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…
Russian police have detained more than 100 people at spontaneous memorials for deceased opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the OVD-Info rights group said Saturday. The 47-year-old Kremlin critic was serving a 19-year prison sentence in the Arctic when authorities announced his death, prompting grief among his supporters. People were seen gathering to place flowers at makeshift…
Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from the frontline city of Avdiivka to avoid being encircled, new military chief Oleksandr Syrsky said Saturday, handing Russia its biggest symbolic victory following Kyiv’s failed summer counter-offensive. Russia has been trying to capture Avdiivka for months. It is the most significant territorial gain for Russian forces since they seized the…
Russian photographer Dmitry Markov has died at the age of 42, local media in his hometown of Pskov said Friday, citing his friends. Markov, who relied solely on an iPhone for his photography, became famous for capturing images of everyday life in Russia and its regions. His photo of a masked riot police officer sitting…
Exiled banking magnate Oleg Tinkov was declared a “foreign agent” by Russian authorities Friday over his opposition to the conflict in Ukraine. The 56-year-old is best known for founding Tinkoff Bank, one of Russia’s largest lenders behind state giants Sberbank and VTB. The Justice Ministry said it added him to its foreign agents list after…
Supporters of Alexei Navalny are laying flowers in Russia and at Russian embassies around the world after the jailed Kremlin critic was announced dead by the Russian prison service on Friday. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, hundreds of people gathered at monuments dedicated to Soviet victims of political repression to show their respect for the…
Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, spent his final weeks in a penal colony above the Arctic Circle. His 19-year prison sentence was widely condemned by rights groups and in the West as punishment for daring to cross President Vladimir Putin. Through messages passed through his lawyers, he posted regularly on social media in…
The speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament has claimed without evidence Friday that U.S. and EU leaders were responsible for the death of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. “Washington and Brussels are to blame for Navalny’s death,” Vyacheslav Volodin wrote on the Telegram messaging app hours after prison authorities in the Russian Arctic announced Navalny’s…
Anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny, whose death was announced by Russian officials on Friday, was one of the Kremlin’s most outspoken domestic critics for more than a decade. Despite numerous arrests and efforts to hinder his activities, Navalny, 47, remained one of the most popular opposition figures in Russia and a thorn in the Kremlin’s side.…
Alexei Anatolievich Navalny, the most prominent opposition politician of the late Putin era, died in prison on Friday, according to the Yamalo-Nenets branch of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN). He was 47. At the time of his death, Navalny was serving a 19-year sentence on charges widely seen as politically motivated in a high-security prison…
Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, said all those responsible for the death of her husband “will be held accountable.” Navalny, 47, was serving a lengthy prison term when he was announced dead by Russian prison authorities on Friday. His team said it could not confirm the prison service’s announcement until his…
The pro-Kremlin party United Russia has ordered lawmakers to avoid commenting on the death of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the investigative news outlet Agentstvo reported Friday. Deputies in the lower-house State Duma were reportedly told they should “keep strictly in line with the Federal Prison Service’s version [or] better to refrain from commenting at…
Russia’s Central Bank held its key interest rate unchanged at 16% on Friday, warning price rises and intense labor shortages were a lingering threat to the country’s heavily militarized economy. The bank hiked rates in a series of moves last year as it battled high inflation and a volatile currency amid the Kremlin’s dramatic increase…
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has died in the Arctic prison colony where he was serving his sentence, Russia’s prison service announced Friday. Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said his team could not confirm the prison service’s announcement until his lawyer visits the IK-3 prison colony in the settlement of Kharp. Navalny, 47, has been one of…
Russia’s food safety watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor has partially lifted an import ban on bananas from Ecuador, the Kommersant business daily reported Friday. Moscow said earlier this month it was suspending authorizations for five Ecuadorian banana exporters due to the detection of pests. Thirteen other exporters were later added to the ban, importers told The Moscow Times’…
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has died in jail, Russian prison authorities announced Friday. “The inmate A.A. Navalny started to feel unwell after a walk and almost immediately lost consciousness at correctional facility No. 3 on Feb. 16,” the Yamal-Nenets autonomous district prison service said. “Medical staff arrived immediately, an ambulance was called. None of the resuscitation…
“I would want to come back to a free Yakutia,” Sargylana Kondakova says when asked about returning to her home region. “I would like for it to be an independent state, of course, but it is even more important for me to see that our people have a free conscience, free mind and a free…
Activists in Russia’s republic of Bashkortostan have confirmed the passing of a local man who faced criminal investigation over the mass protests that erupted in the republic last month, the SOTA media outlet reported Thursday. Minniyar Bayguskarov, 65, was buried in his native village of Kaskinovo in the region’s southwestern Kugarchinsky district on Tuesday, according to local…
Prisoners, homeless people and other socially disadvantaged individuals made up the majority of military recruits in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk over the past year, a local assemblyman has said. “Over the last year our contract soldiers were mostly alcoholics, homeless people, derelicts, prisoners and others,” the local news website ngs24.ru quoted Krasnoyarsk city council member Vyacheslav Dyukov as…
Orenburgneft, Rosneft’s largest producing asset in the Volga Region, saved over 60 million kWh of electricity in 2023, which amounts to over 219 million rubles in the monetary equivalent.
The commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has been sacked after Ukraine said it had destroyed another Russian warship, according to unconfirmed reports by pro-war bloggers. Ukrainian military intelligence said Wednesday its naval drones attacked and sank the Caesar Kunikov landing ship off the coast of the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula. Rybar, an influential Telegram channel…
Moscow on Thursday said U.S. reports it was planning to launch a nuclear weapon into space were “malicious,” “unfounded” and a White House ploy to try to pass a stalled Ukrainian aid package. Citing unnamed official sources, U.S. media reported Wednesday evening that Washington believed Russia was advancing plans to deploy a space-based nuclear weapon.…
Ukraine has rushed soldiers to the embattled eastern town of Avdiivka, surrounded on three sides by Russian forces, where the military said the situation was “extremely critical.” While the two sides staged new missile attacks on each other, Russian forces have laid siege to Avdiivka in the eastern Donetsk region since last year and its…
At least seven people have been killed in missile strikes on the city of Belgorod in southwestern Russia, the country’s Health Ministry said Thursday. The Health Ministry confirmed seven deaths and said 18 people were injured. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a one-year-old girl was among those killed. Images of the aftermath showed a blown-out shopping center and…
Russia on Thursday launched a supply rocket to the International Space Station, one of the rare Russia-U.S. projects kept alive since Russia’s offensive against Ukraine. A Soyuz-2 rocket carrying the Progress MS-26 cargo ship was launched at the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, Russia’s space agency said on its Telegram channel, showing a video of…
A Russian court has overturned orders to deport Afghan journalist and activist Kobra Hassani, who feared for her life under the Taliban’s rule. Hassani, 27, was among a group of 12 Afghan nationals who were detained near a St. Petersburg port in May 2022 on suspicion of attempting to illegally flee to Europe. On Tuesday, a St.…
A night-time Ukrainian drone attack set ablaze a Russian oil depot in the Kursk region near the frontier between the two countries, Russian authorities said Thursday. Regional governor Roman Starovoit said on social media that there were no casualties, appealing to the local population to remain “calm.” “Following a Ukrainian drone attack in the Kursk…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said he was grateful to controversial right-wing U.S. talk show host Tucker Carlson for his interview last week and “intermediary” role with the West. Former Fox News star Carlson released a two-hour interview with Putin in Moscow last Thursday, just ahead of the two-year anniversary of Russia’s offensive in…
Russian President Vladimir Putin described U.S. counterpart Joe Biden on Wednesday as more “predictable” than Donald Trump, but said the Kremlin was prepared to work with whoever wins November’s election. Asked by a journalist who Russia would like to see win in the likely contest between the Democratic incumbent and Republican frontrunner Trump, Putin said:…