HOLLYWOOD–Oligarch Roman Abramovich’s British crown jewel soccer club Chelsea has been conditionally sold to a Hollywood billionaire’s consortium for $5.2 billion. The lead buyer is industrialist Todd Boehly, co-owner of Dodgers baseball and Lakers basketball sports clubs in Los Angeles. He is also the interim CEO of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). One of…
Russia’s former Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev was released from prison Thursday after serving a five-year jail term for corruption. Ulyukayev, 66, walked free two weeks after being granted early release from the eight-year sentence he received in December 2017 on good behavior. The ex-minister had been found guilty of soliciting a bribe, a charge…
Finland’s possible NATO membership “definitely” threatens Russia’s security, the Kremlin said Thursday, adding that Moscow is ready to take further steps to “balance the situation.” Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said their country must “apply for NATO membership without a delay” in a joint statement Thursday after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine…
For almost half a decade former Russian soldier Marat Gabidullin was a fighter with the controversial mercenary outfit Wagner, deployed in the east of Ukraine and then in Syria, where he was badly wounded. But now as fighting rages in Ukraine, he believes the Kremlin should stop foreign military interventions and focus instead on improving the lives of people…
Russia’s government has put forward a law to force ride-hailing apps to give the FSB domestic intelligence agency real-time access to their data. “The document prescribes the obligation of the taxi ordering service to provide the FSB with automated remote access to the information systems and databases used to receive, store, process and transmit taxi orders,” a statement published Wednesday by the lower-house State Duma…
One person has died in an explosion at a Russian military base in the country’s Far East, the state-run TASS news agency reported Thursday. Another seven people were injured in the blast in the village of Teysin in the Khabarovsk region. A source in the emergency services told TASS that the victim was a military…
Updated at 12:40 p.m. on May 12. Russia reported one civilian casualty in a strike on a town near the border with Ukraine, the first such death since the start of the country’s invasion of its western neighbor. Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region, said Wednesday that one person had been killed and seven…
German manufacturing giant Siemens announced Thursday that the company will “wind down” its presence in the Russian market following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. In a statement, Siemens CEO Roland Busch vowed that the firm would “continue to support” its estimated 2,900 Russian employees and provide humanitarian assistance in Ukraine. “This was not an easy decision,…
Russian freight traffic by rail fell for the first time in six years last month as Western sanctions and China’s virus lockdown disrupted supply chains, the Vedomosti business daily reported Thursday. Shipments by train in April 2022 totaled 512,100 TEU, the standard measurement for cargo meaning Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit — marking a 6% decrease from…
Ukraine announced it will hold its first war crimes trial over the Russian invasion, as Moscow accused Kyiv of shelling a Russian city in the war’s latest flashpoint. The conflict has devastated cities and displaced millions, with fears also growing of its broader international impact as gas supplies to Europe were disrupted by a halt…
The United States has placed limitations on intelligence sharing with Ukraine to avoid heightening tensions with Russia, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. Two new prohibitions include information that would help Ukraine kill senior Russian military officers and any information that would help Ukraine attack Russian targets outside its borders. The U.S also has a rule…
A group of Ukrainian soldiers’ wives and a Russian opposition activist met Pope Francis at the Vatican to seek his help in rescuing the hundreds of Ukrainian defenders currently making a last stand at Mariupol’s besieged Azovstal steel plant. Pyotr Verzilov, a member of the Pussy Riot activist group and the publisher of the independent…
The Russian government spent almost 100 million rubles ($1.4 million) on a series of concerts aimed at boosting support for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the BBC’s Russian service reported Wednesday. Some 34 bands, artists and poets performed at the pro-war rallies, which have been held across 30 cities in central Russia, the Urals and Siberia from…
New car sales in Russia sank by over 78% in April, industry data showed Wednesday after the country was hit by a barrage of sanctions over Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine. Only 32,706 units were sold in April, according to the Association of European Businesses. This was down 78.5% from the same month in 2021…
Russian gas transiting Ukraine for Europe dropped Wednesday after Kyiv said it was suspending flows along a key route as Moscow pushes its military operation. The move fuels fears that the Kremlin’s campaign in its pro-Western neighbor could see gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine cut off at a time when prices have already soared.…
Russian gas transiting Ukraine for Europe dropped Wednesday after Kyiv said it was suspending flows along a key route as Moscow pushes its military operation. The move fuels fears that the Kremlin’s campaign in its pro-Western neighbor could see gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine cut off at a time when prices have already soared.…
Officials in Russian-occupied Kherson will petition the Kremlin to formally recognize the southern Ukrainian region as part of the Russian Federation, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Wednesday. The Russian military gained control of the Kherson region in late April, replacing its Ukrainian leadership with a pro-Moscow “military-civilian administration” and transitioning to the Russian…
Leading Pussy Riot activist Maria Alyokhina has escaped to Lithuania after being declared a fugitive by the Russian government. Alyokhina made the journey to Vilnius after leaving Moscow disguised as a food courier, she said in a New York Times interview published Tuesday. She later made several failed attempts to travel to the European Union…
Ukraine said Wednesday it was pushing Russian troops away from the country’s second city Kharkiv but facing stiff resistance, as Washington predicted that Vladimir Putin was ready for a long war. With President Joe Biden warning that Ukraine would within days likely run out of funds to keep fighting, the U.S. House of Representatives voted…
This story has been updated with Putin’s comments, and corrected to remove a 2020 quote from the Russian Emergency Situations Minister. At least eight people have been killed in wildfires in the Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk region, local authorities said Wednesday. “The fires were caused by short circuits in electrical wiring and power lines, and dry grass…
President Vladimir Putin has given Russia’s military intelligence agency (GRU) a more prominent role in Ukraine, Russian security analysts said as the U.S. assessed that Putin is “behind schedule” in the invasion of Ukraine. GRU deputy head Vladimir Alexeyev, 61, has been placed in charge of intelligence operations in Ukraine, according to security experts Andrei…
Thousands of Russians across the country and worldwide marched Monday with portraits of relatives and loved ones who took part in World War II in an annual march called the Immortal Regiment. The march, which has taken place in its modern form every year since 2012, follows Russia’s Victory Day commemorations. This year’s march took…
The port city of Odessa reeled on Tuesday from Russian missile strikes as Germany’s top diplomat became the highest-ranking official from Berlin to visit Ukraine since Moscow’s invasion. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s surprise visit to Bucha, a town outside Kyiv where Russian troops have been accused of war crimes, came amid mounting criticism of…
From superyachts and mansions to private jets and works of art, mega-rich Russians are being deprived of their expensive playthings, under swingeing sanctions that implicate them in Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. The seizing and freezing of assets is proving the toughest trial yet for the Kremlin-favored “oligarchs,” many of whom got rich on the…
Russia’s Rutube video platform remained offline for a second day on Tuesday, after a massive cyberattack knocked it out just hours before it was to stream the Victory Day parade in Moscow. “We have, in fact, been hit with the biggest cyberattack in Rutube’s history,” the platform said in a message on Telegram on Tuesday.…
The Pentagon said Monday it has seen indications that Ukrainians caught up in Russia’s invasion are being forcibly removed from their homeland and sent to Russia. “I can’t speak to how many camps or what they look like,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters when asked about statements from Kyiv that some 1.2 million Ukrainians were being…
Russians opposed to the invasion of Ukraine staged a series of protests Monday as the country marked Victory Day, the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany. Some of the anonymous protests included anti-war messages on the homepage of a pro-Kremlin online news website, graffiti in the southern Russia city of Volgograd, and…
The Russian ambassador to Poland was attacked with red paint by pro-Ukraine activists in Warsaw on Monday when he tried to lay a wreath to mark Victory Day, according to video footage and Russian officials. Victory Day is celebrated annually on May 9 to commemorate the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.…
LONDON, United Kingdom – Hundreds of Russians turned out Sunday in central London to demand the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and protest against growing authoritarianism in their home country. Joined by Belarusians and Ukrainians, protesters were a mix of longtime London residents and young people newly arrived in the United Kingdom. “It is…
Russian President Vladimir Putin lashed out at Western countries and hailed Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine on Monday as he addressed an annual military parade in Moscow that marks the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany. “You are fighting for the motherland, for her future, and so that nobody forgets the lessons of World War…
Russia will celebrate its 1945 victory over Nazi Germany on Monday with a show of military might as its army battles Kyiv’s forces in the east of Ukraine, where 60 people were killed in an air strike on a school sheltering civilians. President Vladimir Putin is set to flaunt Russia’s power in celebration of Victory…
Some 60 people sheltering in a village school in east Ukraine are feared dead after it was hit by an air strike, the Luhansk regional governor said Sunday. “Bilogorivka (village) was hit in an air strike” on Saturday, said Sergii Gaidai. “The bombs fell on the school and unfortunately it was completely destroyed. There was…
U.S. charge d’affaires for Ukraine Kristina Kvien and her team returned to Kyiv Sunday, the embassy tweeted, in a step toward re-establishing Washington’s diplomatic presence there after it was closed days before the Russian invasion. “Just arrived in Kyiv! Delighted to be back on Victory in Europe Day. Slava Ukraini!” tweeted the U.S. embassy in Kyiv’s…
U.S. First Lady Jill Biden made an unannounced visit to Ukraine Sunday, her spokesman said, meeting her Ukrainian counterpart Olena Zelenska at a school sheltering civilians including children displaced by the conflict. “I wanted to come on Mother’s Day. I thought it was important to show the Ukrainian people that this war has to stop and…
The entire G7 club of rich nations is “committed to phasing out or banning the import of Russian oil,” the White House said Sunday, escalating pressure on President Vladimir Putin over the invasion of Ukraine. “This will hit hard at the main artery of Putin’s economy and deny him the revenue he needs to fund…
Ukraine said Saturday that all women, children, and elderly civilians were evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant in the destroyed port city of Mariupol where Ukrainian forces are holding out against Russian troops. “The President’s order has been carried out: all women, children and the elderly have been evacuated from Azovstal. This part of the…
Kyiv said Saturday it has destroyed another Russian warship near the Black Sea’s Snake Island, where Ukrainian forces were awarded for heroism after rebuffing Russian demands to surrender. Ukraine’s defense ministry said in a statement an armed drone had destroyed a Serna-class landing craft and a missile defense system at the small island under Russian…
Russia will mark Monday the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazism amid expectations that ongoing fighting in Ukraine will cast a long shadow over the popular event. In particular, the set piece military parade on Moscow’s Red Square will see significantly fewer soldiers and equipment compared to last year, which experts have linked to significant losses…
Several fires have broken out in southern Siberia, affecting about 200 buildings and causing at least five deaths, local authorities said on Saturday, adding they had placed the area under a state of emergency. The fires in the Krasnoyarsk region covered more than 16 zones, spreading to around 200 buildings, several sawmills and a children’s…
In a ceremony deserving of his rank, Russian Major General Vladimir Frolov was laid to rest in St. Petersburg’s Serafimovskoe Cemetery, where tens of thousands of victims of World War II are buried. “Today we say goodbye to a true hero. Vladimir Petrovich Frolov died a heroic death in battle with Ukrainian nationalists. He sacrificed…
A senior official from the Russian parliament said Friday that Russia will remain in southern Ukraine “forever,” speaking on a visit to the Moscow-controlled city of Kherson. “Russia is here forever. There should be no doubt about this. There will be no return to the past,” Andrey Turchak said, according to a statement from the…
A prominent Russian opposition journalist has been arrested in absentia on charges of publishing “fake” news about the Russian military’s air strike on a maternity hospital in southern Ukraine, Interfax reported Friday. Alexander Nevzorov, a former MP who has worked with independent media outlets like Dozhd and Ekho Moskvy, is one of the dozens of Russians…
Russia on Friday allowed for hundreds of categories of goods to be imported without the agreement of the intellectual property owner in order to bypass restrictions imposed over the Ukraine conflict. Among the list published by the Industry and Commerce Ministry are Apple and Samsung smartphones, major car brands, game consoles, and spare parts used…
The Pentagon on Friday denied reports that it helped Ukrainian forces sink the Russian warship Moskva in the Black Sea last month in a stunning setback for Moscow’s invasion. “We did not provide Ukraine with specific targeting information for the Moskva,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. Kirby said the U.S. had “no…
Russian state enterprises with seemingly little affiliation to the military are recruiting “mobilization and wartime experts,” the independent Sota news outlet has reported. The report comes as top Russian officials continue to deny speculation that the Kremlin plans to announce a full mobilization as soon as May 9, when Russia celebrates the Victory Day holiday.…
A Belarusian court has sentenced student Sofia Sapega, the Russian girlfriend of a Belarusian dissident journalist, to six years in prison following a closed trial, Belarus’ Viasna human rights group said Friday. Sapega and her boyfriend, Roman Protasevich, were on a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius in May 2021 when Belarusian authorities forcibly diverted…
More than 3.8 million Russians have left the country in the first three months of 2022, according to data from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) published this week. A total of 3,880,679 Russians traveled for work, business, tourism and private reasons between January and March. Former Soviet countries saw significant spikes in arrivals after Russia…
Moscow-backed separatists in southeastern Ukraine said they had taken down traffic signs spelling out the name of the besieged city of Mariupol in Ukrainian and English and replaced them with Russian ones. “Updated road signs have been set up at the entrance to Mariupol,” the transportation ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic said in…
U.S. exports to Russia dropped to a 20-year low in March as Washington hit Moscow with a series of punishing economic sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data. U.S. exports to Russia dropped from $497.5 million in February to $101.1 million in March, according to the U.S. Bureau…
An elderly Ukrainian woman who became a symbol of support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been located in a Ukrainian hospital and filmed suggesting that her image was co-opted by Russian officials and state-owned media. The pensioner known as “granny Anya” was last month caught on camera mistakenly greeting Ukrainian soldiers with a Soviet flag. The…
U.S. intelligence helped Ukraine sink Russia’s Moskva missile cruiser last month, NBC News reported Thursday as the Pentagon pushed back on a previous report saying U.S. intelligence has allowed Kyiv to kill Russian generals. Ukrainian forces targeted the Moskva on April 13 after asking the U.S. to help identify and confirm its location in the…
Two men are on the run after attacking a conscription office in western Siberia with Molotov cocktails. In a dramatic video shared by news outlet Baza on Thursday, the pair are seen throwing at least seven Molotovs through the window of a recruitment office in the city of Nizhnevartovsk. In the clip, flames can be…
Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Thursday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin has apologized for remarks made by Moscow’s top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov, who claimed Adolf Hitler may have had “Jewish blood.” The comments had sparked outrage in the Jewish state. “The Prime Minister accepted President Putin’s apology for Lavrov’s remarks and thanked him for…
Russia on Thursday said Western aid to Kyiv had slowed its offensive in Ukraine but would not thwart its victory, as conflicting reports emerged about efforts to rescue civilians from a besieged steel plant in the devastated city of Mariupol. Nearly 10 weeks into a war that has left thousands of people dead, flattened Ukrainian…
Russia should consider developing a domestic alternative to Wikipedia, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday, questioning the quality of information published in the online encyclopedia. “Objective, useful, thought-through, but also beautifully and masterfully presented information is in high demand because it is impossible to use Wikipedia alone,” Putin said during a meeting with Maxim Dreval, CEO…
Pro-Kremlin TV host Vladimir Solovyov has launched a digital bot to help Russians report anti-war activity. Would-be informers in Russia’s fourth-largest city Yekaterinburg can use a bot linked to Solovyov’s local Telegram channel, UralLive, to fill in a form on supposed opposition sentiment. “If you have information about anti-Russian activities in the Urals, write about…
Rehearsals are underway for Russia’s upcoming Victory Day celebrations, when the country marks the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s 1945 defeat of the Nazis with a massive military parade on Red Square. May 9 is one of Russia’s most significant holidays, as many Russians are related to someone who was killed during World War II.…
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has said he didn’t anticipate the war in Ukraine would “drag on this way,” over two months after close ally Russia invaded its pro-Western neighbor that also shares a border with Belarus. Analysts have said Russia’s leadership aimed to swiftly crush Ukraine’s military and take the capital Kyiv in the days…
A Russian car plant is handing out farmland to workers facing furlough after Western automakers left Russia over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The Avtotor factory, based in Russia’s western enclave of Kaliningrad, has earmarked 300 hectares (740 acres) for its garden giveaway. Avtotor said that giving land so that workers could grow their own produce…
The Kremlin on Thursday accused the West of preventing a “quick” end to Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine by supplying weapons to the pro-Western country. Asked about a New York Times report that U.S. intelligence helped Ukraine kill a number of Russian generals, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “The United States, Britain, NATO as a…