The South Caucasus nation of Georgia has for weeks been gripped by mass protests against a controversial “foreign influence” bill that critics say resembles legislation in Russia used to crack down on independent media and the opposition. Introduced into parliament last month by the country’s ruling Georgian Dream coalition, the bill would force organizations receiving…
Russian shelling of Ukrainian energy infrastructure led to widespread power outages overnight in the northeastern Sumy and Kharkiv regions, Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said Monday. Moscow has intensified strikes on Ukraine’s energy facilities in recent months, knocking out a significant chunk of production, and triggering blackouts and energy rationing across the country. “The enemy shelled energy…
Updated with Peskov’s remarks. Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Monday that its forces were preparing to conduct tactical nuclear weapons exercises in response to Western “threats and provocations.” “At the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, in order to increase the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to perform combat…
A Ukrainian drone strike in Western Russia’s Belgorod region has killed at least six people and wounded 35 others, Russian authorities said Monday, marking one of the deadliest attacks inside Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion over two years ago. Belgorod region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said several drones struck a car and two vans carrying…
Russia said Sunday its armed forces had seized the village of Ocheretyne in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the latest in a string of small territorial gains for Moscow. After capturing the nearby industrial hub of Avdiivka in February, Russia has pressed its manpower and weapons advantage on the battlefield, advancing several kilometers deeper into Ukraine…
New Russian military advisers and military equipment have arrived in Niger, according to state television in the African country that wants U.S. forces to leave. A first set of about 100 Russian advisers had arrived in Niger on April 10 along with air defense systems. Two military transporters arrived Saturday, according to Tele Sahel that…
A Russian rocket strike on Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region killed two people and a drone attack on the northeastern city of Kharkiv injured at least six, officials said Sunday. The overnight attacks came as Orthodox Christians in Ukraine and Russia celebrated Easter. “In Pokrovsk, rocket attacks killed two people and damaged a house,” Vadim Filashkin,…
Russia has added Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to its list of wanted criminals, a government database showed on Saturday. Zelensky appeared in the Russian Interior Ministry’s “wanted” list, an online database of alleged criminals sought by the authorities. It stated that the Ukrainian leader was wanted “under an article of the criminal code,” without providing…
Russia on Saturday said it had downed four U.S.-made ATACMS long-range missiles recently supplied by Washington to Kviv over the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula. The Defense Ministry said it had “foiled” the night attack but did not specify if the falling debris had caused any damage. In April, the U.S. confirmed it had sent these missiles…
A Russian military court on Friday extended the pre-trial detention of theater director Yevgenia Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk by six months on charges of “justifying terrorism.” Berkovich and Petriychuk face up to seven years in prison if found guilty. They were charged over the content of their award-winning play, “Finist the Brave Falcon,” which…
TBILISI, Georgia — Anton reached into his backpack and pulled out a pair of plastic goggles and a meager cloth face mask — protection against tear gas and pepper spray. That night, like the night before, the 34-year-old Russian emigre and self-described political activist planned to stay out until daybreak alongside Georgian protesters, showing solidarity…
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed Friday that Ukraine’s military losses topped 111,000 people since the start of 2024, as Russian forces continued advancing along the eastern front line amid delays in critical Western aid for Kyiv. “Russian troops continue breaking the enemy’s system of strongholds along the entire line of contact,” Shoigu said at…
Czech government officials said Friday that the Central European country has been repeatedly targeted by cyberattacks orchestrated by a group with links to Russia’s GRU military intelligence service. Citing “the mode of operation and the focus of these attacks,” the Czech Foreign Ministry blamed the Russian group APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, for the…
The Kremlin on Friday slammed comments by French President Emmanuel Macron in which he repeated that the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine should not be ruled out. In an interview with The Economist published on Thursday, Macron said the question of sending Western troops to Ukraine would “legitimately” arise if Russia broke through Ukrainian…
Russian TV personality and blogger Anastasia Ivleeva, who stirred controversy late last year over her “nearly naked” in Moscow, said she recently traveled to parts of occupied Ukraine. “I didn’t publicize [my visit to the Donbas and the occupied city of Mariupol],” Ivleeva told the popular Russian YouTuber Luka Yebkov in an interview published on…
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Friday it had shot and killed a Ukrainian military saboteur who was planning to attack Russian military and energy sites. “The saboteur planned to commit a series of terrorist acts in Russia on the orders of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s HUR [military intelligence], including against Russia’s Defense Ministry facilities,…
Two people were killed Friday in a Russian attack on the city of Kurakhove, located in the eastern Donetsk region, which is bearing the brunt of ongoing fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces. “Various high-rise buildings were damaged. Two people were injured, two people died,” the head of the Ukrainian military administration Roman Padun said…
Two people were injured in three separate drone attacks in western Russia’s Belgorod region, Russian authorities said early Friday. One bus passenger was wounded in a drone strike in the village of Voznesenovka, around 7 kilometers north of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, Belgorod region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram. Another person received shrapnel wounds when…
Russian military instructors are operating at the same airbase in Niger as American troops, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Friday, confirming previous media reports that Russian troops had entered the same base amid the West African nation’s deepening ties with Moscow. “The Russians are in a separate compound and don’t have access to U.S. forces or…
Germany on Friday blamed Russian state-sponsored hackers for an “intolerable” cyber attack on members of the Social Democratic Party and warned there would be consequences. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a German federal government investigation into who was behind the 2023 cyber attack on the SPD had just wrapped up. “Today we can say unambiguously…
Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday that it was again urging its citizens to avoid unnecessary travel to Russia after a surge in reports of increased security checks at the border and denials of entry to Central Asians. “The ministry once again recommends that fellow citizens who don’t have good reasons to go to Russia temporarily…
Russian President Vladimir Putin is purportedly mulling the removal of Deputy Prime Minister Viktoria Abramchenko from her post following his inauguration next week, the Vedomosti business newspaper reported Thursday, citing four anonymous sources close to the Kremlin. Abramchenko, 48, has overseen environmental projects, natural resources, and Russia’s agro-industrial complex since 2020 as a member of…
In early May, the Rosneft pavilion at the international Russia Expo hosted a presentation of the Company’s environmental and volunteer projects
Thousands of Georgians this week have rallied against a controversial “foreign influence” bill being debated in Georgia’s parliament. Critics compare the legislation to Russia’s “foreign agents” law, which since its adoption over a decade ago has been used to crack down on independent media and the political opposition. In the latest escalation, police used pepper…
Moscow said Thursday that its military captured another village in eastern Ukraine, where in recent weeks Russian troops have reported incremental battlefield advances. Russian forces are rushing to claim as much Ukrainian territory as possible ahead of the arrival of U.S. weapons and equipment to Kyiv’s forces after months of wrangling over the military aid…
Russians who initially fled the country but are now returning from abroad have helped boost Russia’s economic growth in the face of unprecedented Western sanctions, Bloomberg reported Thursday. An estimated 1.1 million people left Russia in 2022 after Moscow launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Between 40% and 45% have since returned, according to client…
Russian prosecutors have requested a 10-year prison sentence for the wife of exiled journalist Kirill Martynov in a controversial case surrounding the alleged attempted murder of her daughter nearly two decades ago, the online news outlet Mediazona reported Thursday. Antonina Martynova, whose maiden name is Fyodorova, had evaded criminal punishment for 16 years after a…
The U.S. State Department accused Russia Wednesday of having used chemical weapons against Ukrainian soldiers in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, while also announcing fresh sanctions against Moscow. In addition to the chemical agent chloropicrin, Russia also used “riot control agents [tear gas] as a method of warfare in Ukraine, also in violation of…
Ukrainian drones targeted energy infrastructure in at least two regions of western Russia overnight, Russian regional authorities said early Thursday, coming just a day after Kyiv reportedly attacked oil refineries inside the country. “The Oryol region was once again attacked by enemy drones,” Oryol region Governor Andrei Klychkov said shortly after midnight on Thursday. Klychkov…
A Russian missile attack injured 13 people in Ukraine’s southwestern city of Odesa, its mayor said early Thursday, after similar strikes earlier in the week killed at least eight. “Another Russian ballistic [missile] attack on Odesa,” the city’s mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov said on Telegram. “A total of 13 people were injured,” he said, adding that…
Visitors on Wednesday flocked to the opening of a month-long exhibition of Western military equipment captured by Russian forces in Ukraine. The showcase, which is located at a World War II memorial park in Moscow, features 32 pieces of heavy equipment, including a U.S.-made M1 Abrams tank, a German-made Leopard 2A6 tank, a U.S.-made Bradley armored fighting vehicle, as well…
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday that its forces carried out a strike on the Ukrainian military’s southern operational command center. “Operational and tactical aviation, missile forces and artillery of the Russian Armed Forces’ military group has struck [Ukraine’s] ‘South’ operational command headquarters,” the Defense Ministry said in its daily briefing. Ukraine’s Operational Command South is based…
The cigarette maker Japan Tobacco has adjusted its supply chains to comply with Western sanctions against Moscow and keep its business operating in the lucrative Russian market, the company’s CEO Masamichi Terabatake told the Financial Times. “We are making various efforts to ensure a sort of a ring-fence, by sending things from Turkey, for example, since…
The European Union led condemnation against Georgia on Wednesday after police the night before fired tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators protesting against a controversial “foreign influence” bill. The clashes were the most violent yet in the three weeks since rallies first began against the bill, which critics say resembles legislation used to crackdown…
A Russian guided bomb attack on Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region killed two people on Wednesday, the region’s governor said. The region, swathes of which were occupied by Russian forces for months after the full-scale invasion in February 2022, is under near-constant bombardment from Russian artillery, rockets, and missiles. “Today at 10:00 am, Russians struck a…
The U.S. Senate has voted to ban uranium imports from Russia as Washington ramps up pressure on Moscow’s war economy more than two years after President Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The bill, which was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives in December, was voted for unanimously by senators on Tuesday.…
Ukrainian drones have targeted several regions in central and southwestern Russia, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday, as Ukrainian media reported that Kyiv was behind alleged attacks against at least two Russian oil refineries. “Air defense forces destroyed and intercepted 6 Ukrainian drones, three of which were over the Voronezh region, one over the Ryazan…
A Russian missile attack has killed at least three people in Odesa, the mayor of the southwestern Ukrainian port city said early Wednesday. “The enemy attacked Odesa with ballistic missiles. As a result of the attack, three people were killed and three more were wounded,” mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov wrote on the messaging app Telegram. Odesa…
Five Russians accused of setting fire to a helicopter on behalf of Ukraine appeared before a Moscow court on Tuesday and were charged with “terrorism.” The Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s intelligence agency HUR published a video late last week of what it claimed was a Ka-32 transportation helicopter being set ablaze at a Moscow airport. “The aggressor…
Updated with Politico report. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its forces shot down six U.S.-supplied missiles launched by Ukraine, with Moscow-backed officials in annexed Crimea claiming some of the weapons were downed over the Black Sea peninsula. Washington quietly shipped an unspecified number of long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to Ukraine in recent…
A powerful dust storm swept through the Siberian city of Irkutsk on Tuesday, with local authorities reporting damage to buildings and a local energy provider shutting down power lines as a safety precaution. “Irkutsk was hit by inclement weather, the wind speed has reached 28 meters per second,” Irkutsk Mayor Ruslan Bolotov said in an…
Russian strikes on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv have killed at least one person and wounded nine others, regional authorities said Tuesday. “Nine people were wounded and one person was killed as a result of enemy bombardment of Kharkiv,” regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said. Earlier on Tuesday, he said Russian forces “attacked Kharkiv with guided aerial bombs.”…
Authorities in western Siberia’s Tyumen region said Tuesday that “abnormal” flooding has led to revised predictions for the anticipated peak water levels in the Tobol and Ishim rivers. “Along the Tobol River, hydrologists have observed abnormal behavior. The water moves very slowly because it’s spilling over the floodplain,” Tyumen region Governor Alexander Moor said on…
American conservative pundit Tucker Carlson on Tuesday released an interview with Russian ideologue Alexander Dugin, who criticized “Anglo-Saxon” individualism and warned that Western liberal ideas would bring about the loss of “human identity.” In the 20-minute conversation with Carlson, who is known for spreading far-right conspiracy theories, Dugin argued that liberalism frees people from “any kind…
The head of Nizhny Novgorod’s city government has been arrested in occupied eastern Ukraine on charges of embezzlement, Russian media reported Tuesday. Oleg Lavrichev, who serves as chairman of Nizhny Novgorod’s City Duma and is a member of the ruling United Russia party, was taken into police custody over the weekend, according to an official citied by local…
The head of a property management company in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk issued a public apology after residents complained about a curbside that was painted in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, media reported. “It’s already being painted over [into red and blue],” Vladimir Simonov, who heads the property management company, told the online…
A cyber specialist who briefly worked at the top secret U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) was sentenced to more than 21 years in prison on Monday for attempting to spy for Moscow, the Justice Department said. Jareh Sebastian Dalke, 32, spent less than four weeks working at the NSA, the U.S. government’s signals intelligence agency,…
The death toll from a Russian missile attack on the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa rose to five early Tuesday after a man died at the hospital, regional authorities said. Russia’s military on Monday afternoon struck Odesa, which is located on the Black Sea, injuring nearly two dozen people in the blast. “Unfortunately, the…
Tajikistan’s Foreign Ministry has summoned Russia’s ambassador in Dushanbe over alleged rights violations against Tajik citizens in Russia, the state-run news agency TASS reported Monday. The ministry handed Russian ambassador Semyon Grigoryev an official note of protest “expressing serious concern over the huge number of cases of an emphatically negative attitude toward citizens of the Republic…
Major European banks that continue to do business in Russia paid the government four times more in taxes in 2023 than in the year before Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Financial Times reported. The seven lenders — Austria’s Raiffeisen, Italy’s UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo, the Netherlands’ ING, Germany’s Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank, as…
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday that its troops had taken control of another village near the captured town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine’s partially occupied Donetsk region. Russian forces gained control over Avdiivka in February after one of the bloodiest battles since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine over two years ago. In its daily…
Water levels in the Ishim River in Russia’s Tyumen region have hit an all-time high, regional authorities said Monday, causing a large traffic backup along a major highway. “The water level in the Ishim River isn’t decreasing. It even increased due to yesterday’s rainfall. The historical maximum of [12.15 meters] has been reached,” Tyumen region Governor Alexander Moor…
At least two police officers and five assailants have been killed in a firefight in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Karachayevo-Cherkessia, Russian law enforcement officials said Monday, the second such attack in the region over the past week. A gunfight broke out late Sunday when the unidentified attackers approached officers on duty and fired an explosive…
Ukraine said Monday that it had thwarted over 50 Russian attacks in the eastern Donetsk region, a day after it admitted to a worsening situation on the front line. Moscow over the weekend announced that it had captured the eastern village of Novobakhmutivka, as struggling Ukrainian forces await the arrival of crucial U.S. military aid…
Russia’s Defense Ministry on Sunday claimed its forces had taken control of another village in eastern Ukraine, as Moscow’s troops press their advantage in manpower and ammunition on the battlefield. Russia’s forces have made notable gains in the eastern Donetsk region over the last week, prompting rare criticism by Ukrainian military bloggers of the country’s…
Another Russian journalist has been detained in Russia for “extremism”, accused of making videos for the team of late dissident Alexei Navalny, the Associated Press international news agency said on Sunday. Sergei Karelin, who has worked for the AP, is the second journalist arrested over such allegations after Konstantin Gabov, who occasionally worked for Reuters…
Three members of a well-known Russian metal band — Korrozia Metalla — were on Saturday arrested in the middle of a concert and charged with displaying “Nazi symbols”, authorities said. The three band members aged 19, 42 and 57 are accused of “propaganda or public exposition of Nazi accessories or symbols”, said regional police in…
Russia shot down 17 Ukrainian drones overnight in several western regions, the defense ministry said on Sunday. “The air defense systems intercepted and destroyed seventeen Ukrainian UAVs,” the ministry said in a Telegram post. Most of the drones were shot down in regions that border Ukraine, with nine downed in Bryansk, three in Kursk and…
U.S. intelligence agencies believe that while the Russian president was ultimately responsible for the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, he didn’t order it to take place when it did, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. The finding, which the Journal said was based on both classified intelligence and an analysis of public facts, raises…
A Russian journalist has been arrested on “extremism” accusations for helping create YouTube videos for the team of late opposition figurehead Alexei Navalny, Moscow courts said on Saturday. Konstantin Gabov, who according to media reports worked for Reuters, Russian television channels Moskva 24 and MIR, and Belarusian news agency Belsat, will remain in pre-trial detention…