Five thousand children have been evacuated from Russia’s Belgorod region bordering Ukraine following weeks of deadly bombardment by Kyiv, the region’s governor said Saturday. Regional authorities last week said 9,000 minors would be moved to other regions after a spate of cross-border shelling and drone strikes killed over a dozen civilians. “Five thousand of our…
Russia’s security services said Friday that they had arrested three people from “a Central Asian country” who were plotting an attack in the south of the country, news agencies reported. The FSB said in a statement that it had “put an end to the terrorist activities of three nationals from a Central Asian country who…
Authorities in St. Petersburg have been deporting migrants en masse in the week since the deadly attack on a Moscow region concert hall, the legal rights group Perviy Otdel said Friday. More than 64 foreigners were deported from the city’s Vyborgsky district on Thursday alone, the NGO said, citing one of its unidentified lawyers. “Temporary detention…
Russia is outgunning Ukrainian forces sixfold on the front lines, causing losses of troops and positions, Ukraine’s recently appointed commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said in a rare interview published on Friday. “A few days ago, the enemy’s advantage in terms of ammunition fired was about six to one,” Syrsky told the Ukrinform news agency. “The defense…
A ninth suspect in the deadly Moscow region concert hall attack has been placed in pre-trial detention on terrorism charges, the court system’s press service said Friday. Moscow’s Basmanny District court ruled to keep Lutfulloi Nazrimad, a native of Tajikistan, in custody until May 22. Videos shared by the press service showed Lutfulloi kneeling behind…
A Moscow court placed photojournalist Antonina Favorskaya in pre-trial detention for two months on charges related to the “extremism” case against late opposition activist Alexei Navalny, the court system’s press service said Friday. Russian authorities designated Navalny’s activist network, including the disbanded Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), as “extremist” in 2021, placing employees, volunteers and supporters at risk…
A man was killed when a Ukrainian drone crashed in the city of Belgorod on Friday, regional authorities said. Photos shared on social media showed blown-out windows of an apartment building, rescue workers retrieving a body and Belgorod region Governor Vyachelsav Gladkov meeting with residents. “Unfortunately a man was killed in an explosion,” Gladkov wrote…
A year after Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was jailed in Russia, his parents and friends say they remain hopeful that he will soon be freed. “One year is way too long for Evan to be behind bars on these completely bogus charges,” said Pjotr Sauer, The Guardian’s Russia correspondent and Evan’s close friend.…
Russia and Ukraine said Friday that they have exchanged the bodies of 150 fallen soldiers, the third publically known exchange between the two warring sides so far this year. Kyiv repatriated 121 bodies, Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said on the messaging app Telegram. The coordination center identified 107 of the…
At least nine people had been detained in Tajikistan in connection with last week’s deadly attack at a Moscow region concert hall, Reuters and Russian state media reported Friday, citing anonymous Tajik security sources. “Nine residents of Vahdat district [in western Tajikistan] were detained over links to the people who committed the terrorist attack on…
Armenia has blocked pro-Kremlin Russian TV host Vladimir Solovyov’s shows on its territory over “continuous violations,” the South Caucasus nation’s state broadcasting regulator announced Friday. The shows “Evening With Vladimir Solovyov” and “Sunday Evening With Vladimir Solovyov” were pulled off the air in Armenia based on a Russian-Armenian mass telecommunications cooperation agreement. The regulator, the…
The Kharampurovskaya agricultural community started breeding and raising whitefish at a new fish farm under a grant program of RN-Purneftegaz (part of Rosneft Oil Company’s production complex)
Russia has extended restrictions on money transfers abroad for another six months, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) announced Friday. Days after ordering troops to invade Ukraine in February 2022, President Vladimir Putin introduced the curbs — which have been gradually eased in the months since — as part of emergency measures to shield Russia’s…
Kyiv said Friday that Russia’s military had fired nearly 100 drones and missiles at Ukraine overnight in a barrage that damaged three power stations. Moscow has stepped up its air strikes on Ukraine in recent weeks, targeting energy infrastructure in response to an uptick in deadly Ukrainian shelling of Russian border regions. Ukraine’s Interior Ministry…
A Russian military plane crashed on Thursday into waters off the coast of annexed Crimea, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol said. “A military plane has fallen into the sea,” Mikhail Razvozhayev said in a post on the messaging app Telegram without giving the cause. An unverified video on social media showed a plane in flames…
Russian authorities have arrested a suspected “financier” of last week’s deadly concert hall attack, Russia’s top investigative body said Thursday, claiming that Ukraine had paid “large amounts” to the perpetrators. “Another suspect involved in the terrorist financing scheme has been identified and detained,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement, adding that the person was…
Camouflaged gunmen killed at least 143 people and wounded 360 others at the Crocus City concert hall near Moscow late last week, the deadliest attack in Russia since the 2004 Beslan school siege. Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry released the names of those who were killed and whose identities could be established, though the list could…
Polish security services said Thursday they had raided a Russian spy network in cooperation with Czech intelligence, which a day earlier had busted a major Russian propaganda network. The services said their operations were linked to charges filed earlier this year against a Polish citizen suspected of spying for Russia. “The Internal Security Agency is…
Police in the Siberian republic of Tyva detained a nine-year-old girl on suspicion of urging strangers to commit acts of terrorism via text message. A video published by the local branch of Russia’s Interior Ministry was said to have shown the girl providing testimony to a police officer, though there was no audio accompanying the video, so it was…
A company based in the West African nation of Gabon imported nearly $1.5 billion worth of aircraft parts to Russia last year despite Western sanctions in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, The Moscow Times’ Russian service reported Thursday, citing customs data. Of the nearly $2 billion worth of aircraft parts exported to Russia in 2023, the…
The Kremlin said Thursday that discussions continued to take place over a possible prisoner exchange involving Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was detained in Russia nearly one year ago on espionage charges. The 32-year-old American journalist was detained by Russian security agents in March 2023 and accused of spying, the first such charge…
The Kremlin gave no indication on Thursday that President Vladimir Putin plans to meet with the family members of those killed in Friday’s deadly attack at the Crocus City Hall music venue. Putin was seen lighting a candle for the victims at a Moscow church last week but has otherwise not visited the scene of…
A queer bar in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk has been fined for “LGBT propaganda,” local police said Thursday, a month after the bar announced its closure over police raids. Krasnoyarsk’s Sovetsky District Court found the legal entity that owns the bar Elton guilty of the administrative charges and fined it 450,000 rubles ($4,800), according…
Russian police have detained at least two independent journalists on “extremism” charges in connection with a criminal case against the late opposition activist Alexei Navalny, media outlets reported. According to the independent broadcaster Sotavision, its photojournalist Antonina Favorskaya was detained for a second time late Wednesday after initially serving a 10-day administrative sentence in the Moscow…
The Russian city of Ulan-Ude will no longer hold direct mayoral elections and instead select its local political leader through a council of electors, the regional assembly of Far East Russia’s republic of Buryatia announced Thursday. Buryatia head Alexei Tsydenov had first proposed the changes in January, arguing that the new model would breathe fresh…
Russia’s spy chief visited Pyongyang earlier this week to discuss security cooperation, North Korea’s state news agency reported Thursday, as the historical allies deepen ties amid Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service, met with North Korea’s State Security Minister Ri Chang Dae during his visit between Monday…
Five days since the deadliest attack on Russian soil since 2003, President Vladimir Putin has still not visited the site of the attack in Moscow or met with the victims’ families. After repeatedly implicating Ukraine and the West in the attack despite the Islamic State claiming responsibility, Putin on Wednesday made a surprise visit to…
A Russian court on Wednesday sentenced a man to six years in jail for online messages denouncing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as Moscow clamps down on public criticism of the conflict. Nikolai Farafonov, 35, was found guilty of “public incitement to commit terrorist acts” by a military court in Russia’s northern republic of Komi, local…
The death toll from the attack on a Moscow concert hall claimed by Islamic extremists rose on Wednesday to 143, Russian authorities said. Authorities listed the names of the dead five days after last Friday’s attack, the deadliest claimed to date by Islamic State on European soil and the worst in Russia in two decades. …
Czech intelligence has busted a Moscow-financed network that spread Russian propaganda and wielded influence across Europe, including in the European Parliament, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Wednesday. The group used the Prague-based Voice of Europe news site to spread information seeking to discourage the European Union from sending aid to Ukraine, which has been…
Russia and Mali agreed to strengthen their cooperation over counterterrorism in a telephone call on Wednesday according to both parties, following the attack in Moscow that killed at least 137. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to the head of the Malian junta, Colonel Assimi Goita, and the President of Congo-Brazzaville, Denis Sassou Nguesso, the Kremlin…
Russian investigators have received more than 140 missing persons reports after last week’s deadly concert hall attack near Moscow. The official death toll from Friday night’s mass killing at the Crocus City Hall music venue stood at 140 as of Wednesday afternoon, while another 360 people were listed as wounded. Islamic State affiliate ISIS-K has claimed…
MOSCOW — “I think we survived by a miracle,” said one man who survived the deadly Moscow concert hall attack that claimed the lives of at least 140 people. Days after camouflaged gunmen stormed Crocus City Hall, those who managed to escape the horror and chaos are still grappling with the tragedy and the trauma…
A woman was injured after a drone crashed into a government building in western Russia’s Belgorod on Wednesday, regional authorities said. “An enemy drone crashed into an administrative building in [the city of] Belgorod,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on the messaging app Telegram. “The explosion shattered windows on the building’s third and fourth floors and damaged its…
Russian attacks on eastern and southern Ukraine killed at least three people on Wednesday, officials said, as Kyiv called for more Patriot air defense systems to battle a surge in missile strikes. Moscow has escalated aerial attacks on Ukraine in the past few weeks, targeting key infrastructure — including power stations — in retaliation for…
Russian police have detained dozens of workers at a warehouse of the online retailer Wildberries on suspicion of breaking migration laws, state media reported Wednesday. Wildberries’ press service said a “document inspection” had been carried out at its warehouse in the Moscow region town of Elektrostal, which reportedly employs 8,000 people. “The inspection is over, 38 warehouse [workers]…
“Because I am not Russian, hatred was directed at me even before the Crocus City Hall [attack], but now, they especially hate the migrants,” said a taxi driver who came to Moscow from his native Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s second-largest city, some four years ago in search of stable work. “[The assailants] happened to be Tajiks and…
A Russian court has sentenced former Moscow municipal deputy and current Pussy Riot member Lucy Shtein to six years in prison in absentia for anti-war social media posts. Moscow’s Basmanny District Court found Shtein guilty of spreading “war fakes” and said her prison sentence would begin once she is extradited to Russia, the court’s press…
With the support of Syzran Refinery (part of Rosneft’s refining complex), a new multifunctional youth training centre was opened at the Syzran branch of Samara Polytech University
The Achinsk Refinery (part of Rosneft’s refining complex) has commissioned a state-of-the-art environmental laboratory to accurately monitor various environmental components, including waste, natural and drinking water, soil, air quality and industrial factors
Antidepressant sales in Russian pharmacies have hit a five-year high in the first months of 2024, the Vedomosti business daily reported Wednesday, citing the pharmaceutical market research company DSM Group. Experts linked the rise to doctors increasingly prescribing antidepressants instead of Soviet-era sedatives and tranquilizers whose effects have not been scientifically proven. According to the DSM…
Ukraine said Wednesday that it detained two agents of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) accused of sharing the location of sensitive military targets with the Russian military. Since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv has waged a crackdown on those suspected of having collaborated with Russia, opening thousands of criminal cases. “As a result…
Russia’s Mir payment system will no longer be available on Samsung’s mobile payment service starting next week, the South Korean company announced on Wednesday. “Starting April 3, 2024, adding and using Mir cards to Samsung Pay will not be available,” Samsung said in a statement published on its website. “Samsung Pay will continue working in…
The Russian government has seized 15 defense companies valued at some 333 billion rubles ($3.6 billion) since last year, Russia’s Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov told the Kommersant business daily in an interview published late Tuesday. After Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, Russian authorities have sought to nationalize key assets in the country’s…
The number of people wounded in Friday’s deadly concert hall attack has risen to 360, Russian state-run media reported on Wednesday, citing health officials. Authorities previously said that more than 180 people were wounded in the mass shooting at Crocus City Hall, located just northwest of Moscow, which saw camouflaged gunmen indiscriminately kill at least…
The head of Niger’s military regime General Abdourahamane Tiani spoke on Tuesday by telephone to Russian President Vladimir Putin about “strengthening security cooperation,” according to an official communique. The two countries had already agreed in January to strengthen military ties when Niger Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine led a delegation to Moscow. Niger, one of…
Russia called Britain’s judiciary a “farce” Tuesday over its treatment of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who must wait weeks to learn if he can appeal against extradition to the United States. The 52-year-old, who has been held in a London prison since 2019, is wanted by the United States over his role in the publication…
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Tuesday that he had helped his counterpart Vladimir Putin keep suspected gunmen from entering Belarus after they fled from the scene of the deadly Moscow concert hall attack late last week. Russian law enforcement agents detained four suspected assailants early Saturday in the western Bryansk region, which is close to…
Top Russian security officials claimed Tuesday that Ukraine and the West were partly responsible for the deadly concert hall attack outside of Moscow late last week, which saw camouflaged gunmen indiscriminately kill at least 139 people and wound dozens more. The head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov said that while those who…
Ukraine said Tuesday that it had damaged four Russian naval ships in a weekend missile attack against annexed Crimea. The Ukrainian navy had previously said that the overnight attack between Saturday and Sunday damaged only two amphibious landing ships — the Yamal and the Azov. According to new information, “Ukraine’s Defense forces [also] successfully damaged the…
A Moscow court on Tuesday remanded an eighth suspect in connection to the deadly concert hall attack outside the Russian capital late last week. Alisher Kasimov, a 32-year-old Russian citizen born in Kyrgyzstan, is accused of renting out his Moscow region apartment to four suspected gunmen behind the mass shooting at the Crocus City Hall music…
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) thwarted an attempted bomb attack against a humanitarian aid collection point in the Samara region, state media reported Tuesday. A 30-year-old “accomplice” of the Russian Volunteer Corps — one of the pro-Kyiv militias fighting against the Russian army in Ukraine — allegedly died after an explosive device he was carrying…
A Moscow court on Tuesday extended the pre-trial detention of U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich until June 30, ensuring that he will have spent more than one year behind bars following his arrest last year on espionage charges. Russian prosecutors have accused the Wall Street Journal reporter of espionage, the first such charge against a Western…
Ukrainian strikes have left five people wounded in western Russia’s Belgorod region, authorities said Tuesday, in the latest bout in escalating cross-border attacks between Russia and Ukraine. Recent months have seen a sharp uptick in Ukrainian attacks along Russia’s western border, as well as incursions by pro-Kyiv militias comprised of Russian volunteer fighters. Belgorod region…
RN-Yuganskneftegaz, Rosneft’s largest oil production enterprise, saved 398 million kWh of electricity through its energy saving program in 2023
Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova has criticized the alleged violent detention of the four suspected gunmen in last week’s deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall, state media reported Tuesday. “Despite the drastic nature of detaining criminals and no criminal punishment stipulated for actions that inflict harm during detention, it’s absolutely inadmissible to use torture…
President Vladimir Putin on Monday night said for the first time that “radical Islamists” were behind Friday’s attack on a concert hall outside Moscow, but otherwise doubled down on his previous claim that Ukraine may have somehow been involved and suggested that Washington was allegedly trying to cover it up. Eleven people were detained on…
A Moscow court has ordered three more men to be put in pre-trial detention in connection with the deadly concert hall attack outside Moscow late last week, the independent news website Mediazona reported Monday. Two brothers, Aminchon and Dilovar Islomov, as well as their father Isroil Islomov, all of whom had worked in northwestern Russia’s Tver…
Four men accused of killing at least 137 people in the deadly attack on Crocus City Hall appeared in a series of late Sunday court hearings in Moscow with visible bruises, cuts and other injuries. Unverified graphic footage of the suspects’ interrogations had earlier been published on social media, leading some observers to conclude that…
On March 7, U.S. officials warned the Russian government that they had information about a planned terrorist attack possibly targeting concerts in Moscow. Fifteen days later, camouflaged gunmen attacked the Crocus City Hall concert venue near Moscow, killing at least 137 people, with the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group claiming responsibility. The deadliest attack in…