Updates throughout. Ukrainian strikes on parts of the Russian-held Luhansk and Kherson regions killed 26 people and injured dozens more on Friday, occupation authorities said. Both Ukrainian regions were among four Russia claimed to have annexed in September 2022 despite not fully controlling any of them following the full-scale military campaign launched that February. A…
Updates throughout. A Moscow court on Friday ordered a French citizen accused of gathering Russian military information to be held in pre-trial detention, in the latest case of a Western citizen being detained in Russia. Laurent Vinatier, a 47-year-old who works for a Swiss conflict mediation NGO, was arrested on Thursday and officially charged with…
On June 8 Chief Executive Officer of Rosneft Igor Sechin will deliver a speech at the Energy Panel of the 27th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum titled “Energy transition and phantom barrels: Abandon hope, all ye who enter here. Not everyone will be taken to the bright future of the global energy industry!”
As the climate crisis intensifies, Russia is pinning its hopes on its vast forests to make up for its carbon emissions — the world’s fourth-highest — and even help the country become a global leader in carbon absorption. But the country’s substandard conservation and ineffective forestry practices, combined with the impacts of climate change itself,…
Russia’s Supreme Court has banned the vaguely defined “Anti-Russian Separatist Movement” as an “extremist” organization, the independent news website Mediazona reported Friday. Rights groups say they have not been able to find a formal organization called the “Anti-Russian Separatist Movement,” leading to speculation that the authorities could use the designation as a pretext for wider…
Countries across the globe are racing to “strengthen their sovereignty” amid Western nations’ efforts to “maintain their elusive role as hegemons,” President Vladimir Putin said in his plenary address at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) Friday. Moscow has sought to broaden its support from countries in Africa, South America and Asia and cast itself as…
Updates with new death toll. A missile attack on the Russian-controlled city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine on Friday killed four people and injured over 40, Russian officials said. The eastern Luhansk region is almost entirely under Russian control. Moscow claimed to have annexed it in 2022. The main city, also called Luhansk, came under…
Russian prosecutors on Friday requested that a French man accused of collecting information about the military be placed in pre-trial detention pending a court hearing on charges of breaking Russia’s “foreign agents” law, his lawyer told AFP. Laurent Vinatier, a French national who works with the Geneva-based Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, was arrested Thursday in…
French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent statements are “inflaming” tensions in Europe and show he is readying France for a direct role in the Ukraine war, the Kremlin said on Friday. The French leader has taken an increasingly hawkish line in his support for Kyiv, promising on Thursday to transfer Mirage fighter jets to the embattled…
Russia’s Central Bank held interest rates unchanged on Friday, despite inflation running well ahead of its target and repeated warnings that a surge in military spending is overheating the economy. The bank kept its key rate at 16% but signaled it could hike borrowing costs in the future if the pace of price rises does…
Four Indian medical students have drowned while swimming in a river in northwestern Russia, local law enforcement officials said Friday. The incident happened on Tuesday in the Volkhov River in the city of Veliky Novgorod, the regional branch of Russia’s Investigative Committee said. “The students were swimming… in an area where swimming is banned,” the…
A senior member of a group known for reporting on public figures who oppose Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the authorities has been killed in Moscow, the group confirmed Friday following media reports of his stabbing death. Anton Yegovtsev, deputy chairman of the Zov Naroda (Call of the People) movement was killed near his home…
A Russian nuclear-powered submarine will make a stop in Havana next week, the Cuban authorities announced late Thursday. The nuclear submarine Kazan and three other Russian naval vessels, including the missile frigate Admiral Gorshkov, an oil tanker and a salvage tug, will dock in the Cuban capital on June 12-17, Cuba’s Ministry of the Revolutionary…
Ukraine on Thursday ordered the evacuation of children and their guardians from several towns and villages in the eastern Donetsk region, where fighting with Russian troops has intensified since Moscow launched a new ground offensive early last month. President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russian firepower is now concentrated in Donetsk, which the Kremlin claimed to…
Washington is tracking Russian warships headed to the Caribbean Sea for military exercises this summer, Reuters and the Associated Press reported, citing unnamed U.S. officials. According to the reports, officials said they believe the anticipated drills were “certainly” part of Russia’s broader response to U.S. support for Ukraine. AP said Moscow has not notified Washington…
Russian law enforcement authorities on Thursday detained a French citizen on suspicion of gathering information about the military and accused him of violating the country’s law on “foreign agents.” “The suspect carried out a targeted collection of Russian defense and military-technical information for several years,” Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said in a…
A Moscow court on Thursday remanded the self-proclaimed witch Alyona Polyn, known for casting spells in support of President Vladimir Putin, shortly after she collapsed in court, state media reported. Polyn, whose real name is Yelena Sulikova, was detained in the Moscow region earlier this week on charges of disseminating “extremist” literature and “insulting believers’…
Russia’s Central Bank chief on Thursday called for Russia to be an “open economy” despite the barrage of Western sanctions and trading restrictions it has faced over the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina was speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Russia’s premier business and investment event that used to…
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that its forces captured a Columbian man who purportedly fought as a mercenary on the side of Ukraine. “Angel Cardenas Montilla came to Ukraine following an advertisement on TikTok inviting mercenaries to fight against Russia,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement. It did not say where the man was…
At least one person was killed and more than 100 others were injured after two trams collided on a bridge in the Siberian city of Kemerovo early Thursday, local officials said. Security camera footage shared on social media showed passengers being tossed onto a busy roadway from one of the careening trams as the driver…
A Ukrainian drone attack started a fire at an oil refinery in southern Russia, forcing it to halt operations, regional authorities said early Thursday, adding that there were no casualties. Russia’s Defense Ministry said 13 drones were destroyed overnight in annexed Crimea, six in the southwestern Belgorod region and an anti-ship missile was shot down…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday criticized the West’s delivery of long-range weapons to Ukraine, arguing Moscow could arm other countries with similar weapons to attack Western targets. The comment — which Putin made at a rare press conference with foreign news outlets — came after several Western countries including the United States gave Ukraine…
A Moscow court on Wednesday sentenced Twitch streamer Anna Bazhutova to five and a half years in prison for livestreaming witness testimony about alleged Russian atrocities in the Ukrainian city of Bucha. “It’s f***** up. It’s disgusting and vile,” the 30-year-old Bazhutova, speaking from the glass defendant’s box, said in reaction to the ruling against…
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Russia’s premier business and investment event, kicked off in the country’s second-largest city on Wednesday with a focus on Russia’s place in a “multipolar” world, partnerships with the Global South and, increasingly, on domestic business deals. Once dubbed the “Russian Davos,” SPIEF had long attracted leading Western businesspeople,…
A Russian military court has sentenced a mobilized soldier to 23 years in prison for killing his fellow servicemen with a grenade while under the influence of alcohol, the state-run news agency TASS reported Wednesday. Junior Sergeant Dmitry Lobovikov was said to be intoxicated when he threw a live grenade inside a sleeping quarter in…
Moldova’s former chief of the general staff shared sensitive military information with Russian intelligence services at the height of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to a new report by The Insider, which cited leaked Telegram messages. Igor Gorgan, Moldova’s chief of the general staff between 2013 and 2016, and then later between 2019 and…
Moscow will increase the number of its military instructors in Burkina Faso, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced Wednesday during a visit to the West African nation as part of a wider regional tour. “Russian instructors work here and their number will increase,” Lavrov said at a news conference in the capital Ouagadougou. “At the…
President Vladimir Putin’s daughters Katerina Tikhonova and Maria Vorontsova are scheduled to speak at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) this week, according to the annual event’s program. Tech executive Tikhonova is among the speakers of a panel discussion on “the defense industry’s role in ensuring technological sovereignty” on Thursday. Washington sanctioned her for…
Russia’s Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a five-year prison sentence against the prominent anti-war sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky on charges of “justifying terrorism,” state media reported. Kagarlitsky, 65, was initially fined 600,000 rubles ($6,600) in December over a since-deleted YouTube video about the 2022 Crimea bridge explosion. In February, a military court of appeals reversed that…
The Russian online bank Tinkoff announced Wednesday that it was changing its name to T-Bank, marking a symbolic end to the lender’s association with its millionaire founder Oleg Tinkov, who has lived in exile since denouncing Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago. “First there was a word, now there’s a letter,”…
Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko surpassed his own record for total time spent in space after he logged 1,000 days in Earth’s orbit on Wednesday, according to the Russian space agency Roscosmos. Kononenko, 59, became the world record holder in February when he overtook fellow Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka by spending 879 consecutive days in space.…
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dozens of people gathered in front of the Russian Embassy in The Netherlands on Tuesday to commemorate late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on what would have been his 48th birthday. “It’s crucial that the name of Navalny continues to be spoken, as every mention ensures that his legacy lives on,” Vladimir Nechayev,…
The popular language learning platform Duolingo has removed references to LGBTQ+ people in its Russian version at Moscow’s request, the state-run news agency TASS reported Tuesday. Russia’s state media watchdog Roskomnadzor had this spring ordered Duolingo to comply with its “LGBT propaganda” law after conservative activists spotted phrases like “Ben and Peter love each other” and “Clara met…
Starbucks has applied for several patents in Russia almost two years after exiting the country over its war in Ukraine, the Vedomosti business daily reported Tuesday, citing the database of Russia’s intellectual property agency Rospatent. Experts speculate the move could signal either Starbucks’ potential return to the Russian market or an effort to extend patent…
Russia’s deputy foreign minister claimed Tuesday that the West may be planning to overthrow the government of Georgia ahead of its parliamentary elections later this year, as tensions continue to boil over in the South Caucasus nation after the recent passing of a controversial “foreign influence” law. “We see Western attempts to escalate the situation…
Western army instructors training Ukrainian soldiers in the country would have no “immunity” from Russian strikes, the Kremlin said Tuesday, amid reports that France could despatch military trainers to Ukraine. Ukraine’s army chief Oleksandr Syrsky said last week that French military instructors would soon arrive in the country, but Kyiv’s Defense Ministry later walked back…
Russia’s special services have ramped up the already strict security measures surrounding President Vladimir Putin to an unprecedented degree, two Russian officials who have been present at many of Putin’s public appearances as well as a source close to the Kremlin told The Moscow Times. The Kremlin — already on heightened security alert due to…
Russia is waging an intense disinformation campaign aimed at tarnishing the reputation of the International Olympic Committee and stoking fears of violence at this summer’s games in Paris, according to a new report from Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center. According to Microsoft, the influence operations use a potent mix of fake videos, fictitious news stories, and…
Russia’s second-largest lender VTB Bank announced Tuesday that it plans to open new offices in occupied Ukraine this year. “The bank will open two new branches in Luhansk in July and, by the end of the year, it plans to start customer service in Mariupol and Donetsk,” VTB said in a statement. The three cities are located in…
Updated with Turchak appointment. Oleg Khorokhordin announced Tuesday that he was stepping down as governor of the Siberian republic of Altai, making him the third regional head to resign within a week as the country prepares for regional elections in September. “I’m resigning from the post of head of the Altai Republic in connection with…
On a recent May afternoon, a Russian train trundles through the country’s southwestern regions near the border with Ukraine. The train’s dining car is packed with Russian soldiers. Some are heading to the front lines in Ukraine, where their country has been waging war for over two years, while others are returning home for a…
American actor George Clooney denied on Monday that the human rights organization he co-founded with his wife intends to seek the arrest of Russian journalists who support Moscow’s war against Ukraine. The legal director at the Clooney Foundation for Justice’s Docket initiative, Anya Neistat, had previously said the organization was seeking the arrest and extradition…
Three people including a 12-year-old boy were killed in Russian attacks on eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces have claimed steady advances in recent weeks, local authorities said Monday. The head of the Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claimed to have annexed in late 2022, said two people were killed and another wounded by Russian attacks…
A group of women staged a rare protest outside the Russian Defense Ministry building in Moscow on Monday, demanding the return of their loved ones drafted to fight in Ukraine and a meeting with new Defense Minister Andrei Belousov. Around 15 women, some with small children, gathered outside the building holding up hand-written placards saying…
Russia’s manufacturing sector saw near-record employment growth in May, according to a new report from S&P Global, as an already tight labor market struggles to meet the surge in demand for workers. S&P Global’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for Russian manufacturing rose to 54.4 last month compared to 54.3 in April. A PMI value above 50…
Russian law enforcement authorities will investigate pop star Olga Buzova for performing on Children’s Day in a revealing outfit that sparked outrage among conservative figures, investigators said Monday. Buzova was among the headliners at VK Fest 2024, an event organized by the social media website VKontakte in the republic of Bashkortostan’s capital city Ufa on…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived on Monday in Guinea, his ministry said, marking his first trip to the West African country since 2013. Moscow, which has seen its relations with the West plummet since invading Ukraine in February 2022, has in recent years sought to boost its influence in Africa. Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced…
Fighters from Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s Akhmat military unit have been deployed to northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region amid Russia’s recent offensive, the unit’s commander Apti Alaudinov said Monday. “The fighters have been transferred to different sites along the entire line of contact that had to be covered up,” the state-run news agency TASS quoted Major…
Nine people were wounded in Ukrainian strikes on the Russian border regions of Belgorod and Kursk, the respective regional governors said on Sunday. “Six civilians were wounded as a result of the bombardment of Shebekino town,” Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram, adding that they had been taken to hospital. All six, five of…
Mourners and soldiers on Saturday laid flowers at a new statue of Yevgeny Prigozhin, a pro-Kremlin mercenary who staged a mutiny and died in a plane crash, at his grave in Saint Petersburg. Prigozhin was head of the Wagner private militia, which fought alongside Russian troops in Ukraine, capturing the city of Bakhmut in a…
Russia fired a combined 100 missiles and drones at Ukraine overnight in a barrage that targeted energy sites across the country, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday. Russia has launched dozens of aerial attacks at Ukraine’s power facilities throughout the war, causing significant damage and energy shortages as Ukraine’s stretched air defenses struggle to repel the…
Ukrainian shelling attacks killed five people in Russian-occupied areas of the eastern Donetsk region on Friday, Moscow-installed authorities said. The Kremlin often accuses Kyiv of indiscriminate attacks on civilians. Ukraine denies the claims, saying it bombs only military targets responsible for deadly strikes on its own civilians. “Five people were killed,” Russian-installed top official of…
Russia on Friday labeled a women’s organization campaigning for the return of mobilized men from Ukraine and a former pro-peace presidential candidate “foreign agents.” Moscow uses the label, heavy in Soviet-era connotations, on Kremlin critics to silence dissent. Russia’s Justice Ministry included the Put’ Domoi (Way Home) movement, which has organized women-led protests in Moscow…
The United States on Thursday finally joined a growing number of its NATO allies in allowing Ukraine to use weapons donated by the West to strike military targets on Russian territory. Officials said Ukraine would only be allowed to defend the embattled Kharkiv region, which is under bombardment by missiles and glide bombs launched inside…
The European Union on Friday imposed sanctions against Primorye region Governor Oleg Kozhemyako in Russia’s Far East over what it said were arms supplies to North Korea in violation of UN sanctions. Kozhemyako was seen gifting kamikaze and reconnaissance drones, as well as a bulletproof vest, to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his…
G7 foreign ministers said Friday they were “gravely concerned” about deepening cooperation between Russia and North Korea, particularly arms transfers from Pyongyang to Moscow for use on the battlefield in Ukraine. “We are gravely concerned by the deepening DPRK-Russia cooperation in flagrant violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions,” they said in a statement…
Traffic along the Trans-Siberian Railway was partially disrupted on Friday after a cargo train flew off the tracks, crashing into trees and setting a nearby forest on fire, the local rail operator said. A total of 29 cars carrying coal were derailed at 2:30 p.m. local time in Far East Russia’s Amur region, causing damage…
A Russian court on Friday extended the pre-trial detention of U.S.-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva until August, nearly a year after she was first charged with spreading “false information” about the army. Kurmasheva, who works for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), was arrested last year for failing to register as a “foreign agent.” She was subsequently charged with…
Moscow and Kyiv have traded 150 prisoners of war with the help of mediators from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Friday, the first such exchange after months of stalled talks between the two warring sides. “As a result of negotiations, 75 Russian servicemen, who were in mortal danger in captivity, were…
Dmitry Azarov announced Friday that he was stepping down as governor of southern Russia’s Samara region, making him the second regional head to resign this week ahead of gubernatorial elections later this year. “I’ve made a decision to complete my work in the governor’s post,” Azarov said in a video address to residents posted on…