Category: another

  • Ex-Siberian Governor Appointed Senator After Son’s Escape from Italian House Arrest

    Ex-Siberian Governor Appointed Senator After Son’s Escape from Italian House Arrest

    The father of a Russian businessman wanted by the United States for smuggling U.S. military technology has been appointed as senator of a Siberian region that he governed for almost six years, state-run media reported Thursday. Alexander Uss, 68, stepped down as governor of the Krasnoyarsk region in April, one month after his son Artyom fled house […]

  • West Rejects Russia’s Extradition Requests Over ‘Politics’ – Reports

    West Rejects Russia’s Extradition Requests Over ‘Politics’ – Reports

    Western law enforcement agencies have rejected Russian extradition and legal assistance requests for “political” reasons this year, the Kommersant business daily reported Thursday, as bilateral legal cooperation continues to deteriorate more than a year into Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. European countries rejected 46 Russian extradition requests in January-May 2023, the publication cited Russia’s General Prosecutor’s Office […]

  • Putin Postpones Call-In Over Ukraine Counteroffensive – Kommersant

    Putin Postpones Call-In Over Ukraine Counteroffensive – Kommersant

    President Vladimir Putin’s traditional televised call-in show has been delayed because of worries about the military situation in Ukraine where Kyiv’s forces are expected to mount a major counteroffensive, Russia’s Kommersant business daily reported Thursday. This is the second consecutive year that the setpiece event, where ordinary citizens ask the Russian leader to solve their daily […]

  • Ukraine Dam’s Destruction Increases Mines Threat: Red Cross

    Ukraine Dam’s Destruction Increases Mines Threat: Red Cross

    The destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine will have a catastrophic effect on locating landmines in the affected region, the Red Cross warned Wednesday. “We knew where the hazards were,” said Erik Tollefsen, head of the Weapon Contamination Unit at the International Committee of the Red Cross. “Now we don’t know. “All we know […]

  • Belarus Pardons Russian Woman Pulled Off EU Flight

    Belarus Pardons Russian Woman Pulled Off EU Flight

    Belarus has pardoned Sofia Sapega, the Russian ex-girlfriend of Belarusian dissident journalist Roman Protasevich, the state-run Belta news agency reported Wednesday. Sapega and her then-boyfriend Protasevich were detained in May 2021 when their Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius was forcibly diverted in Minsk, with Belarusian authorities citing a bomb threat.  The 25-year-old law student […]

  • Foreigners Stranded in Russia’s Remote Far East as U.S.-Bound Flight Makes Emergency Landing

    Foreigners Stranded in Russia’s Remote Far East as U.S.-Bound Flight Makes Emergency Landing

    An Air India flight from New Delhi to San Francisco on Tuesday was forced to make an emergency landing in the Far East Russian city of Magadan due to an engine malfunction. After disembarking, the flight’s passengers — most of whom are likely citizens of India and the U.S. — found themselves stranded in a […]

  • Former Members of Youth Activist Group Arrested Across Russia

    Former Members of Youth Activist Group Arrested Across Russia

    Russian law enforcement officials arrested six former and current members of the democratic youth organization Vesna on charges of “extremism,” state-run media outlets reported Wednesday. The individuals — who were detained in various cities across Russia — are accused of “forming an extremist organization.” “All of those arrested were taken to Moscow. Before that, their […]

  • Putin Orders Free Land Handouts for Ukraine War Veterans

    Putin Orders Free Land Handouts for Ukraine War Veterans

    Regional authorities in Russia have been tasked with distributing free plots of land to veterans of Moscow’s war against Ukraine, according to a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. Those eligible to receive land include combat veterans, as well as military personnel, volunteer fighters, and employees of the Russian National Guard who have […]

  • Russia Blames Ukraine for Key Ammonia Pipeline Detonation

    Russia Blames Ukraine for Key Ammonia Pipeline Detonation

    Moscow said Wednesday that a Ukrainian “sabotage” group had blown up the Tolyatti-Odesa pipeline that Russia used to export ammonia before the start of its 15-month offensive. “A Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group blew up the Tolyatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline” near the village of Masyutovka in the northeastern Kharkiv region on Monday evening, the Russian Defense […]

  • Blackouts in Russian Border Region After Drone Strikes – Governor

    Blackouts in Russian Border Region After Drone Strikes – Governor

    Overnight drone strikes on a power station across the state border have caused blackouts in two Russian villages, the regional governor said Wednesday amid an intensifying spate of cross-border attacks. Roman Starovoit, the governor of Russia’s Kursk region, said Ukrainian forces dropped two explosives on a substation in the village of Popovo-Lezhachi 4 kilometers east of […]

  • Norway Rescues Russian By Helicopter Near North Pole

    Norway Rescues Russian By Helicopter Near North Pole

    Norway rescued a Russian in need of emergency medical assistance on board a scientific vessel stuck in ice near the North Pole in a spectacular helicopter operation, its rescue services said Wednesday. The evacuation took place on Tuesday evening from the Russian ship Severny Polyus (North Pole), located at the 86th parallel north, above Norway’s […]

  • Russia Detains Suspected Ukraine Spy in Far East

    Russia Detains Suspected Ukraine Spy in Far East

    Russia’s domestic intelligence agency has arrested a resident of the country’s Far East on suspicion of spying for Ukraine, the state-run TASS news agency reported Wednesday. “Acting on the instructions of the Ukrainian military intelligence, the Primorye region resident collected and transmitted information about the region’s law enforcement agencies and military infrastructure,” the Federal Security Service […]

  • Plaques Commemorating Gulag Victims Disappear Around Moscow

    Plaques Commemorating Gulag Victims Disappear Around Moscow

    Plaques honoring the victims of the Soviet gulag forced labor camps have started to disappear from buildings across Moscow, the Kommersant business daily reported Wednesday. The palm-sized plaques first started appearing on building facades as part of a non-government-affiliated memorial project called Last Address in 2015. They feature the gulag victims’ names, occupations and birth and […]

  • China Trade With Russia Hits Highest Level Since Start of Ukraine War

    China Trade With Russia Hits Highest Level Since Start of Ukraine War

    China’s total trade with Russia in May soared to levels not seen since the beginning of Moscow’s war in Ukraine, official data showed Wednesday, as Beijing steps up support for its sanctions-hit ally. Trade between the two countries last month was worth $20.5 billion, data from Beijing showed, with Chinese imports from Russia worth $11.3 […]

  • Ukraine Nuke Plant Safe for Now After Dam Break – IAEA

    Ukraine Nuke Plant Safe for Now After Dam Break – IAEA

    Ukraine’s dam break is posing “no short-term risk” to Europe’s biggest atomic plant, despite falling water levels in a reservoir used to cool its reactors, according to the UN nuclear watchdog agency. Ukraine’s Kakhovka hydroelectric dam was breached on Tuesday following an attack that Moscow and Kyiv have blamed on each other. The Kakhovka dam […]

  • Ukraine Dam Destruction a ‘Consequence’ of Russian Invasion: UN Chief

    Ukraine Dam Destruction a ‘Consequence’ of Russian Invasion: UN Chief

    United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that the partial destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine was “another devastating consequence” of Russia’s invasion of its neighbor. An attack on the major Russian-held dam in southern Ukraine unleashed a torrent of water that flooded a small city, inundated two dozen villages and sparked the evacuation […]

  • Ukraine Nuke Plant Safety at Stake After Dam Damage

    Ukraine Nuke Plant Safety at Stake After Dam Damage

    While there is “no immediate nuclear safety risk,” the UN nuclear watchdog is exploring options to get water to keep cooling Europe’s biggest atomic plant after a dam in southern Ukraine was damaged on Tuesday. Moscow and Kyiv have blamed each other for the damage at the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, which has led to thousands […]

  • Finland to Expel 9 Russian Embassy Staff for ‘Intelligence’ Activities

    Finland to Expel 9 Russian Embassy Staff for ‘Intelligence’ Activities

    NATO’s newest member Finland on Tuesday said it would expel nine diplomats working at the Russian embassy in Helsinki for acting in an “intelligence capacity.” “Finland will expel nine people working in the Russian embassy who have been acting in an intelligence capacity,” the government said in a statement. It added that the “activities are […]

  • Russian Defense Ministry Says ‘Thwarted’ Ukrainian Counteroffensive

    Russian Defense Ministry Says ‘Thwarted’ Ukrainian Counteroffensive

    Russia claimed Tuesday that it had repelled Kyiv’s long-anticipated counteroffensive in eastern Ukraine after three days of fighting, Russian state-run media reported. “For three days, the Ukrainian regime has launched a long-promised offensive at different points along the frontlines,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said. “The offensive attempts were thwarted, the enemy was stopped, Russian […]

  • World Bank Lifts Russia Growth Forecast on Resilient Energy Exports

    World Bank Lifts Russia Growth Forecast on Resilient Energy Exports

    The World Bank has significantly improved its outlook for the Russian economy this year due to stronger-than-expected revenues from energy exports to countries including India and China. The Russian economy is now forecast to contract only slightly in 2023, the bank said in a semi-annual report on the global economy published Tuesday, marking a sharp […]

  • Explainer: What the Kakhovka Dam Catastrophe Means For the Ukraine-Russia War

    Explainer: What the Kakhovka Dam Catastrophe Means For the Ukraine-Russia War

    A Russian-controlled dam near the frontline that supplies southern Ukraine and annexed Crimea with drinking water was significantly damaged early Tuesday, flooding the area and potentially threatening the nearby nuclear power plant. The damage to the Kakhovka dam unleashed a torrent of water that flooded a small city and two dozen villages, sparking the evacuation of […]

  • Russia Sentences Crimean Performance Artist to 15 Years in Prison

    Russia Sentences Crimean Performance Artist to 15 Years in Prison

    A court in southern Russia on Tuesday sentenced a Crimean performance artist to 15 years in a penal colony, the Ukrainian Telegram channel Grati reported.  Bohdan Ziza was arrested in May 2022 after he splashed paint in the colors of the Ukrainian flag on the door of the Yevpatoria city administration building in Russian-annexed Crimea. He […]

  • China, Russia Conduct Air Patrol Over Sea of Japan, East China Sea

    China, Russia Conduct Air Patrol Over Sea of Japan, East China Sea

    China and Russia conducted joint air force patrols over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea on Tuesday, as South Korea said it had deployed fighter jets in response to warplanes near its airspace. Beijing and Moscow “staged the sixth joint aerial patrol in accordance with an annual military cooperation plan between China […]

  • Belarus Sentences Activist Extradited From Russia to 12 Years in Prison

    Belarus Sentences Activist Extradited From Russia to 12 Years in Prison

    A Belarusian activist who was extradited from Russia has been sentenced to 12 years in prison on multiple charges linked to protests against the re-election of Belarus’ strongman leader, a group of her supporters reported Tuesday. Yana Pinchuk, who lived in Russia since 2018, was detained on Minsk’s request in the Russian city of St. Petersburg […]

  • European Court Condemns Russia Over Navalny 2020 Poisoning

    European Court Condemns Russia Over Navalny 2020 Poisoning

    The European Court of Human Rights Tuesday condemned Russia for failing to properly investigate the 2020 poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny which the West says was an assassination bid. The Strasbourg-based ECHR said Russia had notably failed “to explore the allegations of a possible political motive for the attempted murder, as well as possible […]

  • Russia Claims Arrests in Ukrainian ‘Dirty Bomb’ Plot

    Russia Claims Arrests in Ukrainian ‘Dirty Bomb’ Plot

    Russia’s domestic intelligence agency has made arrests in connection with alleged Ukrainian plans to drop “dirty bombs” on Russian energy facilities, state media reported Tuesday. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said two “pilots” of unknown nationality have been detained and “confessed to the committed and planned terrorist acts,” according to the state-run TASS news agency. […]

  • Flooding in Ukraine’s Kherson Region After Critical Dam Destroyed

    Flooding in Ukraine’s Kherson Region After Critical Dam Destroyed

    A Russian-controlled dam near the frontline that supplies southern Ukraine and annexed Crimea with drinking water was significantly damaged early Tuesday, prompting evacuations of 17,000 people and threatening the nearby nuclear power plant. Drone footage originally published by pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian bloggers showed the broken Kakhovka dam with water flowing freely downstream. The 30-meter-tall, 3.2-kilometer-long Kakhovka […]

  • Zelensky Hails Advances as Russia Says Offensive Repelled

    Zelensky Hails Advances as Russia Says Offensive Repelled

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday praised his troops for advances claimed near the devastated city of Bakhmut, while Russia said it had repelled a large-scale attack. The contrasting claims came as Pope Francis’s peace envoy, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, arrived in Kyiv for two days of talks. “Well done, warriors! We see how hysterically […]

  • Radio Waves Air Fake Putin ‘State of Emergency’ Address

    Radio Waves Air Fake Putin ‘State of Emergency’ Address

    Radio stations in multiple Russian regions bordering Ukraine on Monday aired a fake “state of emergency” announcement featuring a voice resembling that of President Vladimir Putin, in what the authorities have called a hacking operation. In the fake address — which was aired on radio stations in the Belgorod, Voronezh and Rostov regions — what […]

  • Looting Reported in Belgorod Region Amid Shelling, Evacuation

    Looting Reported in Belgorod Region Amid Shelling, Evacuation

    A regularly bombarded Russian town on the Ukrainian border has reported a wave of looting after local authorities called on residents to leave their homes due to intensified shelling attacks, the RBC news site reported Monday, citing a local ambulance station. “A plastic window was broken in the technical room” in the town of Shebekino’s ambulance […]

  • Ukraine Operates Sabotage Cells, Smuggles Drones in Russia – CNN

    Ukraine Operates Sabotage Cells, Smuggles Drones in Russia – CNN

    Kyiv has cultivated sabotage cells inside Russia and has started supplying them with Ukrainian-made drones, CNN reported Monday, citing multiple unnamed sources familiar with U.S. intelligence. The noticeable increase in drone attacks on Russian soil — starting with an early May strike on the Kremlin — is likely “a culmination of months” of work, one […]

  • $1.7M Contract Shows Iran-Russia Ammo Deal – Sky News

    $1.7M Contract Shows Iran-Russia Ammo Deal – Sky News

    An arms contract signed last fall claims to show Iranian ammunition supplies to Russia, Sky News reported Monday, citing an unnamed informed source. If confirmed as authentic, the contract offers direct evidence of Western accusations that Iran has supplied Russia with ammunition amid its offensive on Ukraine. Tehran has repeatedly denied selling arms and ammunition […]

  • Russia Buys Back Military Parts Exported to Asia

    Russia Buys Back Military Parts Exported to Asia

    Russia is reimporting parts for tanks and missiles previously sold to India and Myanmar, potentially to improve older weapons and equipment destined for use in Ukraine, the financial news outlet Nikkei Asia reported Monday.  According to customs clearance data analyzed by journalists, Russian defense industry manufacturers have been buying back equipment that they had previously […]

  • Russian Investors Offered to Join Lawsuit Seeking to Unfreeze EU Funds – Vedomosti

    Russian Investors Offered to Join Lawsuit Seeking to Unfreeze EU Funds – Vedomosti

    A Russian law firm has announced a class-action lawsuit against European securities settlement houses in Russian courts to recover funds that were frozen over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Vedomosti business daily reported Monday. EU sanctions on Russia’s National Settlement Depository (NSD) and other Western measures have cut off many Russian investors’ assets held in […]

  • Wagner Captures Russian Soldier Accused of Firing on Its Positions

    Wagner Captures Russian Soldier Accused of Firing on Its Positions

    Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has captured a Russian officer accused of firing at its positions during the battle for Bakhmut last month, the private military outfit said Sunday in the most dramatic account yet of internecine clashes during Russia’s offensive on Ukraine. An interrogation video showed Lieutenant Colonel Roman Venevitin, commander of the Russian Ground […]

  • Russia Says Repelled ‘Large-Scale’ Ukraine Offensive in Donetsk

    Russia Says Repelled ‘Large-Scale’ Ukraine Offensive in Donetsk

    Russia’s military said Monday it had repelled “a large-scale offensive” by Ukrainian forces in Moscow-annexed Donetsk, as fighting intensified along their border. Kyiv has for months said it is preparing a major counteroffensive, hoping to reclaim territory lost since Russia launched its military operation in February 2022.  Its army said recently there would be no […]

  • Navalny Supporters Rally in Russia, Worldwide on Jailed Kremlin Critic’s Birthday

    Navalny Supporters Rally in Russia, Worldwide on Jailed Kremlin Critic’s Birthday

    AMSTERDAM – Thousands of Russians in more than 100 cities — from Tokyo and Milan to Tel Aviv and Sydney — took part in Sunday demonstrations in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny as he celebrated his third birthday since being imprisoned. In Amsterdam, hundreds gathered at the Museumplein park in the city center, with activists […]

  • Kremlin Critic Navalny in ‘Good Mood’ on Third Birthday Behind Bars

    Kremlin Critic Navalny in ‘Good Mood’ on Third Birthday Behind Bars

    Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny said Sunday he was in good spirits on his third birthday behind bars, despite tougher prison conditions and yet another spell in solitary confinement. It came as police arrested at least 45 people taking part in pro-Navalny demonstrations in Russian cities — including Moscow and St. Petersburg — on Sunday, […]

  • Russia Urges Border District To Evacuate Amid Ukraine Shelling

    Russia Urges Border District To Evacuate Amid Ukraine Shelling

    Russian authorities on Sunday called on residents of an area on the Ukraine border to leave their homes as Ukrainian shelling intensified this week.  The district of Shebekino in the southwestern Belgorod region on the Ukraine border has been hit by daily shelling, killing several civilians and forcing villagers to flee.  The governor of the […]

  • Strike Kills Girl, Injures 22 in Dnipro – Ukraine Officials

    Strike Kills Girl, Injures 22 in Dnipro – Ukraine Officials

    An airstrike hit a residential district in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, killing a two-year-old girl and injuring 22 others, officials said Sunday. The attack, which President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed on Russia, partially destroyed a pair of two-storey buildings as well as 10 private homes, a shop and a gas pipeline, according to the region’s […]

  • Two Killed in Shelling of Russian Region on Ukraine Border

    Two Killed in Shelling of Russian Region on Ukraine Border

    Ukrainian shelling killed two people on Saturday in Russia’s Belgorod, a border region that has been hit by repeated attacks this week, the local governor said.  Belgorod border villages have been hit by unprecedented shelling, and the latest deaths bring the overall toll to seven this week.  “Since this morning, the district of Shebekino has […]

  • Wagner Says Ready to Defend Russia’s Border Region

    Wagner Says Ready to Defend Russia’s Border Region

    The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group said Saturday that he was ready to send fighters to the Russian Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine and has come under intense shelling.  Thousands have fled villages in southwestern Belgorod after days of attacks that came after an armed incursion from Ukraine.  Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has been […]

  • Moldova Looks Westward Amid Pressures of Ukraine War

    Moldova Looks Westward Amid Pressures of Ukraine War

    CHISINAU — An estimated 80,000 people packed into the center of the Moldovan capital last month for the largest pro-European Union gathering in years as the ties binding this tiny eastern European country  to Russia fray amid the war in Ukraine.  EU, NATO and Moldovan flags were visible all over Chisinau’s Great National Assembly Square […]

  • Russian Border Region Residents Flee as Shelling Kills 4

    Russian Border Region Residents Flee as Shelling Kills 4

    Four civilians were killed on Friday in shelling on Russia’s Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, a local official said, while Moscow’s forces attacked Kyiv for a sixth day in a row. Over the past few days, thousands of residents have fled villages near Russia’s southwestern border as shelling has intensified.  Residents from the town of Shebekino, […]

  • France to Sell Late Putin Opponent’s Riviera Chateau

    France to Sell Late Putin Opponent’s Riviera Chateau

    French authorities have put up for sale a luxurious multi-million-euro chateau seized from the Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky who died in 2013 and was a sworn opponent of President Vladimir Putin, the agency handling confiscated assets said Friday. Berezovsky acquired the Chateau de la Garoupe on the Cote d’Azur in the 1990s while post-Soviet Russia’s […]

  • Russia To Suspend LPG Exports From Southern Port Over Drone Attacks

    Russia To Suspend LPG Exports From Southern Port Over Drone Attacks

    A port in southern Russia will suspend exports of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) — a highly explosive substance — due to an increased number of attacks on areas bordering Ukraine, Reuters reported Friday, citing insider sources.  Taman, a port in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, is located near the annexed Crimean peninsula. Its transshipment complex has a […]

  • Despair and Uncertainty for Russian Refugees Fleeing Attacked Border Regions

    Despair and Uncertainty for Russian Refugees Fleeing Attacked Border Regions

    Refugees from Russian border regions fleeing intensifying cross-border shelling and Ukrainian-backed incursions in recent days expressed despair at their future and anger toward officials in interviews with The Moscow Times. “We have nowhere to go, we have nothing to live for, we don’t know what is waiting for us. People are running away in panic,” […]

  • Russian Border Region Spends Big on Mass Entertainment Amid Shelling Attacks 

    Russian Border Region Spends Big on Mass Entertainment Amid Shelling Attacks 

    Authorities in Russia’s Belgorod region — a target of frequent shelling attacks — spent nearly four times as much on public entertainment this year than on civil defense, the Mozhem Obyasnit’ Telegram news channel reported Friday.  Ukraine-bordering districts of the Belgorod region experienced repeated shelling and drone attacks since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, […]

  • Kremlin to Build Bomb Shelter in Elite Moscow Hospital

    Kremlin to Build Bomb Shelter in Elite Moscow Hospital

    The Kremlin has signed a deal to build a bomb shelter on the grounds of Moscow’s most elite hospital days after unprecedented drone strikes on the Russian capital, according to a procurement contract cited by The Moscow Times’ Russian-language service. The 800-person bunker for VIP patients and personnel is expected to be constructed at the […]

  • 2 Killed in Shelling on Russia’s Belgorod Region – Governor

    2 Killed in Shelling on Russia’s Belgorod Region – Governor

    Two women were killed and two others seriously wounded in a shelling attack on the Russian border region of Belgorod, the region’s governor said. “The Armed Forces of Ukraine fired at a road in the village of Maslova Pristan in the Shebekino district. Shell fragments hit cars passing by. Two women traveling in one of […]

  • Ukraine Says Downed All Missiles, Drones in New Attacks on Kyiv

    Ukraine Says Downed All Missiles, Drones in New Attacks on Kyiv

    Ukraine said Friday it destroyed all 15 missiles and 21 drones from a new wave of overnight attacks that left two people wounded in Kyiv. “The occupiers don’t stop trying to terrorize the capital of Ukraine with attack drones and missiles,” the air force said. “All 15 cruise missiles and 21 attack drones were destroyed,” […]

  • Drones Strike Russian Oil and Gas Facilities, Ukraine Border Regions

    Drones Strike Russian Oil and Gas Facilities, Ukraine Border Regions

    At least two oil and gas facilities were targeted in overnight drone strikes in western Russia, officials said Friday amid intensifying drone attacks across Russian regions near the border with Ukraine. “Two long-range drones attacked fuel and energy complex objects at about 3 a.m.,” said Vasily Anohin, the acting governor of the Smolensk region near […]

  • Russian Oilfield Service Sees Record Revenue in 2022 – Vedomosti

    Russian Oilfield Service Sees Record Revenue in 2022 – Vedomosti

    Russian oilfield service companies earned record revenues in 2022 after major foreign players exited the market due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Vedomosti newspaper reported Friday. According to data from Kasaktin Consulting cited by Vedomosti, Russian oilfield services earned 1.79 trillion rubles ($22.2 billion) in 2022, the highest figure since at least 2018. The international presence […]

  • War Disrupts Ukrainian-Russian Mafia Bond

    War Disrupts Ukrainian-Russian Mafia Bond

    Sitting at a cafe in the Ukrainian port of Odesa, a local smuggler drew on his cigarette as he explained how the war has disrupted long-established underworld ties between Russia and Ukraine. “The vast majority of Ukrainian criminals took the side of Ukraine,” said 59-year-old Kirim, who spoke on condition that he be given a […]

  • Faroe Islands Restrict Russian Access to Its Ports

    Faroe Islands Restrict Russian Access to Its Ports

    Denmark’s autonomous Faroe Islands said Thursday Russian access to its North Atlantic ports would be restricted to vessels dedicated exclusively to fishing, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Only fishing vessels exclusively conducting fisheries under the bilateral agreement between the Faroe Islands and Russia will be allowed to enter Faroese ports,” the government said. “The activities of […]

  • Russia Says Former Bolshevik Party Leader Behind Pro-War Blogger’s Murder

    Russia Says Former Bolshevik Party Leader Behind Pro-War Blogger’s Murder

    Russian investigative authorities on Thursday named Roman Popkov, a journalist and former leader of the radical leftist National Bolshevik Party, as the organizer of a prominent pro-war blogger’s assassination.  Vladlen Tatarsky, a vocal supporter of the invasion of Ukraine, was killed in a bomb blast after being gifted a golden figurine containing an explosive device […]

  • Russia Fines WhatsApp for Failing to Delete Content

    Russia Fines WhatsApp for Failing to Delete Content

    A Russian court imposed a fine on U.S. messenger service WhatsApp on Thursday for failing to delete banned content. The 3-million-ruble ($37,000) fine was the first imposed on WhatsApp for such an offense. WhatsApp’s parent company, Meta, was banned and branded “extremist” by Russian authorities last year. Meta’s other platforms, Facebook and Instagram, were blocked […]

  • Kremlin Officials Continue to Use iPhones Despite U.S. Espionage Fears

    Kremlin Officials Continue to Use iPhones Despite U.S. Espionage Fears

    As many as 30% of employees in the Russian presidential administration continue to use iPhones for personal communication, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday. Peskov’s comments came after Russia’s Federal Security Services (FSB) announced that it had detected “anomalies” in some iPhones in Russia caused by “malicious software” that it linked to “surveillance operations by American […]

  • Wagner Head Prigozhin’s Past Life as a Children’s Author and Illustrator

    Wagner Head Prigozhin’s Past Life as a Children’s Author and Illustrator

    The leader of Russia’s notorious Wagner mercenary group who served nine years in prison for theft, interfered in U.S. elections and has been accused of war crimes in Ukraine is not someone usually associated with children’s literature. Yet almost 20 years ago, Yevgeny Prigozhin — commonly known as “Putin’s chef” because he rose to prominence […]

  • Putin’s Daughters, Ex-Wife Own Property via Offshore Firms – Investigation

    Putin’s Daughters, Ex-Wife Own Property via Offshore Firms – Investigation

    President Vladimir Putin had used a web of offshore companies to hand out homes near his residence outside Moscow to his ex-wife and daughters, the investigative outlet Proekt reported Thursday. The media investigation is based on the emails of Putin’s former son-in-law Krill Shamalov that had been obtained through a massive data breach by other investigative outlets […]