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…
Russia’s top diplomat on Saturday accused Armenian leaders of worsening tensions but voiced hope the country would stay in Moscow’s orbit following furor over Azerbaijan’s recapture of the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. Speaking at the United Nations, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov charged that Western powers were “pulling the strings” to undermine Russian influence but added, “unfortunately,…
Western powers through their support for Ukraine are “de facto” fighting against Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday, as Kyiv claimed fresh advances on the ground. “You can call it anything you want, but they are fighting with us, they are straight-up fighting with us,” Lavrov told journalists at the United Nations. “We…
A fugitive Russian lawmaker has managed to retain his position in parliament a full year after being convicted on bribery charges, the investigative news website Mozhem Obyasnit reported Friday. Last August, State Duma deputy Vadim Belousov was found guilty of accepting a bribe of 3.2 billion rubles ($49 million) — described as the largest in modern…
Russia on Thursday slammed Bulgaria after it expelled the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in the southern Balkans nation. Bulgarian authorities ordered the Russian Orthodox Church representative in Sofia, Archimandrite Vassian, to leave Bulgaria alongside two Belarusian priests following accusations that they acted in the interests of the Kremlin. Bulgaria’s National Security Agency said the three…
RN-Purneftegaz (part of Rosneft’s oil and gas production complex) summarised the results of the first grant competition to support scientific, practical, applied, educational and research projects aimed at addressing social issues of the indigenous peoples of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District living in the Purovsky District.
Updated with Defense Ministry’s statement that one soldier went missing. The headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in annexed Crimea was targeted by a missile strike on Friday, state media and Kremlin-installed officials said. Russia’s Defense Ministry had said earlier that one serviceman was killed in the strike on Sevastopol, where the Black Sea Fleet is based,…
The Kremlin said on Friday it hopes Russia could once again become part of the Olympic community despite sanctions against Russian athletes over Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has suggested allowing athletes from Russia and Moscow’s ally Belarus to compete as individuals under a neutral flag at the 2024 Olympics in…
Scores of Russian officials have signed up to fight in the Ukraine war since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion nearly 19 months ago. Coming from all corners of the country and holding various positions, these officials harbor a range of motivations for going into military service. While some believe donning army fatigues may help advance…
Russia has imposed “temporary restrictions” on the export of gasoline and diesel in order to stabilize domestic fuel prices, the government said Thursday. “Temporary restrictions will help saturate the fuel market, which will in turn reduce prices for consumers,” Russia’s cabinet of ministers said in a statement. A decree signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin…
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has apologized for the deaths of Russian peacekeepers killed during Baku’s military campaign this week to regain control of the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Kremlin said Thursday. “[Aliyev] emphasized that the most thorough investigation into the incident will be carried out and all those responsible will be duly punished,” the…
One in five mobilized Russian soldiers who died in the Ukraine war were killed less than two months after being enlisted, the independent investigative outlet IStories and the war monitoring project Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) reported Thursday, citing publicly available data. IStories and CIT said their figures are based on data related to the deaths of…
Moscow said Thursday it had downed multiple Ukrainian drones overnight in annexed Crimea and the Black Sea, as well as in parts of western Russia. “Air defense systems destroyed 19 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and the territory of the Republic of Crimea,” the Russian Defense Ministry said on the messaging app Telegram. Mikhail…
The Kremlin has ordered media and lawmakers to blame Armenia for Azerbaijan’s latest attack on the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, Russia’s independent news outlets Meduza and Vyorstka reported Wednesday, citing anonymous sources. The circulated instructions to media and officials follow Armenia’s frustration over what it sees as Russia’s failure to guarantee its security amid escalating…
When lawyer Olga Slastunina chose Troitsk as her new home back in 2006, the presence of the vast Troitsky Forest on her doorstep was one of the main draws. This green expanse, which she describes as “an absolute marvel,” created a special atmosphere in Troitsk, an academic town of 60,000 inhabitants that became a part…
Azerbaijan on Wednesday announced it had halted its military operation in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh after separatist Armenian forces agreed to lay down their arms and hold reintegration talks. Baku and the ethnic-Armenian authorities in Karabakh said a ceasefire deal had been brokered by Russian peacekeepers to stop the fighting a day after Azerbaijan…
Norway will be the last European nation that borders Russia to ban Russian-registered vehicles amid an uproar over an EU directive on import restrictions. Over the past week, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland have implemented bans on passenger vehicles with Russian license plates. “Norway will introduce restrictions on importing and using Russian-registered cars in…
Several residents and rescue workers were killed when a gas explosion ripped through a late Soviet-era apartment building outside Moscow, authorities and state media reported Wednesday. Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said first responders arrived soon after being alerted in the early morning of an incident in the suburb of Balashikha, northeast of Moscow. Footage shared by…
Ukrainian drones likely attacked Wagner-backed paramilitary forces in Sudan, CNN reported Tuesday, citing anonymous Ukrainian and Sudanese military sources as well as footage of the aerial strikes. Videos shared by CNN show 14 separate drone attacks on the stronghold of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the city of Omdurman, located across the Nile River…