In the face of a record-breaking series of weapons tests by Pyongyang this year, Seoul has moved to strengthen its security relationship with traditional ally the United States while entering a trilateral defense arrangement that also includes Japan. Seoul and Washington have staged joint military exercises with advanced stealth jets and U.S. strategic assets, while…
The arrest of journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) Tatar-Bashkir service, in Russia came as shocking and devastating news to those who knew her. Kurmasheva, a dual Russian-U.S. citizen of Tatar origin, was detained in Kazan, the capital of the republic of Tatarstan, on Wednesday and charged with…
Dmitry Reshetnikov moved from the Russian city of Volgograd to Israel to study when he was a teenager. Serving as a second lieutenant in a prestigious Israeli infantry unit, which he specifically worked to get into, he was killed during this month’s shocking attack by Hamas militants. Upon learning of her son’s death, his mother…
A Russian fighter who took part in the 2014 separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine has been killed on the battlefield, the independent news website The Insider reported Thursday, citing the Ukrainian military and pro-war Russian bloggers. Alexander Mozhayev was killed in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, parts of which were captured by Russian forces during their 2022 invasion and…
Russian state media has painted President Vladimir Putin’s visit to China this week as a symbolic triumph over the West by the Russian leader who they say enjoys global prestige and respect despite attempts to isolate him. This coverage was a strategic effort to rally the Russian public behind him, independent experts, a political consultant…
Banning Russian athletes from international competitions amounts to ethnic discrimination, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday after Russia’s national Olympic body was suspended from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity. “Thanks to some leaders of the modern International Olympic Committee we’ve learned that an invitation to the Games is not an unconditional right…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday praised the “unprecedented” energy cooperation between Moscow and Beijing, as the Kremlin seeks to strengthen its Asian partnerships to make up for the loss of the European market. Russia has been hit by massive Western sanctions over its Ukraine offensive, with Europe trying to end its energy links with…
Kazakhstan has restricted the export of more than 100 military products to neighboring Russia, a senior trade official told local media Thursday. Kazakhstan has faced repeated accusations of helping its ally Russia obtain sanctioned goods that can be used to aid Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine despite Astana’s vows to avoid helping Moscow circumvent Western economic penalties.…
The fifth Russian-Chinese Energy Business Forum (RCEBF) was opened on Tuesday in Beijing, the capital of the People’s Republic of China
Russia on Thursday sent 27 tons of humanitarian aid for civilians in the Gaza Strip to be transported from Egypt, Moscow’s Emergency Situations Ministry said. “A special plane has taken off from the airport at Ramenskoye near Moscow for El-Arish in Egypt. The Russian humanitarian aid will be handed over to the Egyptian Red Crescent…
A Russian-American journalist working for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has been detained in Russia and charged with failing to register as a foreign agent, her employer and a journalist watchdog group said Wednesday. Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with the U.S. Congress-funded outlet’s Tatar-Bashkir service, “needs to be released so she can return to her family…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un on Thursday, after slamming US policy towards the nuclear-armed state as “dangerous.” Lavrov hailed North Korea as a “close neighbor and long-time partner” in a meeting that lasted a little over an hour, Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement. The veteran envoy’s…
The Russian State Duma has unanimously resolved to rescind Russia’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The bill will now be sent to the upper chamber and then to President Vladimir Putin, who is expected to sign it into law. Russian lawmakers and media figures have called for the country to carry…
Russia’s nuclear weapons “saved” the country, Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, said Wednesday. “Were it not for the work of [Soviet atomic bomb creator Igor] Kurchatov and his colleagues, it is difficult to say if our country would still exist,” Patriarch Kirill said. His comments came as he presented a Church…
Russian courts have convicted a record number of soldiers on charges of sexual violence, murder and other felonies in the first half of 2023, the independent news website Mediazona reported, citing Supreme Court data. The courts issued 32 murder convictions against Russian soldiers from January to June 2023. By comparison, fewer than 20 convictions were made…
Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday ordered law enforcement agencies to seek the extradition from Canada of a Ukrainian World War II veteran who fought alongside the Nazis. Yaroslav Hunka, 98, had served in the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, which is accused of committing crimes against humanity during the Holocaust. Hunka was…
“Warming is about to end. And the cause is not humans, but the interplay between the Sun and Earth. Currently, we are in a favorable period, but we will inevitably transition to an unfavorable [cold] one … around 2030-2035.” This statement by Andrei Fedotov, director of the Limnological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences…
Russia “highly values” North Korea’s support for its Ukraine campaign, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Pyongyang on Wednesday, with Western concerns mounting over the historic allies’ deepening military ties. Lavrov’s comments came as he began a two-day visit to Pyongyang that is expected to lay the groundwork for a trip by President Vladimir Putin.…
Russia’s Central Bank has suspended the issue of the new 1,000-ruble bill, whose design depicts a museum housed in a former Orthodox cathedral next to a tower topped with the Muslim crescent, following complaints from members of the Russian Orthodox Church. In a short press release, the Bank said it would stop issuing the bills…
President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday decried Washington’s supply of ATACMS long-range missiles to Ukraine as a “mistake” that would not fundamentally change the situation on the battlefield. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday his forces had used the U.S. Army’s M39 Army Tactical Missile System for the first time, though the United States had not…
Russian forces have scaled back their offensive on the frontline city of Avdiivka, the Ukrainian military said Wednesday as analysts documented heavy Russian losses in its major push for the Donetsk region stronghold. Ukraine’s General Staff of the Armed Forces has reported at least 15 or more daily Russian attacks on Avdiivka since Russian troops closed in…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted invitations to visit Thailand and Vietnam, according to government statements from the two Southeast Asian nations. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has thrown Putin into international isolation, leaving him with few allies. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Putin over the alleged deportations of thousands of…
The deadly blast at a Gaza hospital Tuesday night was a “crime” and Israel must provide proof that it was not involved, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. At least 500 people were killed in the blast at the al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said, blaming an Israeli airstrike. Israel claims the blast…
Russian leader Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that world conflicts “strengthen” his country’s relations with China, after talks with Xi Jinping that celebrated their nations’ deepening political and economic ties. Putin, on his first trip to a major global power since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, met his “old friend” Xi in Beijing on the sidelines of…
Russia’s air defense systems downed at least 28 drones over territories near Ukraine overnight, Moscow’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday. Air defense assets on duty “intercepted and destroyed” drones over the Black Sea and the Belgorod and Kursk regions in western Russia, it said. Russia’s military did not provide details of any damages sustained on the ground…
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Ukraine’s armed forces had used U.S.-supplied ATACMS long-range missiles for the first time. “They have performed very accurately. ATACMS have proven themselves,” he said in an evening address posted on social media, without giving details of when or where they were used. The United States had not previously…
Although jailed activist and politician Lilia Chanysheva had virtually no hope of changing her sentence in an appeal originally scheduled for Monday, she told The Moscow Times she still intends to fight back. Chanysheva was the first associate of jailed opposition figure Alexei Navalny to be sentenced after Navalny’s networks were labeled “extremist” and forced…
A pork plant in Russia’s republic of Buryatia is expected to come under federal investigation after a manure storage pit burst, sending mass amounts of animal waste flowing into local waterways and threatening an “environmental disaster.” On Oct. 12, a malfunction at the East Siberian pork facility caused huge amounts of manure waste to flow into…
More than half of Russian soldiers in Ukraine wounded severely enough to require medical examination have sustained injuries that require limb amputations, Deputy Labor Minister Alexei Vovchenko said Tuesday. “This is such a vivid problem, it’s a lot,” Vovchenko said at a roundtable with Russian senators, as quoted by the government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta. While Vovchenko…
Sixteen Russian nationals have been killed and nine remain missing in the war between Israel and Hamas militants, Russia’s Ambassador to Israel Anatoly Viktorov said Tuesday. All 16 of those killed also had Israeli citizenship, the state-run TASS news agency quoted Viktorov as saying. One dual Russian-Israeli citizen is listed among the hostages taken by…
Russian President Vladimir Putin faces no real competition ahead of next year’s election, his spokesman said on Tuesday, adding that there could be “no rivals” to the long-time leader. Putin has led Russia since the turn of the century and presided over its seismic Ukraine offensive. He has won four presidential elections and briefly served…
Jailed Russian politician Alexei Navalny condemned the arrest of three of his lawyers as he stood trial in the prison where he is being held, Russian media at the hearing said on Tuesday. Lawyers Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexei Lipster — who have all defended Navalny — were detained last week. “Of course these…
Russian lawmakers voted on Tuesday to revoke Moscow’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, moving closer to abandoning a landmark agreement that outlaws the testing of nuclear weapons. The move comes after President Vladimir Putin said earlier this month he was “not ready to say” whether Russia needed to carry out live nuclear…
President Vladimir Putin met Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in China on Tuesday, praising the EU member state’s leader for maintaining ties with Russia despite Moscow’s rifts with the West over the invasion of Ukraine. “It cannot but cause satisfaction that our relations with many European countries are being preserved and developed despite very limited opportunities…
The Kremlin said on Tuesday there was “no proof” North Korea was sending supplies of weapons to Russia, after Washington released images purportedly showing arms shipments from Pyongyang. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traveled to Russia last month and met President Vladimir Putin, sparking speculation among Western countries over the possibility of a potential…
President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing for talks with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Tuesday, seeking diplomatic and economic support from a key ally as his war in Ukraine drags on and Russia’s dependence on China grows. The Kremlin hopes to secure major commodity contracts, agreements to share cutting-edge technologies and an official declaration of…
Ukraine’s military said Tuesday that it struck Russian-controlled airfields in occupied eastern and southeastern territories overnight. Russian pro-war military bloggers backed up Kyiv’s claims, while Kremlin-backed officials in the occupied areas said the attacks were unsuccessful. Russia’s Defense Ministry has not commented on the reported strikes, which could not be independently verified, on airfields under its control.…
Poland’s election results, which showed pro-EU opposition parties set to win a parliamentary majority, were unlikely to improve strained ties between Warsaw and Moscow, the Kremlin said Tuesday. Relations between Russia and Poland have been historically tense but have dipped to new lows since Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine which began in February last year. “Honestly,…
Russia has designated the Central European University (CEU) as an “undesirable” organization, the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a Telegram post on Monday. The Prosecutor General’s Office accused the university of working to shape an “anti-Russian agenda imbued with hatred of Russia and its multinational people” in the global media. It also claimed that the…
Two Russian ships owned by U.S.-sanctioned companies were seen transporting what are believed to be North Korean munitions in recent months, a British security think tank reported Monday, citing dozens of high-resolution satellite images. The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) warned that the alleged emerging supply route could have “profound consequences for the war in Ukraine and…
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin on Monday that the military had improved its position in Ukraine despite Ukrainian counteroffensives throughout the year. Speaking in a televised meeting, Shoigu said Ukraine had suffered heavy losses after beginning their June counteroffensive, with Russian forces destroying hundreds of tanks and over 1,500 armored vehicles.…
Russia’s legal community has called on authorities to stop “harassing and intimidating lawyers and obstructing their professional activities” following the arrests of three lawyers of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Human rights project Perviy Otdel published a statement, signed by at least 365 lawyers, activists and public figures as of Monday, saying that the rights…
Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to call Israeli and Arab leaders on Monday, his adviser said, amid Russian fears Israel’s Gaza offensive could trigger wider conflict in the region. Russia has repeatedly called for talks on ending the conflict, which has strained relations with long-time partner Israel and complicated ties with Iran, which backs…
Russian state media on Sunday profiled a bakery 400 kilometers south of Moscow that doubles as a drone-manufacturing plant. The Russian government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta first reported on the Tambov Bakery’s drone production in March this year. The publication said at the time the bakery started assembling unmanned aerial vehicles, dubbed “Bekas,” on an urgent request from…
Russia’s Embassy in Paris has denied links to the suspect of a deadly school stabbing that the French government described as an Islamist terrorist attack, state-run media reported Monday. Police in France named Friday’s suspected perpetrator as Mohammed Moguchkov, 20, who was born in the predominantly Muslim republic of Ingushetia in Russia’s North Caucasus. Moguchkov reportedly…
A Russian pro-war activist has accused the governor of a region 3,000 kilometers from Moscow of “discrediting” the military’s actions in Ukraine during a Q&A session, media reported Sunday. Khanty-Mansiisk autonomous district Governor Natalia Komarova said “We didn’t need” Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine when asked about ill-equipped troops during a meeting with constituents Saturday. Local activist…
Russian authorities have placed exiled former lawyer and popular YouTube personality Mark Feygin on their wanted list on accusations of violating wartime censorship laws, the state-run TASS news agency reported Monday. Russia’s Interior Ministry earlier in the day listed Feygin in its database of wanted persons without indicating which crime he is suspected of. An anonymous…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit North Korea on Oct. 18-19, Moscow’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday, as ties between the two countries solidify. The invitation comes after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Russia last month amid Western fears the isolated country could supply Moscow with weapons for its assault in Ukraine.…
Russian forces have made gains in their Ukraine offensive, President Vladimir Putin said Sunday, including in Avdiivka, a symbolic industrial hub where fighting has been fierce. “Our troops are improving their position in almost all of this area, which is quite vast,” he said in an interview on Russian television, an extract of which was…
Moscow’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov hopes to meet representatives of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Qatar next week for talks to free Israeli hostages, Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported Saturday. Moscow has so far carefully denounced violence from both sides in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, while renewing an offer to…
Russian President Vladimir Putin heads to China next week to meet his “dear friend” Xi Jinping, forging even closer ties in a key strategic relationship in which experts say Moscow is increasingly the junior partner. Beijing is hosting representatives of 130 countries on Oct. 17-18 to mark a decade of its Belt and Road Initiative…
Burkina Faso’s government said Friday that it had signed an agreement with Russia to build a nuclear power plant that will “cover the energy needs of the population,” less than a quarter of which has access to electricity. The West African nation has been ruled by a military junta since last year and has sought…
Makeshift memorials have sprung up near synagogues and Israeli diplomatic missions across Russia in the days since Hamas militants launched a surprise offensive on Israel. These spontaneous acts of sympathy by ordinary Russians contrasted with a lukewarm response from the Kremlin toward the attack that has resulted in the deaths of more than 1,300 people…
Europe’s top human rights body on Friday passed a resolution calling on its members to no longer recognize President Vladimir Putin as Russia’s legitimate leader after his fourth term in office ends next year. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) said Putin’s 23-year rule as either president or prime minister “has turned the Russian…
Rosneft leads the green agenda and cares about preserving the environment in the course of its production activities.
As part of Rosneft’s biodiversity conservation programme, scientists from the Tungusky State Nature Reserve determined the dependence of red deer migration on forage and safety conditions.
Moscow stands ready to work with “constructive” partners in helping reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas militants, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday. “What matters now is to stop the bloodshed,” the Russian leader said at a summit in Kyrgyzstan. “Russia is ready to coordinate with all constructive partners,” Putin added, while also echoing…
President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Kyrgyzstan is an attempt to stem the erosion of the Kremlin’s diminishing regional influence as its failures in Nagorno-Karabakh and 20-month war in Ukraine make allies increasingly uneasy, experts told The Moscow Times. With the two-day visit — Putin’s first foreign trip since being indicted by the International Criminal Court…
Updated with Ovsyannikova’s remarks. French prosecutors on Thursday opened a probe into the suspected poisoning of exiled Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who brandished an anti-war poster on state television after Moscow invaded Ukraine last year. The journalist, now living in France, felt unwell when she opened the door to her apartment in the center of…
Russian law enforcement authorities have raided the homes of lawyers representing jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, his allies said on Friday, detaining at least one of the lawyers in the latest crackdown against opposition Leonid Volkov, a longtime Navalny ally, said the imprisoned activist’s lawyers Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexei Lipster — whose apartments were…