Russian Defense Minister Says Robots, AI Key to Defeating West

Russia’s Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said Monday that developing artificial intelligence, robots and drones is crucial for ensuring Moscow’s victory in its ongoing confrontation with the West. Referring to the invasion of Ukraine as an “armed confrontation between Russia and the collective West,” Belousov outlined four “simultaneous conditions for success in modern military conflicts.” In…

Russia Blocks Signal Messenger For ‘Violating’ Country’s Legislation

Russia has blocked the Signal messaging app for alleged “violations” of the country’s legislation, state media regulator Roskomnadzor told the RBC business daily on Friday. The messenger was restricted “due to violations of the requirements of Russian legislation, compliance with which is necessary to prevent the use of the messenger for terrorist and extremist purposes,”…

Is the Western Quest to Strangle Russia’s ‘Shadow Fleet’ Doomed to Fail?

Despite the EU’s partial embargo on Russian oil and some European countries’ ban on Russian gas purchases, the Kremlin’s fossil fuel revenues show resilience, prompting further soul-searching among Ukraine’s allies on the future course of action. Russia weathers the sanctions storm  Over two years into the invasion of Ukraine, sanctioning Russia’s energy sector — the…

Pro-War Bloggers Slam Military Command Over Destroyed Russian Column in Kursk

Russian pro-war military bloggers are criticizing Russia’s military leadership after a video circulating online appeared to show a Russian military convoy destroyed by Ukrainian shelling in the Kursk region. The footage shows damaged military trucks with what appear to be the burned bodies of Russian military personnel who were reportedly sent to the Kursk region as reinforcements…

Russia Sends Reinforcements to Embattled Border Region

The Russian military deployed additional forces to fight invading Ukrainian troops in the southwestern Kursk region, Defense Ministry-affiliated media reported Friday. The Zvezda broadcaster shared videos of several army trucks and other military vehicles on a highway crossing into the Kursk region. “The marching columns include [BM-21] Grad multiple rocket launcher combat vehicles, tanks transported…

Tycoon Deripaska Slams Russia’s Spending on ‘Mad’ Invasion of Ukraine

Western-sanctioned Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska repeated his calls for a Russian-Ukrainian ceasefire and slammed Moscow’s war spending in an interview with Japanese media published Thursday. “If you want to stop the war, first you need to stop the fire,” Deripaska told Japan’s The Nikkei daily, calling for an “immediate, unconditional ceasefire.” The publication said Deripaska criticized…

Putin Seethes as Ukraine’s Shock Incursion Catches Leadership By Surprise

This article was first published by Politika.Kozlov. Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk and Lipetsk border regions has stunned the Russian military and come as a “slap in the face” to President Vladimir Putin personally, four Russian officials told Politika.Kozlov.  The ongoing offensive, which Russia has failed to repel for three days, has exposed Russia’s territorial…

Ukraine Says Attacked Military Air Base in Russia’s Lipetsk Region

Ukraine’s military said early Friday that it hit a Russian airfield in the Lipetsk region in an overnight strike that destroyed ammunition warehouses. “Last night, the Ukrainian Defence Forces attacked the Lipetsk airfield,” Ukraine’s General Staff said, adding that they struck “warehouses with guided aerial bombs and a number of other facilities.” The overnight attack…

Putin Signs Law Banning Foreign State-Funded Orgs as ‘Undesirable’

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a law expanding legislation on “undesirable” organizations to include state-sponsored entities in addition to non-governmental organizations. Since introducing their “undesirable” list in 2015 to crack down on foreign-funded NGOs, Russian authorities have expanded the law to target independent news outlets, human rights groups, environmental organizations and educational institutions. Under the…

Widespread YouTube Outages Reported Across Russia

Users across Russia reported widespread outages of YouTube on Thursday, just weeks after Russian authorities criticized the video streaming platform for what they described as anti-Kremlin actions. The online monitoring service Sboi.rf reported receiving around 12,000 complaints about YouTube within a 10-minute period. Downdetector, another outage tracking service, reported that three-quarters of the complaints it…

Prosecutors Seek 15-Year Sentence for U.S.-Russian Woman Accused of Treason

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…

Russian Customs Authorities Seize ‘Banned’ Zelensky Biography

Russian customs authorities seized Time correspondent Simon Shuster’s bestselling biography of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at an airport in Moscow, state media reported Wednesday. Expertise carried out at Sheremetyevo International Airport determined that Shuster’s “The Showman” is banned from crossing the customs border of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union, according to the RIA Novosti news…

Putin Blasts ‘Indiscriminate’ Ukrainian Incursion Into Border Region

President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Ukraine was carrying out “indiscriminate” attacks on civilians during cross-border incursions into southwestern Russia’s Kursk region that triggered a regionwide state of emergency. “The Kyiv regime has launched another large-scale provocation, firing indiscriminately with various types of weapons, including rockets, at civilian buildings, houses and ambulances,” Putin told government…

‘Why Did Our State Allow This?’: Russians in Border Region Slam Officials’ Inaction as Ukrainian Forces Attack

Residents of Russia’s Kursk region bordering Ukraine are appealing to authorities for help with evacuating and accusing them of taking insufficient action as an apparent attack by Kyiv’s forces continued for a second day. While armed militants from Ukraine have conducted multiple incursions into Russia’s border regions since last year in retaliation to Moscow’s full-scale invasion…

Russian Foreign Ministry Accuses Ukraine of Opening ‘Second Front’ in Africa

Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman on Wednesday accused Ukraine of opening a “second front” in Africa after Mali and Niger broke off diplomatic relations with Kyiv. “Unable to defeat Russia on the battlefield, the criminal regime of Volodymyr Zelensky has opened a second front in Africa,” spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the RIA Novosti news agency. Zakharova…

Russian Ex-Defense Ministry Official Arrested on Bribery Charges

A former Russian military official responsible for overseeing clothing supplies was arrested on bribery charges, law enforcement authorities announced Tuesday. Vladimir Demchik, who holds the rank of colonel in Russia’s reserve forces, oversaw the defense ministry’s clothing department until April 2018. Investigators accuse Demchik of accepting 4 million rubles ($46,700) in bribes from the CEO…

Man Blows Himself Up at Home in Moscow

A man was killed by an explosion inside his apartment on the west side of Moscow, police said Tuesday, with state media reporting that he was a retired soldier who had shown suicidal tendencies in the past. “A woman found her husband lying dead in the apartment of a residential building,” the Russian Interior Ministry’s…

Ukrainian Drone Strike on Russia’s Belgorod Region Kills 1

A man was killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on southwestern Russia’s Belgorod region, authorities said early Tuesday. Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the attack took place in the village of Novostroyevka-Vtoraya, which lies directly on the border with northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.  “A Ukrainian military drone struck a moving vehicle,” Gladkov said, adding that…

Head of Russian Army’s Theme Park, Major General Arrested on Fraud Charges

The head of the Russian military’s theme park and a senior defense ministry official were arrested for allegedly embezzling public funds, law enforcement authorities said Monday, the latest detentions in a growing military purge that began earlier this year. Investigators said Patriot Park director Vyacheslav Akhmedov and Major General Vladimir Shesterov were “involved in the…

Police in St. Petersburg Crack Down on Noisy Cars

Police in St. Petersburg have begun pressing administrative charges against drivers whose vehicles are excessively loud. Local law enforcement officials said Monday that they will give motorists 10 days to “return the technical condition of their vehicle to factory settings,” otherwise the vehicle’s registration will be canceled and the owner may risk losing their driving…

Russia’s FSB Says Arrested Recruiters for Syrian Terrorist Network

Russian law enforcement officials said Monday that they arrested two “religious figures” in the Tyumen region who are suspected of recruiting people for terrorist organizations based in Syria. The Federal Security Service (FSB) said its agents “disrupted an international terrorist organization’s resource channel” in cooperation with police and investigators. The two arrested men recruited 19…