Russian authorities have prosecuted more than 116,000 activists during President Vladimir Putin’s latest term in office, the investigative news outlet Proekt reported, surpassing levels of political repression seen during the rule of Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev. Between 2018 and 2023, Russian courts fined 105,000 people for making public statements or attending protests. Another…
Ukraine said Friday it had shot down an A-50U Russian spy plane over the Sea of Azov, and shared a map appearing to show it had crashed over southern Russia. Moscow made no official comment, but authorities in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region said fire crews were at the scene of an air crash, without elaborating.…
President Joe Biden met privately in California on Thursday with the widow and daughter of Kremlin opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died last week in a Russian prison, the White House said. Biden met with Yulia and Dasha Navalnaya in San Francisco “to express his heartfelt condolences for their terrible loss,” a statement said, adding…
Latvia’s parliament on Thursday banned the import of food products from Russia and Belarus, including via intermediary countries, following protests by farmers over “blood grain” imports. Earlier this month, thousands of farmers demonstrated in 16 towns across the country calling for a ban on Russian grain — which they said was funding the Kremlin’s war…
Anti-riot police raided an activist meeting near St. Petersburg that state television claimed was an “LGBT party against the special military operation” in Ukraine, the independent news website Mediazona reported Thursday. The broadcasters Ren-TV and 78.ru published identical reports of the Feb. 18 raid showing masked agents lining up several attendees and asking them about their…
Russian courts have convicted more than 4,600 soldiers for desertion and other offenses related to refusing to serve in the military since Moscow invaded Ukraine nearly two years ago, the independent investigative outlet Proekt reported Thursday. Russia passed new legislation in the fall of 2022 that toughened punishment for voluntary surrender, conscientious objection and desertion.…
The mother of late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny said Thursday that Russian investigators had finally allowed her to see her son’s body but are now pressuring her to hold a funeral for him in secret. “Looking into my eyes, they [investigators] told me they’ll do something to my son’s body if I don’t agree to…
The U.K. on Thursday announced more than 50 new sanctions against Russia ahead of the second anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions target arms manufacturers, electronics companies, as well as diamond and oil traders, and they aim to “diminish” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s weapons arsenal, the British foreign office said. They also seek…
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced Tuesday that a dual U.S.-Russian citizen was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg on charges of “financially assisting a foreign state in activities directed against [Russian] security.” The detainee was later identified by news agencies as 33-year-old Ksenia Karelina, a native of Yekaterinburg who obtained U.S. citizenship in 2021…
Russia claimed on Thursday its forces had advanced further in east Ukraine, piling pressure on Kyiv days before the two-year anniversary of the conflict. Ukraine has faced intense pressure on its eastern front in recent months as it grapples with ammunition shortages and hold-ups to much-needed Western military aid. The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday…
Ukraine said Thursday that its forces had struck Russian military training grounds on the Moscow-occupied bank of the Dnipro River in the southern Kherson region, killing or wounding dozens of troops. Military spokeswoman Natalia Gumeniuk said on television that the attack took place Wednesday, striking a range where Russian troops undergoing combat exercises. “The work…
Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a sarcastic response on Thursday when asked to comment on U.S. counterpart Joe Biden calling him a “crazy SOB.” The Kremlin leader, who endorsed Biden over rival Donald Trump in the upcoming U.S. elections, joked: “He can’t of course say to me: Volodya, well done, thank you [for the endorsement],…
Scientists of the Siberian Federal University with the support of Vostsibneftegaz (an enterprise of Rosneft’s oil and gas production block) analysed the state of the wolf population in the Evenki district of Krasnoyarsk Territory.
“I am your new grandfather Frost,” Navalny said in a social media post on Dec. 26, his first since arriving at IK-3 in Kharp. “I have a tulup, an ushanka and I will have valenki soon,” he said. “I now live above the Arctic Circle … But I don’t say ‘ho-ho-ho, I say ‘oh-oh-oh’ when…
The BBC Russian service and news outlet Mediazona have confirmed the identity of around 45,000 Russian soldiers who died in Ukraine since the invasion began in February 2022. The issue of military casualties is extremely sensitive in both countries. Russia has banned criticism of the conflict and no official figures have been released since 2022.…
The EU has agreed to lift sanctions from Russian tech billionaire Arkady Volozh, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing three sources familiar with the matter. Volozh co-founded the Russian tech company Yandex and announced his resignation in mid-2022 after being targeted by EU sanctions. In August, his lawyers petitioned the EU for sanctions relief after he became…
The United Kingdom on Wednesday announced sanctions against six Russian prison officials in charge of the Arctic penal colony where Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny died last week. Travel bans and asset freezes were imposed on the head of the remote IK-3 penal colony in the Yamal-Nenets autonomous district, Colonel Vadim Kalinin, and five of his…
The death of opposition politician Alexei Navalny in a remote Arctic prison last week has dominated headlines and put a spotlight on the brutality of Russia’s penitentiary system. The U.S. State Department in its 2022 Human Rights Practices report described conditions in Russia’s prisons as “harsh and life-threatening,” noting that inmates are systematically abused by…
Several mourners detained at makeshift memorials to the late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny have been handed military summonses in St. Petersburg, local media reported Wednesday. Police have arrested hundreds of people across Russia for laying flowers at memorials in the days since Navalny died at a remote Arctic prison. At least six mourners in St.…
The French food maker Danone plans to sell its Russian assets to a businessman linked to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, the Financial Times reported Wednesday, citing private documents it had seen and anonymous sources familiar with the situation. Kadyrov’s nephew Yakub Zakriev, 33, became the head of Danone’s Russian subsidiary in July 2023 after the Kremlin ordered its…
The EU on Wednesday agreed to ban exports to three Chinese firms and blacklist North Korea’s Defense Minister in new sanctions set to coincide with the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The fresh round of sanctions — the 13th since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 invasion — targets some two hundred officials and entities…
Prominent pro-war blogger and Russian soldier Andrei Morozov has reportedly committed suicide after upsetting his commanders for disclosing high military casualties in Moscow’s recent capture of the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka. Morozov, known by his call sign “Murz,” regularly criticized Russia’s military and political leadership on his Telegram channel over shortages of weapons, bureaucratic inefficiencies…
Ukraine’s army on Wednesday denied Russian claims that it had lost a key bridgehead on the Dnipro River frontline that has faced fierce attacks since Russia lost it. Russia’s defense minister said Tuesday that Moscow’s forces had retaken the village of Krynky, seized by Ukrainian troops last year. Russia has stepped up its offensive ahead…
Anti-American allies Russia and Venezuela vowed to boost cooperation in oil and gas production and the “peaceful use of nuclear energy” at a meeting of foreign ministers in Caracas Tuesday. Russia’s Sergei Lavrov arrived in Venezuela late Monday from Cuba as part of a Latin American tour as Moscow seeks new diplomatic and trading partners…
“I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny. I will continue to fight for our country.” That was the message Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya delivered in a video address viewed by millions on Monday after the death of her husband, one of the Kremlin’s most fearless opponents, in prison. For many anti-Kremlin Russians still mourning…
The death of a Russian pilot who defected to Ukraine with a military helicopter was shrouded in mystery Tuesday, with Spanish authorities refusing to say if a bullet-riddled body found was his. Maxim Kuzminov flew his Mi-8 helicopter into Ukraine in August in a brazen operation, saying he opposed Russia’s military offensive. Ukraine’s GUR military…
Russia on Tuesday claimed a new military success in Ukraine ahead of the second anniversary of its offensive, while President Vladimir Putin mocked what he called Kyiv’s “flight” from the frontline town of Avdiivka. The eastern Ukraine front has been frozen for months, but Moscow has been bolstered by its capture of Avdiivka last week,…
The Russian Volunteer Corps, a far-right military unit fighting alongside the Ukrainian army against Russian forces, said Tuesday that it had planned to free the late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny from prison and bring him to Ukraine. The anti-Kremlin military outfit claimed it sought to “fight off” a prison convoy that in December transferred Navalny from…
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who died in prison Friday, was known worldwide for his investigations into high-level corruption that regularly drew the ire of Russian officials. In the early years of his anti-corruption crusade, he posted his investigations on LiveJournal and ran a few other websites devoted to uncovering graft and other government failures. In…
Russia authorities have designated the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) news outlet as an “undesirable” organization. The outlet appeared in the Justice Ministry’s database of “undesirable” organizations on Tuesday, making it the latest news organization to be blacklisted in Russia amid a sweeping crackdown on independent journalism that has dramatically intensified since Moscow invaded Ukraine…
A London court has charged the former Moscow-installed head of Sevastopol in annexed Crimea with violating sanctions and money laundering, BBC Russian reported Tuesday. Dmitry Ovsyannikov was appointed as the governor of Crimea’s largest city in 2016, around two years after the Kremlin invaded and subsequently annexed the Ukrainian peninsula. He stepped down from the industry and trade ministry in…
A modern polyclinic opened in the suburbs of Ufa, built with the support of Bashneft (part of Rosneft) under the Cooperation Agreement between Rosneft and the Republic of Bashkortostan.
Russia’s state financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring has added U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham to its list of “extremists and terrorists.” Russia’s Interior Ministry issued an arrest warrant for Graham in May after Russia’s Investigative Committee chairman Alexander Bastrykin ordered criminal charges to be pressed against him. “A video circulating online shows U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham saying during a…
Social media platform X, formerly Twitter, briefly suspended the account of Alexei Navalny’s widow just one day after she launched it as part of an announcement that she will continue her late husband’s work. Yulia Navalnaya had said Monday that she planned to “continue the fight” for Russia following Navalny’s death in an Arctic prison, which she blamed…
A host of European Union governments Monday summoned Russian diplomats following the prison death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Germany, Lithuania, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands were among those saying Monday they had summoned diplomats from Russian embassies. London had done the same Friday evening. Navalny’s death in a remote prison in the Arctic,…
The Kremlin is working to suppress memorials for the late opposition figure Alexei Navalny in a bid to prevent his death from spoiling President Vladimir Putin’s expected re-election next month. Authorities are using harsh detentions of Navalny’s grieving supporters and censorship to prevent acts of mourning from turning into political protests, sources in the Russian…
Russian state media has largely avoided giving airtime to the news of Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny’s death in an Arctic prison. While Navalny’s death on Friday dominated global headlines, Russian state television limited its coverage to brief news segments — or airing statements that Moscow did not benefit from Navalny’s death and speculation about its…
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell Monday pledged that Russian President Vladimir Putin would be held to account for Alexei Navalny’s death after he met the opposition leader and Kremlin foe’s widow. Navalny’s death in an Arctic prison last week has shocked Russia’s exiled opposition which — along with the West — pointed the finger…
Russian investigators told the family and lawyers of Alexei Navalny that they will not hand over his body for at least another two weeks as they conduct a “chemical examination” to determine the cause of his death, the late activist’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on Monday. “We understand clearly that they won’t show his body afterward and…
Eleven Ukrainian children left Russia for Ukraine on Monday to be reunited with their families, the latest transfer between the warring sides under a Qatari-mediated scheme. “This is the largest group of children in our family reunification activities, which we’re carrying out on behalf of the Russian president,” Russia’s presidential commissioner for children’s rights Maria Lvova-Belova wrote…
The Festival of Indigenous Culture was held in the Tyumen Region with the support of RN-Uvatneftegaz (part of Rosneft’s oil and gas production complex).
A St. Petersburg tattoo artist has been charged with offending religious believers with her tattoos of Jesus Christ and other Christian symbols deemed “blasphemous,” the Fontanka news website has reported. Daria Krichker, 24, whose tattoos depict cats and anime characters alongside religious imagery, was detained at Pulkovo Airport on Saturday as she was attempting to flee to Armenia to…
Ukrainian troops are facing “heavy fire” from advancing Russian forces in the southern Zaporizhzhia region after Moscow last week made its most significant territorial gain in nine months, Ukrainian military officials said Monday. Russian forces are back on the offensive across eastern and southern Ukraine and have forced Kyiv into a hasty withdrawal from the…
Russia’s Defense Ministry on Monday accused Kyiv of trying to poison the Kremlin-backed head of eastern Ukraine’s occupied Luhansk region Leonid Pasechnik. “Pasechnik was severely poisoned with phenolic compounds on Dec. 5, 2023,” said the head of the Russian Defense Ministry’s radiation, chemical and biological protection forces, Igor Kirillov. Phenol is a chemical compound used in…
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny, said she will continue her late husband’s work in a video statement released Monday. “There should have been another person in my place, but this person was killed by Vladimir Putin,” Navalnaya said, referring to her husband. “I have no right to give up. I will continue the…
Russian courts have sentenced dozens of people detained at events commemorating Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to short jail sentences, official court announcements showed, with 154 sentenced in St. Petersburg alone. Details of rulings published by the city’s court service on Saturday and Sunday showed 154 people had been given jail time of up to 14…
Veteran Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was declared dead by Russian prison authorities on Friday, an announcement that his team was able to confirm only a day later. His death in a remote Arctic prison remains shrouded in mystery. Russian authorities have not yet announced the official cause of the opposition politician’s passing or granted his…
Ukraine’s army on Sunday accused Russian forces of shooting two prisoners of war and posted a grainy video shot from the air that they said showed the incident. In the video, two soldiers labelled as Ukrainians run towards another labelled as Russian in a trench. The Russian soldier then grabs them and shoots numerous times…
Yulia Navalnaya had not seen her husband Alexei in two years when she spoke at the Munich Security Conference after news broke that he had died in his Arctic prison. With tears in her eyes, Navalnaya — by her husband’s side as he challenged President Vladimir Putin’s rule for more than a decade — took…
The U.S. ambassador to Moscow visited a makeshift shrine to Alexei Navalny on Sunday, as Russian authorities suppressed memorials and tributes to the late opposition leader. Rights groups say police have detained over 400 people at gatherings for the politician, a leading critic of President Vladimir Putin who died in an Arctic prison Friday. Ambassador…
Events on the battlefield in Ukraine are a matter of “life and death” for Russia that could determine its fate, President Vladimir Putin said in remarks aired Sunday. The Kremlin has repeatedly framed the almost two-year conflict as a battle for Russia’s survival in a bid to rally patriotic sentiment among its population, many apathetic…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday hailed his army’s capture of the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka as an “important victory,” following a hasty withdrawal by Kyiv’s forces. The capture of the town marks the most significant territorial gain for Russia’s forces since the seizure of Bakhmut last May. “The president congratulated our military and…
Russia said Saturday it had taken “full control” of the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, hours after Kyiv said it had pulled out of the former stronghold to save soldiers’ lives. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had informed President Vladimir Putin of the advance, said a defense ministry statement. Putin “congratulated our military and fighters…
Alexei Navalny’s supporters on Saturday accused Russian authorities of being “killers” who were “covering their tracks” by refusing to hand over his body, as the Kremlin stayed silent despite Western accusations and a flood of tributes to the late opposition leader. The 47-year-old Kremlin critic died in an Arctic prison on Friday after spending more…
VILNIUS, Lithuania — Hundreds of Russian emigres gathered in central Vilnius to mourn the late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, with many expressing a mixture of anger, sorrow and helplessness. In Lithuania’s capital, a hub for exiled Russian activists, the death of Russia’s most prominent opposition figure in prison has cast a heavy shadow. According to…
Ukraine’s withdrawal from the city of Avdiivka hands Vladimir Putin a major symbolic victory before Russia’s presidential election in March and exposes Kyiv’s critical shortages of weapons and soldiers. Symbol of Ukrainian resistance Avdiivka, a small industrial city in the eastern Donbas region, has been a symbol of Ukrainian resistance to Russian aggression since 2014.…
A month before Russia’s presidential election, certain to be won again by President Vladimir Putin, the country’s anti-war opposition in exile admits that it is unable to influence the results but hopes the West will “do the right thing.” None of Putin’s opponents will be able to participate in the March election or organize independent…
Russian authorities said that imprisoned opposition figure Alexei Navalny died on Friday, an announcement confirmed by his team one day later. Navalny, 47, was serving a 19-year prison sentence on extremism charges in the Arctic at the time of his death. The prison service provided little details about his death, which Navalny’s allies and supporters…
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s body is not in the morgue where authorities said it was brought after his death, his team announced Saturday. “Alexei’s lawyer and his mother have arrived at the Salekhard morgue. It’s closed, however, the colony has assured them it’s working and Navalny’s body is there,” Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on…
A St. Petersburg priest has been detained after he announced he would hold a memorial service for the late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, his wife said on Facebook on Saturday. Grigory Mikhnov-Vaitenko was detained near his home as he was going to the Solovetsky Stone dedicated to Soviet victims of political repression. Later Saturday, Mikhnov-Vaitenko was…