Russian Journalists in Africa Were Killed in ‘Robbery,’ Investigators Say

Three Russian journalists investigating a secretive Kremlin-linked military group in the Central African Republic (CAR) were killed in a robbery attempt, a senior Russian investigator said in an interview with the Kommersant business daily Monday. Kirill Radchenko, Alexander Rastorguyev and Orkhan Dzhemal were shot and killed on July 30, 2018, while investigating the activities of…

Finnish Court Rejects Russian Businessman Rotenberg’s Suit Against Nordic Banks

Boris Rotenberg, a Russian businessman under U.S. sanctions over the Ukraine conflict due to his close ties with President Vladimir Putin, on Monday lost a discrimination lawsuit he filed in a Finnish court against four Nordic banks. “Helsinki District Court has rejected Boris Rotenberg’s complaint over the right to banking services and damages for discrimination,” the…

Breakaway Georgian Region’s Leader Resigns Amid Election Protests

The leader of Georgia’s breakaway province of Abkhazia has resigned following days of protests contesting his victory in an election held last fall. After protesters stormed the government headquarters Thursday, Abkhazia’s lawmakers voted for President Raul Khadzhimba’s ouster and its supreme court reversed its earlier decision that upheld his re-election in September. Khadzhimba had led…

Russia’s Leading Human Rights Group Fined 21 Times for ‘Foreign Agent’ Violations

Since the late 1980s, Memorial has engaged in investigations of Soviet political repression. That work is becoming increasingly complicated. The organization has been repeatedly fined by Russian authorities for violations of the country’s so-called foreign agent law. The latest fine was issued on Dec. 9 as Memorial lost a case in Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court.…

Russian Missile System Suspected of Bringing Down Ukraine Airliner: Short Range, Fast and Deadly

Canada said on Thursday that a surface-to-air missile brought down a Ukrainian airliner in Tehran, while the Ukrainian government said it was investigating reports of debris from a Russian-made Tor-M1 missile. The Tor, also called the SA-15 Gauntlet by NATO, is a short-range “point defense” system that integrates the missile launcher and radar into a single…

Lawmakers Ask Pro-Russian Leader in Breakaway Georgian Region to Resign After Protests

A local legislature appealed on Thursday to the leader of the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia to stand down as crowds of demonstrators were contesting election results, Russian state media reported. The state-run TASS news agency said 19 lawmakers voted for the president’s resignation, four cast their vote against it, while one abstained from the voting.…

Russian Journals Retract Almost 900 Papers After Falsification Probe

Russian academic journals have retracted more than 850 papers after an Academy of Sciences (RAS) commission probe into questionable publication practices, the commission said this week. The commission had asked 541 journals last year to retract 2,528 academic articles suspected of unethical publication practices. These include plagiarism, self-plagiarism or “obscure authorship,” an instance when an…

Turkey, Russia Launch TurkStream Pipeline Carrying Gas to Europe

The presidents of Turkey and Russia on Wednesday formally launched the TurkStream pipeline which will carry Russian natural gas to southern Europe through Turkey, part of Moscow’s efforts to reduce shipments via Ukraine. The pipeline project, stretching 930 kilometers (580 miles) across the Black Sea, reinforces strong energy ties between Moscow and Ankara, which have also increased defense…

Russia Falls in 2020 World Passport Ranking

Russia slid to 51st place in a global ranking of passport holders who can travel to other countries without a prior visa, according to a quarterly index published Tuesday. The Henley & Partners residence and citizenship planning firm ranks the strength of 199 different passports based on the availability of visa-free or visa-on-arrival travel to…

Russian Orthodox Leader Rails Against ‘Foreign’ Domestic Violence Law

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill has accused lawmakers who seek to re-criminalize domestic abuse of “borrowing” the draft law, as well as the concept of domestic violence, from abroad.  Russia scrapped criminal punishments for first-time domestic abuse offenses in 2017. A series of high-profile murder and domestic violence cases has pushed lawmakers to begin work toward…

Russian Clinic Treated Mercenaries Injured in Secret Wars Abroad

A St. Petersburg clinic that is run and partly owned by people with ties to President Vladimir Putin has provided medical treatment to Russian mercenaries injured abroad, according to three people with knowledge of military contractors being treated, a clinic employee, a reporter’s witness account and company records. The previously unreported medical treatment for private military…

Putin and Macron Talk by Phone About Concerns Over U.S. Killing of Top Iranian General Soleimani – Kremlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron expressed their concerns in a phonecall over the U.S. killing of Iran’s Major-General Qassem Soleimani, according to a statement on the Kremlin’s website Friday evening. The U.S. early on Friday killed Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force and architect of Iran’s spreading military influence…

Putin and Macron Discuss Concerns Over U.S. Killing of Top Iranian General Soleimani – Kremlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron expressed their concerns in a phone call over the U.S. killing of Iran’s Major-General Qassem Soleimani, according to a statement on the Kremlin’s website Friday evening. The U.S. early on Friday killed Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force and architect of Iran’s spreading military…

Russian Senator Calls U.S. Killing of Top Iranian General ‘Worst Case Scenario,’ Expects New U.S.-Iran Clashes

Russian Senator Konstantin Kosachev has called the U.S. killing of a key Iranian military commander “the worst-case scenario,” and said he believed that Iranian retribution “will not take long,” while Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the world is now “confronted with a new reality.” The U.S. early on Friday killed Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of…

Kyiv Post: Moscow Says it Issued Nearly 200,000 Russian Passports in Ukraine’s Donbass

Eight months after simplifying the procedure of acquiring a Russian passport for residents of Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region, Russia announced that it has granted over 196,000 citizenships to Ukrainians. The figures came from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Russian TASS news agency reported on Jan. 1. Moscow says it is protecting the Russian-speaking…