Russia’s Central Bank cut its key interest rate for the third consecutive time at an emergency meeting Thursday as authorities seek to rein in the surging ruble. The Bank of Russia will lower interest rates from 14% to 11% from Friday. Officials increased interest from 9.5% to 20% as an emergency measure after Russia invaded…
A separatist official in eastern Ukraine has claimed there are 8,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war in the parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that are under the control of Russian forces. Rodion Miroshnik, the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic’s ambassador to Russia, told pro-Kremlin television host Vladimir Solovyov on Thursday that “literally hundreds” of prisoners…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has issued a bitter rebuke to the West for not doing enough to help Kyiv win the war, as fierce battles rage in the country’s east and Russian troops draw ever closer to encircling a key industrial city. Calling for help “without limits”, specifically shipments of heavy weaponry, Zelensky also blasted…
Residents of a Russian village near the border with Ukraine have launched a petition calling on President Vladimir Putin to provide better protection against an increased number of cross-border attacks. About 2 kilometers from Ukraine, the Kursk region village of Tyotkino has been repeatedly targeted by shelling, according to the petition published earlier this week…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday met soldiers wounded in Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine and hailed them as heroes, in the first such visit since he sent troops into the pro-Western country. Wearing a white medical coat, Putin chatted to soldiers at Moscow’s Mandryka military hospital, Rossiya-24 television channel showed. After meeting the wounded…
Moscow will stop enforcing fines for Covid-19 violations in a bid to prop up falling incomes amid rising inflation and the economic fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced Wednesday. “We’ve taken many steps to mitigate the pressure from sanctions in recent weeks,” Sobyanin wrote on his website. “There are other challenges…
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Wednesday simplifying the process of obtaining Russian citizenship for Ukrainians living in territories seized by Russian troops in southern and eastern Ukraine. The fast-track citizenship option comes amid speculation that Moscow could establish permanent control over areas it has captured in its three-month invasion of Ukraine. Russia first…
Russia said Wednesday that it will start paying its foreign debt in rubles after the United States ended an exemption allowing Moscow to make the payments in dollars held in Russia. The U.S. Treasury announced Tuesday it was closing the escape clause to the drastic financial sanctions imposed on Moscow after it sent troops to…
Russia is set to drop out of the agreement standardizing higher education across Europe, potentially cutting off Russian students from advancing their careers in Europe. Russia’s Science and Higher Education Minister Valery Falkov announced Tuesday that the country would replace the internationally recognized framework known as the Bologna Process with a new system designed to…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky blasted the West for lacking unity on Wednesday, as the Russian invasion entered its fourth month and Moscow’s troops advanced in eastern Ukraine. Russian forces relentlessly bombarded the industrial city of Severodonetsk while attempting to encircle it, a key goal of recent fighting in Ukraine’s Donbas region. However, Moscow told the…
George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984” has been catapulted into the spotlight in Russia since the country invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Many have drawn parallels between the book — written in 1949 to describe a world under totalitarian surveillance — and modern Russia, where ordinary people are punished for calling Moscow’s attack on Ukraine a…
Russian lawmakers have adopted a bill scrapping upper age limits for those wishing to enter military service, prompting speculation that the country could be scrambling to bolster its depleted manpower amid its invasion of Ukraine. Russian law currently allows any citizen aged 18 to 40 to join the Armed Forces by signing a contract. The…
U.S. sports giant Nike is set to leave Russia after declining to renew the brand’s agreements with authorized resellers within the country. Contracts between Nike and two of its largest authorized Russian retailers expire this Thursday, May 26, the Vedomosti business newspaper reported Wednesday. The sportswear label decided not to extend the contracts or sign…
Moscow warned Wednesday it would “closely” monitor the treatment of a pro-Russian ex-president in Moldova who had been detained on suspicion of treason and corruption. On Tuesday, prosecutors in the Western-backed country announced the arrest of former president Igor Dodon, as the conflict in neighboring Ukraine has heightened tensions between Moscow and Chisinau. Russian Deputy…
International sanctions imposed on Moscow over its military campaign in Ukraine need to be lifted to avoid a global food crisis, a Russian deputy foreign minister said on Wednesday. “Solving the food problem requires a comprehensive approach, including the removal of sanctions that have been imposed on Russian exports and financial transactions,” Andrei Rudenko said…
Western sanctions and the exit of international businesses over the war in Ukraine have caused a fall in Russia’s imports to levels not seen since the early 2000s. Russia imported between $5 billion and $10 billion worth of goods last month, according to Bank Otkritie’s research data cited Wednesday by The Moscow Times’ Russian service. Russia’s…
Before the war, it was called “Moscow Avenue.” But now this wide boulevard which runs through Ukraine’s second city has been renamed “Heroes of Kharkiv” in honour of those fighting against invading Russian forces. “Here in Kharkiv, there is no place for an avenue named after the capital of the occupier that is killing our…
Major General Kanamat Botashev has become the highest-ranking Russian pilot to be killed in the skies over Ukraine, the BBC’s Russian service reported Tuesday. The 63-year-old retired general had been flying a Su-25 fighter jet over the Luhansk region on Sunday when the aircraft was targeted by a Stinger shoulder-fired missile system, the BBC reported,…
Top allies of President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Moscow was ready for a prolonged conflict in Ukraine in order to achieve the Kremlin’s goals in the pro-Western country. The hostilities, which entered their fourth month Tuesday, have killed thousands of people, displaced more than eight million, and forced more than six million refugees to…
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday announced that it was imposing an entry ban on 154 members of the U.K. parliament’s House of Lords in retaliation for sanctions against Russian senators over Ukraine. Those listed included William Hague, a former foreign minister and leader of the Conservative Party in opposition. The blacklist does not include Russian-born…
A Danish Jehovah’s Witness has been released from Russian prison five years after he became the first member of the religious group to be jailed on extremism charges in Russia, the organization said Tuesday. Dennis Christensen, 49, was arrested at a prayer meeting in the city of Oryol south of Moscow in May 2017, a month…
Russian forces on Tuesday stepped up their offensive on the last pocket of resistance around Lugansk in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, as the conflict entered its fourth month. Since Moscow’s invasion in late February, Western support has helped Ukraine hold off its neighbor’s advances in many areas, including the capital Kyiv. Russia is now focused…
He said his arrest was “part of the massive pressure on journalists and analysts who objectively describe the course of the current war.” “The goal of the Kremlin and (President Vladimir) Putin personally is to silence everyone,” he said. He said he would continue with his reports. “There’s nothing more important right now,” he said. Nacke…
St. Petersburg will establish a sister city relationship with the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol and help in its restoration, Governor Alexander Beglov said Tuesday. Russian forces claimed full control of Mariupol after the city’s last Ukrainian defenders surrendered at the Azovstal steel plant last week, ending a devastating, nearly three-month siege that has flattened the…
The Russian partner of Deloitte, one of the world’s leading consulting and accounting firms, has resumed its operations under a new brand name, the Kommersant business daily reported Tuesday. The British consultancy giant suspended operations in Russia and Belarus in early March in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and vowed to separate local practices…
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on Tuesday lost his legal appeal against a nine-year prison sentence that he and his allies condemn as politically motivated. His sentencing came as Moscow pushes on with its military offensive in neighboring Ukraine and Russian authorities seek to silence remaining government critics. A Moscow court ruled to “leave the…
Russia said it would loosen capital controls late Monday as the surging ruble threatened to reduce export revenues. The Finance Ministry said in a statement that it would cut the share of foreign currency earnings exporters were required to convert to rubles from 80% to 50%. But the move did little to halt the Russian…
The Moscow-appointed leaders of southern Ukraine’s Kherson region will “ask” for a Russian military base, state media reported Tuesday in the latest example of Russia’s creeping grip on captured Ukrainian territories. Russian forces have installed pro-Moscow “military-civilian administrations” and introduced Russian currency, media and internet services in an effort to cement their presence in occupied areas…
A Russian diplomat posted to the United Nation’s office in Geneva has publicly resigned in protest against Moscow’s ongoing war in Ukraine. In a statement, Boris Bondarev called the invasion “a crime” and a “bloody, witless and absolutely needless ignominy.” “For 20 years of my diplomatic career I have seen different turns of our foreign…
Several mobile military enlistment offices could be seen Saturday on the sidelines of an annual half-marathon race in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk. “Mobile selection point for contract service,” read the blue lettering on the side of one of the large trucks, which was suspended over an image of an aircraft carrier and a fighter…
Starbucks is leaving the Russian market and closing all of its 130 locations there, the company announced Monday. The U.S. coffee giant, which has had a presence in Russia since 2007, had initially suspended its operations in the country in early March as foreign brands pulled out en masse over the Kremlin’s Feb. 24 invasion…
Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered while defending Mariupol’s besieged Azovstal steel plant will face an “international tribunal,” the head of the Russian-backed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) said Monday. DNR leader Denis Pushilin told Interfax that all 2,439 prisoners from the Azovstal site were currently on the separatist republic’s territory. “We are planning to organize an international…
Austrian ex-foreign minister Karin Kneissl, who once danced with Russian President Vladimir Putin at her wedding, has quit her board position at Russian oil giant Rosneft, the company said Monday. Kneissl has submitted a letter of resignation effective from Friday, Rosneft said in a statement. The 57-year-old made headlines when she invited Putin to her wedding in 2018 and was photographed dancing with him during the event. She…
Some 150 military units from across all branches of Russia’s Armed Forces have been deployed in the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, investigative outlet Proekt reported Monday. The large-scale nature of the invasion undermines Kremlin claims that Russia is merely conducting a “special operation” in Ukraine aimed at “denazifying and demilitarizing” the country. Those deployed include…
The first Russian soldier to be tried for war crimes in Ukraine has been found guilty and sentenced to life in prison, the Mediazona news website reported Monday. Vadim Shishimarin, 21, pleaded guilty to fatally shooting 62-year-old civilian Oleksandr Shelipov in northeastern Ukraine’s Sumy region on Feb. 28. Prosecutors requested a life sentence for the…
With a verdict due Monday in the conflict’s first war crimes trial, Moscow’s offensive in eastern Ukraine is only intensifying, with the city of Severodonetsk under “round-the-clock” bombardment as Russian troops attempt its encirclement. The trial in Kyiv — seen as a public test of the Ukrainian judicial system’s independence — comes as international institutions…
At least two neo-Nazi groups are fighting for Russian forces in Ukraine, throwing into question Moscow’s claims of “denazifying” its neighbor, German weekly Der Spiegel reported Sunday, citing a confidential intelligence report. The document shared with German ministries by the BND intelligence service does not provide the exact number of far-right fighters, but identifies them as…
Moscow will consider exchanging prisoners from Ukraine’s Azov battalion for Viktor Medvedchuk, a wealthy Ukrainian businessman close to President Vladimir Putin, a Russian negotiator said on Saturday. “We are going to study the possibility,” said Leonid Slutsky, a senior member of Russia’s negotiating team on Ukraine, speaking from the separatist city of Donetsk in southeastern…
The carcasses of charred buildings stand amid the lush greenery in what remains of the once bustling Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. After weeks of siege and strikes much of the city on the coast of the Sea of Azov has been reduced to a wasteland. As the last Ukrainian troops in the town surrendered…
As the death toll from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine rises, throwing Kremlin imperialism into sharper focus, activists representing the indigenous non-Slavic peoples of Russia are doubling down on efforts to rally supporters behind demands for greater autonomy. “War is a trigger for greater national consciousness,” Ruslan Gabbasov, the head of the Bashkir National Political Center,…
Russia on Saturday published a list of 963 leading Americans, including U.S. President Joe Biden, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and Hollywood actor Morgan Freeman banned from entering the country in retaliation for similar moves by Washington since the offensive in Ukraine. Those named in the list on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website also include U.S.…
Russia has declared victory in its months-long operation to capture the strategic port of Mariupol after Ukraine ordered the last of its troops holed up in the city’s Azovstal steelworks to lay down their arms. Moscow’s flattening of Mariupol has drawn multiple accusations of war crimes, including over a deadly attack on a maternity ward,…
Ukraine on Friday ordered its last troops holed up in Mariupol’s Azovstal steelworks to lay down their arms, while Russia said its months-long operation to capture the strategic port city is now complete. Russia’s flattening of Mariupol has drawn multiple accusations of war crimes, including over a deadly attack on a maternity ward, and Ukraine…
Russia on Friday added two high-profile Kremlin critics to its list of “foreign agents”: former chess champion Garry Kasparov and ex-tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The infamous label, reminiscent of the “enemies of the people” of the Soviet period, is used extensively against opponents, journalists and human rights activists accused of conducting foreign-funded political activities. Such “foreign…
Fears over global food shortages as the Ukraine war grinds on are spurring calls for a safe corridor for ships to exit the Black Sea, but the logistics are daunting and would need Russian cooperation. Dozens of container ships are blocked in Ukrainian ports that are surrounded by Russian forces, choking off exports of wheat,…
Russian soldiers preparing to be sent to fight in Ukraine are required to buy personal equipment at their own expense, according to several servicemen who spoke to The Moscow Times’ Russian Service on condition of anonymity. Some of the items apparently not provided by the army include footwear, body armor, bandages and tourniquets. “If they…
President Vladimir Putin on Friday called for “technological sovereignty,” saying Russia has been hit by numerous cyberattacks since Moscow sent troops to Ukraine. “The number of cyberattacks, including complex ones, has increased many times over” since the start of Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine in February, Putin said during a meeting of Russia’s Security Council. …
Clouds of thick black dust blanketed Siberia’s coal mining region of Kemerovo, local news outlet Sibdepo reported Thursday. Residents of the mining towns of Kiselevsk and Belovo shared footage showing massive clouds of coal dust covering the streets amid strong winds and thunderstorms. Locals said the coal dust was brought from the coal mines surrounding the…
Students in Siberia have opened a 50-year-old time capsule containing a wish for peace and international friendship from their Soviet peers, local media reported Thursday. The Soviet students’ message of hope for a peaceful future was unearthed as Russia faces unprecedented economic and political isolation in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. To mark…
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and the CEO of the shelved Nord Stream 2 project Matthias Warnig resigned Friday from the board of directors of Russia’s state-owned oil giant Rosneft amid pressure over the war in Ukraine. “Gerhard Schroeder and Matthias Warnig have informed [us] of the impossibility of extending their service on the company’s…
Russia’s largest lender Sberbank has sold its digital ecosystem to an obscure new company in what experts call an attempt to shield those services from Western sanctions, media reported Thursday. Sber said it sold its video, audio and sports streaming platforms, as well as its cloud technology and biometric system research center, on Tuesday “as…
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday Moscow was nearing full control of Ukraine’s eastern separatist region of Luhansk. Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine on Feb. 24 under the guise of protecting the Russian-speaking population there, especially in the breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. Russia recognized the independence of the…
Incessant bombardment has turned Ukraine’s Donbas region into “hell,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said, as the first post-invasion trial of a Russian soldier for war crimes neared its closely watched climax Friday. Zelensky’s government received a fresh boost as the U.S. Congress approved a $40 billion aid package, including funds to enhance Ukraine’s armored vehicle fleet…
A Siberian entrepreneur who played the Ukrainian national anthem in public has been found guilty of “Nazi propaganda,” a local court said Thursday in the latest example of Russia’s ongoing crackdown on wartime dissent. The Tyumen resident, identified as Vladimir Fofanov by the OVD-Info police-monitoring website, was shown performing the anthem on a piano set up on an…
Videos and eyewitness testimony provided evidence of Russian troops executing eight Ukrainian men in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, implicating them in a possible war crime, The New York Times reported Thursday. “I was shot and I fell down,” the lone survivor of the March 4 execution, 43-year-old builder Ivan Skyba, recounted to the NYT. …
The United Nations on Thursday urged Russia and Ukraine to “build on” contacts and coordination that enabled the evacuation operations from Mariupol in order to resume stalled peace talks. The successful operations to evacuate civilians and later fighters from the sprawling Azovstal steelworks in the devastated Ukrainian port points the way back towards broader negotiations…
The Kremlin said Thursday it was important to ensure basic living conditions in war-torn Ukraine as signs multiplied that Moscow was seeking to permanently occupy or even annex the pro-Western country’s southeast. Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine on February 24 but Moscow has repeatedly stressed it is not seeking to occupy Ukrainian…
The Russian-appointed head of Ukraine’s Kherson region said Thursday that the area will “soon become part” of the Russian Federation. De-facto governor Volodymyr Saldo was installed by Russian forces after they took control of the southern Ukrainian region in early March. “We are looking at the Russian Federation as our own country because it is…
McDonald’s will sell its Russian restaurants to Siberian businessman Alexander Govor, the U.S. fast-food giant announced Thursday. Govor, who co-owns oil firm NefteKhimServis, already operates 25 of the chain’s restaurants in Russia. Once approved by regulators, the deal will see the 62-year-old take over all 850 McDonald’s locations within Russia under a new brand, business…
Ukrainian prosecutors on Thursday requested a life sentence for the first Russian soldier on trial for war crimes since the start of Moscow’s invasion, AFP journalists in the courtroom reported. The prosecution asked the judge to sentence the 21-year-old Russian army sergeant to “life imprisonment” for killing 62-year-old civilian Oleksandr Shelipov in the first days…