The U.S. Treasury Department declared Russia’s shadowy Wagner Group a “transnational criminal organization” and imposed fresh sanctions on several other Russian political and business figures, according to a statement released on Thursday. “Today’s expanded sanctions on Wagner, as well as new sanctions on their associates and other companies enabling the Russian military complex, will further impede Putin’s…
Russian and international human rights activists on Thursday condemned the dissolution of the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG), Russia’s oldest independent human rights organization after it was ordered to close by a Moscow court the day before. “The shutdown of the organization is the final nail in the coffin in the destruction of the human rights…
Updates with Timchenko comments Russia’s General Prosecutor’s Office has added the independent news outlet Meduza to the country’s list of “undesirable” organizations, a sanction designed to force entities to disband and which puts its staff and financial donors at risk of significant jail time. The General Prosecutor’s Office said on Thursday that it believed the…
Uzbekistan will import natural gas from Russia for the first time ever as the Central Asian country faces an energy crisis, the authorities in Tashkent announced on Thursday. Despite being home to a wealth of natural resources, including gas, Uzbekistan has faced energy shortages amid historically cold temperatures this winter. Like its Central Asian neighbors…
A blistering wave of Russian strikes targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure killed 11 people on Thursday, a day after Germany and the United States pledged heavy tanks for Kyiv. The stepped-up military aid swept aside long-standing misgivings among allies and signalled a surge of Western support for a counteroffensive against the Russian invasion. The latest wave…
Russian and Belarusian athletes will be able to compete in this year’s Asian Games despite the invasion of Ukraine, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) said on Thursday. The offer comes after the International Olympic Committee said on Wednesday that a return for Russians at the 2024 Paris Games should be “further explored” despite calls…
Russian soldiers were nearly three times more likely to be accused of crimes against military service including desertion and insubordination in 2022 than the previous year, the Prosecutor General’s Office has said. Courts issued 2,835 guilty verdicts for crimes against military service out of 3,047 cases opened in 2022, the RBC news website reported Wednesday,…
Russian forces fired dozens of missiles at Ukraine on Thursday in a blistering wave of strikes targeting energy infrastructure a day after Germany and the United States pledged modern tanks for Kyiv. The latest wave of attacks came as the Kremlin said Moscow perceived the tank deliveries “as direct involvement in the conflict” and Ukraine…
The new U.S. Ambassador to Russia has arrived in Moscow, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow announced Thursday, for what is expected to be a challenging tenure as Russia’s war in Ukraine has brought bilateral ties to historic lows. Lynne Tracy, a career diplomat who was a second-ranking official at the embassy from 2014-17, returned to Moscow…
UNESCO added the historic center of Ukraine’s port city Odesa, often described as “the pearl of the Black Sea,” to its World Heritage List on Wednesday, overcoming opposition from Russia. The 21 member states of the agency’s world heritage committee approved inscribing designated areas of the city with six votes in favor, one against and…
The United Kingdom said Wednesday it was reviewing how sanctioned individuals are permitted to use the country’s legal services, after reports the government helped the head of Russian mercenary group Wagner sue a British journalist. The finance ministry currently grants licenses letting sanctioned people to circumvent restrictions so as to hire U.K. lawyers and pay…
Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was returned to solitary confinement for the 11th time since his nine-year prison sentence began in March, his press secretary Kira Yarmysh said on Wednesday. Navalny said that he was sent to solitary confinement for “introducing himself incorrectly,” according to Yarmysh. “Apparently, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin does not like our campaign…
The United States announced Wednesday that it would provide 31 Abrams tanks to help Ukraine repel Russia’s forces, mirroring a similar move announced earlier in the day by Germany and in spite of dire warnings against escalating the conflict from Moscow. The twin announcements will come as a major relief for Kyiv which has pleaded…
A court in the Russian capital ordered the closure of the Moscow Helsinki Group, one of Russia’s most prominent and respected human rights organizations, on Wednesday. Last month, Russia’s Justice Ministry filed a court order to shut the group down, claiming that it had violated unspecified “legal requirements” while carrying out its activities, according to a statement…
The Norwegian police are planning to release a former member of the Russian mercenary group Wagner who was arrested for entering the country illegally after he fled Russia earlier this month, the National Police Immigration Service told local media on Wednesday. Twenty-six-year-old Andrei Medvedev made a dramatic run for it across the Arctic border between the…
Kremlin officials and Russian cabinet members will file anonymous tax returns, Russia’s Vedomosti business newspaper reported Wednesday, citing unnamed sources close to the government. President Vladimir Putin in late December waived requirements for government officials to disclose their income tax returns for the duration of Russia’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine. According to Vedomosti, Russia’s…
Spanish police arrested a pensioner Wednesday on suspicion he sent letter bombs targeting the prime minister and the Ukrainian embassy, authorities said. The 74-year-old Spanish citizen was taken into custody in Miranda de Ebro in northern Spain with investigators searching his home where he was thought to have made six letter bombs, police and the…
Ukraine’s military conceded to AFP Wednesday that its troops had pulled out of the town of Soledar in the eastern Donetsk region, which Russian forces said they captured earlier this month. “After months of heavy fighting, including over the past weeks, the Armed Forces of Ukraine left (Soledar) and retreated along the outskirts to pre-prepared…
Germany has agreed to supply Leopard tanks to Ukraine after weeks of pressure from Kyiv and its allies, the German government announced on Wednesday. Berlin will provide a company of 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks from the Bundeswehr stocks and is also granting approval for other European countries to send tanks from their own stocks…
Russian officials warned of a possible escalation in its war on Ukraine as Germany agreed to supply Leopard tanks to Ukraine following weeks of pressure from Kyiv and its allies. “This extremely dangerous decision takes the conflict to a new level of confrontation,” Russia’s Ambassador to Germany Sergei Nechayev said in a statement Wednesday. Nechayev…
Flights between Russia and Georgia have not taken off for more than three years, but they have still managed to cause turbulence in Tbilisi. In 2019, following anti-Russian protests in Tbilisi in response to the controversial appearance of a Russian MP in the Georgian parliament, Moscow unilaterally banned direct flights between the two countries, citing concerns for…
More Russian soldiers were killed than officially confirmed in Ukraine’s New Year’s Day strike on a temporary barracks in Russian-occupied Makiivka, the BBC Russian service reported Wednesday. BBC Russian journalists used open-source data to verify the identities of 92 Russian soldiers killed in the strike, the outlet said. Another 16 soldiers who were at the makeshift…
Russia’s top diplomat on Tuesday pledged security training to Eswatini, just days after the brutal murder of a leading human rights lawyer and opposition politician. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was speaking in the landlocked country, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, a day after visiting neighboring South Africa and just two days after Thulani Maseko was shot.…
Kyiv on Tuesday announced the dismissal of a dozen top officials in its biggest political shakeup following the country’s first major corruption scandal linked to the Russian invasion. Ukraine has long suffered endemic corruption, but Moscow’s nearly year-long full-scale war has overshadowed government efforts to stamp out graft. Western allies have allocated billions of dollars…
After weeks of prevarication and increasingly fraught exchanges with its European allies, Germany has agreed to supply Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, according to a report by Der Spiegel on Tuesday evening. The report said that Berlin had agreed to supply Kyiv with at least one tank company comprising 14 tanks, as well as allowing…
Russian lawmakers debated new amendments to existing legislation imposing restrictions on vehicles leaving Russia on Tuesday, with new rules expected to take effect from Sept. 1. Under the proposed new legislation, which is ostensibly aimed at reducing long vehicle tailbacks and waiting times at Russia’s land borders, anyone wanting to leave the country in their…
The installation of air defense systems in the center of the Russian capital in recent weeks has been met with fear and anger by locals — as well as some indifference — as concerns appear to grow over Ukraine’s military ability to strike deep within Russian territory. “Some people are panicking, some are irritated and…
The winners of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize have called on the Red Cross to “interfere” in the fate of jailed Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who has reported harsh conditions in prison for minor infractions. Navalny, 46, is serving a nine-year sentence that his supporters dismiss as politically motivated. He has denounced his regular placement…
Russia’s recently announced military reforms are a response to NATO’s likely expansion and the “collective West” using Ukraine in a hybrid war against Moscow, the new head of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine has said. Since announcing a major overhaul last month, the Russian military last week said it would implement major changes to its…
Russian prosecutors on Monday declared as “undesirable” the U.S.-based foundation that preserves the legacy of Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov as Moscow continues to crack down on dissent in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The activities of the Andrei Sakharov Foundation (ASF) “constitute a threat to the foundation of Russia’s constitutional order…
Muscovites were continuing to brave the threat of arrest to lay flowers at an improvised memorial to the victims of a missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, AFP journalists witnessed on Monday. The rare criticism of Russia’s almost year-long military campaign in Ukraine comes on the back of sweeping legislation that all but…
Russian citizens relocating to Turkey in recent weeks are being refused residence permits, independent Russian-language media outlet Current Time reported Monday. Since Dec. 26, Russian citizens who left Russia following the invasion of Ukraine and the military mobilization have been denied short-term residence permits for tourism in several cities, the report shows. “[We were told…
A former member of Russian mercenary group Wagner who fled to Norway about 10 days ago has been arrested for violating immigration law, Norwegian police said Monday. Twenty-six-year-old Andrei Medvedev crossed the Russian-Norwegian border in the far north in the early hours of Jan. 13 and sought asylum in the Scandinavian country. His lawyer told…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was welcomed by his South African counterpart for talks in Pretoria on Monday, in a visit that has sparked criticism against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine. A continental powerhouse, South Africa has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and resisted taking sides over the war. The conflict…
Russia has expelled Estonia’s ambassador from Moscow in a move against its “Russophobic” Baltic neighbor, Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced Monday as Tallinn pledged additional military aid to Ukraine. In a statement, the Russian ministry slammed Estonia’s announcement of the expulsion of 21 Russian diplomats and embassy staff to reach parity between personnel. “Tallinn has elevated total Russophobia…
A Russian proxy official in east Ukraine has claimed to have visited Soledar, the flattened town in the Donetsk region of Ukraine that Moscow said it captured this month. Denis Pushilin, Moscow’s top official responsible for Donetsk, said late Sunday he had visited the destroyed salt mining town with Zurab Makiev, a member of Russia’s…
The private messaging app Telegram has for the first time overtaken WhatsApp in traffic volume in Russia, the Vedomosti business daily reported Monday, with experts predicting the Russian-founded messenger will also surpass the user count of its Meta-owned competitor this year. Telegram accounted for 60-80% of total traffic exchanged in Russia by the start of 2023 and…
Soviet-era Ukrainian tanks captured during Russia’s invasion of its western neighbor have appeared at a World War II museum outside St. Petersburg ahead of the exhibit’s expected opening, according to photos and reports published over the weekend. Russian-speaking social media users criticized as inappropriate the placement of armored vehicles seized during the nearly year-long invasion…
Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency is suspected of directing associates of a St. Petersburg-based white supremacist militant group to carry out a recent letter bomb campaign in Spain, The New York Times reported Sunday, citing unnamed U.S. officials. Six letter bombs were sent to high-profile government, military and diplomatic targets in Spain in late November and early…
Moscow’s forces are pushing towards two towns in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, where fighting intensified this week after several months of a stagnant front, Russian state media reported Sunday. Russian-installed official in the region Vladimir Rogov said offensive actions were concentrated around two towns: Orikhiv, around 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Ukrainian-controlled regional capital Zaporizhzhia,…
Thousands of Russian emigres in more than 60 cities, from Seoul and London to Yerevan, Vilnius and Belgrade, took part in solidarity rallies Saturday in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and other Russian political prisoners. Attendees at protests attended by The Moscow Times chanted “No to war” and “Freedom to political prisoners,” and…
The Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday that it held a training exercise on repelling air attacks in the Moscow region. “In the Moscow region, a training session was held with the personnel of the anti-aircraft missile brigade of the Western Military District on repelling air attacks on important military industrial and administrative facilities,” the ministry…
The United States on Friday designated Russia’s Wagner mercenary group a “transnational criminal organization,” piling pressure on the private Russian army fighting in Ukraine. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Wagner, controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman close to President Vladimir Putin, has about 50,000 fighters in Ukraine, 80% of them drawn from…
The head of the Russian republic of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov reacted furiously to comments made by State Duma Deputy Viktor Sobolev regarding the need to crack down on unkempt and unshaven soldiers in the Russian army on Wednesday, sparking a war of words between the two men. Reports that Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine had…
Authorities in Russia’s second city St. Petersburg removed a piece of public art celebrating the city’s friendship with its twin city Mariupol from the city’s main square overnight on Thursday, a month after it was vandalized by a local teenager. The installation, entitled “Twin Hearts,” was made up of two intertwined hearts depicting the “brotherhood”…
Ukraine said Friday it had detained seven people suspected of handing coordinates to Russian forces for strikes in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, where dozens of civilians were recently killed in a missile attack. The SBU security service said in a statement it had carried out a multi-stage operation to expose an active network of Russia’s military…
Anti-aircraft missile systems have been spotted across Moscow, including on the roof of the Russian Defense Ministry, this week amid concerns over Ukraine’s ability to strike deep within Russian territory. Videos and photos circulating online Thursday showed what appears to be a Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air system being installed on top of an administrative building and the…
Updates with Peskov and Horowitz comments. The Kremlin refused to say whether Russia was preparing for strikes on the capital on Friday after images of missile defense systems on several Moscow rooftops circulated on social media. Anti-aircraft missile systems have been spotted across Moscow this week amid concerns over Ukraine’s ability to strike deep within…
Nearly 1,000 Russian soldiers have been confirmed killed in Ukraine since the start of 2023 by an independent media tally that analyzes open-source data. Russia’s verifiable death toll now stands at 11,662 troops after 942 names were added between Jan. 1-17, the Mediazona news website said Thursday. The real toll of the nearly 11-month invasion is…
The EU on Thursday denounced Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s claim that the West’s policy towards Russia over Ukraine resembled Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s planned ‘”Final Solution” for Europe’s Jews. “Latest comments by Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov accusing ‘The West’ of seeking a ‘final solution’ for Russia are entirely misplaced, disrespectful and trample on the…
MOSCOW — “Last year was the worst in every sense,” taxi driver Valeriani said when asked what he thought of life in the Russian capital since the Kremlin ordered tanks into Ukraine. Valeriani, 40, a labor migrant born in the South Caucasus nation of Georgia, said he was forced to take the driving gig when…
Prosecutors in the Yaroslavl region are reviewing claims made by mobilized Russian soldiers in Ukraine that their superiors ordered them to retreat and then later threatened them with criminal prosecution for desertion, local media reported on Wednesday. In a video address shared with the pro-war ProGorod news website, around two dozen men in military fatigues…
The European Parliament has adopted a resolution to establish a special international tribunal that will prosecute Russia’s political and military leadership and its allies for “the crime of aggression against Ukraine.” In a statement Thursday, European MEPs said the tribunal would fill a vacuum in international criminal justice and complement the investigative efforts of the…
Despite widespread outrage over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, only a small number of Western companies have deserted Russia, according to a Swiss study. Researchers at the University of St. Gallen and at the IMD institute in Lausanne have delved into how many companies based in the European Union and in G7 countries have actually divested…
Russia’s Health Ministry has asked regional health authorities to recruit doctors and nurses to work in Moscow-occupied regions of Ukraine, according to an internal document published Thursday by journalist Dmitry Kolezev. Regional health officials are asked to provide at least 10 people from each region for “saving lives and people’s health” in the Ukrainian regions…
The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary force, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Thursday the group could “learn” from Ukraine’s army as battles continue for the key east Ukrainian town of Bakhmut. “The Ukrainian army is working clearly and harmoniously. We have a lot to learn from them,” Prigozhin said in a statement published by his press…
The Kremlin on Thursday warned of escalation in Ukraine if the West gives the pro-Western country more weapons capable of striking Russia. “Potentially, this is extremely dangerous, it will mean bringing the conflict to a whole new level, which, of course, will not bode well from the point of view of global and pan-European security,”…
A slain Ukrainian banker with ties to Russia had provided crucial information on Russia’s imminent invasion that helped Ukraine’s military to resist Moscow’s assault on Kyiv, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Denys Kireyev, 45, was an informal member of Ukraine’s negotiating team with Russia when officers from Ukraine’s SBU domestic intelligence agency summoned him…
Russia’s domestic intelligence agency announced Thursday it has launched an espionage case against a U.S. citizen. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) alleged that the American national “collected intelligence information of a biological nature aimed against Russia’s security.” The FSB did not identify the man by name. It also did not specify when the U.S. citizen was…
Ukrainian authorities on Thursday were investigating the circumstances surrounding a helicopter crash that killed the country’s interior minister and 13 others. Wednesday’s crash outside Kyiv came as the head of NATO said at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos that allies were set to provide “heavier weapons” to the war-battered country. Ukraine did not…