Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov and his U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin spoke by phone on Tuesday to discuss the war in Ukraine. Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that Belousov and Austin had “exchanged views on the situation around Ukraine,” noting the conversation took place “at the initiative of the American side.” “Andrei Belousov…
U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich’s trial for espionage in Russia begins behind closed doors Wednesday in what his employer, The Wall Street Journal, has already slammed as a “sham” process. Gershkovich, 32, a former reporter for The Moscow Times, became the first Western journalist to be arrested in Russia on spying charges since the Cold War…
Clicker Telegram mini-games, where players generate virtual currency by tapping their phone screens, have gone viral on the Russian-speaking internet. The largest of these, Hamster Kombat, claims to have amassed 200 million users in just a few weeks and runs the world’s largest Telegram channel. Its growing popularity has sparked concerns from both Russian and…
Authorities in Moscow said Tuesday they could not confirm reports that a Russian fighter jet downed an American surveillance drone over the Black Sea after Ukraine launched a deadly strike against annexed Crimea said to have been carried out with U.S.-supplied missiles. Pro-war Russian bloggers claimed late Monday that a MiG-31 fighter jet “shot down”…
Moscow will block access to 81 European media outlets in retaliation to the EU’s ban against four Kremlin-funded news organizations, Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday. Brussels said last month it would suspend the broadcasting activities of the state-run RIA Novosti news agency, the pro-government newspapers Izvestia and Rossiiskaya Gazeta, as well as the news website Voice of Europe…
Russia’s first openly transgender politician, who last month made the surprise announcement that she had returned to her gender assigned at birth, said in an interview published on Tuesday that she was forced to undergo a detransition following threats she would be sent to a psychiatric hospital. Yulia Alyoshina, who dropped a bid last year to…
Updated with Kremlin’s response. The International Criminal Court said Tuesday it had issued arrest warrants for Russia’s chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, and former defence minister Sergei Shoigu. The warrants, issued Monday but announced on Tuesday, were in response to the alleged war crimes of directing attacks at civilian structures and causing excessive…
The head of the North Caucasus republic of Dagestan on Tuesday ordered all regional officials to undergo thorough vetting following attacks on religious sites in the region over the weekend, which resulted in the deaths of at least 21 people including law enforcement officers. “I’ve ordered the inspection and scrutinization of the personal records of…
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to meet with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow early next month, Indian and Russian media reported Monday. The Indian English-language newspaper The Tribune, without citing sources, reported that Modi was expected to visit Moscow on July 8 to “underline the engagement” between the two countries. Likewise, Russian officials quoted by…
Updated with attack on Voronezh region munitions depot. Overnight drone attacks against southwestern Russia’s Belgorod region have left at least one person dead and scores of buildings and vehicles damaged, regional authorities said early Tuesday, while Ukraine’s military claimed responsibility for a strike on an ammunition depot. “An elderly woman died as a result of a…
Russian strikes on the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk killed five people and wounded dozens more on Monday, the governor of the Donetsk region said. Over recent weeks, Moscow has concentrated its firepower on the eastern industrial region of Donetsk, which the Kremlin claims is part of Russia. AFP journalists at the scene of the…
At least two people have died in a major fire that broke out at a building linked to a Western-sanctioned scientific research institute in the Moscow region, local authorities said Monday. Moscow region Governor Andrei Vorobyov said the fire engulfed the Platan research institute building in the town of Fryazino. Platan, a producer of defense electronics, has…
Updated with death toll. At least six people died in a major fire that broke out Monday at a Moscow region research center sanctioned by the West, regional authorities said Tuesday. Moscow region Governor Andrei Vorobyov said the fire engulfed the Platan research institute building in the town of Fryazino. Platan, a producer of defense electronics, has been…
Brussels on Monday sanctioned Russian pop singer Shaman over his role in promoting Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, applying restrictive measures against the performer that include an asset freeze and travel ban. “Since the beginning of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, [Shaman] has repeatedly participated in Kremlin-organized concerts, including the Kremlin’s anniversary event for…
A Russian strike on the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk killed four people and wounded dozens more on Monday, the governor of the Donetsk region said. “Among the wounded are two children aged 12 and 13. They are in a moderate to serious condition,” Donetsk region Governor Vadym Filashkin said. According to Filashkin, Russian forces fired two…
The Russian division of the Bank of China has suspended operations with Russian lenders sanctioned by the United States in order to avoid being hit with secondary sanctions, the Kommersant business newspaper reported Monday, citing industry insiders. The Bank of China’s Russian division — which specializes in yuan payments between Russia and China — is…
Authorities in Moscow on Monday warned Washington that it would face “consequences” following a deadly Ukrainian strike on annexed Crimea that was said to have been carried out with U.S.-supplied long-range missiles. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Sunday’s strike on the city of Sevastopol “barbaric” and accused the United States of “killing Russian children.” Among…
Prominent indigenous rights activist Fayil Alsynov, whose jailing earlier this year sparked mass protests in Russia’s republic of Bashkortostan, was beaten while serving a prison sentence in the Perm region, his lawyer said Monday. Alsynov was sentenced in January to four years in prison for “inciting ethnic hatred.” Some observers believe he was targeted for…
At least 15 police officers and five civilians including a priest have been killed in coordinated attacks on two Orthodox churches and two synagogues in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Dagestan on Sunday evening. Russian law enforcement has deemed the attacks, which saw both police and National Guard officers deployed, as “acts of terror.” The attacks are…
Law enforcement authorities in the breakaway Georgian territory of Abkhazia have launched a search for gunmen behind a deadly shootout on the region’s border with Russia, state media reported late Sunday. At least one person was killed and three others were wounded in the shooting near the Russian-Abkhaz border on Sunday afternoon, around the same…
Unknown assailants have attacked an Orthodox church and synagogue in the majority Muslim republic of Dagestan, state media reported Sunday, killing at least two police officers, one priest and one security guard. Attackers opened fire at the synagogue and church in the city of Derbent with automatic rifles at around 6:00 p.m. local time before…
Armed assailants on Sunday evening attacked Orthodox churches and synagogues in Russia’s majority Muslim republic of Dagestan, killing at least 15 law enforcement officials and five civilians including a priest, regional authorities said. The unidentified gunmen launched simultaneous attacks in Dagestan’s largest city of Makhachkala and in the coastal city of Derbent. Dagestan leader, Sergei…
The president has ordered sweeping changes to the country’s military establishment in recent weeks — ironically, one of Prigozhin’s pre-mutiny demands. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was removed and several senior military figures have been arrested on corruption charges. Putin installed technocratic economist Andrei Belousov as his new defense chief, rather than a military strongman —…
Russia on Sunday said the United States had responsibility for a Ukrainian missile attack on Russian-annexed Crimea, which it said killed five people, including three children, and wounded over 100. A missile exploded above a beach area of the city of Sevastopol, firing shrapnel at people relaxing there, Russian-appointed officials said. Russia’s Defense Ministry said…
A Russian strike on a residential building in Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv killed two people and injured more than 50, rescuers said on Sunday, revising down a previous death toll. Russia has stepped up attacks in the northeastern Kharkiv region after launching a new offensive there last month, seeking to break a largely static…
Russia bombed a residential building in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv on Saturday, killing three people and wounding almost 30, as it stepped up its renewed hostilities. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky posted footage of the torn-off facade of an apartment block and a crater outside. “Russian terrorists have again hit Kharkiv with guided bombs,” he…
President Vladimir Putin signed a military partnership deal with North Korea and visited U.S. business partner Vietnam this week in an effort to intimidate Ukraine’s Western allies and show that he is not as isolated on the world stage as they would like. Putin, who is on the International Criminal Court’s wanted list, has repeatedly…
A Russian military court on Friday sentenced a Ukrainian woman to 12 years in prison for releasing blue-white-blue balloons — the colors of opposition to the Ukraine offensive — over Moscow last year. Ukrainian citizen Kristina Lyubashenko, 35, was found guilty of taking part in a “terrorist” group and spreading “fake information” about the Russian…
German prosecutors announced Friday that they had arrested three men suspected of spying for a foreign intelligence service. The three men were arrested in the western city of Frankfurt on Wednesday after allegedly trying “to gather information about a Ukrainian national,” federal prosecutors said in a statement. The men were only identified as Robert A. from…
A military court in St. Petersburg court on Friday sentenced a Russian woman to 10 years in prison for throwing a molotov cocktail at a military recruitment office last September. The 1st Western District Military Court found Elena Komaricheva, 59, guilty of “terrorism” charges after she agreed “to set fire to the… Military Commissariat of…
Volunteers from the Kuibyshev refinery, one of Rosneft’s largest enterprises in the Samara region, released more than 27,000 fry of the valuable red-listed sterlet into the waters of the Saratov reservoir
The former governor of central Russia’s Kirov region, Nikita Belykh, who was sentenced to eight years in jail in 2018 for accepting a large bribe, was released from prison on Friday after serving his sentence in full, his lawyer told state media. “Today, in connection with the terms of the sentence of the Presnensky District…
South Korea summoned Russia’s ambassador to Seoul on Friday to protest a defense agreement signed by President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un during a visit to Pyongyang earlier this week. Seoul “strongly urged Russia to immediately stop military cooperation with North Korea and comply with [UN] Security Council resolutions,” the foreign ministry…
Updated with Ukrainian army statement. Russia’s Defense Ministery said Friday that its air defense forces downed 114 drones launched overnight by Ukraine, with at least one person killed in the mass wave of attacks. “Russian anti-aerial defense systems intercepted and destroyed 70 drones over Crimea and the Black Sea, 43 drones over the Krasnodar region…
President Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday banned Russia-based cybersecurity firm Kaspersky from providing its popular antivirus products in the United States over national security concerns, the U.S. Commerce Department said. “Kaspersky will generally no longer be able to, among other activities, sell its software within the United States or provide updates to software already in…
The United States expressed deep unease over Putin’s threat to send weapons to Pyongyang, warning such action could destabilize the Korean peninsula. “It is incredibly concerning,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters. “It would destabilize the Korean peninsula, potentially, depending on the type of weapons, and might violate UN Security Council resolutions that Russia…
Prison conditions for Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin — serving 8.5 years for denouncing Moscow’s Ukraine offensive — have considerably worsened after he was moved to a punitive cell, his lawyer told AFP Thursday. Fears for jailed Kremlin critics have risen since opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in his Arctic prison in February. Yashin —…
As President Vladimir Putin paid a state visit to China in May, his Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that Moscow and Beijing were soon planning to sign a contract on the construction of the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline. “We plan additionally to finish the review and sign a contract for the construction…
A Moscow Court on Thursday extended the pre-trial detention of former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, who was arrested in late April and then later charged with accepting a bribe of more than 1 billion rubles ($11.4 million) while he oversaw military construction projects. Moscow’s Basmanny Court approved a request from investigators to hold Ivanov,…
Ten Ukrainian children and their families have been returned to territory controlled by Ukraine’s armed forces after living under Russian occupation, authorities in Kyiv said Thursday. Ukraine has accused Moscow of abducting almost 20,000 children from parts of the east and south of the country, while many more have found themselves living under Russian occupation…
Updated with second reported death. A powerful storm rumbled through the Russian capital on Thursday afternoon, carrying heavy rains and winds that ripped hundreds of trees from the ground and killed at least two people, local authorities said. Russia’s Emergency Services Ministry said a man was killed near Park Dubki in northern Moscow when wind…
Russian cyclist Alexander Vlasov has turned down the chance to participate in the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris due to his “very busy calendar,” a top Russian sporting official said on Thursday. Vlasov, 28, was one of 14 Russian athletes approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over the weekend to compete in the games under…
EU member states on Thursday signed off on a fresh package of sanctions against Russia targeting its lucrative liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector for the first time, officials said. The new measures — which should be formally adopted on Monday — are aimed at further choking off Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war machine. “This hard-hitting package…
Russia’s largest lender Sberbank will begin providing services to corporate clients in eastern Ukraine’s partially occupied Luhansk and Donetsk regions later this month, a top manager at the bank told state media on Thursday. “Starting June 25, we will begin servicing legal entities” in occupied Ukraine, Sberank’s Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, Anatoly Popov,…
A dual U.S.-Russian citizen accused of donating around $50 to a Ukrainian charity went on trial for treason in the Ural city of Yekaterinburg on Thursday. Ksenia Karelina, a 32-year-old ballerina living and working in Los Angeles, was detained by police in Yekaterinburg in late January while on a trip to visit her family in…
A Russian missile and drone barrage damaged a Ukrainian power plant and other energy facilities overnight, officials said on Thursday, the latest in a series of strikes that have pushed the country’s grid to the brink. The targeted aerial barrages over recent months have crippled Ukraine’s electricity generation capacity and forced officials to impose rolling…
An overnight Ukrainian drone attack in southern Russia’s Krasnodar region has killed a woman, local authorities said early Thursday, as other drone strikes across the country set several oil depots ablaze. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defense systems destroyed six drones in the republic of Adygea, three each in the Bryansk and Krasnodar regions,…
Updated with cooperation agreement signing. Russia and Vietnam pledged Thursday to strengthen mutual ties as President Vladimir Putin made a state visit aimed at bolstering his alliances to counter Moscow’s growing isolation over the war in Ukraine. Putin traveled to Vietnam, a close ally of Russia since the Cold War, from a summit with North…
Russian ministers accompanying President Vladimir Putin on his visit to Pyongyang on Wednesday were forced to leave the negotiation room by a North Korean official who appeared to be angered that they had entered before leader Kim Jong Un. The incident took place during the live broadcast of Putin’s visit by North Korean state media.…
Russian forces have escalated attacks near Toretsk, a frontline town in eastern Ukraine that has remained relatively calm over recent months of fighting, officials said Wednesday. Overwhelmed and outgunned, Ukrainian forces have struggled to hold the line in the eastern Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claims to have annexed in a 2022 referendum condemned by…
Russia has accused France of stoking conflict in the South Caucasus after the country this week signed a deal to sell artillery systems to Armenia. “Paris is provoking another round of armed confrontation in the South Caucasus, and they are doing it in different ways. This [sale] is another step,” Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova…
Russian President Vladimir Putin was greeted by cheering crowds during a state visit to Pyongyang on Wednesday, marking what North Korea’s Kim Jong Un called a “new era” in relations between the historic allies. The visit to North Korea, Putin’s first since 2000, comes nine months after Russia hosted Kim on a visit to the…
Former presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin has stepped down from his position in local government, Russian media reported Wednesday. Nadezhdin, who earlier this year tried to mount an anti-war campaign for the 2024 Russian presidential election before election authorities barred him from running, had served as a deputy of the Dolgoprudny city council in the Moscow…
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a mutual defense agreement on Wednesday with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, who offered his “full support” on Ukraine. The pledge of military cooperation was part of a strategic treaty signed during a summit in Pyongyang, where Putin was making his first visit in 24 years. “It is really a…
Canada has sanctioned over a dozen high-ranking Russian law enforcement officials believed to be responsible for the death of opposition activist Alexei Navalny, the country’s Foreign Minister announced Tuesday. According to a Canadian Foreign Ministry statement, the new sanctions target individuals involved in the poisoning of Navalny in 2020, his arrest in Moscow upon returning to…
An ex-commander from Russia’s notorious Wagner mercenary group who fled to Norway last year has been sentenced to 120 days in prison for beating a woman and assaulting a bartender, The Barents Observer reported Tuesday. The Vestfold District Court in Norway found Andrei Medvedev guilty of beating his friend and assaulting a bartender who refused…
Officials in Moscow said Wednesday that they are waiting for the United States to respond to its prisoner swap proposals, days before American reporter Evan Gershkovich was set to face trial in Russia on espionage charges. President Vladimir Putin said in February that talks on a prisoner swap involving Gershkovich were underway, but the Kremlin…
A Russian court in the Far East city of Vladivostok on Wednesday sentenced an American soldier to three years and nine months in prison for making death threats and theft, state media reported. Gordon Black was arrested last month in Vladivostok, where he was visiting a Russian woman he met and dated while stationed in…
Russian President Vladimir Putin landed in North Korea early Wednesday, the Kremlin said, kicking off a visit set to boost defense ties between the two nuclear-armed countries as Moscow pursues its war in Ukraine. Just after the pre-dawn touchdown, Russian TV showed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un greeting Putin in the dark, on a…
A Moscow court on Tuesday remanded journalist Artyom Kriger until mid-August on charges related to the “extremism” case against late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, his employer said. Kriger, who works for the independent SOTAvision news outlet, was accused of “participation in an extremist community” after his Moscow apartment was searched by police on Tuesday morning and…