A Russian bank is set to open a branch in Ukraine’s occupied Kherson region this week, an official in the region’s Moscow-appointed administration announced Tuesday. “I think in the near future, a month or a month and a half, people will be able to open accounts and try to pay via the internet,” said Kirill Stremousov,…
A Russian court sentenced four members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the U.S.-based Christian evangelical movement, to six years in prison for “extremism,” investigators said Tuesday. The four adherents of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who hail from the city of Chita in eastern Siberia, were found guilty of organizing “extremist” activities between 2017 and 2020, the Investigative…
Deutsche Bank has relocated hundreds of its Russia-based IT specialists to Germany following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Financial Times reported Tuesday. The Frankfurt-headquartered bank has relocated approximately half of its 1,500 highly skilled software developers based in Moscow and St. Petersburg as well as their families in the past three months, citing difficulties…
A dozen Russian officers have been prosecuted for sending hundreds of young conscript soldiers to fight in Ukraine, a military prosecutor announced Tuesday. “Around 600 conscripts were involved in the special military operation, all of whom were returned as soon as possible,” military prosecutor Artur Yegiev of Russia’s Western Military District said at a Federation…
Russia’s neighbor and ally Belarus announced so-called “wartime transition” exercises Tuesday as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine shows no sign of slowing in its fourth month. The Belarusian defense ministry said all of its army units, command centers and personnel will undertake “a set of training sessions on the transition from peacetime to wartime.” It claimed…
As the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine raged, Yelena Bagaeva, an English teacher from the Siberian republic of Buryatia, held a discussion with her students about the events dominating the headlines. “I tried to convey that any war is bad, that you can’t wish death on Ukrainians and hate them, they are people like us,” she…
A senior executive at Russian internet giant VK has died in an accident in the Arctic, the company confirmed Tuesday following reports that he went missing during a dangerous river crossing. First deputy CEO Vladimir Gabrielyan was said to have gone missing with his colleague, VK’s director of procurement Sergei Merzlyakov, in northern Russia’s remote…
Moscow has threatened to strip the accreditations of U.S. journalists in Russia in response to the treatment of Russian reporters in the United States, Reuters reported Monday, citing unnamed sources with direct knowledge of the meeting. “If they don’t normalize the work of Russian media on U.S. territory, there will be forceful measures as a…
The U.S. Justice Department ordered the seizure Monday of two aircraft owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, saying they had been used in violation of sanctions on Russia imposed over its invasion of Ukraine. The department said in court filings that the two aircraft, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner and Gulfstream G650ER executive jet, had been…
Major General Roman Kutuzov was reportedly leading an operation around the village of Mykolaiv on Sunday as Ukrainian artillery slammed into Russian positions across eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region. Hours later, he was reported dead by Russian state television reporter Alexander Sladkov in a Telegram post that hailed the general’s bravery. “The general led the soldiers…
A Moscow court confirmed Monday the arrest of a sixth person linked to an alleged plotting to kill pro-Kremlin TV host Vladimir Solovyev. Moscow resident Timofey Mokiy, 29, stands accused of being part of the “neo-Nazi terrorist group” National Socialism/White Power, according to Russia’s Security Services (FSB). They say that the suspects hoped to assassinate…
Regional officials across Russia are rushing to buy fresh graves plots at an “abnormal“ rate, investigative news outlet Mozhem Obyasnit reported Monday. The number of burials purchased by local governments far outstrips figures from previous years, according to public procurement records. The sudden shift in policy could be linked to unreported deaths among the Russian…
Latvian officials have granted a broadcasting license to Russian TV channel Dozhd, regional news platform DELFI reported Monday. Dozhd, previously Russia’s only independent television channel, suspended operations in March after being ordered by authorities to stop broadcasting over its coverage of Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Dozhd is expected to shortly resume operations from the Latvian…
Moscow on Monday furiously condemned the rejection by several European countries of a request for Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s plane to pass through their airspace, forcing him to cancel a trip to ally Serbia. “The unthinkable has happened,” Lavrov told an online news conference in Moscow. “This was a deprivation of a sovereign state of…
A Russian court has jailed a Chechen soldier for refusing deployment amid growing reports of military personnel refusing to fight in Ukraine. The court ruling did not specify whether contract soldier Ali Musayev defied orders to fight in Ukraine, only saying that he refused to take part in a “special mission.” But the date of…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to Serbia has been scrapped after neighboring countries closed their airspace, his spokeswoman confirmed late Sunday. Serbian media reported earlier that Bulgaria, Montenegro and North Macedonia had not granted clearance to Lavrov’s flight over their territories. “Just an hour ago the countries surrounding Serbia closed the natural air channel…
A bridge and a sugar refinery in western Russia’s Kursk region near Ukraine have been damaged in the latest cross-border shelling, Governor Roman Starovoit said Monday. There were no injuries or fatalities in the attack on the Kursk region village of Tetkino, Starovoit said. “The main impact was on the local bridge,” the governor said.…
Russian General Roman Kutuzov has been killed on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, Russian state-owned media reported Sunday. If confirmed by the Russian military, Kutuzov would be at least the fourth Russian general killed in more than three months of fighting in Ukraine. “The general had led soldiers into attack, as if there…
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Sunday that Moscow will hit new targets if the West supplies Ukraine with long-range missiles, hours after several explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. The battle for the control of the strategically important eastern city of Severodonetsk also raged on, with regional governor Sergiy Gaiday saying Ukrainian forces now control…
When the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in late February, many Westerners living in Russia started looking for an exit. “When it first started, we were shocked because we honestly didn’t think it was going to happen,” said one U.S. woman and longtime Moscow resident. “We were getting lots of messages saying we have to…
Explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Sunday as a regional governor said Ukrainian forces were pushing back against Russian troops in the strategic eastern city of Severodonetsk. The battle for Ukraine’s eastern city of Severodonetsk was being waged street by street, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, while explosions rocked the capital early Sunday. “Several explosions…
Russian forces have lost ground in Severodonetsk, a key city in eastern Ukraine that has been the scene of ferocious fighting as Moscow seeks to gain control of Donbas, a regional governor said Sunday. “The Russians were in control of about 70 percent of the city, but have been forced back over the past two…
The billionaire founder and CEO of Russian tech giant Yandex has resigned from the company after being targeted by European sanctions in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The European Union included Arkady Volozh in its latest package of sanctions on Russia on Friday, citing his company’s role in “promoting state media and narratives in…
The father of a Russian conscript believed to have been killed in the Moskva battleship’s sinking said he has been questioned by security services on suspicion of sending a bomb threat. Dmitry Shkrebets is the father of 20-year-old conscript Yegor Shkrebets, who was declared missing after the Moskva guided missile cruiser sank in the Black…
On Feb. 24, Russian forces crossed Ukraine’s borders in a full-scale invasion. In the 100 days since the conflict began, thousands have been killed, civilians have been tortured and raped, millions displaced and Ukrainian towns and cities destroyed.
Russian opposition politician and former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov, who has been critical of Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine, said Friday he had left Russia temporarily but was hoping to return. Kasyanov, who served as President Vladimir Putin’s first prime minister from 2000 to 2004, told AFP in written messages that he was not currently…
Russian TV journalist and Kremlin critic Alexander Nevzorov has been granted Ukrainian citizenship for “outstanding service to the country,” a Ukrainian official said Friday. Russian authorities sentenced Nevzorov to arrest in absentia in May after he criticized Russia’s March 9 shelling of a Mariupol maternity hospital on social media. A Moscow court said his posts…
African Union head Macky Sall on Friday urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to take into account the suffering in African countries from food shortages caused by the conflict in Ukraine. Putin hosted the Senegalese president at his Black Sea residence in Sochi on the 100th day of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, with global food shortages…
Russia has achieved “certain results” in its military campaign in Ukraine, the Kremlin said Friday as the war passed the 100-day mark, vowing to continue what it calls a “special military operation” until all its goals are met. President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 with the stated aim of “demilitarizing and…
Belarus’s authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko on Friday offered to share a baby formula with the United States, highlighting shortages in a country that has put him under sanctions. A product recall and shutdown of a major plant in February triggered a dramatic and ongoing reduction in the availability of formula for parents across the United…
Russian forces will drastically speed up their offensive in Ukraine following an unspecified change of tactics, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said Friday as the invasion entered its 100th day. Kadyrov said Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had outlined “new tasks to improve further tactics” on the battlefield during their meeting in Moscow on Thursday. “The measures…
Two people were injured after a fire ripped through a 10-story business center in western Moscow on Friday, authorities said. The blaze was put out after more than 120 people were evacuated, the emergencies ministry said. Footage showed massive flames and billowing plumes of smoke as firefighters battled the blaze. “At 12:32 (09:32 GMT) the…
June 3 marks 100 days since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin has long claimed it is carrying out a “special military operation,” not a war, underlining its allegedly limited scope as the “defense” of Ukraine’s Moscow-backed separatist states in Donetsk and Lugansk. But 100 days of war has not just killed thousands,…
China is searching for ways to help Russia financially amid tightening Western sanctions without violating the restrictions itself, The Washington Post reported Thursday. Moscow has requested greater trade, financial and technological support from its largest trading partner Beijing in at least two “tense” exchanges in recent weeks, unnamed Chinese officials told the newspaper. Weapons and ammunition…
On a remote plain on the Belarusian-Ukrainian border the morning of Feb. 24, hundreds of paratroopers from Russia’s 31st Guards Air Assault Brigade boarded helicopters they thought were bound for a training ground in western Belarus. But once the units were airborne, senior officers turned to the men to tell them that they were actually…
Russia’s oil production increased by 5% in May after it saw one of its steepest drops the previous month under Western pressure over the war in Ukraine, the Vedomosti business daily reported Friday. Russian crude output last month totaled 43.1 million tons and averaged 10.2 million barrels per day, Vedomosti cited an unnamed industry source…
Russia is developing a domestic alternative to Europe’s top human rights court, the head of the Association of Russian Lawyers said Thursday. Russia has been outside the jurisdiction of the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) since March, when Moscow was expelled from the Council of Europe over its invasion of Ukraine. Work is currently…
Russia said Thursday it was ready to directly settle any disputes with its creditors after missing payments on its foreign debt due to Western sanctions over Ukraine. Moscow faces the risk of its first external debt default in more than a century. Punishing Western sanctions on Russia have largely severed the country from the international…
The variety of goods on sale at Russian shops has fallen across nearly every category this spring, according to research cited by the BBC’s Russian service. Russian consumers face increasingly limited product choices as Western sanctions and the exit of more than 900 foreign businesses over the war in Ukraine have cut off many import flows. “Where…
Russian state nuclear agency Rosatom this week closed the door for further cooperation with Norway, ending nearly three decades of partnership which saw Norway give Russia more than 2 billion euros to help it secure its nuclear dump sites and improve safety at icebreakers and power plants. Rosatom representatives on Tuesday announced that Norway is no…
Russian forces on Thursday hammered the last Ukrainian defenses holding a strategic city in the Donbas region as the war approached its 100th day and Washington warned it could still last for months. Vladimir Putin’s troops have set their sights on capturing eastern Ukraine since Ukrainian forces repelled them from seizing Kyiv after the Russian…
Croatian police have arrested a Russian activist linked to protest punk group Pussy Riot, acting on an international warrant issued by Turkmenistan, a member of the group said Wednesday. Aysoltan Niyazova was arrested on the Croatian border early Monday when she entered the country from Slovenia with the group, Maria Alyokhina told reporters. Pussy Riot…
Russian users are encountering issues accessing the Proton VPN service due to likely interference by Russian authorities and internet providers, the Swiss-based company said late Wednesday. VPN use in Russia has soared by 5,300% since authorities blocked independent media and popular U.S. social networks Instagram and Facebook in the early days of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Observers…
Russian clinics are bracing for a shortage of the wrinkle-reducing drug Botox amid a Western business exit over the war in Ukraine, the Kommersant business daily reported Thursday, citing pharmaceutical researchers. Cosmetic and medical Botox imports saw a threefold drop to 74,500 units in January-March compared with the same time last year, according to the…
Russia has failed to pay $1.9 million of accrued interest on a sovereign bond, a panel of investors said Wednesday, as Moscow faces the risk of its first default in decades. The Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee (CDDC) said on its website that it voted “yes” in answer to a question from bond holders over whether…
A Russian journalist covering Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine for state media has said that he “doesn’t regret” his time in a far-right group after being pictured with Nazi tattoos. Gleb Erve currently covers the conflict — which the Kremlin claims was launched to “denazify Ukraine” — for the state-run RIA Novosti news agency. Ukrainian news…
Moscow-controlled areas of southern Ukraine could stage a referendum to become part of Russia as early as July, a senior Russian lawmaker said Wednesday. Ukraine has accused Moscow of plotting to stage sham independence referendums in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. “I don’t rule out that this may happen as early as July,”…
The Kremlin said Wednesday it doesn’t have information on the death of a French journalist in Ukraine, reportedly killed during a bombardment by Russian forces. “To draw conclusions, you need detailed information about where it took place, under what circumstances, what is the truth, what is not. We don’t have such information,” Russian presidential spokesman…
Russian forces have seized 70% of the industrial city of Severodonetsk in a push to control eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, the regional governor said Wednesday. “The Russians control 70% of Severodonetsk,” Luhansk governor Sergiy Gaiday wrote on Telegram. He said that some Ukrainian troops had retreated to “more favorable” positions while others continued fighting inside…
The Kremlin on Wednesday accused Washington of “adding fuel to the fire” by planning to supply Ukraine with advanced missile systems. “We believe that the United States is adding fuel to the fire deliberately and on purpose,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “Such supplies” do not encourage Kyiv to resume peace talks, Peskov…
A projection appeared on the facade of Moscow’s U.S. Embassy overnight blaming the United States for children killed in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, according to a video shared by Russian state media. “The blood of Donbas children is on the hands of U.S. warmongers,” one of the projected images read. The video’s creators, who remained…
A court in Russia’s Far East has handed down the country’s first guilty verdict for spreading “fake news” on Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Authorities in the Zabaikalsky region accused local resident Pyotr Mylnikov of falsifying unspecified Russian Defense Ministry documents, as well as posting “knowingly false” videos in a social media chat he moderated in…
Ukraine will not use advanced missile systems it expects to receive from the United States to attack within Russian territory, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday. President Joe Biden announced earlier that the U.S. is sending advanced rocket systems in Ukraine to strike “key targets on the battlefield in Ukraine.” A U.S. official identified the…
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny faces new criminal charges of creating an “extremist organization” and fueling hatred against authorities that could see his existing jail term extended by 15 more years, he has said. The latest charges come on the heels of his March sentencing to nine years, raising fears among allies and supporters that authorities…
European Union leaders have agreed to cut off Sberbank, Russia’s largest financial institution, from international payment system SWIFT. This measure will be included as part of the EU’s sixth package of sanctions against Moscow, as Western countries seek to further isolate the Kremlin from global financial markets following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Sberbank is the…
A military court in the Siberian city of Ulan-Ude has fined an officer for stealing jet engine fuel to heat his private home, the court’s Telegram channel announced Tuesday. Major Dmitry Malanov stole 52,900 rubles ($840) worth of fuel “to subsequently use to heat a private residential building,” the court reported. Malagov was found guilty…
Russian companies sanctioned by the West will be legally exempt from electing boards of directors, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced at a government meeting Tuesday. The move is expected to allow the Kremlin and a closely linked circle of oligarchs to retain a tight grip on joint-stock companies that have been shaken by a mass…
Two Russian soldiers were sentenced to more than 11 years in jail each on Tuesday after a court in central Ukraine found them guilty of firing artillery at civilian areas. The verdict after the trial in the Poltava region comes one week after another court, in the capital Kyiv, gave a 21-year-old Russian soldier a…
Two Russian soldiers were sentenced to more than 11 years in jail each on Tuesday after a court in central Ukraine found them guilty of firing artillery at civilian areas. The verdict after the trial in the Poltava region comes one week after another court, in the capital Kyiv, gave a 21-year-old Russian soldier a…
Ukrainian cell service has been cut off in the country’s southern Kherson region, Russian state media reported Tuesday, as Moscow continues to cement its presence in occupied territories. Russian SIM cards were apparently unaffected by the latest outage Monday, which Ukrainian and Russian-installed officials in Kherson both blamed on each other. “The connection works, but…