Russian President Vladimir Putin said on television Friday that almost 700,000 Russians are fighting in Ukraine. “In the zone of our special military operation there are almost 700,000,” Putin said during a televised meeting with decorated participants from the offensive. In December at his end-of-year press conference, Putin gave the figure of 617,000 taking part…
Moldova’s authorities and an opposition politician said Friday aviation officials had denied landing permission to a flight bound for the capital Chisinau carrying pro-Russian opposition activists. According to Romanian authorities, the flight from Armenia was redirected to an airport near the capital Bucharest. Moldovan pro-Russian MP Marina Tauber announced the incident in a post on…
On Friday evening the Pushkin House announced the winner of the 2024 Book Prize: “I Love Russia: Reporting From a Lost Country,” written by Elena Kostyuchenko and translated from Russian by Ilona Yazhbin Chavasse and Bela Shayevich. The announcement was made at the awards ceremony held at Swedenborg House in Bloomsbury, hosted by Andrew Jack,…
Relatives of mobilized Russian soldiers campaigning for their loved ones’ return from Ukraine have called on the authorities to replace mobilized men with the sons of Russian officials and media personalities. “We demand to replace our men with other quite specific men: the children and husbands of those who tell our citizens from the screens…
A dozen Ukrainian children who were being held in Russian-occupied territory have been returned to parts of the country controlled by Kyiv, a regional official said Friday. Kyiv has accused Moscow of abducting almost 20,000 children from parts of the east and south of Ukraine, while many more have found themselves living under Russian control…
Russian officials privately admit that their chances of preventing an Armenian exit from the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) are slim, two Russian officials, one current and one retired Russian diplomat, and a former CSTO official have told The Moscow Times. Some of The Moscow Times’ sources agreed to speak on condition of anonymity…
Italy on Friday arrested a Russian national suspected of helping the son of a former regional governor in Russia escape house arrest while awaiting extradition to the United States on charges of illegally exporting military technology. The Russian national allegedly arranged for Artyom Uss — the son of ex-Krasnoyarsk region Governor Aleksandr Uss — to flee Italy in…
Russian law enforcement authorities on Friday launched a criminal investigation into a shelling attack in eastern Ukraine that killed a cameraman and injured a war correspondent working for the pro-government NTV television channel. NTV cameraman Valery Kozhin died in the hospital on Thursday after reportedly coming under attack near the Russian-occupied city of Horlivka in…
The regional capitals of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are still in Ukrainian hands — meaning Putin is demanding Ukraine cede swathes of territory under its control as a precondition for negotiations. “As soon as Kyiv says it is ready to do this and begins really withdrawing troops and officially renounces plans to join NATO, we will…
A Russian-Ukrainian activist imprisoned on charges of plotting treason died in custody earlier this week, the U.S.-funded regional news outlet Sibir.Realii reported Friday, citing the activist’s family. Igor Pokusin, 61, was arrested in May 2022 on suspicion of vandalizing pro-war banners in Abakan, the capital of Russia’s Siberian republic of Khakassia. Though Pokusin was soon…
Finland’s border guard service said Friday that a suspected violation of its airspace by Russia earlier this week is now believed to have involved four warplanes instead of the initially reported one. “As the investigation progresses, it has become apparent that in addition to the one Russian plane reported earlier, there is also reason to…
Russia has added the Georgian National Legion, a unit of volunteer soldiers fighting on the side of Ukraine, to its list of terrorist organizations, state media reported on Friday, citing the Federal Security Service (FSB). “Based on the evidence collected by the FSB, the Southern District Military Court recognized the paramilitary formation Georgian National Legion…
Moscow said Friday it had downed 87 Ukrainian drones overnight, among which 70 targeted the southern Rostov region where the command center for Russia’s military operation against Kyiv is based. “During the night, an attempt by the Kyiv regime to commit a terrorist attack with drones… was foiled,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. “In…
Russians on the streets of Moscow are shrugging off a fresh round of U.S. sanctions that forced the country’s largest exchange to halt dollar and euro trade on Thursday, with some arguing that they have no need for Western currencies. “Given that we [already] have sanctions and there are basically no trips abroad, we don’t…
Major banks in the Central Asia republic of Kyrgyzstan have suspended money transfers to and from Russia amid exchange rate volatility and issues with payment systems, state-run media reported on Thursday. RSK Bank, Kyrgyzstan’s second-largest lender, said the Astrasend, Contact, Zolotaya Korona and Sberbank Online money transfer systems were temporarily down due to technical problems.…
Russian prosecutors sent U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich’s case to court on Thursday, paving the way for him to be tried on espionage charges denied by his employer and the White House. The Wall Street Journal reporter was arrested in March 2023 while on a reporting trip to the Urals city of Yekaterinburg and has been…
The United Kingdom on Thursday revealed dozens of new sanctions aimed at impeding Russia’s ability to wage war against Ukraine, including targeting Moscow’s main stock exchange, a day after Washington announced similar measures. London said the 50 new restrictions, which are part of “coordinated action with G7 partners,” would hit the Russian financial system and…
A judge in Moscow ruled Thursday that the trial of a director and writer charged with “justifying terrorism” in an award-winning play will continue behind closed doors after the prosecution said witnesses were being threatened on social media. Director Yevgeniya Berkovich and writer Svetlana Petriychuk are standing trial at a military court over their 2021…
Leading Russian universities are raising the cost of study ahead of the 2024-25 academic year, the business daily Vedomosti reported on Thursday, citing higher education ranking data. Tuition fees at the Moscow State Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) saw the largest increase, according to data from RAEX Analytics, with the average cost of study…
The former mayor of Kupyansk, Ukraine, who surrendered his city to invading Russian forces in February 2022, died Tuesday night after being shot near his safe house in western Russia over the weekend. Gennady Matsegora is the latest of over a dozen collaborationist or Kremlin-installed officials in occupied Ukraine to have been killed or injured…
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that the bloc’s member countries could impose “tighter restrictions” on Russian intelligence operatives after a recent string of sabotage attacks. Stoltenberg said NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels would discuss plans to counter a “Russian campaign of hostile activities against NATO allies.” “We have seen several examples of sabotage,…
Russian police have arrested an alleged army deserter who fired at motorists with an assault rifle in central Russia’s Kaluga region late Wednesday. “On the Kozelsk-Optina Pustyn highway, an unidentified man in a state of aggression stopped a car and opened fire in the air and the ground,” law enforcement officials said in a statement,…
The United States on Wednesday again accused Russia of taking Ukrainian children, some of whom were put up for adoption, after fresh media accounts detailed alleged abductions. “This is despicable and appalling. These Ukrainian children belong with their families inside Ukraine,” White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said. “Russia is waging a war not…
The Moscow Exchange on Thursday suspended trading in dollars and euros after it was sanctioned by the United States in a new raft of restrictions aimed at hindering Russia’s ability to wage war in Ukraine. “Due to the introduction of restrictive measures by the United States against the Moscow Exchange Group… from June 13, 2024,…
The United States on Wednesday announced a raft of new sanctions aimed at constraining Moscow’s ability to wage war on Ukraine while raising the stakes for foreign banks that still do business with Russia. The Treasury Department and State Department’s sanctions impacted more than 300 targets, including entities in Russia and countries like China, Turkey…
A Russian nuclear-powered submarine and other naval vessels arrived in Cuba on Wednesday for a five-day visit to the island in a show of force amid spiraling U.S.-Russian tensions. The submarine Kazan, which Cuba says is not carrying nuclear weapons, was accompanied by the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, as well as an oil tanker and a…
At the end of the Soviet era and dawn of Russia’s emergence as a state, the Russian media, and later social media, got very interesting very quickly. It wasn’t only raw politics, revelations about the present and past — it was also sexuality, both “traditional and untraditional,” gay parades and performers, and even a prime…
Russian exiled media and activists held a telethon on Wednesday in support of the growing number of political prisoners inside Russia, raising tens of thousands of euros for those currently held behind bars. Moscow has waged a sweeping crackdown against domestic dissent since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Leading rights group Memorial…
Russian peacekeepers on Wednesday completed their withdrawal from the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Baku recaptured last year from Armenian separatists, officials in Baku said. Azerbaijan and Armenia had fought two wars — first from 1988 to 1994 and then again in 2020 — for control of the then-breakaway enclave. “The process of the full withdrawal of the manpower,…
Russia’s Supreme Court last week ruled to ban the so-called “Anti-Russian Separatist Movement” and “its structural divisions” as an extremist organization. Though no organization with this name formally exists in Russia or elsewhere, the country’s Justice Ministry defined the group as an “international public movement to destroy the multinational unity and territorial integrity of Russia.” …
Moscow has called for the immediate release of a Russian woman arrested in Denmark on suspicion of espionage, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday, accusing Copenhagen of “persecution.” Danish authorities announced Tuesday that a Russian citizen had been arrested on suspicion of “enabling a foreign intelligence service to operate in Denmark.” They did not…
German energy giant Uniper said Wednesday a tribunal had awarded it over 13 billion euros ($14 billion) in damages from Russian state energy company Gazprom for its failure to deliver gas. The ruling gave Uniper “the right to terminate the contracts and awarded it an amount of more than 13 billion euros in damages for…
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday hailed his country’s ties with Russia, saying the two nations were “invincible comrades-in-arms” amid reports President Vladimir Putin will visit Pyongyang this summer. Kim made a rare overseas trip to meet the Kremlin leader in Russia’s far east last year, with Seoul and Washington subsequently accusing Pyongyang…
Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin praised security cooperation with Russia, emphasizing continued mutual support on the international stage, in a statement on Tuesday. Vulin, the former head of intelligence services, made the comments following a meeting with Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev in Moscow, said a government statement. Kolokoltsev informed Vulin of “attempts to…
MOSCOW — On a hot early summer afternoon, city dwellers take refuge in the shade of the capital’s historic Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve, playing sports, having picnics and painting en plein air, all to the tune of lively birdsong. This picturesque atmosphere vanishes as one approaches the park’s Moskva River embankment, a once-popular spot for walkers and…
Three Russian ships and a nuclear-powered submarine will arrive in Cuba on Wednesday for naval exercises in the Caribbean Sea that will run through Monday. Despite the capability of two of these craft to carry nuclear-capable long-range missiles, Havana says none of the ships carry nuclear weapons and Washington says the exercises “pose no direct…
A group of exiled Kremlin critics on Tuesday urged EU countries to do more to welcome Russians fleeing Vladimir Putin’s regime, arguing that a shortage of skilled workers would deal a blow to the country’s wartime economy. According to some estimates, up to one million people have fled Russia since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.…
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will disconnect their electrical grids from the Russian and Belarussian system (BRELL) in February next year, officials from the Baltic nations have confirmed. “The desynchronization process, which has lasted for almost 20 years, will come to an end in early August when the Baltics inform Russia and Belarus that they do…
Authorities in Far East Russia’s republic of Sakha (Yakutia) on Tuesday declared a state of emergency due to ongoing wildfires across the region. More than 40 wildfires were burning in Sakha as of Tuesday morning, according to regional authorities, engulfing a total area of some 830 square kilometers — roughly the size of Berlin or…
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its forces captured two villages in eastern Ukraine, the latest in a string of gains for Moscow since launching a surprise ground offensive against the northeastern Kharkiv region last month. Russian forces took control of Tymkivka in the Kharkiv region and Miasozharivka in the partially occupied Luhansk region, the…
Russia’s newly appointed Defense Minister Andrei Belousov met with a group of military bloggers on Monday, a gesture that observers said showed that the Kremlin seeks to use his appointment to boost support from military commentators. Belousov, who replaced longtime Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, met with leading correspondents covering the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine, including…
Danish authorities announced Tuesday that they arrested a Russian citizen for suspected espionage, with media reports saying it was a woman well-known in the Russian diaspora. The Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) said the Russian national was arrested south of Copenhagen and suspected of “enabling a foreign intelligence service to operate in Denmark.” The agency said…
Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid have destroyed half of its electricity generation capacity since the winter, leading to scheduled power outages and regular blackouts, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday. “As a result of the strikes of Russian missiles and drones, nine gigawatts of capacity have already been destroyed. The peak of electricity…
Officials in the Siberian city of Tomsk have revoked the mandate of the jailed former regional head of Alexei Navalny’s headquarters, removing her from her position as a city council member, local media reported Tuesday. Ksenia Fadeyeva, who was elected to the Tomsk city council in 2020, was one of the few Navalny allies to…
Russian and Belarusian armed forces have begun joint non-strategic nuclear weapon exercises, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday, marking the “second stage” of wider drills announced by Moscow early last month. Moscow’s Defense Ministry said the latest stage of “the exercises are aimed at maintaining the readiness of personnel and equipment of units for the combat…
A Russian military jet crashed during a training flight in the North Caucasus region of North Ossetia, killing two people on board, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday. A statement said the Su-34 jet crashed “in a mountainous zone” and added that there was “no damage on the ground.” It did not specify when the accident…
“I miss Komi, I miss Syktyvkar. I even thought about coming back, but I realized that I would be coming back to jail,” said Valera Ilyinov, an exiled native of Russia’s republic of Komi, located about 1,000 kilometers northeast of Moscow. His reservations about returning home are not unwarranted. Last month, the 24-year-old founder of…
Bulgaria’s sole nuclear power plant on Monday began using atomic fuel produced by the U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Corporation, a key step as the country shifts away from its reliance on Russian energy. The state-owned Kozloduy plant on the Danube River supplies more than a third of the country’s electricity and has so far relied on…
A Russian state television cameraman was injured in a mine explosion in the western Belgorod region, local authorities said Monday. “In the city of Shebekino, four people were blown up by a mine, three of them regional defense fighters and one employee of the Rossiya 24 TV channel,” Belgorod region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on…
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday its forces seized control of a village in the southern part of eastern Ukraine’s partially occupied Donetsk region. Russian troops “continued to advance into the depths of the enemy’s defense and liberated the settlement of Staromaiorske,” located southwest of the Russian-held city of Donetsk. Ukrainian troops had retaken the village…
President Vladimir Putin will travel to North Korea and Vietnam in the coming weeks, the business newspaper Vedomosti reported Monday, citing Russian diplomats familiar with the matter. Russia’s Ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora told the newspaper that he is “actively preparing” for the Kremlin leader’s visit to Pyongyang but otherwise did not specify an…
The Kremlin said Monday it is “attentively observing” the gains of far-right parties in the EU elections, which prompted French French President Emmanuel Macron to announce a snap general election. “As far as we can see, the majority will be pro-European and pro-Ukrainian… but we see the trend of rising popularity of right-wing parties,” Kremlin spokesman…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday denied Russian troops had captured a village in the northeastern Sumy region, where the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov previously claimed Moscow’s forces had advanced. Kadyrov said on Sunday that Russian forces had seized the border village of Ryzhivka. There was no immediate comment from Russia’s Defense Ministry and a…
A court in Russia’s Urals region has sentenced a man to three years in prison for insulting a child who wore a pro-war hat, regional prosecutors announced Monday. The Oktyabrsky District Court in Yekaterinburg found Alexander Neustroev guilty of “hooliganism committed with the threat of violence, motivated by hatred against a social group,” according to the…
U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security advisor said on Sunday that Russia’s advance on northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region “has stalled.” “The momentum of that operation in Kharkiv has stalled out,” Jake Sullivan told CBS. “Kharkiv is still under threat but Russians have not been able to make material progress on the ground in recent days…
Ukraine said Sunday it had hit an Su-57 fighter jet parked at an airfield in southern Russia, its first ever attack on Moscow’s latest generation stealth aircraft. The flagship Su-57 entered into service with Russia’s aerospace forces in December 2020 and was designed to replace ageing Soviet-designed fighter aircraft such as the Su-27 and MiG-29.…
“Words and Silences – Nenets Reindeer Herders and Evangelical Missionaries in the Post-Soviet Arctic” is the first book by Estonian ethnologist Laur Vallikivi, and draws on twenty years of fieldwork amongst indigenous communities in the Russian Far East. Vallikivi acknowledges that the Soviets and their predecessors committed many atrocities against such communities – conscripting them,…
The Energy Panel organized with the support of Rosneft was held as part of the 27th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum
Russian shelling and aerial attacks killed two people in southern and northeastern Ukraine Saturday, authorities said, a day after the United Nations warned monthly civilian casualties had reached near-year highs. At least 174 civilians were killed in Ukraine in May, the deadliest month since June 2023 as Russian forces pushed into the northeastern Kharkiv region,…
U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday pledged Washington’s support for Kyiv in its battle against the Russian invasion, warning that Vladimir Putin would “not stop” at Ukraine. “Putin is not going to stop at Ukraine,” Biden said alongside French President Emmanuel Macron after talks in Paris. “All of Europe will be threatened, we are not…