A fire broke out overnight at a major Russian oil refinery in the southwestern Volgograd region, authorities said Saturday, after a drone strike claimed by Ukraine. A Ukrainian defense source told AFP that Kyiv’s SBU security service had “organized” the attack, which came after months of Ukrainian drone attacks against Russia. “Last night, the air…
Russia on Friday named veteran human rights campaigner Oleg Orlov, head of the Nobel Prize-winning Memorial group, a “foreign agent.” Moscow has labeled hundreds of activists and independent journalists “foreign agents” in recent years as part of a sweeping crackdown on dissent. Russia’s Justice Ministry said Orlov “opposed the special military operation in Ukraine, disseminated…
The share of Russians who view the invasion of Ukraine as a mistake has reached a new high, according to survey results from the Russian Field polling agency published Thursday. For the first time since the start of the war, 37% of respondents say they would reverse Moscow’s decision to launch its so-called “special military operation”…
Amid snow-covered trees in eastern Moscow, a group of clergymen leads a prayer service to honor an upcoming church dedicated to those who died in military conflicts. A young man, identified as a participant in what the Kremlin calls the “special military operation” in Ukraine, blesses the church, stressing the importance of prayers “for those…
The United Nations’ top court said Friday it has jurisdiction over Ukraine’s lawsuit against Russia on allegations of falsely using the Genocide Convention to justify its invasion. Kyiv has accused President Vladimir Putin of misapplying the United Nations’ 1948 Genocide Convention to launch the “special military operation” in Ukraine in February 2022. Putin said part of…
Теплоснабжение: central heating A couple of weeks ago there was a major accident in Siberia that left hundreds of homes in Russia without heat for weeks. It happened in particularly cold weather — of course it did, because закон подлости (Murphy’s law) is the only law that still works perfectly in Russia today. As a…
Russia has created more than half a million new jobs in its defense sector to meet soaring demand on the battlefield, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday. The Kremlin has thrown massive resources at its full-scale assault on Ukraine, with the defense sector accounting for much of the sanctions-hit economy’s growth. “In the last year…
The writer Ludmila Ulitskaya is the latest Russian author to be banned in Russia. A few days ago Ulitskaya was the victim of a prank by Vovan and Lexus, pseudonyms of Vladimir Krasnov and Alexei Stolyarov, who have been pranking celebrities and politicians by telephone since 2011. According to reports, they called Ulitskaya and pretended to…
Updated to add Fedulov’s addition to the wanted list. Russian authorities are seeking the arrest of two more lawyers of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, months after three other former and current Navalny lawyers were detained. The Interior Ministry added Olga Mikhailova to its wanted list without specifying the crime that she is accused of…
BELGRADE, Serbia — Russian nationals registered some 9,000 new businesses in Serbia by the end of 2023, a number that is set to grow in 2024, according to the Serbian Business Register Agency (APR). The data reflects the Russian community’s interest in laying down long-term roots nearly two years after the invasion of Ukraine sparked the…
A Russian model and photographer who helps Ukrainian refugees flee the war has been arrested on criminal charges of undermining state security, the independent news website Mediazona reported Friday. Nadezhda Rossinskaya, who goes by the name Nadine Geisler, is accused of posting information about collecting humanitarian aid for the Ukrainian military’s Azov Regiment on Instagram last August. …
French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed on Friday that two French aid workers had been killed in a Russian strike in Ukraine and condemned the attack as “outrageous.” Ukrainian officials said the two men died in a recent drone attack in southern Ukraine. “Two French aid workers have been killed in Ukraine by a Russian strike.…
Russian election authorities said Friday that signatures of endorsement for anti-war presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin included “dead souls,” thus appearing to set the stage for his disqualification from the race. Nadezhdin, who has emerged as the presidential election’s leading pro-peace voice, said Wednesday he had submitted 105,000 signatures to the Central Election Commission (CEC) for review.…
A Russian journalist was kidnapped and threatened over his reporting on combat drone production in the central city of Izhevsk, a local Telegram news channel where the journalist works said Thursday. Izhevsky Venik wrote that its reporter Alexander Skvortsov left his home around midnight on Sunday to pick up “exclusive materials from an informant.” Three…
Ukraine said Friday that tens of thousands of people were without power after a barrage of two dozen Russian drones damaged energy infrastructure in the central part of the country. The overnight attack echoed the systematic bombardments by Russian forces last winter that left millions in Ukraine without power, heating or water for extended periods.…
The Kremlin on Friday denied claims by Kyiv that it had ignored requests to return the remains of Ukrainian prisoners of war who allegedly died in a military plane crash last week. “The administration did not [receive Kyiv’s request],” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the state-run news agency RIA Novosti. Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence service…
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and his allies have called on supporters to protest against President Vladimir Putin and the invasion of Ukraine by turning up to vote “at noon” in the March presidential election. “Go vote against Putin and the war, and urge everyone to do the same,” Navalny said Thursday on X (formerly Twitter). Navalny,…
Moscow has instructed its diplomats to “pursue” exiled Russian celebrities who speak out against their country’s war in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing two anonymous sources familiar with the matter. The Foreign Ministry’s instructions were reportedly issued to Russian diplomats posted in so-called “friendly” countries — those that have avoided taking sides over Russia’s invasion.…
Moscow said Thursday that it hopes Armenia joining the International Criminal Court (ICC) would not affect relations between the two countries. Armenia, which formally joined the Hague-based court on Thursday, has gradually distanced itself from Russia in recent months. Yerevan is now required to arrest President Vladimir Putin if he sets foot on Armenian territory,…
Dmitry Bykov is not upset that his books have been banned in Russia. To the contrary, he is quite pleased. “I’m grateful to [the Russian government] because I don’t want to have anything to do with them,” he told The Moscow Times via video call. For years, Bykov has been one of Russia’s most celebrated…
Russian investigators concluded Friday that two missiles launched from a U.S.-made surface-to-air system shot down a military transport plane near the Russian-Ukrainian border last week. Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said over 100 fragments of MIM-104A anti-aircraft missiles, as well as hundreds of body parts, were recovered from the crash site in the western Belgorod region. …
Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) said Thursday that its special forces had destroyed a Russian warship off the coast of annexed Crimea using a group of waterborne drones. “The enemy ship was patrolling the Black Sea near Lake Donuzlav in occupied Crimea,” the GUR said in a statement. Ukrainian military officials identified the vessel as…
A Moscow court has commuted the suspended sentence of U.S investor Michael Calvey after he pleaded guilty to controversial fraud charges, the state news agency Interfax reported Thursday. Calvey and his French business partner Philippe Delpal were accused of a $34 million embezzlement scheme related to loans issued by a bank owned by Calvey’s Baring…
A court in the central Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod has jailed a woman for wearing rainbow earrings, the human rights group Egida reported late Wednesday, marking the second case of its kind after Russia banned the so-called “LGBT movement” as an “extremist” organization in November. According to Egida, law enforcement agents tasked with combating…
“I can only cry in response,” Rostislav Murzagulov says when asked whether he feels homesick for his native republic of Bashkortostan. For Murzagulov, a former PR chief of Bashkortostan’s head Radiy Khabirov, visiting his home republic in Russia’s Ural Mountains region is a distant prospect. Once a self-described “systemic liberal politician,” Murzagulov resigned from his…
Updated with Kremlin’s statement. Turkish banks have started closing Russian corporate accounts following threats of secondary sanctions from the United States, the Vedomosti business daily reported Thursday, citing financial consultants and business owners. U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order in December announcing secondary sanctions on foreign banks suspected of supporting Russia’s war against…
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that air defense systems had shot down 11 Ukrainian drones over regions in the western part of the country. “Tonight, the Kyiv regime attempted to commit terrorist attacks against structures on Russian territory using drones,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement. “Air defense systems intercepted and destroyed drones over…
The United Nations’ top court on Wednesday mostly rejected Ukraine’s claims that Russia was financing “terrorism” in eastern Ukraine, saying only that Moscow had failed to investigate alleged breaches. Kyiv had accused Moscow of being a “terrorist state” whose support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine was a harbinger of the full-fledged 2022 invasion. It…
A pro-war symbol and one of President Vladimir Putin’s favorite quotes have been chosen as the official logo and slogan of the 2024 presidential election, in what observers say is an effort to indirectly influence the public to vote for the incumbent leader. The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced Monday that the Latin letter “V”…
Russian authorities are taking steps to hinder voting by its citizens living abroad in the upcoming presidential election, in what some observers call a move to restrict votes cast by anti-war emigres. Those hoping to vote from outside the country will face a reduction in polling places and no option to vote online — while…
The rate of forest destruction caused by wildfires in Russia’s northern latitudes more than tripled between 2012 and 2021 compared to the previous decade, according to a new study by the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). Using satellite data, researchers calculated the extent of woodland devastation due to wildfires in…
Russian investigators have concluded that a U.S. Patriot air defense system was used to shoot down an Il-76 military transport plane that crashed near the border with Ukraine last week, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday. “It’s been definitively established that the plane was shot down by an American Patriot air defense system,” Putin said during…
The “Multi-D Digital Products for the Construction of a Complex Engineering Facility” project launched by Atomstroyexport JSC (which is part of the Rosatom State Corporation Engineering Division), has become the winner of the “KulibIT-2023 ”National Digitalization Award” in two categories, to take a special prize from the competition organizers. The final competition was held in…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has awarded Serbia’s former top spy with the Order of Friendship for maintaining close ties between the two countries’ intelligence agencies, the nationalist political party that the ex-spy chief heads announced Tuesday. Aleksandar Vulin, who resigned from Serbia’s Security and Information Agency in November, received the state decoration from Russia’s Foreign Intelligence…
Turkish and Chinese companies have helped Russia replenish its dwindling stocks of ammunition by exporting large volumes of a key component used to produce gunpowder, the Moscow Times’ Russian service reported Wednesday, citing customs data. The EU banned shipments of nitrocellulose — a highly flammable compound used as the main ingredient of modern gunpowder — to Russia in…
Russia and Ukraine traded hundreds of prisoners of war on Wednesday, just a week after Moscow said Kyiv had shot down a plane carrying captured Ukrainian soldiers to an exchange. The crash of a Russian military cargo plane near the border with Ukraine — which Russia said killed 65 Ukrainian POWs — had thrown doubt…
Russia views NATO as a “threat” and is taking measures to deal with it, the Kremlin said on Wednesday when asked about the alliance’s large-scale military drills. Some 90,000 troops will take part in the NATO military alliance’s Steadfast Defender 24 exercise, the biggest since the 1988 Reforger drill during the Cold War. “Of course…
Russian lawmakers on Wednesday passed a bill in its third and final reading that would allow authorities to confiscate the property of those convicted of “discrediting” and spreading “fakes” about the army. The bill, introduced into the lower-house State Duma last week, also proposes seizing money, property and other valuables from those found guilty of…
Thailand’s prime minister and security chiefs are to rule on a dissident Russian-Belarusian rock band held on immigration charges, a minister said Wednesday, as calls mounted for them not to be deported to Russia. Thai officials detained members of the band Bi-2, who have criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine, last…
Members of the anti-war Russian-Belarusian rock band Bi-2 have flown to Israel from Thailand, where they faced deportation after performing at a concert on the resort island of Phuket last week, according to a post on the group’s official Facebook page. Seven members of Bi-2, some of whom are dual citizens of Israel and Australia,…
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday chewed out the chief engineer of the country’s leading producer of self-propelled artillery systems over what he suggested was the slow output at the manufacturing plant. “Stop goofing around, guys,” Shoigu said during a tour of the Uraltransmash machine-building plant in the city of Yekaterinburg. “We should have had these…
There is “growing evidence” that Russia is using “shadow tanker fleets” to circumvent a Western oil price cap, a watchdog committee of British lawmakers warned on Wednesday. Arguing Britain and its allies must maintain sanctions and military support for Ukraine for “as long as it takes,” the panel from parliament’s unelected upper House of Lords…
An unmanned drone crashed near the center of St. Petersburg on Wednesday, causing an explosion at an oil refinery, local media reported, marking the second such incident in the city over the past month. According to the news outlet Fontanka, which cites anonymous sources, a Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system shot at the drone at around…
MOSCOW – Anti-war Russian presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin said Wednesday he submitted 105,000 signatures endorsing his candidacy for the Central Election Commission’s (CEC) review. Nadezhdin, 60, the nominee from the center-right Civic Initiative party, has seen an uptick in support in recent weeks with Russians standing in long lines to endorse his bid in the…
Hundreds of websites on the Russian-speaking internet were inaccessible Tuesday evening as a DNSSEC failure took .ru and .рф domains offline. Users both inside and outside Russia complained of outages of major web-based platforms like Tinkoff Bank, online marketplaces Avito and Wildberries, search engine Yandex and telecoms provider MTS. The Moscow Times’ Russian service was among the…
A Russian photographer went on trial Tuesday for posting a rainbow flag online, marking the first case of a person being charged for displaying the LGBT symbol since Russia banned the so-called “international LGBT public movement” as an “extremist” organization. Russia’s Supreme Court in November outlawed the “international LGBT movement,” with individuals facing up to…
A court in Yerevan on Tuesday rejected Russia’s request to extradite a man who fled the republic of Chechnya after being tortured because he was suspected of being gay, an LGBTQ+ rights group said. Salman Mukaev was detained by security services in his native Chechnya in 2020, after which he was subject to interrogation and torture, according to…
Russia on Tuesday criticized a decision by several countries to suspend their funding for the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency, calling it a form of “collective punishment.” A number of donors including the United States announced they would halt funding to the UNRWA agency over Israel’s accusations that some of its staff were involved in…
The European Parliament on Tuesday announced a probe into a Latvian lawmaker accused in an investigative report of spying for Moscow over the past two decades. According to the Russian-language newspaper The Insider — an independent investigative outlet based in Latvia — Tatjana Zdanoka, who joined the European legislature in 2004, began collaborating with Russia’s…
Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) on Tuesday published Vladimir Putin’s financial earnings, showing that he made 67.6 million rubles ($753,000) over the past six years. Putin’s income between 2018 and 2024 was derived from his salary, income from securities and bank deposits, military and civilian pension, as well as earnings from property sales. As with previous financial…
Two teenagers who set fire to a railside equipment box in Moscow have been charged with carrying out sabotage for Ukraine, Russian investigators said Tuesday. The incident is the latest in a spate of suspicious fires and derailments on Russia’s rail network that Moscow has blamed on Kyiv and its supporters. “Two suspects were identified…
Two presidential hopefuls announced Tuesday that they will not be running in the March election and called on supporters to cast their vote for President Vladimir Putin as he seeks re-election. Sergei Baburin, who leads the Russian All-People’s Union, an extra-parliamentary conservative party, said he was withdrawing from the race shortly after submitting the 100,000…
The history of Mosfilm begins on January 30, 1924 with the release of the silent film “Up on Wings” that tells the story of Russian aviation, directed by Boris Mikhin. At the time, Mosfilm was on Zhitnaya Ulitsa in the former studio of Alexander Khanzhonkov, a director and entrepreneur who founded the first cinema factory…
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday slammed Japan’s prime minister after he said his government remains committed to signing a peace treaty with Moscow to resolve the territorial dispute over an island chain claimed by Tokyo. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a policy speech to parliament earlier Tuesday that Tokyo “remains fully committed” to negotiations…
Kamila Valieva’s doping ban has resulted in the Russia Olympic Committee team being demoted from the gold to bronze medal in the 2022 Winter Olympics team skating event, the International Skating Union (ISU) said Tuesday. The then 15-year-old’s positive test in December 2021, for which she received a four year ban on Monday, has led…
The anti-war Russian-Belarusian rock band Bi-2 said Tuesday that its members face deportation from Thailand after they performed a concert on the resort island of Phuket last week. Seven members of Bi-2, some of whom are dual citizens of Israel and Australia, were detained by Thai immigration authorities on Wednesday following the Phuket concert. Bi-2…
A Moscow library has ousted its resident cat after a patron wrote a letter of denunciation against him, media reported Monday. Markiz, a black-and-white cat with long hair, had been living at the library in northwestern Moscow’s Strogino district for eight years. He was sent to live in a foster home after pensioner Igor Pochkin, a…
A member of the European Parliament from Latvia has spent decades secretly working for Russian security services, according to a new investigation by The Insider, citing leaked emails between the lawmaker and her suspected “handlers.” According to The Insider, Tatjana Zdanoka served as an “international observer” in Moscow’s 2014 referendum that paved the way for…
President Vladimir Putin is believed to own a highly-guarded residence near Russia’s border with Finland, the investigative outlet Dossier Center reported Monday. Located 30 kilometers from Finland in northwestern Russia’s republic of Karelia, the residence allegedly belonging to Putin features “three modern-style houses on the shore of Marjalahti Bay, two helipads, several yacht piers, a…
Ukraine fired artillery rounds at the Russian-held city of Donetsk on Monday, killing at least three people and wounding three others, Kremlin-backed officials said. Donetsk, a city in eastern Ukraine occupied by Russia and its proxy forces since 2014, has repeatedly been targeted by what Moscow has called indiscriminate Ukrainian shelling. Video distributed by Russian…