Ukrainian troops have forcibly taken more than 1,000 residents of southwestern Russia’s Kursk region since launching their incursion in early August, Russia’s presidential human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said Monday. “I’ve received messages regarding more than 1,000 such people from relatives trying to find them,” Moskalkova told the Argumenty i Fakty pro-Kremlin newspaper. “We know…
Russia on Sunday said it has captured another east Ukrainian village as it closes on the important city of Pokrovsk, where its forces have been advancing for weeks. Russian troops have moved westwards in the Donetsk region for months, with Kyiv saying this weekend that the situation was “very difficult.” Moscow’s Defense Ministry said its…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that Moscow had attempted to push back Ukrainian positions in the Russian Kursk region but that Kyiv was “holding the line.” Ukraine has held on to swathes of Russia’s Kursk region since early August. “Regarding the Kursk operation, there were attempts by Russia to push back our positions, but…
A fire at a petrol station in Russia’s Chechnya killed four people, including two children, emergency services said Saturday. Authorities released images of more than two dozen firefighters extinguishing the blaze at an almost totally destroyed petrol station with burnt-out cars in Chechnya’s main city, Grozny. “Unfortunately, four people died, including two children,” Russia’s Emergency…
Russia and Ukraine traded attacks overnight, with Russian officials saying on Saturday that Ukrainian drone strikes had killed one person in the Belgorod border region. Russia said it had downed 47 Ukrainian drones overnight, while Ukraine reported it neutralized 24 drones fired by Moscow. The Ukrainian air force said many missiles were fired from Belgorod,…
Today if you ask kids in Russia if they want a chocolate bar, they will immediately think you mean a Mars bar or Snickers or another kind of foreign candy bar. Many of these candies have been produced since the 1930s and are famous all over the world. While that’s true, before the 1917 Revolution…
Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, who was President Vladimir Putin’s top political opponent before his death in February, believed he would die in prison, according to his posthumous memoir which will be released on October 22. The New Yorker published excerpts from the book Friday, featuring writing from Navalny’s diary before and after his imprisonment. “I…
October 11, 2024, 19:40 St. Petersburg International Gas Forum 2024, which took place at the EXPOFORUM Convention and Exhibition Centre starting from October 8, concluded today. More than 34,000 people representing 54 countries (Russia and 53 states of Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America) took part in the SPIGF, which is a record-high number of participants for the forum. SPIGF 2024 also featured…
October 11, 2024, 19:10 A unique multifunctional mobile inspection robot of Russian make was presented at the exhibition of St. Petersburg International Gas Forum 2024. The robot is designed to carry out routine inspections at production facilities. It is equipped with a gas analyzer and can independently perform scanning to detect methane leaks where required. Another peculiar feature of the new product is its multifunctional platform, which makes…
A Russian court on Friday ordered the arrest in absentia of CNN journalist Nick Paton Walsh for reporting from Ukrainian-held territory in Russia’s Kursk region. Moscow has launched several criminal proceedings against Western journalists who had produced reports from the Kursk region after Kyiv’s surprise August incursion. It has charged them with illegally crossing the…
A Russian court has ordered the seizure of JPMorgan Chase’s assets as part of a lawsuit by Russia’s second-largest bank VTB to regain its funds blocked abroad by sanctions, Reuters reported Friday, citing court documents. The St. Petersburg Arbitration Court ruled to seize $155.8 million in any currency from all JPMorgan bank accounts, according to…
Dozens of residents of a small village in Russia’s republic of Sakha (Yakutia) protested against local authorities on Wednesday after a 12-year-old local girl died from injuries sustained in an attack by a pack of stray dogs. “We came here to demand at least some action,” a local resident who attended the protest told the…
Russia on Friday sentenced a Siberian man to 18 years in prison for planning an arson attack on an army office. It also sentenced two men in a region near Moscow to 16 years for setting railways on fire allegedly on the orders of Ukraine. Moscow saw a wave of arson attacks on military enlistment…
Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday hailed their “close” views on world affairs, with the Russian leader saying ties with Tehran were a “priority” for Moscow. The pair held a meeting in Turkmenistan, one of the world’s most secretive states, amid soaring tensions in the Middle East, with Israeli air strikes on…
Russia has raised the so-called “exit tax” and the minimum discount for foreign companies seeking to pull out of the country, the RBC news website reported Thursday, citing three anonymous sources familiar with the new rules and one lawyer. Russia has since December 2022 forced foreign companies to sell their assets to Russian buyers at steep…
A Ukrainian journalist who was captured by Moscow while reporting from occupied east Ukraine has died in Russian detention, a Ukrainian official said Thursday. Victoria Roshchyna, who would have turned 28 this month, disappeared in August last year after traveling to Russian-held east Ukraine for a report. She remained missing until April 2024, when her…
A jet fire at a major oil terminal in the port city of Feodosia in Russian-annexed Crimea has been put out five days after Ukrainian missile strikes there, its Russian-installed Mayor Igor Tkachenko said Friday. “As of 8 a.m. there’s no jet fire on the territory of the oil terminal,” Tkachenko wrote on Telegram, saying…
October 11, 2024, 12:45 A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Mikhail Kovalchuk, President of National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute”, took place today at St. Petersburg International Gas Forum 2024. The parties discussed the ongoing implementation of their agreement on scientific & technical cooperation and the status of the innovative projects that are being carried out by the…
Russian strikes overnight on the southern Ukrainian region of Odesa killed four people, including a teenage girl, and wounded 10 more, the regional governor said Friday. Russia has targeted Ukraine’s coastal Odesa region throughout the war, hitting cargo ships and grain silos in what Kyiv says is an attempt to destroy its export capacity. “The…
A Message from The Moscow Times: Dear readers, We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has designated The Moscow Times as an “undesirable” organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a “foreign agent.” These actions are direct attempts to silence independent…
Pietro Barabaschi, Director-General of the ITER International Organization, reviewed the process of development and manufacturing of key Russian systems for the international thermonuclear reactor in St. Petersburg on October 9, within the framework of his official visit to the Russian Federation. The first point of ITER Director-General’s visit was Efremov Scientific Research Institute of Electrophysical…
October 10, 2024, 21:05 A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Vitaly Khotsenko, Governor of the Omsk Region, took place today at St. Petersburg International Gas Forum 2024. The parties reviewed the key areas of cooperation. Particular attention was paid to the ongoing implementation of the 2021–2025 program for gas supply and gas infrastructure expansion in the Omsk Region. In the…
Background St. Petersburg International Gas Forum 2024 is being held at the EXPOFORUM Convention and Exhibition Centre on October 8–11. In June 2023, Gazprom and the Republic of Uzbekistan signed the two-year Contract for Russian gas supplies to Uzbekistan and the Roadmap for preparing the gas transmission system of Uzbekistan for the reception and transmission of Russian pipeline gas. October 2023 saw the start of Russian natural gas…
His Majesty King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands on Thursday visited the Amsterdam newsrooms of The Moscow Times and the independent Russian news broadcaster TV Rain. In a meeting open to the press, the King was joined by The Moscow Times founder Derk Sauer and publisher Alexander Gubsky as well as TV Rain editor-in-chief Tikhon Dzyadko…
At least 49 Russian citizens are currently being held in mental hospitals as a form of punishment against opposition and other activists, the human rights group Memorial said Thursday. The practice of punitive psychiatry in Russia dates back to the Soviet Union. “Russian authorities use mental health issues as a pretext for repression against anyone…
October 10, 2024, 18:35 A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Viktor Karankevich, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus, took place today at St. Petersburg International Gas Forum 2024. Particular attention at the meeting was paid to the ongoing preparation of the republic’s gas supply facilities for the autumn/winter period. At present, Gazprom is completing the implementation of the…
October 10, 2024, 18:25 A working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Alparslan Bayraktar, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Türkiye, took place today at St. Petersburg International Gas Forum 2024. The parties discussed the current matters and prospects of their cooperation in the gas sector, including the project for the creation of an international gas hub.…
A major fire at an oil refinery in Russian-annexed Crimea has sparked complaints from local residents, raising concerns over safety and environmental impact. Kyiv’s forces reported a “successful strike” on an offshore oil terminal near the Black Sea port town of Feodosia on Monday, sparking a fire that prompted local authorities to evacuate over 1,000…
October 10, 2024, 17:45 A number of documents pertaining to the training of specialists for the gas sector were signed today in the presence of Alexey Miller at St. Petersburg International Gas Forum 2024. Gazprom Pererabotka Blagoveshchensk, the Amur Region Government and Amur State University signed an Agreement of Cooperation. The parties intend to join forces in training professionals who are in demand by the enterprises of the Amur…
Background Gazprom’s main partner in China is CNPC, a state-owned oil and gas company. In 2014, Gazprom and CNPC signed the 30-year Sales and Purchase Agreement for 38 billion cubic meters of gas per year to be supplied via the eastern route (Power of Siberia gas pipeline). The ceremony marking the start of the first-ever pipeline supplies of Russian gas to China took place on December 2, 2019. The long-term…
October 10, 2024, 17:30 A number of documents to expand cooperation between Gazprom and Russian industrial enterprises were signed today at St. Petersburg International Gas Forum 2024. The documents are aimed at strengthening the potential of Russian manufacturers and increasing the production of advanced products for the fuel and energy complex. Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Mikhail Evraev, Governor…
A new investigation by the Associated Press details how Russia has lured dozens of young African women to produce drones for its invasion of Ukraine. Drawn to Russia by promises of plane tickets, education, higher salaries and a “European” adventure, the young women instead end up at a drone plant in the Alabuga Special Economic…
Riga was the first stop on a tour of a new play written and directed by Dmitry Krymov starring just two actors: Maxim Sukhanov and Chulpan Khamatova. It is called “Notes of the Mad,” invoking the tradition of literary works about mad Russians that began two centuries ago with Nikolai Gogol. The premiere began with…
Russia said Thursday its missiles had struck two launchers of a U.S.-made Patriot air defense system in Ukraine. Kyiv is reliant on Western air defense systems, particularly Patriots, to protect itself from the barrage of Russian missiles and has been calling for more deliveries. The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces struck “two Patriot launcher…
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Thursday to extend Russia’s visa-free regime for Georgian citizens, as the countries have drawn closer in recent years. In May 2023, Putin lifted a flight ban and introduced a 90-day visa-free regime for Georgian citizens. His latest edict abolishes the 90-day limit and the need to obtain a work…
The Kremlin on Thursday confirmed claims that then-U.S. President Donald Trump sent Russian President Vladimir Putin Covid tests but said it was part of an international exchange at the start of the pandemic. U.S. journalist Bob Woodward wrote in a book, “War,” published Tuesday, that Trump secretly sent Covid test kits to Putin despite a…
The Kremlin on Thursday dismissed a claim by Seoul that North Korean soldiers were likely to be fighting alongside Russian troops in Ukraine. “This seems like yet another fake news story,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented to journalists without elaborating. Ukraine’s Kyiv Post reported Friday that six North Korean military officers had been killed in…
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Thursday relieving Anatoly Antonov from his post as Moscow’s ambassador to the United States amid historic lows in U.S.-Russia relations. Antonov, 69, had headed the Russian diplomatic mission in Washington since 2017 and returned to Russia over the weekend. A staunch supporter of Putin and the invasion of Ukraine, Antonov said in…
British consumer goods giant Unilever on Thursday completed the sale of Unilever Russia, finally joining other multinationals in exiting the country following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Unilever said in a statement that it had offloaded the subsidiary to Arnest Group, a Russian manufacturer of perfume, cosmetics and household products, for an undisclosed…
Ukrainian forces will be able to hold onto territory captured during their incursion into western Russia’s Kursk region for several months or longer, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing a U.S. assessment shared by senior American officials. Ukraine launched its offensive into the border region on Aug. 6, claiming to control 100 settlements and almost 1,300 square…
The toll from a Russian ballistic missile strike on port infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region rose to eight dead and nine wounded, authorities said Thursday. The attack on Wednesday struck a civilian container ship flying the flag of Panama, according to the region’s Governor Oleh Kiper. “The death toll as a result of yesterday’s…
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has declared a “blood feud” against three federal lawmakers from neighboring North Caucasus republics in his first comments on last month’s deadly shooting outside the Moscow headquarters of Russia’s largest online retailer Wildberries. Kadyrov has vowed to help Vladislav Bakalchuk, the estranged husband of Wildberries CEO Tatiana Kim — Russia’s wealthiest woman…
Russia’s military said on Thursday that it had shot down a barrage of 92 Ukrainian drones overnight, most of them over the country’s southwest. Russia reports shooting down Ukrainian drones over its territory on a nearly daily basis, but usually in smaller numbers. Kyiv said it was carrying out the strikes, which often target energy…
A major oil terminal in the city of Feodosia in Russian-annexed Crimea was still burning three days after Ukrainian missile strikes, media reported Wednesday. On Monday, Ukraine’s military claimed its missile forces had carried out a successful strike on the Feodosia offshore oil terminal, which it called the largest on the Crimean peninsula. Russian-installed authorities…
Outstanding leaders and experts from 45 countries shared their experience during the festival events. Speakers at the opening ceremony and panel discussions included Sidronius Okaasai Opolot, Uganda’s Minister of State for Energy; Judith Obina Okumu, Private Secretary to H.E the President of the Republic of Uganda in charge of Political Affairs; Davis Akampurira, Advisor to…
On October 9, 2024, Nikolay Spassky, Deputy Director General for International Relations of the ROSATOM, held a meeting with Yacouba Zabre Gouba, Minister of Energy, Mines and Quarries of Burkina Faso. The delegation arrived in Moscow to participate in the forum “Economic Days of Burkina Faso in Russia”. As part of the meeting, a detailed…
The Russian national men’s football team will not play any friendly matches during the October international break, the Russian Football Union (RFU) told reporters Wednesday. Russia had been in negotiations with Pakistan to play a friendly match this month, but Pakistani outlet Geo News reported that the sides could not come to an agreement. Russia reportedly…
Natalia Kondal, a Russian citizen with Ukrainian roots from the Ural Mountain city of Yekaterinburg, was forced to leave Russia shortly after the start of the war against Kyiv amid intensified repression from the Kremlin. As she looked to get back on her feet in Europe, she turned to Kovcheg, an organization that helps Russian…
The United States should “redirect” its efforts toward investigating the criminal sex ring allegations against rapper Diddy instead of seeking to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said in an interview. Maria Zakharova’s remarks came in response to bombshell federal U.S. racketeering and sex trafficking charges as well as a…
A Russian military court has sentenced a volunteer at the makeshift memorial to slain opposition politician Boris Nemtsov to 12 years in prison for his involvement with the Ukrainian military, the independent news website Mediazona reported Wednesday. Yevgeny Mishchenko, who was among those who kept watch at a Moscow bridge near the Kremlin where Nemtsov…
More than half a billion euros in frozen Russian assets held by Dutch banks and other financial institutions appear to have been released, De Telegraaf reported. The newspaper cited a report sent by Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp to the lower house of parliament which said that 97 million euros in private frozen Russian assets were held…
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday it had retaken two villages in its Kursk region that were captured by Ukraine in a surprise offensive. Russia has rarely claimed any recaptured territory since Ukraine launched its offensive into the border region on Aug. 6. The ministry said in a statement that Russian troops “continued offensive operations, during…
The head of the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov condemned a toughening of Russia’s migration laws in a social media post published Monday. “If migration policy is to be changed, then not in such a disgusting way, when [officials] frantically pounce on all non-locals who come to their attention,” Kadyrov wrote on Telegram. …
A Russian court has sentenced ex-U.S. Marine Trevor Reed to 14 and a half years in absentia on charges of fighting against Russia in Ukraine as a mercenary, authorities said Wednesday. Reed was previously in 2020 sentenced to nine years in Russian prison on charges of assaulting a police officer while drunk at a Moscow…
The Russian military is seeing an influx of older contract soldiers who are largely seen as detrimental to its war effort in Ukraine, the investigative news outlet Vyorstka reported Wednesday, citing anonymous military and parliamentary sources. Volunteer fighters aged 45 and over now make up half of new recruits in Moscow, a senior Mayor’s Office source…
The bodies of Wagner Group mercenaries killed in fighting in Mali this summer have been returned to Russia, the state-run TASS news agency reported Wednesday, citing a Russian officers’ organization. Russian mercenaries suffered heavy losses in two-day fighting against Tuareg rebels near Mali’s border with Algeria in July in what experts called one of the deadliest…
Russia collected 118 billion rubles ($1.2 billion) in taxes from occupied Ukrainian territories in January-September 2024, surpassing tax revenues from these regions in all of 2023, the RBC news website reported Wednesday. Russia said it annexed southern and eastern Ukraine’s Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk regions in September 2022 following widely disputed referendums despite not fully…
The Kremlin on Wednesday denied a claim in a new book that Republican candidate Donald Trump may have spoken to President Vladimir Putin seven times since he left the White House. “No, that is not the case,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Russian media outlet RBC as saying when asked about the specific…
Russia’s telecoms watchdog on Tuesday announced that it was banning the social media platform Discord for violating the country’s laws, signaling the latest move by authorities to tighten control over the internet. Access to Discord was being “restricted due to the violation of requirements of Russian legislation” pertaining to “preventing the use of messaging for…
Kyiv said Wednesday it had struck a Russian arms depot in the border region of Bryansk that was storing hardware and ammo including munitions supplied to Moscow by North Korea. Ukrainian forces have in recent months occupied swathes of Russia’s border Kursk region and have stepped up attacks inside Russia, mainly targeting energy facilities. The…