The UN General Assembly on Tuesday rejected a bid by Russia to regain a seat on the Human Rights Council, from which it was ousted after invading Ukraine. Russia, which was competing with Bulgaria and Albania for two open spots allocated to the Eastern Europe regional group, nonetheless received 83 votes in its favor from…
Armenian leader Nikol Pashinyan will skip a summit that Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to attend, host country Kyrgyzstan said Tuesday, amid a growing rift between Yerevan and Moscow. Pashinyan’s snubbing the meeting of a Moscow-led regional grouping is a further blow to ties between Yerevan and Moscow, which have soured in recent weeks.…
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has ruled to keep Russia’s Under-17 team banned from international competitions following backlash from some of the organization’s members, The Associated Press reported Tuesday. UEFA and the world football authority FIFA banned Russian clubs and national teams from competitions days after Russia invaded Ukraine last year. Last month, UEFA…
Two people were killed in Ukrainian shelling of Russia’s western Belgorod region, its Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said Tuesday. An elderly man was killed instantly when an artillery shell hit a home in the village of Popovka, which is located some 50 kilometers from the border with Ukraine. His wife sustained severe shrapnel wounds and died hours…
A pro-Russia Japanese lawmaker left his opposition party Tuesday after facing criticism for making a surprise visit to Moscow and declaring his support for Russia in its war against Ukraine. Muneo Suzuki, a former parliamentary vice-minister of foreign affairs, submitted a letter of resignation to the center-right opposition Japan Innovation Party, the party’s secretary-general Fumitake…
Russian forces were Tuesday trying to encircle the eastern frontline Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, an official said, adding it was being heavily bombed. Kyiv’s forces have managed to cling on to Avdiivka despite repeated Russian strikes. The town lies just north of the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk, which was captured by separatist forces in 2014. “For…
Russian forces closed in on the frontline town of Avdiivka in east Ukraine on Tuesday, as Kyiv warned Moscow was stepping up strikes in an attempt to encircle it completely. The Russian attacks come after months of a slower-than-expected Ukrainian counteroffensive, launched this summer to claw back territory lost during Moscow’s invasion. Avdiivka is an…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday issued his first public statement about the war between Israel and the Hamas militant group, accusing Washington of pursuing a pro-Israel policy against the interests of Palestine. “I think many will agree with me that this is a clear example of the failure of U.S. policy in the Middle East,”…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday issued his first public statement about the war between Israel and the Hamas militant group, accusing Washington of pursuing a pro-Israel policy against the interests of Palestine. “I think many will agree with me that this is a clear example of the failure of U.S. policy in the Middle East,”…
RN-Vankor, an enterprise of Rosneft oil and gas production complex, obtained a patent on developing a new environmentally friendly technology for recycling drill cuttings into soil concrete construction material at the Vostok Oil project.
A Moscow court has rejected Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich’s appeal against the extension of his pre-trial detention on widely criticized spying charges, Interfax reported Tuesday. Gershkovich, 32, a U.S. citizen and former Moscow Times journalist, was in August ordered to stay in pre-trial detention until Nov. 30. He challenged that ruling, having lost two…
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov late Monday voiced support for Palestine and offered to send his soldiers to mediate the conflict between Israel and the Hamas militant group. “I address the leaders of Muslim nations — create a coalition and reach out to those who you call friends, Europe and the whole West, so that they don’t bomb…
Updated with the latest death toll and number of people missing. Four Russian citizens have been killed and at least six others remain missing following the Hamas militant group’s surprise attack on Israel over the weekend, Russia’s Embassy in Tel Aviv told state media Tuesday. The latest updated toll comes after Russian Ambassador Anatoly Viktorov said on…
Russians’ interest in the deadly Hamas attack on Israel was significantly higher than interest in the war in Ukraine over the weekend, according to an analysis of Google Trends data by the independent media outlet Vyorstka. Observers have called the attack, which the Palestinian militant group launched on the Russian president’s birthday, “Hamas’ gift to…
Russia on Tuesday will seek to return to the UN Human Rights Council, a test of what Moscow believes is quiet support for its membership despite fierce criticism from the West over the invasion of Ukraine. Russia, which was booted from the Geneva-based body after it invaded Ukraine last year, will be considered in a…
The Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) sprung its third coolant leak in under a year Monday, raising new questions about the reliability of the country’s space program even as officials said crew members weren’t in danger. Flakes of frozen coolant spraying into space were seen in an official live feed of the…
Updated to add details from the Financial Times’ report. Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman has left Britain and intends to move to Israel, the RBC news website reported Monday, citing an unidentified source familiar with the matter. Alfa Group, the investment conglomerate which Fridman co-founded, confirmed this information to RBC. “The businessman is currently in Moscow…
Reports circulated last week that Russia had withdrawn much of its Black Sea Fleet from Sevastopol in annexed Crimea. This followed a wave of attacks from Ukraine attacking warships, submarines, and infrastructure in the strategic naval base. Though the news was met with celebration among Ukraine’s allies, with the British Armed Forces Minister calling it…
A rocket fired by Hamas militants hit a mosque near Jerusalem dedicated to Akhmat Kadyrov, a Chechen separatist fighter in the 1990s who later switched sides and pledged allegiance to Russia, Israel’s foreign ministry reported Monday. According to the ministry, a Hamas rocket “directly hit the Akhmat Kadyrov mosque,” the second-largest mosque in Israel. No injuries…
Russia’s government is set to spend four times more on “patriotic education” in 2024 than in 2022, the RBC news website reported Monday, citing a draft budget proposal. A total of 45.85 billion rubles ($450 million) will be allocated toward various youth movements, school officials engaged in “patriotic” education, state insignia, and monitoring of youth online.…
At least four Russian citizens are missing following the Hamas Islamist group’s surprise weekend attack on Israel, Russia’s Embassy in Tel Aviv said Monday. The embassy said there was still no word on whether Russians were among the 800 people who died during the ground, air and sea attacks that caught Israel by surprise on…
Updated to include death toll. One Russian citizen has been killed and at least four others were missing following the Hamas Islamist group’s surprise weekend attack on Israel, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Monday, citing the Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv. At least 800 people have died during the ground, air and sea…
Israel on Sunday formally declared war against the Hamas militant group after its fighters launched an unprecedented surprise attack against the country, which by Monday had already resulted in the deaths of more than 1,100 people in both Israel and Gaza. Russian officials and media figures have not signaled explicit support for either of the…
The number of luxury cars in Russia surged last year despite Western sanctions in retaliation to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the RBC news website reported Monday, citing an analysis of federal tax audit data. The number of cars with a sticker price of 10 million rubles ($98,500) or more increased by 22% from 2021-2022, reaching an…
The United Nations on Monday voiced concern over Moscow’s “mass conferral” of Russian passports in Ukrainian territory it controls, saying that those who refuse the documents are “ensnared in a web of exclusion.” The UN human rights office OHCHR said residents who do not take up Russian citizenship were being denied access to essential public…
Moscow and the Arab League will work to “stop the bloodshed” in Israel and Gaza, Russia’s Foreign Minister said Monday as he met the group’s chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit. Aboul Gheit was in Moscow for talks following Saturday’s unprecedented attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. “I am sure that Russia and the…
Russia has charged prominent Russian lawyer Ilya Novikov in absentia for joining the Ukrainian military, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said Monday. Novikov left Russia after the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and joined the Ukrainian territorial defense forces, according to the FSB’s statement. It said that Novikov “underwent military training, participates in combat operations and is engaged in…
Russia, which was ousted from the UN Human Rights Council after its forces invaded Ukraine, will attempt a return to the body on Tuesday — an uncertain move that will provide a gauge of its international support. The UN General Assembly will vote that day to elect 15 new members to the Geneva-based UN body,…
Russian Vladimir Putin on Saturday announced the start of gas supplies to Uzbekistan via Kazakhstan, a boost for Russia’s industry hit by a flurry of Western sanctions over the offensive in Ukraine. Despite being home to a wealth of natural resources including gas, the Central Asian country of Uzbekistan has faced energy shortages. Moscow meanwhile…
Russia’s Defense minister Sergei Shoigu inspected a military factory producing the Sarmat intercontinental missile, saying it would soon be ready for use, his ministry posted on Telegram Saturday. The Sarmat is capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads and is among Russia’s next-generation missiles which Putin has described as “invincible.” The Russian Defense Ministry posted footage…
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday called for Israeli and Palestinian forces to stop armed hostilities after attacks launched by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel. “We call on the Palestinian and Israeli sides to immediately ceasefire, renounce violence, show the necessary restraint,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. Zakharova called the parties to set…
Ukrainian shelling on the Russian border region of Belgorod killed one person on Saturday morning, local authorities said. “This morning, the Armed Forces of Ukraine hit the village of Urazovo in the Valuysky district with Grad missiles,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram. “One person died — a man who was on the street at…
Washington’s decision to expel two Russian diplomats in retaliation for a similar expulsion of US diplomats is “banal revenge,” Russian ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said Saturday. In a statement on Telegram he said that at a meeting with the US side, “I asked my interlocutors to explain what exactly our comrades were…
Kazakhstan announced on Friday new efforts to increase the share of the Kazakh language over Russian in its media landscape, amid growing skepticism over Moscow’s influence since the invasion of Ukraine. Kazakh is the official language of the former Soviet republic in Central Asia, but Russian is recognized too and is still widely spoken among…
“It was hard for me there, I wanted to come back all the time,” Alexander Pipkin, his eyes downcast, said in an interview on Belarusian state television at the end of August. In the interview, Pipkin is presented as a repenting doctor, formerly part of the Belarusian opposition in exile, who decided to return to…
A Russian court in annexed Crimea has sentenced a Ukrainian activist who was abducted last year to 13 years in prison for “espionage,” Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Friday. Serhiy Tsygipa, an activist and citizen journalist from southern Ukraine’s Kherson region, went missing in March 2022 while attempting to bring medicine to his mother-in-law,…
The Russian government has lowered the payout offered in the restructuring of tech giant Yandex following anti-war statements made by the company’s co-founder, Russian media reported Friday. Sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine have forced Yandex, once the crown jewel of Russia’s tech sector, to split into two new companies, with one overseeing its operations…
The ruble fell further against the dollar on Friday, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said the sanctions-hit country’s economic situation was “stable.” The Russian currency fell by as much as 101.46 rubles to the dollar in morning exchanges before paring down some losses. The ruble crossed the psychological threshold of 100 to the…
Russia’s western enclave of Kaliningrad on Friday received its first cargo ship via the Northern Sea Route, long touted by Moscow as an alternative shipping lane to the Suez Canal. The vessel made a stop in the port town of Baltiysk while en route to St. Petersburg from Shanghai, Kaliningrad region Governor Anton Alikhanov said on…
Senior Russian legislators will consider revoking the ratification of a global nuclear test ban treaty after President Vladimir Putin suggested resuming nuclear weapons tests, the parliament’s speaker said Friday. Putin said Thursday it was “theoretically possible” to de-ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) since the United States had signed but not ratified it. Vyacheslav Volodin,…
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Friday called for more Su-34 fighter jets to be produced, as Moscow pursues its offensive in Ukraine. The Kremlin has announced a massive spending hike to accommodate its military needs in Ukraine as its large-scale offensive approaches its second year. “These planes are real workhorses. They can make four…
A powerful storm flooded and knocked out power in households in Far East Russia’s Sakhalin region, authorities said Friday. Video shared on social media showed heavy rains and flooding in the region’s largest city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. More than 5,000 residents were left without electricity after emergency crews restored power for 13,500 people, according to the Sakhalin…
A 10-year-old and his grandmother were killed on Friday when Russian missiles smashed into Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, just hours after another attack left dozens dead at a wake in a nearby village. Rescue workers in Kharkiv were extinguishing fires next to charred vehicles, and twisted missile fragments lay in a deep crater in the…
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia’s mission is to “build a new world” as he blamed a Western “military and financial pyramid scheme” for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “We are, in fact, faced with the task of building a new world,” Putin said in a grievance-filled speech at the annual Valdai Discussion Club. He…
President Vladimir Putin last week introduced a bill greenlighting Russia’s exit from the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM), the world’s most comprehensive legally binding treaty devoted to safeguarding the rights of minority groups. Russia is home to representatives of as many as 193 ethnic groups who speak at least 270 languages…
Russia’s top shaman has given his blessing to the Kremlin’s military offensive in Ukraine, praising troops and denouncing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as an “enemy,” state media reported Thursday. Shamanism, a religious practice that involves connecting with the spirit world, is prevalent across the indigenous peoples of Siberia and resurged in popularity after being heavily…
Russia’s jailed opposition politicians — including Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin — on Thursday called on political prisoners and supporters to stage a one-day hunger strike. The Kremlin critics said the protest will be held on Oct. 30, which used to be known as the Day of Political Prisoners in the Soviet Union. Already…
Russian athletes training at schools in St. Petersburg have been banned from unauthorized travel abroad, state-run media reported Wednesday, citing three anonymous sources familiar with the matter. Athletes, coaches and other personnel at state and municipal sports schools in the city are now required to seek prior approval to attend training camps or competitions outside Russia,…
“The search and rescue operation is ongoing,” Klymenko said. “There may still be people under the rubble.” Zelensky, who was attending a European summit in Spain, condemned the attack on social media. “The brutal Russian crime of hitting an ordinary grocery store with a rocket is a completely deliberate terrorist attack,” he wrote. The attack…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was attending a European summit in Spain, said he had no doubts that the strike had been deliberate. “The Russian military could not fail to know where they were hitting,” he said. “It was not a blind strike.” Zelensky also said he had secured agreements from several countries to provide…
Russia’s military will sever its contract with the late Yevgeny Prigozhin’s food catering business and begin using the services of a competitor company, the Kommersant business daily reported Thursday. RBE Group, which had supplied Russia’s Defense Ministry with rations until being replaced by Prigozhin’s Concord Catering, will again provide food services to the army, according to…
The Volga River, one of Russia’s major waterways and Europe’s longest, holds significant economic and cultural importance for Russians. Stretching over 3,500 kilometers through central and southern Russia before meeting the Caspian Sea, this vital transportation artery traverses several urban centers, including Volgograd, a city of 1 million inhabitants. Here, just 200 meters from the…
Russian mercenary group Wagner in 2022 signed a contract with a Chinese firm to acquire two satellites and use their images, aiding its intelligence work as the organization sought to push Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to a document seen by AFP. The contract was signed in November 2022, over half a year into Moscow’s…
Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has moved its warships from annexed Crimea to southern Russia after a string of attacks on its headquarters, the independent news outlet The Bell reported Wednesday, citing satellite images shared by pro-war military bloggers. The frigates Admiral Essen and Admiral Makarov, three submarines, five large landing ships and several small missile…
Russia on Thursday accused Ukraine of using cluster munitions to attack a border town, injuring one person and damaging several buildings. Moscow has repeatedly accused Kyiv of using the controversial weapons since the United States agreed to supply them in July, including to attack Russia’s border regions. “The border town of Rylsk was shelled with…
Russia’s navy will establish a base on the coast of Georgia’s separatist region of Abkhazia, its leader told state-run media Thursday, amid mounting attacks by Ukraine on the Russian Black Sea Fleet. “We have signed an agreement, and in the near future there will be a permanent point of deployment for the Russian navy in…
Russia this year has seen a huge uptick in the number of its soldiers facing trial for murders committed outside the conflict zone in Ukraine, the independent news outlet Vyorstka reported Thursday, citing military court records. At least 147 Russian soldiers went on trial for murder between January and September, representing an almost 10-fold increase…
A deadly blast at a prison in occupied eastern Ukraine last year, which Kyiv and Moscow blamed on each other, was not caused by Ukrainian HIMARS rockets, United Nations investigators have determined. On July 29, 2022, at least 51 Ukrainian prisoners of war died in the bombardment of the Moscow-controlled Olenivka jail in the eastern…
Russia’s Health Ministry will limit the distribution of abortion-inducing pills in pharmacies, in the country’s latest move to clamp down on abortion access. Misoprostol and mifepristone have been added to the ministry’s list of medications subject to subject-quantitative registration (PKU), according to its decree published Tuesday. The ministry’s order will come into effect on Sept.…
Russian-born physicist Alexei Ekimov on Wednesday won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry alongside French-born Moungi Bawendi and American scientist Louis Brus for their research on tiny particles known as quantum dots. The trio succeeded in producing these tiny fluorescent semiconductors that “now spread their light from televisions and LED lamps, and can also guide surgeons…