The Kremlin on Friday accused the West of trying to interfere in Georgia’s upcoming parliamentary elections, while also dismissing claims that it was meddling in the South Caucasus country’s politics. Georgia will hold parliamentary elections on Saturday, which some observers have called a key test of the country’s democracy and its prospects of joining the…
Denis Leontovich took a job at the regional youth policy agency in southern Russia’s Samara region in February 2024. After just a few weeks on the job, he would resign and leave the country in a matter of hours after he was outed as gay by a federal lawmaker and started receiving threats. “I didn’t…
At least four people were hospitalized after a man attacked several shoppers at a supermarket in St. Petersburg, Russian media reported Friday. Eyewitnesses told the Fontanka news outlet that an “aggressive man” hurled champagne bottles at people inside the O’Key supermarket before grabbing a knife from a display window and using it to attack shoppers.…
Russia’s Central Bank raised its key interest rate from 19% to a historic 21% on Friday, taking it even higher than the emergency rate initially introduced after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine as officials scrambled to shield the economy from Western sanctions. A rate increase of 1% had been widely anticipated by analysts, as inflation…
U.S. billionaire Elon Musk held secret talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin throughout the war in Ukraine as his initial support for Kyiv appeared to shift in Moscow’s favor, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing several anonymous current and ex-U.S., European and Russian officials. The private conversations reportedly addressed personal topics, business and geopolitical…
Enraged residents in Russia’s Chelyabinsk region clashed with riot police Thursday night after the stabbing death of a local woman, which both authorities and residents blamed on members of the Roma community. Local media identified the victim as Yelena Sarafanova, a mother of two and taxi driver in the town of Korkino. Her body was…
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday his relationship with the United States after the presidential elections would depend on what attitude Washington adopts, as he welcomed comments by Donald Trump on his desire to end the Ukraine conflict as “sincere.” But the Kremlin leader struck a hardline tone, warning the West it was an “illusion”…
Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister said Thursday that his government does not endorse Russian emigres living in the country who stage protests against the Kremlin. Tens of thousands of Russians fled to Serbia after President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and then a partial mobilization of troops later that year. An…
Russian law enforcement authorities have arrested one current and one former deputy energy minister on suspicion of fraud, the Kommersant business daily reported Thursday, citing anonymous sources. Federal Security Service (FSB) agents reportedly first arrested Anatoly Yanovsky, who oversaw policy on Russia’s coal industry as deputy energy minister between 2008 and 2021. Current Deputy Energy…
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday urged a “just peace” in Ukraine, delivering his remarks in front of Russian President Vladimir Putin as he called for an end to more than two years of war. Guterres was in Russia for the first time since April 2022 and was due to hold talks on Ukraine…
The Russia-hosted BRICS summit came to a close on Thursday in Kazan, the capital of Russia’s republic of Tatarstan. The largest international event held in Russia since it invaded Ukraine more than two years ago, the summit was seen as a tool for the Kremlin to shake off its pariah status and strengthen its influence…
French retail giant Auchan is in “the final stage of negotiations” to sell its Russian subsidiary to local buyers after more than 20 years in the country, the business publication La Lettre reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources. Auchan reportedly narrowed its options to two potential buyers after receiving 10 “unsolicited expressions of interest” over the…
German prosecutors charged a Russian man with the murder of two Ukrainian soldiers who were receiving medical treatment in southern Germany, media reported Wednesday. The 57-year-old Russian national was arrested in April after the two Ukrainian soldiers were found stabbed to death at a shopping center in the Bavarian town of Murnau. Witnesses said the…
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday that his country is ready to become an “active member” of the BRICS group of countries. “We fully share the BRICS philosophy. Belarus is coming to you with specific ideas and projects,” Lukashenko said at the bloc’s annual summit in the city of Kazan. “We’re ready to become an…
President Vladimir Putin warned Thursday that attempts to defeat Russia on the battlefield were “illusory,” remarks made ahead of his first meeting with UN chief Antonio Guterres in more than two years. Putin was speaking in the Tatarstan capital of Kazan on the final day of the BRICS summit, a forum Moscow hopes will help forge a…
Two women in the Ural Mountains city of Perm threw Molotov cocktails at the local office of the ruling United Russia party, igniting a blaze inside the building, Russian media reported Thursday. Emergency services told local media that the fire engulfed some 40 square meters (430 square feet) of the office, and photos taken from…
Russian lawmakers voted unanimously on Thursday to ratify a strategic partnership agreement between Russia and North Korea that, among other things, provides for “mutual assistance” if either country comes under attack. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a visit to the isolated East Asian country in…
Kyiv claimed Thursday that Russian forces had executed four captured Ukrainian servicemen in the eastern Donetsk region, the latest war crime allegation against Moscow. The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said four servicemen fighting in the national guard had been captured on Oct. 6 near the Donetsk region town of Selydove, where Russian forces are advancing.…
The oldest surviving son of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych received Russian citizenship, state media reported Thursday, citing documents it said it had obtained. Government records reportedly list businessman Oleksandr Yanukovych, 51, as a Ukrainian citizen when he registered a financial and industrial services company in St. Petersburg. The state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported that…
Turkey secretly blocked the export of U.S. military-linked goods to Russia following warnings from Washington, the Financial Times reported, citing three anonymous sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Ankara, which originally embraced the role of Moscow’s lifeline from Western sanctions, reportedly made the move in recent weeks without a public announcement due to the…
A senior U.S. official confirmed Wednesday that thousands of North Korean soldiers were sent to Russia for training, but said that their exact mission remained unclear. “We know that thousands of DPRK troops are in Russia to be trained. We don’t know what their mission will be or if they’ll go on to fight in…
Russian State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin on Wednesday called for the extradition of former Putin aide and veteran reformer Anatoly Chubais over corruption allegations. Chubais served as the Kremlin’s climate envoy before quitting his position and leaving Russia shortly after Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022. President Vladimir Putin previously suggested Chubais fled the country…
Law enforcement authorities in southwestern Russia’s Kursk region searched the business of a regional lawmaker over reported defense failures that Ukrainian forces exploited during their cross-border incursion this summer. Ukrainian forces launched a surprise attack in the Kursk region on Aug. 6, breaching two lines of defensive fortifications that reportedly cost 15 billion rubles ($109…
North Korea sent an additional 1,500 troops to Russia, South Korea’s intelligence agency told lawmakers Wednesday, with around 10,000 soldiers total expected to be deployed by December. The latest deployment brings the number of North Korean troops in Russia to 3,000, lawmaker Park Sun-won said after the National Intelligence Service (NIS) gave a briefing. “An…
Belarus will hold its next presidential election on Jan. 26, the country’s Central Election Commission announced Wednesday. Belarus, a key ally of Russia, has been ruled since 1994 by President Alexander Lukashenko. Since coming to power, Lukashenko has eliminated all forms of opposition in the country. Election authorities said parliament had approved the date of…
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in Russia on Wednesday to attend this week’s BRICS summit, his first visit to the country in more than two years. Russia is hosting the three-day summit in the Tatarstan capital of Kazan, where the speaker of the regional legislative assembly greeted Guterres after his plane landed at the city’s airport. Ukraine’s…
Russian officials, businesses and media have been reporting shortages of workers across different sectors of the economy for over a year. Now some are saying that the reality of labor deficit is a new reality that the country will have to live with in the coming years. “There will never be cheap labor in our…
Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Tuesday hailed his country’s ties with Russia in a “chaotic” world as he met President Vladimir Putin at the BRICS summit in Kazan. “The world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, and the international situation is chaotic and intertwined,” Xi told Putin, praising the “profound friendship” between their…
Russian forces have advanced over a key waterway in the eastern Ukrainian stronghold of Chasiv Yar, a Ukrainian military official said, marking a setback for Kyiv’s embattled forces. The town of Chasiv Yar, which had an estimated pre-war population of around 12,000 people, sits on a strategic hilltop and its capture would likely speed Russian…
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said it summoned Germany’s ambassador to protest a new NATO naval command center along the Baltic Sea coast. On Monday, Germany inaugurated the center to boost defense readiness in the Baltic Sea region as Russia continues to wage war on Ukraine. Authorities in Moscow said they expressed a “decisive protest”…
Poland has ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in the western city of Poznan over Moscow’s alleged “sabotage” attempts inside the country, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Tuesday. “I have information that Russia is behind sabotage attempts in Poland and allied countries. I have therefore decided to withdraw my permission for the Russian…
A Moscow court on Tuesday prohibited an elderly resident from keeping goats at his home in the Russian capital after receiving complaints about the animals wandering the streets and producing foul smells. Valery Anikeev, 77, has kept 16 goats at his home in southern Moscow’s Zyuzino district since at least the mid-1990s, state media reported.…
Authorities in the Tatarstan capital of Kazan have limited access to mobile internet services as part of enhanced security measures during this week’s BRICS summit in the city, local media reported Tuesday, citing an anonymous telecommunications source familiar with the matter. “Security measures have been tightened due to the BRICS summit in Kazan, with possible temporary…
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he wanted the war in Ukraine to be resolved peacefully and “quickly” as he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the annual BRICS summit on Tuesday. The three-day gathering, held in the Tatarstan capital of Kazan, is the biggest international event to take place in Russia since the…
Russia’s Defense Ministry discharged 85 Indian citizens who were misled into joining the army to fight in Ukraine, Indian authorities said Monday, as efforts continue to secure the release of some 20 others remaining in Russia. “Our understanding is that nearly 20 people still remain [enlisted in the Russian military] and we are pressing our…
Police in the Moscow region arrested two men suspected of trying to assassinate a former Chechen and Ingush official who has ties to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s late father. Russian Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said those arrested in the town of Odintsovo included an alleged hitman and the person who hired him. Volk shared a…
A Moscow court said Tuesday that French researcher Laurent Vinatier filed an appeal against the three-year prison sentence handed to him last week for breaking Russia’s “foreign agent” laws. Vinatier, a 48-year-old researcher working for a Swiss conflict mediation NGO, was arrested in Moscow in June and charged with gathering information on Russia’s military without…
Russian overnight attacks left three people dead in the northeastern Ukrainian region of Sumy, where Moscow has stepped up its bombardments in recent months, local officials said Tuesday. Sumy lies across the border from the Kursk region in southwestern Russia, where Ukrainian troops launched a major offensive in August and have managed to hold a…
South African President Cyril Rampahosa arrived in the Russian city of Kazan on Tuesday to attend the annual BRICS summit as Moscow seeks to project the economic bloc as a geopolitical counterweight to the West. Russian media outlets shared videos of Ramaphosa being greeted by Rustam Minnikhanov, who heads the republic of Tatarstan where Kazan…
South Korea may soon deploy military intelligence personnel in Ukraine to monitor North Korean troops claimed to be fighting for Russia, the Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday, citing an anonymous government source. Seoul’s spy agency said Friday that Pyongyang sent a “large-scale” troop deployment to fight in Moscow’s war against Ukraine, claiming that 1,500 North…
A group of Ukraine war veterans joined protesters in Western Siberia’s Tyumen region over the weekend, accusing local officials of unlawfully seizing their homes amid a road construction dispute. Around 50 protesters, including five men dressed in military uniforms, gathered in the city of Tyumen on Saturday to protest what they claim to be a violation of…
CHISINAU, Moldova — Moldovans woke up to the news that the country’s referendum on joining the European Union was likely to pass by a razor-thin margin after a dramatic day of voting in Sunday’s presidential election that is set to determine whether the country pursues Western integration or pivots back toward Russia’s orbit. Pre-election polls…
A group of coal miners in Siberia’s Kemerovo region said Monday that they were launching a hunger strike after their employer failed to pay them millions of rubles in wages. At least 12 workers signed a petition announcing the hunger strike that is expected to last until they receive 46 million rubles ($478,000) in unpaid…
The imprisoned mother of a prominent critic of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has been sent to the hospital to undergo medical treatment after her lawyer petitioned the authorities to allow her to receive care due to her declining health. Zarema Musaeva, the mother of activist Abubakar Yangulbaev and the wife of a retired federal judge,…
When the annual BRICS economic bloc summit opens Tuesday in Kazan, the capital of Russia’s republic of Tatarstan, Moscow will be pulling out all the stops to project the alliance as a rapidly expanding geopolitical counterweight to the West. President Vladimir Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov has already hailed the summit as “the largest foreign policy…
A non-profit organization providing mental health and legal support services to LGBTQ+ people in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg announced Monday that it would shut down after coming under “anti-queer pressure.” The organization, called Lupta, was created in April 2023 as a support center for people facing discrimination over their sexual identity after its predecessor, the…
Authorities in Moscow claimed Monday that the narrow margin in Moldova’s constitutional referendum on EU membership “raises questions,” while also rejecting Moldovan President Maia Sandu’s accusations of Russian interference in Sunday’s presidential election. After nearly 99% of the votes were counted in a referendum that asked Moldovans whether to insert a clause into the constitution…
Alexei Navalny’s widow said she plans to run for president of Russia after Vladimir Putin leaves office and free and fair elections in the country become possible. “My goal is to bring about change in the country. If I return to Russia, I will run for president,” Yulia Navalnya told the BBC in an interview…
A group of Russian warships arrived in Myanmar to join maritime exercises with the military junta’s navy, state media in the Southeast Asia country reported Monday. The Global New Light of Myanmar said four corvettes and a logistics vessel from Russia’s Pacific Fleet arrived at Thilawa port in Yangon on Sunday “to join the second…
South Korea summoned the Russian ambassador in Seoul on Monday in protest over claims that Pyongyang sent thousands of soldiers to fight in Moscow’s war against Ukraine, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said, calling for the immediate withdrawal of the troop deployments. Around 1,500 North Korean special forces soldiers have been stationed in Russia, according…
Ukraine said on Sunday it had targeted a crucial Russian explosives factory, located about 750 kilometers (470 miles) from the border, in an overnight drone attack. Kyiv has repeatedly launched drone attacks deep into Russian territory, seeking to hit energy and military sites that it says are key to supplying Moscow’s invading army. A source…
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time in two and a half years on Sunday as a decision was expected regarding Vucic’s participation in the BRICS summit this week. Serbia, a European Union candidate, has refused to impose sanctions on Russia, maintaining close and friendly relations. However,…
The U.S. State Department is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to any foreign person or entity engaging in election interference, it said just weeks before Americans select their next president. An announcement from the department’s Rewards for Justice program specifically singled out Russian media organization Rybar LLC, which it…
North Korea’s decision to deploy thousands of soldiers to Ukraine’s front lines cements Pyongyang’s contentious military alliance with Moscow, experts told AFP, and pulls Russia deeper into Korean peninsula security. About 1,500 North Korean special forces soldiers are already in Russia acclimatizing, likely to head to the front lines soon, Seoul’s spy agency said Friday, with…
Russia said Friday that it had swapped 95 Ukrainian soldiers held captive for an equal number of Russian troops in an exchange deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates. “As a result of the negotiation process, 95 Russian servicemen were returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said. “In return, 95…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s suggestion that Kyiv would seek nuclear weapons if it could not join NATO was a “dangerous provocation,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday. The Ukrainian leader made the comments at an EU summit on Thursday, in which he said “either Ukraine will have nuclear weapons, which will protect us, or we…
Russia and Ukraine said Friday they exchanged the bodies of 590 fallen soldiers in the latest publicly known swap between the two warring countries. Moscow received the remains of 89 soldiers, the RBC news website reported, citing Russian lawmaker Shamsayil Saraliyev, who is a member of a parliamentary group dedicated to Russia’s so-called “special military…
The BRICS group of countries is driving global economic growth faster than advanced Western economies, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the group’s business forum on Friday. The five original members of BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — together with its four newcomers accounted for 37.4% of global GDP compared to 29.3% for…
As Moldova gears up for its presidential election and EU referendum this Sunday, President Maia Sandu is banking on both her victory and a successful EU referendum, which would mark a decisive moment in her efforts to bring Moldova into the European Union. In total, 11 candidates are vying for the presidency in the Oct.…
Latvia imposed an indefinite entry ban for pro-Kremlin designer Artemiy Lebedev and comedian Valery Ponomarenko, a month before he was due to perform in the country, Latvia’s Foreign Ministry announced Friday. Latvian authorities did not cite the specific reasons for blacklisting Lebedev and Ponomarenko, noting only that the former is “known in certain circles” and…