ST. PETERSBURG — Dozens of people gathered at Yevgeny Prigozhin’s grave site on Sunday to pay tribute to the late Russian mercenary chief on the 40th day since his death in a mysterious plane crash. According to Orthodox Christian tradition, the souls of the deceased remain on Earth for 40 days before finding their eternal…
Russia was targeted by another wave of Ukrainian drones and shelling on Sunday, wounding three people and forcing an airport to divert flights, officials said. Since Ukraine launched its counteroffensive in early June, Russian regions have accused Kyiv’s armed forces of almost daily drone strikes and shelling on civilian targets. “On Sunday morning, the armed…
The flood of refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh dwindled to a trickle Saturday as Armenia said nearly the entire population of the breakaway territory had already fled since Azerbaijan seized back control. An AFP journalist at the Kornidzor crossing into Armenia saw only several ambulances arrive as border guards said they were waiting for a final few…
The Kremlin has launched a sweeping propaganda campaign to convince young Russians that their country has built the world’s most free and fair elections since President Vladimir Putin came to power, officials have told The Moscow Times. In an unprecedented move, Russian authorities on Monday held a nationwide school lesson marking the 30th anniversary of…
President Vladimir Putin on Friday said that Russian prisoners who died in Ukraine had redeemed themselves in the eyes of society. To boost regular troops fighting in Ukraine, the army and mercenary group Wagner have extensively recruited from Russian penal colonies. “They are dead,” Putin said during a televised meeting, referring to prisoners who died…
Russia’s military will enlist 130,000 young men for compulsory service this fall, according to a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin on Friday. Combined with the 147,000 men drafted during the spring draft, Russia’s Defense Ministry will field 277,000 conscripts in 2023. From Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, Russia’s military will be allowed to call up men…
Russian athletes will be allowed to compete at the Paris Paralympics in 2024 under a neutral flag after officials voted against an outright ban. A majority of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) on Friday allowed Russian athletes to compete “in an individual and neutral capacity” without national flags, colors or emblems. Russia has been suspended…
Russian athletes will be allowed to compete under a neutral flag at the Paris Paralympics in 2024 after officials on Friday voted against an outright ban. A majority of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) voted to allow Russian athletes to compete “in an individual and neutral capacity” without national flags, colors or emblems. The decision…
Russian state television showed footage of northern Poland during a report on the Russian city of Kaliningrad, local media said Friday. A Rossiya 1 news program that aired Thursday reported on President Vladimir Putin’s meeting on the development of the Kaliningrad region, a western exclave that borders Lithuania and Poland. “The region remains competitive in the face…
Diana Akue has been on her guard lately. The Gabonese doctoral economics student in the city of Yekaterinburg avoids going out at night and exercises greater caution around strangers than she used to. As a black woman living in Russia for the past nine years, Akue has faced her share of discrimination — from being…
The U.K. on Friday announced new sanctions against almost a dozen senior Russian officials and the country’s election commission over “sham” elections held in occupied Ukrainian territory this month and last year. The move takes the number of individuals and entities sanctioned by Britain in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly 20 months ago to more…
Russia hosted Taliban leaders for talks on regional security Friday as it seeks to forge ties with Afghanistan’s new rulers and assert itself as a major power in the region. Since U.S. forces pulled out of Kabul in August 2021, Russia and China have taken advantage of the vacuum, holding talks with the Taliban despite…
President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree allowing for the sale of Italian banking group Intesa Sanpaolo’s Russian operations. Intesa, Italy’s largest bank, stopped new financing to corporate Russian clients and fresh investments in Russian assets after Moscow invaded Ukraine last year. In a “special decision” dated Thursday, Putin exempted Intesa from his 2022 ban…
The Russian military will not mobilize reserves as it gears up for an annual call-up of young men for compulsory military service, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday. “There are no plans for additional mobilization measures,” deputy head of the military’s mobilization department, Rear Admiral Vladimir Tsimlyansky, said in a briefing. The fall military call-up will…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has tasked a former aide of late Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin to oversee volunteer fighter units in Ukraine, according to a Kremlin statement on Friday. “At the last meeting, we talked about you overseeing the formation of volunteer units that can carry out various tasks, first and foremost, of course, in…
A missile that killed two people in a Polish village in November, raising fears of a dangerous spike in the Ukraine conflict, belonged to Kyiv’s forces, Warsaw said Thursday. Two workers at a grain drying facility died in the blast in Przewodow, some six kilometers (four miles) from the Ukrainian border, raising fears of an…
Kazakhstan’s leader said Thursday his country would not help Russia circumvent Western sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine, amid suspicions that Moscow is still receiving vital goods via Central Asian nations. “Kazakhstan has unambiguously stated that it will follow the sanctions regime,” said President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev following talks in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf…
School students in Russia’s Far East have come out in support of their gym teacher after he was suspended for beating one of their classmates, media reported Thursday. Valery Baulin was suspended from his position at a school in Vladivostok after a video posted on social media showed him punching and choking a 12-year-old student during class. A…
Finland’s Supreme Court has ordered a Russian asylum seeker to return his two children to their mother in Russia despite their fears of being viewed as “traitors,” Finnish media reported Wednesday. According to the Helsingin Sanomat daily, the father applied for asylum on behalf of himself and his children — aged 10 and 12 — after…
Moscow on Thursday said Armenians fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh after Azerbaijani’s takeover of the region had nothing to fear, an apparent rejection of Armenia’s claims of ethnic cleansing in the disputed territory. “It’s difficult to say who is to blame [for the exodus], there is no direct reason for such actions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “People…
YEREVAN, Armenia – Tigran has been protesting outside the Russian embassy every day since Azerbaijan launched its offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh. On the embassy’s steps, flowers have been laid in memory of the peacekeepers who were killed by Azerbaijani shelling last week. “Are these bloody flowers for the occupiers?” reads the poster that Tigran, 19, holds…
Swedish prosecutors on Thursday called for a Russian-Swede to be sentenced to up to five years in prison for allegedly passing Western technology to Russia’s military. Sergei Skvortsov, who was arrested in a dramatic raid on his suburban Stockholm home in November 2022, has lived in Sweden since the 1990s where he has run import-export…
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday met with Ramzan Kadyrov in what may have been an attempt to dispel rumors that the Chechen leader is in poor health. Earlier this month, unverified claims spread on social media that Kadyrov was suffering from serious kidney problems, with some sources even suggesting that he had died. In response, Kadyrov published…
The Kremlin said Thursday that a decision by Armenia to join the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin, would be “extremely hostile.” Russia has repeatedly warned Armenia against ratifying The Hague-based court’s founding treaty, known as the Rome Statute. Its adherents are expected to make the arrest…
A mass cyberattack on Russia’s air booking system Leonardo sparked flight delays among major carriers on Thursday. Russia’s flagship airline Aeroflot said the denial-of-service attack resulted in delays of up to an hour for departures at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport. Aeroflot’s subsidiary Rossiya Airlines reported similar delays at Sheremetyevo, according to Interfax. Less than an…
Russia said Thursday that it plans to raise defense spending by almost 70% next year, funneling massive resources into its Ukraine offensive to fight what it calls a “hybrid war” unleashed by the West. With Moscow’s “special military operation” now dragging through its 20th month, both sides have been digging deep and procuring weapons from…
Russian authorities said Thursday that an attempted incursion on the country’s southwestern border with Ukraine had been thwarted. “Border guards, together with other security forces, engaged in a battle on the border,” the Belgorod region’s emergency response center said. It did not provide further details. The statement was issued following rumors that a Ukrainian sabotage…
A Russian man accused of passing information to Ukrainian intelligence services about defense fortifications in annexed Crimea has been arrested, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Thursday. Video shared by the state-run TASS news agency showed masked agents apprehending the unidentified man, who was then filmed giving a confession. “I understood the information would be used…
At least three pro-war Russian journalists have received severed pig’s heads from unknown senders over the past week, according to media reports. The journalists — including state media columnist Timofey Sergeitsev, military expert Konstantin Sivkov and TASS news agency photojournalist Mikhail Tereshchenko — reported having previously received death threats. Sergeitsev, who last year authored a…
Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the government to respond “more promptly” to rising fuel prices Wednesday, as the cost of wholesale petrol continued to grow despite an export ban. Russia’s government announced last week it was temporarily limiting exports of petrol and diesel fuel to “stabilize” the domestic market, amid reports of shortages in some…
The Kremlin on Wednesday vowed to “protect the rights” of Ruben Vardanyan, the ex-leader of the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh detained by Azerbaijan, only to backtrack on the promise moments later when journalists pointed out that Vardanyan is no longer a Russian citizen. Azerbaijan’s state border service said Wednesday it detained Vardanyan as he attempted to cross the…
Rosneft, which owns the largest network of filling stations in Russia, acts as an ambassador for the development of domestic tourism.
The Kremlin said Wednesday that a Ukrainian Nazi veteran inadvertently honored in the Canadian parliament last week should be brought to justice. The speaker of Canada’s parliament resigned following the incident, which saw lawmakers publicly applaud 98-year-old Ukrainian veteran Yaroslav Hunka, who fought for the Nazis during World War II. “Canadian authorities have a duty…
Two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut landed back on Earth Wednesday after spending a year at the International Space Station (ISS), Russia’s Roscosmos space agency said. “Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Francisco Rubio, who spent a year on board the ISS, landed near the city of Jezkazgan in Kazakhstan,”…
Wagner mercenary fighters have returned to the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, CNN reported Wednesday, citing a Ukrainian serviceman. Reporters embedded within the Ukrainian military interviewed a drone operator who had spotted the mercenaries back on the Bakhmut battlefield to plug a manpower shortage. “[Wagner] came back, they swiftly changed their commanders and returned here,”…
Moscow on Wednesday accused Washington and London of helping Ukraine coordinate a missile strike on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in annexed Crimea last week. “There is not the slightest doubt that the attack was planned in advance using Western intelligence assets, NATO satellite equipment and reconnaissance aircraft,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria…
The world’s largest crypto exchange Binance announced Wednesday that it was selling its Russian operations to a newly created “community exchange” and fully exiting the country. Binance’s announcement follows reports that the U.S. Justice Department was investigating the company for potential violations of war-related sanctions on Moscow. “Binance has entered into an agreement to sell…
Moscow has added 23 British nationals to its entry ban list in retaliation for London’s war-related sanctions, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. The ministry did not publish the full list of names — which is said to include individuals from journalists and academics to military and political figures — but it did single out eight Britons who would…
Residents in Russia-annexed Crimea were turned away from a bomb shelter during an air raid alert Monday evening, video shared on social media showed. The woman who filmed the video, which was shared by the Baza news channel on Telegram, said several families were barred from entering the bomb shelter located inside a community center in…
Russia’s former leader Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday he visited troops near the frontline in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, upon orders from President Vladimir Putin. Several high-ranking Russian officials have visited occupied regions of Ukraine since Moscow’s offensive began last year, including Putin, who paid an unannounced visit to the southeastern Ukrainian port of Mariupol in…
Jailed Russian journalist Ivan Safronov has turned up in a Siberian hospital as he awaits transfer to a prison colony, his supporters said Tuesday. The “FreeSafronov!” group said it had been unable to find out Safronov’s location since Sept. 13, when he was removed from a prison in the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk “to another facility.”…
Russia on Tuesday began hearing an appeal lodged by jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny against a court decision to jail him for 19 years in a maximum security prison on extremism-linked charges. Navalny was Russia’s loudest opposition voice over the last decade and galvanized huge anti-government rallies before he was jailed in 2021 on fraud…
Russia on Tuesday rejected an appeal lodged by Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny against a court decision to jail him for 19 years in a maximum-security prison on extremism charges. The First Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction ruled “to uphold the decision” last month by Moscow City Court, announced judge Viktor Rogov. Navalny, who is…
RN-Vankor, a subsidiary of Rosneft, has completed construction of a unique cuttings processing line at the Vankor field.
The commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has appeared in a video published by the Defense Ministry on Tuesday following claims by Kyiv that he was killed in a recent missile strike. Ukraine said earlier this week it had killed Admiral Viktor Sokolov and 34 officers in an unprecedented strike on the fleet’s naval headquarters…
A Russian soldier from the republic of North Ossetia has accused military police officers of violently beating him and other servicemen during deployment in occupied Ukraine, media reported Tuesday. Arsen Temirayev said in a video posted on social media that Russian military police officers had attacked him and his fellow soldiers in southern Ukraine’s partially…
The Kremlin said Tuesday that U.S. Abrams tanks supplied to Ukraine would not change the outcome of its offensive and would “burn,” after Kyiv received shipments of the vehicles. Kyiv announced Monday it had received deliveries of the U.S. Abrams battle tank, boosting its forces as they seek to break through heavily fortified Russian defensive lines.…
U.S. tech company Meta will not launch its WhatsApp Channels service in Russia following threats that it could be blocked for allowing the public dissemination of information, The Moscow Times’ Russian service reported Monday. “The product will not be available to users inside Russia in the near future,” an anonymous Meta representative told the outlet.…
Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova has expressed restrained disapproval of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov after he shared a video on social media of his son beating a Russian teenager accused of burning the Koran. Kadyrov on Monday evening posted the graphic video of his son Adam, 15, kicking and punching Nikita Zhuravel, 19, who was detained in May on suspicion…
Several villages in Russia’s Kursk region bordering Ukraine lost power Tuesday morning after a Ukrainian drone dropped explosives on an electricity substation, the region’s governor said. Since Russia launched hostilities against Ukraine last year, Russian regions bordering Ukraine have repeatedly accused Kyiv’s forces of attacking civilian infrastructure, including the power grid. “In the morning, a…
The doping case of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, whose positive test ignited a scandal at the 2022 Winter Olympics, will be heard behind closed doors on Tuesday by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). At the Beijing games last February, Valieva, then 15, became the first female skater to land a quadruple jump…
UN investigators probing violations in Ukraine since Moscow’s invasion warned on Monday that rhetoric broadcasted by Russian state media could amount to incitement to genocide. Speaking before the UN Human Rights Council, the head of the investigation team, Erik Mose, voiced concern “about allegations of genocide in Ukraine.” “Some of the rhetoric transmitted in Russian…
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that it rejects Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s accusation that his country was abandoned by Moscow after Azerbaijan last week launched a military operation in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Pashinyan on Sunday blasted the Russian-Armenian strategic partnership as “insufficient,” signaling a major foreign policy shift away from its traditional…
Russia said Monday it had placed Piotr Hofmanski, the president of the International Criminal Court, on its wanted list. In March the Hague-based court announced an arrest warrant for Putin for allegedly unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children, which is a war crime. The ICC also issued a warrant against Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s presidential commissioner for children’s…
Home video footage has emerged of Russian President Vladimir Putin during a “secret” trip to Finland with his former boss in the early 1990s. At the time of the trip, Putin served as the decision maker on export permits under St. Petersburg’s ex-mayor Anatoly Sobchak. The home videos, obtained by Finnish broadcaster Yle, showed Sobchak and…
Yevgeny Yasin, a former Russian economy minister, academic and prominent liberal reformer, has died at the age of 89 after a reported illness, his family and colleagues said Monday. Yasin, born in the Soviet Ukrainian port city of Odesa, headed a Soviet commission on economic reform during the final years of Perestroika and later became a co-author…
Russian feminist and anti-war activist Anastasia Yemelyanova was found dead in Turkey, her colleagues said late Sunday. Yemelyanova’s fiancé was detained on charges of murder in the eastern Turkish city of Erzurum, fellow activist Anastasia Polozkova wrote on Instagram. “Nastya [Yemelyanova] was killed three days ago,” Polozkova said, adding that she had gone missing on…
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Sunday signalled a major foreign policy shift away from Russia following Moscow’s refusal to enter the latest conflict over disputed Nagorno-Karabakh. Pashinyan told the nation in a major television address that his former Soviet republic’s current foreign security alliances were “ineffective” and “insufficient.” He added that Armenia should join…
Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, jailed for 25 years on treason charges and for denouncing Moscow’s Ukraine offensive, has arrived to serve his sentence at a maximum-security Siberian prison, his lawyer said Sunday. Kara-Murza — a dual Russian-British citizen — was handed the unprecedentedly long sentence in April, with international leaders and supporters calling for…
A Ukrainian drone strike hit an administrative building in the center of Russia’s southern Kursk city, authorities said Sunday. Kyiv has targeted Russian cities with almost daily attacks in recent months of Moscow’s offensive, ongoing for 19 months. Kursk is around 90 kilometres from the border with Ukraine. “In Kursk, a Ukrainian drone attacked an…