscow this week, India’s foreign minister said Tuesday. Modi had “strongly raised the issue of early discharge of Indian nationals who have been…
The United Nations on Tuesday said there was a “high likelihood” that the children’s hospital in Kyiv suffered “a direct hit” from a Russian missile. Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, called Monday’s strike “one of the most egregious attacks that we’ve seen since the onset of the full-scale…
Volunteers of Angarsk Petrochemical Company (an enterprise of Rosneft Oil Company’s refining complex) planted about 150 cedar seedlings on the coastal territory of Lake Baikal
The European Union has halted Georgia’s accession talks amid strained ties over Tbilisi’s controversial “foreign influence” law, the bloc’s top diplomat in the South Caucasus country said Tuesday. “Regrettably, Georgia’s EU accession process is stopped for now — this has been decided by EU leaders during the last European Council,” said EU Ambassador to Tbilisi Pawel…
A Kremlin spokesman on Tuesday said that Russia will follow closely a NATO summit about to open in Washington, attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other world leaders. Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, told journalists that Moscow would follow “with the greatest attention… the rhetoric at the talks and the decisions that…
At least a dozen Russian oligarchs received more than 1 trillion rubles ($11.3 billion) in dividends in 2023 as the country saw a sharp wartime economic rebound, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing data compiled from publicly disclosed information. The earnings underscore how the Russian economy has adapted to the punishing Western sanctions imposed in response to the…
The Rosneft Pavilion completed its work at the International Russia Expo
Russian forces destroyed 38 Ukrainian drones overnight in regions near the border, Moscow’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday. “Air defense systems on duty destroyed and intercepted three UAVs over Belgorod region, seven UAVs over Kursk region, two UAVs over Voronezh region, 21 UAVs over Rostov region and five UAVs over Astrakhan region,” the ministry said in…
KYIV, Ukraine — “It’s not safe, it’s not safe. We need to go now,” a woman yelled at people running to shelter on Maidan Nezalezhnosti in the heart of the Ukrainian capital as the sounds of air defenses thundered overhead. As the first sirens blared throughout Kyiv at 9:52 a.m., many residents moved to shelters,…
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was set to hold talks with President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, a day after the Indian leader arrived in Moscow amid global outcry over Russian strikes in Ukraine. Modi, visiting Moscow for the first time since Russia launched its campaign in Ukraine in February 2022, will seek to nurture New Delhi’s…
A Russian military court on Monday sentenced theater director Yevgenia Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk to six years each on charges of “justifying terrorism” in a high-profile case that has drawn criticism from rights advocates. Prosecutors had asked for Berkovich, 39, and Petriychuk, 44, to each be sentenced to six years in a penal colony…
Volunteers and medics are searching for survivors in the rubble of the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine, which was hit by a Russian missile during a daytime barrage on several Ukrainian cities on Monday. It was not immediately clear how many had been killed in Kyiv’s Okhmatdyt hospital. At least 31 people were confirmed dead…
Wives and mothers of mobilized Russian soldiers seeking their return from the war in Ukraine have staged a sit-in protest outside the Defense Ministry in central Moscow, according to videos shared by participants Monday. “We’ve brought sleeping bags and everything we need to wait for when we’ll finally be heard,” one woman could be heard telling…
Western leaders and diplomats expressed outrage after Russian missiles destroyed a children’s hospital in Kyiv, amid a rare daytime attack on Ukrainian cities which killed at least 20 on Monday. Russia fired dozens of missiles at cities across Ukraine in a massive barrage that killed at least 31 people and smashed into Okhmatdyt children’s hospital…
Authorities in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Dagestan are slowing access to WhatsApp over the platform’s refusal to curb the spread of “calls to participate in extremist actions,” the state news agency TASS reported Monday, citing an unidentified source. Users in Dagestan began experiencing disruptions with access to WhatsApp on Sunday, with additional reports saying…
Moscow does not “have any particular hope” for improved ties with Paris following France’s snap parliamentary election, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. “So far, we have not seen such a clearly expressed political will [to restore bilateral relations] from anyone,” Peskov said. After leading the election’s first round in June, the far-right National…
A provider of stolen personal data sold on the black market has compiled a list of Russians who left the country following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the independent investigative news outlet Agentstvo reported Sunday. The database lists individuals who left for more than two months between 2022 and 2024, Agentstvo said, without indicating how many names…
Russia struck cities across Ukraine on Monday with a missile barrage that killed 31 people and heavily damaged a Kyiv children’s hospital in an assault condemned as a ruthless attack on civilians. Dozens of volunteers, doctors and rescue workers were digging through debris of a part of Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in a desperate search for…
The State Corporation spoke about its opportunities for cooperation with Turkish companies in a wide range of areas. ROSATOM became a partner of the VI. International Exhibition and the X Summit of Nuclear Power Plants NPPES-2024, which ended in Istanbul (Türkiye) on July 3, 2024. Anton Dedusenko, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of…
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was due to arrive in Russia on Monday, as the Indian leader trod a fine line between maintaining a longstanding relationship with Moscow and courting closer Western security ties. The visit is Modi’s first since Russia launched its campaign in Ukraine and since he was returned to power last month as…
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Monday it had prevented an attempt by Ukraine to hijack a missile-carrying strategic bomber. In the process, the FSB claimed it gained intelligence to help Russia’s military strike Ukrainian territory. “The FSB has stopped another Ukrainian special services attempt to carry out an operation to hijack the Tu-22M3 long-range strategic…
The State Corporation plans to build a wind power plant in the region. On July 8, in Yekaterinburg, as part of the International Industrial Exhibition Innoprom-2024, a ceremony was held to sign a Cooperation Agreement between the Rosatom State Corporation and the Government of the Rostov Region on the construction of a wind power plant…
An overnight Ukrainian drone attack set a Russian munitions depot ablaze the Voronezh region, near the two countries’ shared border, Russian and Ukrainian officials said Sunday. “Several drones were detected and destroyed overnight by air defense systems above the Voronezh region,” regional governor Alexander Gusev wrote on Telegram. “Their falling debris set off a fire…
For Russians, kolbasa — the word for any kind of ground meat product, from cold cuts to breakfast sausage to the kind of sausage you throw on the grill — is an iconic and even sacred dish. It’s no longer a secret that a half-century ago it defined everything for Russians: social status, leisure activities…
Russian wrestlers who were given permission to participate in this summer’s Olympic Games have rejected the invitation, the Russian Wrestling Federation said Saturday. After initially barring Russian athletes from the Games over Moscow’s war on Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has moved to allow a handful of Russian athletes to take part under a neutral…
Russia on Saturday said its forces had captured a village in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, as Moscow continues to advance slowly across the battlefield. Russia’s Defence Ministry said its troops “liberated the village of Sokil,” around 30 kilometers (18 miles) northwest of Donetsk city, the capital of the region by the same name that Moscow…
Russian leader Vladimir Putin congratulated Iran’s reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian on his victory in a presidential runoff, the Kremlin said on Saturday. “I hope that your tenure as president will contribute to a reinforcement of constructive bilateral cooperation between our friendly peoples,” Putin said in a message to Pezeshkian. The two countries, the target of…
The Kremlin on Friday said it was “not optimistic at all” about any change in difficult relations between Britain and Russia following Labour’s victory in the U.K. general election. “As far as we can see from their previous statements, they are not inclined to any flexibility or creativity in normalizing bilateral Russian-British relations,” Kremlin spokesman…
Multiple Russian attacks killed at least seven and wounded more than two dozen others in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine on Friday, officials said. Moscow has centered its firepower on the industrial region, which it claims to have annexed and has been partially controlled by Kremlin-backed forces since 2014. Russian-installed officials also said Ukrainian…
Russian attacks killed four and wounded nearly two dozen others in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine on Friday, regional officials said. Moscow has centered its firepower on the industrial region, which it claims to have annexed and has been partially controlled by Kremlin-backed forces since 2014. Regional Governor Vadym Filashkin said a 32-year-old woman…
Jailed Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza has been transferred to a prison hospital and his lawyers were denied access to their client, his wife said Friday. Kara-Murza, 42, suffers from health problems that his wife Evgenia and lawyers say are directly related to alleged attempts to poison him. Russian authorities have refused to investigate the incidents in 2015…
A Russian prosecutor has sought six-year jail terms for a playwright and a director on trial for “justifying terrorism” in a 2021 play about women marrying jihadists in Syria, lawyers said Friday. Director Yevgeniya Berkovich and writer Svetlana Petriychuk are standing trial at a military court over their play about Russian women lured to marry…
Russian authorities have added a 14-year-old teen to its list of “terrorists and extremists,” independent media reported Friday. Gleb Sinitsyn is the youngest defendant to appear on the state financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring’s list, according to the news website Sota. Sinitsyn is listed as a native of the central Russian city of Ivanovo and was born…
Around 120,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the Ukraine war began in 2022, according to a joint investigation by independent media outlets Mediazona and Meduza published on Friday. This updated figure is an estimate based on Russia’s registry of inheritance cases. The report says the true toll likely lies between 106,000 and 140,000 deaths. …
Kyiv and its Western allies hit out at Hungarian leader Viktor Orban on Friday after Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted him in Moscow for talks on the Ukraine war. Putin told Orban, Russia’s closest EU ally, that Ukraine must withdraw its troops from regions that Moscow has annexed if it wants peace. But Kyiv was…
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Viktor Orban on Friday that Ukraine must effectively capitulate if it wants peace, in a visit to Moscow by the Hungarian leader that triggered anger across the EU and in Kyiv. Putin was hosting Orban — the friendliest leader in the EU to Moscow — for talks at the Kremlin, described by…
Russia’s State Social University (RSSU) has launched a “social rating” platform that claims to build a person’s “social portrait” with possible applications in future government policies. Named “We,” the platform promises to determine a user’s comparative “social status” based on a survey that includes questions about income, family status, benefits, creditworthiness, criminal record, lifestyle and…
Video-sharing website YouTube blocked the channels of several Russian singers and artists who support the country’s war in Ukraine on Thursday, following an appeal from the Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission (LRTK). The accounts of singers Yaroslav Dronov (who goes by Shaman) and Polina Gagarina were among those suspended. “My YouTube channel was blocked because…
For prominent writer and artist Linor Goralik, Putin’s full-scale invasion of her native Ukraine has changed life “forever” — but it has not broken her. Since the start of the war, Goralik, who writes in Russian and Hebrew, has launched a digital art magazine and a news channel for teenagers, written two novels, produced a…
Five people were injured and a child was killed in a drone attack on the southwestern Russian region of Krasnodar, the local governor said Friday. “A six-year-old girl died of injuries in the hospital following a drone attack in Primorsko-Akhtarsk,” a city in the Krasnodar region, Venyamin Kondratyev said on Telegram. He said that five…
Election officials in Moscow have scrapped paper ballots in favor of online voting at an upcoming vote for the Russian capital’s legislative assembly, state news agencies reported Thursday. Watchdogs and researchers say Russia’s opaque online voting system enables electoral fraud by making independent monitoring impossible. Moscow’s election commission voted 12-1 to make electronic voting the default way…
Russia’s central bank chief said Thursday that inflation was running ahead of expectations and hinted the bank was likely to hike interest rates later this month. Prices have risen fast in Russia since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since then, the Kremlin has massively ramped up spending on its army…
The unusually hot summer weather in the Moscow region this year may trigger an increase in populations of invertebrate species, the regional Environmental Ministry said this week. Praying mantises, burgundy snails and wasp spiders, which were uncommon a decade ago, have already established populations in the region due to winter thaws, warm springs and hot…
At least two VPN services said Thursday that Russian authorities have successfully forced Apple to delete their applications from its App Store in Russia. Identically worded messages from Apple’s app review team to Red Shield VPN and Le VPN state that their applications will be removed “per demand from Roskomnadzor.” Roskomnadzor is Russia’s state media…
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia on July 8 and 9, the Kremlin said Thursday. This will be his first trip to the country since Moscow launched its military offensive in Ukraine. The war has tested relations between Moscow and New Delhi, even though India has ramped up its purchases of Russian oil…
A Moscow court ruled Thursday to keep French researcher Laurent Vinatier in pre-trial detention. Vinatier was arrested last month and accused of gathering military information. The 47-year-old works for a Swiss conflict mediation NGO and in early June became the latest Westerner to be arrested in Russia having been charged with breaching Moscow’s “foreign agents”…
A bill introduced to Russia’s lower-house State Duma Thursday outlining a formal ban against unauthorized foreign travel for Russian senators and deputies has been passed. The Kremlin said in April that Russian officials face various restrictions on their ability to travel abroad. Reuters reported at the time that Russian officials across state bodies faced “chaotic” travel rules…
Ukraine said Thursday its forces have withdrawn from a district in the town of Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces have recently claimed several advances. Losing the small hilltop town is a worrying prospect for Ukraine because it would likely accelerate Russia’s advance toward large civilian hubs in the Donetsk region. “It became…
Russia’s leadership is following the U.S. presidential campaign in private with excitement and interest — and are rooting for their favorite candidate, Donald Trump, to win, three government and presidential administration officials, three Foreign Ministry officials, former officials and two sources from Russia’s business elite told The Moscow Times. Officials in the Kremlin, the government…