Russian authorities will “most likely” start blocking major VPN services in March, the head of the Kremlin-aligned Safe Internet League said Monday. Downloads of VPNs, which help users access blocked websites, surged in Russia after authorities started blocking Western social media platforms and scores of Russian independent news outlets amid the invasion of Ukraine. “VPNs, especially…
The Ufaorgsintez petrochemical plant (part of Rosneft) started production of a high-octane component for motor gasoline as part of an operational efficiency improvement programme.
The world’s largest wild reindeer population could disappear in the next few years if the Russian government does not crack down on overhunting, according to a new study published by a group of researchers at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Over the past 20 years, the size of Siberia’s Taymyr reindeer population has seen a fourfold decrease,…
Georgian security officials said Monday that they intercepted several explosives claimed to be from Ukraine and intended to be transported to the southwestern Russian city of Voronezh. Georgia’s State Security Service (SSG) said the explosive devices, which were allegedly sent from the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, arrived by minivan at the Georgian-Turkish border crossing on Jan. 19…
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has been filmed visiting Moscow in recent days as rumors swirl over whether he plans to interview President Vladimir Putin. Photographs of the conservative media personality in the Russian capital first emerged over the weekend when he was seen attending a concert at the Bolshoi Theater. A reporter from…
A Ukrainian strike on a bakery in the occupied eastern Ukrainian city of Lysychansk over the weekend killed three officials, Russian-installed representatives said Monday. The Kremlin has blasted the attack that killed at least 28 people as a “monstrous terrorist act.” On Monday, authorities in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region said a local government minister and…
Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has found flaws in more than 15% of the signatures of endorsement collected by pro-peace presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin, his campaign team said Monday. Nadezhdin, who has emerged as the leading pro-peace voice ahead of the March presidential election, submitted some 105,000 signatures to CEC for review last week. But…
Tech giant Yandex announced Monday it has agreed to sell its Russian assets to a consortium of Russian investors for 475 billion rubles ($5.2 billion). The deal marks an end to more than two decades of Western investment in Yandex, which for years was seen as the crown jewel of Russia’s fast-growing tech industry and…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday said he visited troops at the southern frontline village Robotyne, which Kyiv retook from Russian forces last summer but is again under heavy attack. Kyiv recaptured the small village in the southern Zaporizhzhia region in August last year in what it hailed as a major success in the counteroffensive…
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko visited South Korea to discuss the Ukrainian war and bilateral ties, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Sunday, as the two countries trade increasingly heated rhetoric over the nuclear-armed North. Rudenko, Russia’s deputy foreign minister handling Asia-Pacific affairs, met his South Korean counterpart Chung Byung-won on Friday, Seoul’s foreign ministry said…
Russia said Sunday the death toll from a Ukrainian strike on a bakery in the occupied eastern city of Lysychansk climbed to 28 people, including a child. The strike hit almost two years into Russia’s grinding offensive in Ukraine, where the front has barely moved in months but attacks have intensified this winter. Moscow’s occupation…
Ukrainian shelling on the eastern occupied city of Lysychansk killed at least 20 people, Russia said Saturday, with at least 10 others wounded and rescue operations ongoing. Moscow’s occupation forces said Kyiv had targeted a bakery that is popular on weekends. The attack hit almost two years into Russia’s Ukraine offensive. Lysychansk, a city in…
Russian police on Saturday detained a group of around 20 journalists, including an AFP reporter, covering a central Moscow protest by the wives of men mobilized to fight in Ukraine. A detained AFP video journalist said the Russian and foreign reporters were being transported in a van to a police station. The group of all…
Ukraine’s air force on Saturday said it downed nine out of 14 drones launched by Russia over southern and central regions overnight. Kyiv said most of the drones were directed at energy facilities in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, where thousands have been without power since Russian strikes on Friday. The outages have mainly affected the…
A fire broke out overnight at a major Russian oil refinery in the southwestern Volgograd region, authorities said Saturday, after a drone strike claimed by Ukraine. A Ukrainian defense source told AFP that Kyiv’s SBU security service had “organized” the attack, which came after months of Ukrainian drone attacks against Russia. “Last night, the air…
Russia on Friday named veteran human rights campaigner Oleg Orlov, head of the Nobel Prize-winning Memorial group, a “foreign agent.” Moscow has labeled hundreds of activists and independent journalists “foreign agents” in recent years as part of a sweeping crackdown on dissent. Russia’s Justice Ministry said Orlov “opposed the special military operation in Ukraine, disseminated…
The share of Russians who view the invasion of Ukraine as a mistake has reached a new high, according to survey results from the Russian Field polling agency published Thursday. For the first time since the start of the war, 37% of respondents say they would reverse Moscow’s decision to launch its so-called “special military operation”…
Amid snow-covered trees in eastern Moscow, a group of clergymen leads a prayer service to honor an upcoming church dedicated to those who died in military conflicts. A young man, identified as a participant in what the Kremlin calls the “special military operation” in Ukraine, blesses the church, stressing the importance of prayers “for those…
The United Nations’ top court said Friday it has jurisdiction over Ukraine’s lawsuit against Russia on allegations of falsely using the Genocide Convention to justify its invasion. Kyiv has accused President Vladimir Putin of misapplying the United Nations’ 1948 Genocide Convention to launch the “special military operation” in Ukraine in February 2022. Putin said part of…
Russia has created more than half a million new jobs in its defense sector to meet soaring demand on the battlefield, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday. The Kremlin has thrown massive resources at its full-scale assault on Ukraine, with the defense sector accounting for much of the sanctions-hit economy’s growth. “In the last year…
Updated to add Fedulov’s addition to the wanted list. Russian authorities are seeking the arrest of two more lawyers of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, months after three other former and current Navalny lawyers were detained. The Interior Ministry added Olga Mikhailova to its wanted list without specifying the crime that she is accused of…
BELGRADE, Serbia — Russian nationals registered some 9,000 new businesses in Serbia by the end of 2023, a number that is set to grow in 2024, according to the Serbian Business Register Agency (APR). The data reflects the Russian community’s interest in laying down long-term roots nearly two years after the invasion of Ukraine sparked the…
A Russian model and photographer who helps Ukrainian refugees flee the war has been arrested on criminal charges of undermining state security, the independent news website Mediazona reported Friday. Nadezhda Rossinskaya, who goes by the name Nadine Geisler, is accused of posting information about collecting humanitarian aid for the Ukrainian military’s Azov Regiment on Instagram last August. …
French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed on Friday that two French aid workers had been killed in a Russian strike in Ukraine and condemned the attack as “outrageous.” Ukrainian officials said the two men died in a recent drone attack in southern Ukraine. “Two French aid workers have been killed in Ukraine by a Russian strike.…
Russian election authorities said Friday that signatures of endorsement for anti-war presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin included “dead souls,” thus appearing to set the stage for his disqualification from the race. Nadezhdin, who has emerged as the presidential election’s leading pro-peace voice, said Wednesday he had submitted 105,000 signatures to the Central Election Commission (CEC) for review.…
A Russian journalist was kidnapped and threatened over his reporting on combat drone production in the central city of Izhevsk, a local Telegram news channel where the journalist works said Thursday. Izhevsky Venik wrote that its reporter Alexander Skvortsov left his home around midnight on Sunday to pick up “exclusive materials from an informant.” Three…
Ukraine said Friday that tens of thousands of people were without power after a barrage of two dozen Russian drones damaged energy infrastructure in the central part of the country. The overnight attack echoed the systematic bombardments by Russian forces last winter that left millions in Ukraine without power, heating or water for extended periods.…
The Kremlin on Friday denied claims by Kyiv that it had ignored requests to return the remains of Ukrainian prisoners of war who allegedly died in a military plane crash last week. “The administration did not [receive Kyiv’s request],” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the state-run news agency RIA Novosti. Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence service…
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and his allies have called on supporters to protest against President Vladimir Putin and the invasion of Ukraine by turning up to vote “at noon” in the March presidential election. “Go vote against Putin and the war, and urge everyone to do the same,” Navalny said Thursday on X (formerly Twitter). Navalny,…
Moscow has instructed its diplomats to “pursue” exiled Russian celebrities who speak out against their country’s war in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing two anonymous sources familiar with the matter. The Foreign Ministry’s instructions were reportedly issued to Russian diplomats posted in so-called “friendly” countries — those that have avoided taking sides over Russia’s invasion.…
Moscow said Thursday that it hopes Armenia joining the International Criminal Court (ICC) would not affect relations between the two countries. Armenia, which formally joined the Hague-based court on Thursday, has gradually distanced itself from Russia in recent months. Yerevan is now required to arrest President Vladimir Putin if he sets foot on Armenian territory,…
Russian investigators concluded Friday that two missiles launched from a U.S.-made surface-to-air system shot down a military transport plane near the Russian-Ukrainian border last week. Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said over 100 fragments of MIM-104A anti-aircraft missiles, as well as hundreds of body parts, were recovered from the crash site in the western Belgorod region. …
Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) said Thursday that its special forces had destroyed a Russian warship off the coast of annexed Crimea using a group of waterborne drones. “The enemy ship was patrolling the Black Sea near Lake Donuzlav in occupied Crimea,” the GUR said in a statement. Ukrainian military officials identified the vessel as…
A Moscow court has commuted the suspended sentence of U.S investor Michael Calvey after he pleaded guilty to controversial fraud charges, the state news agency Interfax reported Thursday. Calvey and his French business partner Philippe Delpal were accused of a $34 million embezzlement scheme related to loans issued by a bank owned by Calvey’s Baring…
A court in the central Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod has jailed a woman for wearing rainbow earrings, the human rights group Egida reported late Wednesday, marking the second case of its kind after Russia banned the so-called “LGBT movement” as an “extremist” organization in November. According to Egida, law enforcement agents tasked with combating…
“I can only cry in response,” Rostislav Murzagulov says when asked whether he feels homesick for his native republic of Bashkortostan. For Murzagulov, a former PR chief of Bashkortostan’s head Radiy Khabirov, visiting his home republic in Russia’s Ural Mountains region is a distant prospect. Once a self-described “systemic liberal politician,” Murzagulov resigned from his…
Updated with Kremlin’s statement. Turkish banks have started closing Russian corporate accounts following threats of secondary sanctions from the United States, the Vedomosti business daily reported Thursday, citing financial consultants and business owners. U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order in December announcing secondary sanctions on foreign banks suspected of supporting Russia’s war against…
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that air defense systems had shot down 11 Ukrainian drones over regions in the western part of the country. “Tonight, the Kyiv regime attempted to commit terrorist attacks against structures on Russian territory using drones,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement. “Air defense systems intercepted and destroyed drones over…
The United Nations’ top court on Wednesday mostly rejected Ukraine’s claims that Russia was financing “terrorism” in eastern Ukraine, saying only that Moscow had failed to investigate alleged breaches. Kyiv had accused Moscow of being a “terrorist state” whose support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine was a harbinger of the full-fledged 2022 invasion. It…
A pro-war symbol and one of President Vladimir Putin’s favorite quotes have been chosen as the official logo and slogan of the 2024 presidential election, in what observers say is an effort to indirectly influence the public to vote for the incumbent leader. The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced Monday that the Latin letter “V”…
Russian authorities are taking steps to hinder voting by its citizens living abroad in the upcoming presidential election, in what some observers call a move to restrict votes cast by anti-war emigres. Those hoping to vote from outside the country will face a reduction in polling places and no option to vote online — while…
The rate of forest destruction caused by wildfires in Russia’s northern latitudes more than tripled between 2012 and 2021 compared to the previous decade, according to a new study by the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). Using satellite data, researchers calculated the extent of woodland devastation due to wildfires in…
Russian investigators have concluded that a U.S. Patriot air defense system was used to shoot down an Il-76 military transport plane that crashed near the border with Ukraine last week, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday. “It’s been definitively established that the plane was shot down by an American Patriot air defense system,” Putin said during…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has awarded Serbia’s former top spy with the Order of Friendship for maintaining close ties between the two countries’ intelligence agencies, the nationalist political party that the ex-spy chief heads announced Tuesday. Aleksandar Vulin, who resigned from Serbia’s Security and Information Agency in November, received the state decoration from Russia’s Foreign Intelligence…
Turkish and Chinese companies have helped Russia replenish its dwindling stocks of ammunition by exporting large volumes of a key component used to produce gunpowder, the Moscow Times’ Russian service reported Wednesday, citing customs data. The EU banned shipments of nitrocellulose — a highly flammable compound used as the main ingredient of modern gunpowder — to Russia in…
Russia and Ukraine traded hundreds of prisoners of war on Wednesday, just a week after Moscow said Kyiv had shot down a plane carrying captured Ukrainian soldiers to an exchange. The crash of a Russian military cargo plane near the border with Ukraine — which Russia said killed 65 Ukrainian POWs — had thrown doubt…
Russia views NATO as a “threat” and is taking measures to deal with it, the Kremlin said on Wednesday when asked about the alliance’s large-scale military drills. Some 90,000 troops will take part in the NATO military alliance’s Steadfast Defender 24 exercise, the biggest since the 1988 Reforger drill during the Cold War. “Of course…
Russian lawmakers on Wednesday passed a bill in its third and final reading that would allow authorities to confiscate the property of those convicted of “discrediting” and spreading “fakes” about the army. The bill, introduced into the lower-house State Duma last week, also proposes seizing money, property and other valuables from those found guilty of…
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday chewed out the chief engineer of the country’s leading producer of self-propelled artillery systems over what he suggested was the slow output at the manufacturing plant. “Stop goofing around, guys,” Shoigu said during a tour of the Uraltransmash machine-building plant in the city of Yekaterinburg. “We should have had these…
There is “growing evidence” that Russia is using “shadow tanker fleets” to circumvent a Western oil price cap, a watchdog committee of British lawmakers warned on Wednesday. Arguing Britain and its allies must maintain sanctions and military support for Ukraine for “as long as it takes,” the panel from parliament’s unelected upper House of Lords…
An unmanned drone crashed near the center of St. Petersburg on Wednesday, causing an explosion at an oil refinery, local media reported, marking the second such incident in the city over the past month. According to the news outlet Fontanka, which cites anonymous sources, a Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system shot at the drone at around…
MOSCOW – Anti-war Russian presidential hopeful Boris Nadezhdin said Wednesday he submitted 105,000 signatures endorsing his candidacy for the Central Election Commission’s (CEC) review. Nadezhdin, 60, the nominee from the center-right Civic Initiative party, has seen an uptick in support in recent weeks with Russians standing in long lines to endorse his bid in the…
Hundreds of websites on the Russian-speaking internet were inaccessible Tuesday evening as a DNSSEC failure took .ru and .рф domains offline. Users both inside and outside Russia complained of outages of major web-based platforms like Tinkoff Bank, online marketplaces Avito and Wildberries, search engine Yandex and telecoms provider MTS. The Moscow Times’ Russian service was among the…
A Russian photographer went on trial Tuesday for posting a rainbow flag online, marking the first case of a person being charged for displaying the LGBT symbol since Russia banned the so-called “international LGBT public movement” as an “extremist” organization. Russia’s Supreme Court in November outlawed the “international LGBT movement,” with individuals facing up to…
A court in Yerevan on Tuesday rejected Russia’s request to extradite a man who fled the republic of Chechnya after being tortured because he was suspected of being gay, an LGBTQ+ rights group said. Salman Mukaev was detained by security services in his native Chechnya in 2020, after which he was subject to interrogation and torture, according to…
Russia on Tuesday criticized a decision by several countries to suspend their funding for the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency, calling it a form of “collective punishment.” A number of donors including the United States announced they would halt funding to the UNRWA agency over Israel’s accusations that some of its staff were involved in…
The European Parliament on Tuesday announced a probe into a Latvian lawmaker accused in an investigative report of spying for Moscow over the past two decades. According to the Russian-language newspaper The Insider — an independent investigative outlet based in Latvia — Tatjana Zdanoka, who joined the European legislature in 2004, began collaborating with Russia’s…
Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) on Tuesday published Vladimir Putin’s financial earnings, showing that he made 67.6 million rubles ($753,000) over the past six years. Putin’s income between 2018 and 2024 was derived from his salary, income from securities and bank deposits, military and civilian pension, as well as earnings from property sales. As with previous financial…
Two teenagers who set fire to a railside equipment box in Moscow have been charged with carrying out sabotage for Ukraine, Russian investigators said Tuesday. The incident is the latest in a spate of suspicious fires and derailments on Russia’s rail network that Moscow has blamed on Kyiv and its supporters. “Two suspects were identified…
Two presidential hopefuls announced Tuesday that they will not be running in the March election and called on supporters to cast their vote for President Vladimir Putin as he seeks re-election. Sergei Baburin, who leads the Russian All-People’s Union, an extra-parliamentary conservative party, said he was withdrawing from the race shortly after submitting the 100,000…