President Joe Biden will be “messaging” Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin when he speaks in Warsaw next week, while hailing NATO’s unprecedented effort to help Ukrainians save their country as the war reaches the one-year mark. The White House says Biden will give the speech in Poland — a key U.S. ally and fulcrum of vast…
Amnesty International has demanded the Russian authorities reveal the location of imprisoned Kremlin critic Andrei Pivovarov, whose whereabouts have been unknown since he was transferred to new a penal colony in mid-January. “The authorities are subjecting him to enforced disappearance — a crime under international law, by not revealing his fate or whereabouts,” Amnesty International’s Russia…
Ukraine’s foreign minister on Friday accused French retailer Auchan of being a “full-fledged weapon of Russian aggression” following a joint investigation by The Insider, Le Monde and Bellingcat that concluded the retail giant has been supplying goods to the Russian army. According to the investigation, goods including flack jackets, as well as non-military equipment, worth a…
President Vladimir Putin lashed out Friday against “direct attempts” to hinder the work of Russian gas giant Gazprom, at the center of deteriorating ties between Moscow and Europe over the Ukraine conflict. European countries were heavily reliant on the company for natural gas supplies but have since raced for other sources after Russia dispatched troops to Ukraine.…
A former security guard at the British Embassy in Berlin was sentenced to over 13 years in prison Friday on charges of spying for Russia. David Ballantyne Smith, 58, admitted to passing sensitive material to the Russian Embassy in Berlin before being caught in a sting operation. Sentencing him to 13 years and two months…
President Vladimir Putin has personally pardoned Russian convicts who fight in Ukraine with the Kremlin-linked Wagner mercenary group, a Russian investigative journalist reported Friday. Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said last month that the first recruited inmates had been pardoned as promised after completing a six-month term of service. The release of convict soldiers has sparked questions about…
Russia’s main state broadcaster has started airing weekly classes that aim to rally patriotism and support for the invasion of Ukraine among schoolchildren, a website that promotes the service said Thursday. Russia kickstarted the classes, called “Important Conversations,” at the start of the 2022-2023 school year. Now, the Telegram channel Razgovory o Vazhnom has announced that…
When migration officials detained six pregnant Russian women at a Buenos Aires airport last week, they exposed a phenomenon that has been growing in the country for a year: Russian birthing tourism. As Russia’s President Vladimir Putin wages war in Ukraine, Argentina has gradually become the destination of choice for Russian expectant parents fleeing the…
The head of Russia’s mercenary outfit Wagner said on Thursday it could take months to capture the embattled Ukraine city of Bakhmut and slammed Moscow’s “monstrous bureaucracy” for slowing military gains. Russia has been trying to encircle and capture the battered industrial city ahead of Feb. 24, the first anniversary of what it terms its…
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s commissioner for the protection of children’s rights informed the Russian leader during a meeting on Thursday that she had recently adopted a 15-year-old child from the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine. “Now I know what it means to be a mother of a child from Donbas. It’s hard, but…
A Belarusian dissident journalist whose dramatic arrest in 2021 made international headlines after his plane was forced by the authorities to land in Minsk has pleaded guilty to an array of charges against him on the first day of his trial in the Belarusian capital. Roman Protasevich, 27, was the former editor of Nexta, a…
A former pro-Kremlin lawmaker condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in a tweet on Thursday, calling it “a war that no one but Vladimir Putin needed” and commending the “real heroes” in Russia who have spoken out publicly against it. Robert Schlegel, who has lived in Germany since 2019, was previously a member of the pro-Kremlin…
“Wagner brings together committed professionals and highly motivated people,” intones a voiceover at the beginning of a film about the mercenary company as slow-motion footage plays of men in camouflage and maneuvering tanks. “It’s where true patriots gather,” the voice continues. The documentary “PMC Wagner: Contract with the Motherland,” which was produced by state-run channel…
President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday that Belarus would join the offensives in Ukraine “only if attacked” first by Kyiv’s army. “I’m ready to fight together with the Russians from the territory of Belarus in one case only: if so much as one soldier from (Ukraine) comes to our territory with a gun to kill my…
Russian police detained a gay Chechen refugee upon his arrival in Moscow, activists said early Thursday, raising fears that he may be imprisoned and tortured by security officers in his home region. Idris Arsamikov, 28, is believed to have been taken to the conservative, majority-Muslim region hours after landing at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport to attend his father’s…
Russian police detained a gay Chechen refugee upon his arrival in Moscow, activists said early Thursday, raising fears that he may be imprisoned and tortured by security officers in his home region. Idris Arsamikov, 28, is believed to have been taken to the conservative, majority-Muslim region hours after landing at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport to attend his father’s…
Russian tech giant Yandex announced on Wednesday that its revenues climbed 46% last year following a corporate restructuring amid unprecedented Western sanctions over Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine. Often dubbed “Russia’s Google”, Yandex is the country’s top internet company and most popular search engine. The firm also provides taxi and food delivery services. Yandex said its…
Russian tech giant Yandex announced on Wednesday that its revenues climbed 46% last year following a corporate restructuring amid unprecedented Western sanctions over Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine. Often dubbed “Russia’s Google”, Yandex is the country’s top internet company and most popular search engine. The firm also provides taxi and food delivery services. Yandex said its…
Ainur Akhmetov awoke in the early hours of Feb. 6 in his apartment in the Turkish city of Mersin after feeling a sudden jolt. “Everything around me was shaking, the doors of the closet we have near the bed were violently sliding back and forth. I had never experienced an earthquake before,” said Akhmetov, a…
Ainur Akhmetov awoke in the early hours of Feb. 6 in his apartment in the Turkish city of Mersin after feeling a sudden jolt. “Everything around me was shaking, the doors of the closet we have near the bed were violently sliding back and forth. I had never experienced an earthquake before,” said Akhmetov, a…
Ainur Akhmetov awoke in the early hours of Feb. 6 in his apartment in the Turkish city of Mersin after feeling a sudden jolt. “Everything around me was shaking, the doors of the closet we have near the bed were violently sliding back and forth. I had never experienced an earthquake before,” said Akhmetov, a…
Russia is planning to introduce visa-free travel for citizens of up to 11 states as well as ease entry requirements for citizens of some six others, including India and Indonesia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced on Wednesday. Lavrov also announced Russia would be restarting its e-visa program, which was introduced in 2020 but then almost immediately…
Russia is planning to introduce visa-free travel for citizens of up to 11 states as well as ease entry requirements for citizens of some six others, including India and Indonesia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced on Wednesday. Lavrov also announced Russia would be restarting its e-visa program, which was introduced in 2020 but then almost immediately…
Russia is planning to introduce visa-free travel for citizens of up to 11 states as well as ease entry requirements for citizens of some six others, including India and Indonesia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced on Wednesday. Lavrov also announced Russia would be restarting its e-visa program, which was introduced in 2020 but then almost immediately…
Switzerland’s government announced Wednesday that confiscating private Russian assets in the country to help rebuild Ukraine would be contrary to Swiss law. Traditionally neutral Switzerland decided four days after Russia invaded a year ago to align itself with European Union sanctions against Moscow, since when it has frozen billions in Russian assets. Faced with international…
Viagra’s brand owner has suspended deliveries of the erectile dysfunction pill to Russia, the country’s Industry and Trade Ministry said Wednesday. The U.S. pharmaceutical corporation Viatris had notified Russia of the suspension as far back as early 2022 following Moscow’s initial invasion of Ukraine, the ministry told Interfax. Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry said domestic…
Viagra’s brand owner has suspended deliveries of the erectile dysfunction pill to Russia, the country’s Industry and Trade Ministry said Wednesday. The U.S. pharmaceutical corporation Viatris had notified Russia of the suspension as far back as early 2022 following Moscow’s initial invasion of Ukraine, the ministry told Interfax. Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry said domestic…
Viagra’s brand owner has suspended deliveries of the erectile dysfunction pill to Russia, the country’s Industry and Trade Ministry said Wednesday. The U.S. pharmaceutical corporation Viatris had notified Russia of the suspension as far back as early 2022 following Moscow’s initial invasion of Ukraine, the ministry told Interfax. Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry said domestic…
A Russian court has imposed a 40-year entry ban on a Chinese-American animal rights activist after she was jailed while walking a young cow near the Kremlin, the woman said Tuesday. Alisa Day, 34, was sentenced to 13 days of arrest earlier this month on charges of disobeying police orders after being detained with the calf…
Russia has held at least 6,000 children from Ukraine in camps aimed at re-education in what could constitute a war crime, a U.S. study said Tuesday. Since the start of the war nearly a year ago, children as young as four months have been taken to 43 camps across Russia, including in Moscow-annexed Crimea and Siberia, for…
A Russian court has sentenced a Siberian journalist and activist to six years in prison for spreading so-called “fake news” about the war in Ukraine. Maria Ponomarenko, a journalist for the RusNews outlet, was arrested in April for publishing information about the Russian bombing of a theater in southern Ukraine’s Mariupol. The Kremlin denies responsibility for…
The once publicity-averse founder of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has for the first time confirmed the widespread belief that he also founded the Internet Research Agency, better known as the network of troll farms used to push Kremlin propaganda narratives around the globe over the past decade. “I was never just a financier…
Dozens of damaged military vehicles with Russian markings could be seen scattered chaotically across a snow-covered field in footage released last week of a battlefield near the eastern Ukrainian mining town of Vuhledar, southwest of the Russian-held city of Donetsk. The hulls of some of the armored vehicles were covered in black soot from what…
The Russian governor of the city of Sevastopol in annexed Crimea has called on Russians not to celebrate Valentine’s Day on the grounds that the holiday is alien to the country’s traditions and was “imposed by the Western entertainment and consumption industry.” Instead, Mikhail Razvozzhayev suggested in a telegram post on Tuesday that people write…
A Russian airports operator has bought a stake in running an airport in northwestern Kazakhstan close to the Russo-Kazakh border. With its first foreign acquisition, Russia’s Airports of Regions company is hoping to develop the Oral airport as a regional hub, most likely to serve travelers affected by the shortage of flights out of Russia…
The European Union added Russia to its tax haven blacklist on Tuesday, the latest in a series of economic and diplomatic measures taken against Moscow since its invasion of Ukraine. In a statement, the bloc said Russia’s 2022 tax legislation had failed to allay concerns over its opaque treatment of the tax affairs of international holding companies. “In…
An elite Russian naval infantry unit made up of mostly mobilized troops has lost nearly all its troops in fighting near the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, Russian media reported Monday, citing one of the survivors. The 5,000-strong 155th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade has been “nearly destroyed” after up to 300 marines per day were killed…
Russia on Tuesday slapped down as “completely unfounded” accusations from Moldova that Moscow was plotting to violently overthrow the country’s pro-European leadership with the help of saboteurs. “Such claims are completely unfounded and unsubstantiated,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Moldova’s President Maia Sandu on Monday accused Russia of plotting her government’s overthrow. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has traveled to and from his residences on special armored trains using exclusively built stations since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine, according to new investigations by independent media. The reports’ authors link Putin’s choice of transportation to his apparent wish to avoid tracking services and his distrust of the presidential air…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has traveled to and from his residences on special armored trains using exclusively built stations since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine, according to new investigations by independent media. The reports’ authors link Putin’s choice of transportation to his apparent wish to avoid tracking services and his distrust of the presidential air…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has traveled to and from his residences on special armored trains using exclusively built stations since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine, according to new investigations by independent media. The reports’ authors link Putin’s choice of transportation to his apparent wish to avoid tracking services and his distrust of the presidential air…
A former Russian police general who had been in charge of cracking down on protesters has been found dead in an apparent suicide following his dismissal by President Vladimir Putin, state media reported. Major General Vladimir Makarov, 72, had helped oversee Russia’s crackdown on opposition activists in his role as deputy chief of the Russian…
A former Russian police general who had been in charge of cracking down on protesters has been found dead in an apparent suicide following his dismissal by President Vladimir Putin, state media reported. Major General Vladimir Makarov, 72, had helped oversee Russia’s crackdown on opposition activists in his role as deputy chief of the Russian…
A former Russian police general who had been in charge of cracking down on protesters has been found dead in an apparent suicide following his dismissal by President Vladimir Putin, state media reported. Major General Vladimir Makarov, 72, had helped oversee Russia’s crackdown on opposition activists in his role as deputy chief of the Russian…
A South Korean court on Tuesday granted two Russian asylum seekers who have been stranded at Incheon airport for months the right to apply for refugee status, allowing them to enter the country. The Incheon District Court rejected one other Russian national’s plea, without detailing the reasons for their decision. The three men, whose lawyer…
A South Korean court on Tuesday granted two Russian asylum seekers who have been stranded at Incheon airport for months the right to apply for refugee status, allowing them to enter the country. The Incheon District Court rejected one other Russian national’s plea, without detailing the reasons for their decision. The three men, whose lawyer…
A South Korean court on Tuesday granted two Russian asylum seekers who have been stranded at Incheon airport for months the right to apply for refugee status, allowing them to enter the country. The Incheon District Court rejected one other Russian national’s plea, without detailing the reasons for their decision. The three men, whose lawyer…
Hospitallers is one of the main organizations training and deploying volunteers to work as medics near the frontlines in Ukraine. Those who apply range from people with no medical experience who are given courses in basic first aid to fully qualified doctors. The organization has now trained over 800 volunteers from all over the world,…
Hospitallers is one of the main organizations training and deploying volunteers to work as medics near the frontlines in Ukraine. Those who apply range from people with no medical experience who are given courses in basic first aid to fully qualified doctors. The organization has now trained over 800 volunteers from all over the world,…
Russia announced on Monday that its gas exports plummeted by 25% in 2022 after the Ukraine conflict brought turmoil to Moscow’s ties with key buyers in Europe. The Kremlin’s decision to invade Ukraine in February last year was met with a flurry of sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe, despite the fact that…
Russia announced on Monday that its gas exports plummeted by 25% in 2022 after the Ukraine conflict brought turmoil to Moscow’s ties with key buyers in Europe. The Kremlin’s decision to invade Ukraine in February last year was met with a flurry of sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe, despite the fact that…
Russia announced on Monday that its gas exports plummeted by 25% in 2022 after the Ukraine conflict brought turmoil to Moscow’s ties with key buyers in Europe. The Kremlin’s decision to invade Ukraine in February last year was met with a flurry of sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe, despite the fact that…
The Russian authorities have placed popular blogger Nikolai Lebedev, who is more widely known by his TikTok handle Nekoglai, on its wanted person list. Though Russia’s Interior Ministry didn’t specify the criminal offense Lebedev is suspected of, his appearance on the list comes just days after the authorities opened a criminal libel case against him. Lebedev,…
The Russian authorities have placed popular blogger Nikolai Lebedev, who is more widely known by his TikTok handle Nekoglai, on its wanted person list. Though Russia’s Interior Ministry didn’t specify the criminal offense Lebedev is suspected of, his appearance on the list comes just days after the authorities opened a criminal libel case against him. Lebedev,…
Moldovan President Maia Sandu on Monday accused Russia of plotting to violently overthrow the country’s pro-European leadership with the help of saboteurs disguised as anti-government protesters. Moscow’s alleged plan would involve “saboteurs with military background, camouflaged in civilian clothes, to undertake violent actions, attacks on state institutions and taking hostages,” Sandu told journalists. Under the…
Russia’s state media watchdog has launched a tool to scrape the internet for banned content, the Vedomosti business daily reported Monday as the country presses onward with its wartime censorship efforts. The web crawler, dubbed Oculus, can detect videos and images of protesters, “positive depictions” of LGBTQ+ culture and memes criticizing President Vladimir Putin, according to…
A Wagner Group fighter who deserted in Ukraine was kidnapped and executed by fellow fighters, a Telegram channel with links to the Russian mercenary outfit claimed Monday, sharing video of the alleged killing. This is the second publicly shared video of a Wagner recruit’s apparent death by sledgehammer in recent months after its leader threatened extrajudicial…
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow has urged its citizens to leave Russia “immediately” due to a slew of security risks that include possible forced enlistment into the Russian army. “U.S. citizens residing or traveling in Russia should depart immediately,” the embassy said in a travel advisory Sunday. It pointed to the “unpredictable consequences” of Russia’s…
The leader of the Russian mercenary group Wagner claimed on Sunday that forces under his control had taken a village a few kilometers from the key city of Bakhmut, which Moscow has been trying to capture for months. “Today, Wagner’s assault units took the town of Krasna Hora,” Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a statement…
Orthodox priest Maxim Nagibin has been an outcast in his village in southern Russia since the sermon he gave at his local church, St. Michael the Archangel, during the Easter service where he condemned the Ukraine war as a “crime.” “I wanted to express my point of view for people to hear me, wanted to…