The United States said Tuesday that Russia rejected a new proposal to free two detained Americans, Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan. “We have made a number of proposals, including a substantial one in recent weeks,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters. “That proposal was rejected by Russia,” he…
Russian oil giant Lukoil said Tuesday it would consider selling its oil refinery in Bulgaria following a government plan to end imports of Russian crude oil, which the company called “discriminatory.” “In view of the significant change in the operating conditions of the Lukoil Group companies in Bulgaria, the company has commenced work to review…
Ukraine said Tuesday it had hit Russian military facilities in Crimea with drones, in the latest such operation on the Moscow-annexed Black Sea peninsula. Russia said it had neutralized 35 Ukrainian drones over Crimea and the Sea of Azov, which lies between the warring countries. Kyiv has targeted Crimea throughout Moscow’s offensive but increased attacks…
ST. PETERSBURG — The ban on the “international LGBT movement” by Russia’s top court has thrown the queer community of St. Petersburg, historically one of the country’s most LGBT-tolerant cities, into unprecedented uncertainty and fear. “People are scared,” said Maria, 43, an openly lesbian feminist and LGBT activist who asked for anonymity out of concerns…
Russia has been launching major investments and building up its military presence in the Arctic as it steps up its drive to develop a crucial northern maritime route linking Asia and Europe. In the country’s latest move, Russia’s nuclear agency Rosatom on Tuesday presented its two new RITM-200 reactors that will power the future Chukotka…
Russia’s recent “extremist” designation of a loosely defined “LGBT movement” has led to a surge in emergency evacuations from the country, independent media reported Tuesday, citing the European human rights group for post-Soviet LGBT people, Equal PostOst. Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday banned the so-called “international LGBT movement” — which does not formally exist —…
Two in five Russians who fled the country in the months following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine have since returned home, the pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia reported Tuesday, citing data from an immigration support company and job recruitment website. According to official statistics, 668,400 Russians left the country last year as war broke out in neighboring Ukraine,…
Russian soldiers’ requests for help deserting their units in Ukraine have almost doubled in recent months, the Idite Lesom (“Get Lost”) group, which helps Russians evade fighting in the war, told The Moscow Times. The project said it received 577 such requests between September and November, an 89% increase from the 305 it received between…
Six Ukrainian children taken by Russia in the wake of Moscow’s invasion are to be reunited with their families after Qatari mediation, officials from the Gulf state said Tuesday. Russia has been accused of forcibly deporting thousands of Ukrainian children from schools, hospitals and orphanages in parts of the country controlled by its forces. The…
Two Finnish companies are suspected of having exported drones and other military products worth over three million euros ($3.25 million) to Russia in violation of EU sanctions, Finnish customs authorities said Tuesday. “There are altogether six criminal suspects, one of whom has been detained since September,” the country’s customs agency said in a statement. It…
Ravaged forests, flooded towns and dead dolphins: after nearly two years of war in Ukraine, experts say environmental damage is becoming an “enormous” tragedy that will affect generations to come. The invasion of Ukraine has been particularly devastating for nature, said Doug Weir, head of research at the Conflict and Environment Observatory, a British NGO.…
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will visit Moscow on Thursday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin confirmed Tuesday. Iran’s official news agency Irna had earlier reported on the planned visit, saying that the two leaders would discuss “bilateral issues, including economic interactions, as well as discussions about regional and international issues, especially the situation…
A left-wing activist who was “tricked” by Russian security services into leaving Georgia has turned up at a pre-trial detention facility in central Russia, the human rights organization Perviy Otdel reported Tuesday. Rafail Shepelev went missing in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi on Oct. 12 and was found a month later inside a detention center in…
Russian prosecutors have requested a 19.5-year prison sentence for former minister Mikhail Abyzov nearly five years after his arrest in a $62 million fraud case, Interfax reported Monday. Abyzov, 51, had been a close ally of former President Dmitry Medvedev, serving as his minister of open government affairs from 2012-2018. He was arrested in March 2019 on charges…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday complained of deteriorating ties with Western countries, which crumbled after he launched a full-scale offensive against Ukraine last year, as he accepted the credentials of several new ambassadors. At a Kremlin ceremony, Putin swore in some two dozen new ambassadors, including from countries such as Britain and Germany, with…
Ukraine said Monday that it had exported around 7 million tons of cargo through the Black Sea despite Russia’s blockade — a more than fivefold increase in just over a month. “Two hundred vessels exported 7 million tons of cargo,” Ukraine’s reconstruction ministry said in a post on Telegram. The cargo included “almost 5 million…
A Stakhanovist pace Labor shortages are usually good news for workers. Wages rise, working conditions become more bearable, and workers who are discriminated against have more chances of finding employment. This is the case in Russia at the moment, especially at factories associated with state defense orders, where women, the elderly and people with disabilities…
A Russian delegation led by the deputy defense minister met with Niger’s military leaders in Niamey on Monday, Nigerien authorities said, with the two countries agreeing to strengthen military cooperation. The trip was the first official visit by a member of the Russian government since the coup in Niger on July 26, when the army…
Authorities in Russia’s Zabaikalsky region in October unveiled the region’s largest memorial dedicated to Russian soldiers killed in the war in Ukraine: a 3.3-meter-tall stele and a statue of a soldier holding a child erected in the very heart of the region’s capital Chita. The Zabaikalsky region, a swathe of Russia’s Far East with a…
Nepal said Monday that six of its citizens had been killed while serving as mercenaries in the Russian army, while another had been captured in Ukraine, confirming that Nepalis are fighting in Moscow’s invasion. Kathmandu urged Russia to stop the use of Nepali mercenaries and send any men still serving back home. Nepal’s Foreign Ministry said…
An endangered Siberian tiger has killed a man in Russia’s Far Eastern region of Khabarovsk, law enforcement officials said Monday. According to the local branch of Russia’s Investigative Committee, a wild Siberian tiger — also known as an Amur tiger — attacked the unidentified man near the village of Obor, which has a population of…
Ryazan Oil Refining Company (part of Rosneft’s refining complex) ramps up production of winter diesel fuel by introducing a process of catalytic dewaxing of diesel fractions.
Finland’s intelligence service is aware of plans by Moscow to incite demonstrations in the Nordic country, the Finnish broadcaster Yle reported Monday. Citing a secret Russian intelligence report, Yle said Moscow had planned to organize “disruption campaigns disguised as demonstrations” in Finland and Sweden as the two EU members sought to join NATO following Russia’s…
Moscow broke a daily snowfall record on Sunday when nearly 11 millimeters of precipitation fell over just 12 hours, meteorologists in the Russian capital said. Sunday’s snowfall, powered by a strong cyclone that formed over southern Europe last week, marked the absolute daily record in Moscow since observations began in 1878, according to meteorologist Yevgeny Tishkovets. The…
Krasnoyarsk hosted the Rosneft’s Future festival organized by the Company at the Siberian Federal University (SFU).
Ukraine on Sunday launched an investigation into what it said was an “execution” by Russian forces of two unarmed Ukrainian soldiers who had signaled their intention to surrender. The day before, a short video was posted on the messaging app Telegram, showing two men coming out of a shelter, one with his hands above his…
Ukraine said Saturday that two power lines connecting its electricity grid to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant were cut overnight, putting the plant at risk of an “accident.” The plant has been at the centre of fighting since it was captured by Russian forces last year, and both sides have accused each other of compromising its…
Moscow police carried out raids of gay-friendly nightclubs, bars and saunas in the city center overnight, media reported. The raids came one day after Russia’s top court banned the “international LGBT movement,” a group that does not formally exist, sparking fears of widespread persecution of LGBT people and rights groups. Police burst into a club on Malaya…
A Russian TV channel was fined $5,500 on Friday for showing a music video by ex-Eurovision contestant Sergey Lazarev that allegedly showed same-sex couples holding hands. The move comes a day after Russia’s top court effectively outlawed LGBTQ activism, cementing a long crackdown on the community as the Kremlin pushes ultra-conservative social values. St. Petersburg’s…
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Friday boosting troop numbers by 15%, in a move the army said was due to “threats” associated with the Ukraine offensive. The move comes as both Ukraine and Russia seek to gain ground and replenish their ranks in the conflict, whose front lines have barely moved in…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday expressed indifference over the future of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which this week hel its annual summit in the North Macedonian capital of Skopje. Created in 1975 as a forum for dialogue between the Eastern and Western blocs, the OSCE faces mounting challenges in…
Law enforcement agents in central Russia’s Tula region on Friday reportedly raided a warehouse belonging to the online retail giant Wildberries in search of fresh recruits for Moscow’s war against Ukraine, according to news channels on the messaging app Telegram. The raid, which took place in the town of Aleksino, was said to have targeted…
Ukraine claimed on Friday to have orchestrated attacks on a Russian railway line in Siberia, thousands of kilometers away from the frontline in eastern Ukraine. Russian authorities have reported several attacks on the country’s transport infrastructure since it launched its invasion of Ukraine last year, often blaming Kyiv. “The Russians have fallen into the [Ukrainian…
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Friday that Ukraine had lost over 125,000 troops since launching its counteroffensive in June, as well as 16,000 units of “various weapons.” “Total mobilization in Ukraine, the supply of Western weapons, and the introduction of the Ukrainian command’s strategic reserves into battle did not alter the situation on the…
Moscow said Friday it had arrested a dual Russian-Italian national for carrying out sabotage attacks on military installations and a railroad under the orders of Ukrainian military intelligence. Russian authorities have opened dozens of cases into alleged sabotage at key infrastructure and production facilities, as well as attacks on military recruitment centers since launching its…
A Russian court on Friday extended the pre-trial detention of U.S.-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who was arrested in October for failing to register as a “foreign agent,” her employer said. Kurmasheva, who holds both Russian and American citizenship, was working for the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) media outlet when she was detained by…
Russian authorities have pressed fresh criminal charges against jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, according to a message shared on the activist’s official social media accounts Friday. “I have no idea which word to use to describe my latest news. Whether it’s sad, funny or absurd,” Navalny wrote on X (formerly Twitter). The jailed activist said…
Ukraine said Friday that Russian forces had launched more than two dozen Iranian-designed attack drones and two missiles on the south and east of the country, in Moscow’s latest aerial barrage. Officials in Kyiv say Russian forces have been stockpiling drones and missiles for systematic attacks on Ukraine’s struggling energy grid over winter months. “In…
Giant letters in support of Moscow’s armed forces fighting in Ukraine have been installed in front of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, AFP saw Thursday. A huge Latin letter ‘Z’ and ‘V’ — symbols used by the Russian military which have been adopted by high-profile supporters of Russia’s offensive — were put up outside the…
At least 12 Russian soldiers were killed and eight were injured by an explosion at a training facility in southern Russia, local media reported Thursday, citing three anonymous government sources. The soldiers were reportedly killed in an accidental explosion on Nov. 3 at the Kuzmin military training ground in the Rostov region, the 161.ru news…
Estonia on Thursday warned its citizens against “any travel” to Russia, suggesting that it may temporarily close the border with its eastern neighbor amid an influx of asylum seekers on the Russian-Finnish border. Estonia shares a 333-kilometer-long border with Russia, along which six checkpoints are currently open. But the Baltic country’s foreign ministry said in…
Lawmakers in central Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region said they will submit a draft amendment to the country’s parliament that would outlaw abortions at private clinics nationwide if passed, state media reported Thursday. The draft amendment to Russia’s federal law “On the Foundations of Preserving Citizens’ Health” was passed unanimously and without discussion in Nizhny Novgorod’s legislative…
Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said Thursday that Moscow had stopped swapping prisoners of war with Kyiv. The two warring sides have carried out many rounds of prisoner exchanges during Moscow’s 21-month-long invasion, but in the latter half of this year the process stalled. “Exchanges are not taking place because Russia does not want them…
Yekaterina Duntsova, a Russian journalist who earlier this month announced her bid to run for president, condemned the Russian Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday to ban the so-called “international LGBT public movement.” “This is a dangerous decision, which has no clear guidelines for interpretation, and it can lead to the persecution of any Russian citizen,”…
Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday designated the so-called “international LGBT public movement” as a banned “extremist” organization, setting the stage for a sweeping crackdown on LGBT rights not seen in the country since the Soviet era. The move is the latest episode in the sharp conservative turn by Russia’s leadership that has accelerated and permeated…
As tens of thousands of delegates gathered in Dubai for the UN’s COP28 climate conference Thursday, negotiators from around the world will once again struggle to agree on how to collectively address the climate crisis. For Russia, which remains under harsh Western sanctions and bogged down in its 21-month war on Ukraine, the conference will…
Moscow thanked the Hamas militant group on Thursday for freeing two Russian hostages from Gaza, which was organized separately from a truce deal with Israel. The statement came a day after Hamas released two Russian citizens, both women, in what it said was a move “in appreciation” of President Vladimir Putin. “We are grateful to…
Germany’s consulate in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea will close starting Thursday, according to an official statement on its website, which did not give a reason for the closure. “From now on, the Consulate General in St. Petersburg is responsible for consular and passport matters in the district of the Consulate General…
Updated to include the closures of the German consulates in Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk. Germany’s consulates in Kaliningrad, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk have closed, according to statements on the German Embassy in Russia’s website, which did not give a reason for the closures. On Thursday, the German consulate in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad said “from now on, the…
The Kremlin said Thursday that President Vladimir Putin will hold his annual press conference on Dec. 14, which this year will take place in a “combined format” together with his popular call-in show. Set-piece political events involving Putin have been delayed or scrapped altogether in the tumultuous months following Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.…
Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger died Thursday at the age of 100, his geopolitical consulting firm said. As the prime architect of Washington’s detente with the Soviet Union during the Cold War, Kissinger left an indelible mark not just on U.S. foreign policy, but also on Russia’s. Before his death, Kissinger expressed deep…
The world’s largest regional security group opened its Skopje summit Thursday with Russia and Ukraine’s allies in open conflict, rattling the organization that is intended as a forum for East-West blocs. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has been struggling to survive with Russia blocking key decisions, including the group’s budget. Russian…
Russia lost out Wednesday in its bid for re-election to the decision-making body of the OPCW chemical watchdog, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky cheered Moscow’s “isolation” on the world stage. Four eastern European countries were competing for three seats on the OPCW Executive Council, warring neighbors Russia and Ukraine, plus Poland and Lithuania. Russia received…
Russian authorities in the Ural Mountains region of Chelyabinsk cut down a spruce tree growing on a local resident’s property so that it could be installed in a town square as a New Year decoration, the Telegram news channel Podyem reported Wednesday. Authorities in the town of Minyar, which has a population of around 8,500…
A 41-year-old Russian woman was detained in Moscow’s Red Square while recording an Instagram video in which she eats an unusually large caviar sandwich, local media reported Tuesday. Gulina Naumann and a friend recorded a video of her sitting in front of the Kremlin’s walls, wearing a large fur coat and eating a “huge sandwich” with…
The Russian ska-punk group Leningrad on Tuesday released a new song and music video praising the country’s state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec. “It’s a f****** no brainer — Rostec has the best weapons,” the band’s eccentric frontman and founder Sergei Shnurov sings in the new song, which is simply called “Rostec.” The music video accompanying the…
Russia on Wednesday leveled criminal charges against Jamala, the Ukrainian winner of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest, arresting her in absentia for spreading “false information” about the Russian army. Shortly after launching its offensive in Ukraine last year, Moscow outlawed criticism of the conflict and has detained and charged thousands of people for speaking out and…
A man in Kazakhstan has been sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for fighting in Russia’s war against Ukraine, the Kazakhstan service for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported Tuesday. Alexei Shompolov, 34, was charged with “mercenarism” for joining the Wagner private military company, as well as with “committing a serious criminal offense against the…
Russia said on Wednesday its armed forces had taken control of Khromove, a small village on the outskirts of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. Moscow’s troops seized Bakhmut in May after one of the bloodiest battles of its 21-month military offensive. “Troops, supported by aviation and artillery fire, improved their positions along the front…
Moscow’s largest aquarium will send hundreds of fish to an aquarium in annexed Crimea that was badly damaged by flooding earlier this week, the Daily Storm news outlet reported Tuesday. Moskvarium, which is located at the VDNKh exposition center in the Russian capital, will send between 200 and 300 fish to the Sevastopol Aquarium, according…