Azerbaijan on Tuesday launched a military operation against the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region and demanded the total withdrawal of Armenian forces from the disputed mountainous territory as a precondition for peace. Fears of a fresh war have been growing in recent months, with Armenia accusing Azerbaijan of a troop build-up and decrying a blockade of its…
The Kremlin is considering running media personality Alexei Venediktov as Vladimir Putin’s “liberal” rival in the 2024 presidential elections, the Vedomosti business daily reported Tuesday, citing four anonymous sources close to the presidential administration. Venediktov is the former editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy, a liberal-leaning radio station that was blocked by authorities days after Russia invaded Ukraine…
The Kremlin has instructed Russian state-run media outlets to stop referring to Volodymyr Zelensky as “president” of Ukraine, the independent news website Holod reported Monday, citing the recipients of the presidential administration’s directive. Television broadcasters and online publications are instead advised to use the phrase “the Zelensky regime” or call the Ukrainian president by name…
Moscow and Beijing are closely aligned in their positions on the United States and resolving the Ukraine conflict, the Russian Foreign Ministry said following talks between their top diplomats on Monday. The statement came after China’s Wang Yi kicked off a four-day visit to Moscow with a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the…
MTSKHETA-MTIANETI, Georgia — In the mountain village of Zemo Mleta, locals’ memories of Georgia’s 2008 war with Russia run deep. “Some of my friends fled their homes in South Ossetia after the horror that happened in 2008,” said Tamar, a woman selling souvenirs at a roadside market. The five-day conflict ended with the region of…
Russian legal news website Advokatskaya Ulitsa announced Monday it will close at the end of this month over its “foreign agent” status. “After Ultisa was added to the [foreign agent] registry, I as a publisher was left with few options for organizing the project’s further work,” the website’s editor-in-chief Katerina Gorbunova said. “I’m not satisfied…
Rosneft employees took part in the Moscow Marathon.
Chinese curbs on the export of drones and their components have caused supply disruptions and shortages in Russia, the Kommersant business daily reported Monday. Beijing this summer announced the drone export restrictions, which came into effect on Sept. 1, after Washington accused it of aiding Moscow’s war efforts in Ukraine. Chinese authorities said the restrictions…
A pregnant Russian soldier has been sentenced to six years in prison for desertion in a precedent-setting case, the newspaper Kommersant reported Monday. Lance Corporal Madina Kabaloyeva was found guilty of failing to report for duty during Russia’s “partial” mobilization, which started in September 2022, a wartime crime punishable by up to 10 years in…
Russia hit out at Ukraine at the International Court of Justice on Monday, as the two warring countries squared off in a legal case over Moscow’s claim that “genocide” in eastern Ukraine was a pretext for last year’s invasion. Moscow’s representative, Gennady Kuzmin, said Ukraine’s case that Russia “abused” the United Nations Genocide Convention as…
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi will begin a four-day trip to Russia for security talks on Monday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said, the latest in a series of high-level visits and phone calls between the two sides. Wang will hold security consultations at the invitation of Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s security council, with China’s…
The commander of an elite Russian airborne unit has been killed in Ukraine, a Kremlin-backed military official in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region said Sunday. Alexander Khodakovsky, who serves as deputy national guard commander of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, announced the death of Russian Colonel Andrei Kondrashkin on the messaging app Telegram, adding that the killed colonel headed the 31st…
Trade between Russia and the United States has hit a two-decade low, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, as Moscow faces unprecedented isolation from the West due to its invasion of Ukraine. Russian-U.S. trade turnover totaled $277.3 million in July 2023, the latest available month, marking an 11-fold drop from February 2022, according to analysis…
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un expressed his “heartfelt thanks” to President Vladimir Putin, state media said Monday, as he headed home after nearly a week in Russia. Kim’s tour of Russia’s Far East, which began Tuesday, has sparked concern in the West that Pyongyang could provide Moscow with weapons for its war in Ukraine. During…
Russia said it repelled Ukrainian drone attacks over several parts of Crimea, outer Moscow and two border regions on Sunday. Crimea has been targeted by Ukraine throughout Russia’s offensive but attacks there have recently intensified as Kyiv vows to recapture the Black Sea peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. And since Ukraine launched its counter-offensive…
Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov on Sunday released new video footage in which he smiled and recommended everyone practise sport, in an apparent move to quash speculation about his ill health. Speculation has swirled for months that the hugely influential 46-year-old head of Chechnya accused by rights groups of running a “totalitarian regime” might be ill.…
Russia said it has sent 35 emergency doctors and humanitarian aid to eastern Libya, after the country was hit by unprecedented flooding a week ago. “The ministry’s third plane with specialists…has landed in Libya. Around 35 employees of Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations will provide medical assistance to the population affected by the floods,” said…
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un left Russia on Sunday on his armoured train, Russian news agencies reported, wrapping up a six-day trip which has focused largely on military matters. Kim’s first official visit abroad since the coronavirus pandemic has fanned Western fears that Moscow and Pyongyang will defy sanctions and strike an arms deal.…
Russia shot down one Ukrainian drone over the outskirts of Moscow and six others over the annexed Crimean peninsula on Sunday, according to the Ministry of Defense. At around 1:45 am one drone was intercepted over Moscow’s Istrinsky district, the Defense Ministry said in a Telegram post. “According to preliminary data, there was no damage…
One person died in a Russian village near the border with Ukraine in a Ukrainian strike, the regional governor of Kursk said Saturday. Governor Roman Starovoit said on Telegram the village of Plekhovo “was bombarded from Ukraine,” adding that “a man of 30 was killed after receiving injuries from shell shrapnel.” Starovoit said several houses…
North Macedonia has ordered expulsion of three more Russian diplomats in the third such move since the start of the Russian invasion on Ukraine last year, the foreign ministry confirmed on Saturday. The ambassador of the Russian Federation in Skopje, Sergey Bazdnikin was summoned on Sept. 12 and was informed that three of his colleagues…
Russia said Saturday that its forces had not been pushed out of Andriivka, a village near the key frontline town of Bakhmut, a day after Ukraine said it had “liberated” the site and inflicted heavy losses on enemy troops. Andriivka is around 14 kilometers (nine miles) south of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, where Kyiv…
Two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut docked with the International Space Station on Friday after blasting off amid raging tensions between Moscow and Washington over Ukraine. Earlier Friday Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub and NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara lifted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft. The…
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met Saturday with the Russian defense minister in Vladivostok, where he inspected state-of-the-art weapons including a hypersonic missile system on the latest leg of a rare visit outside his country. Upon arriving in Vladivostok, a Pacific port city near the Chinese and North Korean borders, Kim was greeted by…
Russian energy giant Gazprom said Friday it has made the first delivery of liquefied natural gas to China via the Arctic Northern Sea Route as receding ice sheets render the route more viable. Moscow hopes the route will help increase oil and gas deliveries to Asia at a time when its traditional European clients are…
A shopping mall in the Russian city of Izhevsk is set to be converted into a drone production facility, the third such repurposing in the city over the past year, local activists said Friday. The Russian drone manufacturer Aeroscan recently purchased Izhevsk’s Stolitsa shopping mall and notified its tenants that their leases would be terminated…
Finland will ban entry to passenger vehicles registered in Russia starting Saturday, the Nordic country’s top diplomat announced Friday afternoon. “Our decision is for the ban to come into force after midnight,” Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen was quoted as saying by the state broadcaster Yle. “We estimate the new rules will significantly reduce traffic on the…
The Kremlin on Friday denied a Russian investigation into a mysterious plane crash that killed Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has been too slow, despite no update on what may have caused the crash in more than three weeks. Western countries suspected foul play and pointed to the Kremlin when Prigozhin’s plane crashed between Moscow and…
Russia’s Central Bank raised interest rates from 12% to 13% on Friday as it said it remains concerned about an inflationary spiral taking hold across the Russian economy. The move is the second rate hike in two months following an emergency meeting in August held after the Russian ruble fell below 100 against the U.S.…
Russia on Friday sentenced a soldier to 13 years in a “maximum security” penal colony for deserting his unit to avoid fighting in Ukraine. Moscow has handed severe punishments for desertion during mobilization — which triggered a wave of emigration last year — and to soldiers who refused to go into battle. A military tribunal…
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has dismissed the head of state civil aviation agency Rosaviatsia, the government’s press service announced Friday. Alexander Neradko will leave his post as director of Rosaviatsia and will be replaced by his deputy, Dmitry Yadorov. No official reason has been given for Neradko’s departure. In May 2022, he was reprimanded…
A Russian court has sentenced a Russian man to 12.5 years in prison on treason charges related to arms smuggling to the United States, state-run news agencies reported Friday, citing the Federal Security Service (FSB). Sergei Kabanov was arrested in 2021, though the exact date of his detention remains unknown. Details of Kabanov’s case were kept under tight wraps…
Updated with Kremlin’s “no agreements” remarks. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected Russia’s fighter jets Friday as part of his wide-ranging visit to Russia’s Far East amid Western concerns about military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang. Two days after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin and touring the Vostochny Cosmodrome, Kim traveled to the industrial…
Turkey’s energy minister has publicly questioned for the first time the need for a new natural gas hub that Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed last year. Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told a group of reporters on Thursday that Turkey already had a well-functioning gas trading platform. Putin first raised the idea of creating “a gas…
Cuba’s Foreign Minister and Ambassador to Russia have issued conflicting statements about Havana’s stance on its citizens taking part in Moscow’s war in Ukraine. The clashing remarks follow Cuba’s arrest last week of 17 people suspected of having links to an illicit Russian trafficking and recruitment network for what the Kremlin calls its “special military…
Wealthy Russians have continued to move cash through Swiss bank accounts even after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, including family members of a tycoon publicly backing the war, a media investigation showed Thursday. Leaked documents analyzed by the Tamedia group showed that family members of Alexander Ponomarenko, the head of Moscow water company Mosvodokanal, had…
Pegasus spyware may have been used to hack the cellphones of journalists from the independent Novaya Gazeta Europe news website, the outlet reported Thursday. The disclosure comes one day after Meduza, another leading independent Russian news website, said the spyware had been detected on the phone of its CEO Galina Timchenko in the first known…
Ukraine’s prosecutor general said Thursday the International Criminal Court (ICC) had opened a field office in Kyiv, as part of efforts to hold Russian forces accountable for potential war crimes. Kyiv has called for a special tribunal to be created to hold Moscow responsible for violations committed during its invasion, launched on Feb. 24, 2022.…
Updated with the U.S. State Department’s response. Moscow on Thursday said it was expelling two U.S. Embassy employees for allegedly “liaising” with a former U.S. consulate worker accused by Russian authorities of spying for Washington. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the two American diplomats, Jeffery Sillin and David Bernstein, were engaged in “illegal activities by liaising with a Russian citizen,…
Estonian and Lithuanian officials have warned that passenger vehicles with Russian license plates could soon be confiscated following a Baltics-wide entry ban. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia issued back-to-back entry bans this week for Russian-registered cars after the European Commission clarified that existing regulations prohibit the import or transfer of goods originating in Russia. “These cars [with Russian…
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gifted each other rifles after the two held a high-profile summit in Russia’s Far East, the Kremlin said Thursday. The Russian leader has sought to strengthen alliances with other hardline leaders ostracised by the West, and met with Kim amid speculation they would agree…
American-born mixed martial artist Jeff Monson has been elected to office in the regional parliament of Russia’s republic of Bashkortostan, as the Central Election Commission on Wednesday officially recognized the results of this past weekend’s vote. Monson will now serve among the 87 ruling United Russia party members who were elected to Bashkortostan’s 110-seat state assembly, known…
The European Parliament has recognized Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko as an “accomplice” to Russia’s military aggression and war crimes in Ukraine, according to a resolution adopted on Wednesday. The resolution condemns Minsk’s involvement in Russia’s “unjustified, illegal, and unprovoked war against Ukraine.” This involvement includes stationing and training Russian troops in Belarus, which Moscow used…
A Russian warplane intentionally fired at a British spy aircraft over the Black Sea last year, the BBC reported Thursday, citing three anonymous Western defense sources with knowledge of the incident. One of two Russian Su-27 fighters that shadowed an unarmed Royal Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance plane “released” a missile in international airspace off the…
Russia said it destroyed nearly two dozen Ukrainian drones trying to attack annexed Crimea and patrol ships in the Black Sea on Thursday. “At about 5:00 am, the Ukrainian armed forces attempted to attack the Black Sea Fleet patrol ship Sergey Kotov in the Black Sea with five unmanned sea boats,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said…
The family of jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich said Wednesday they have appealed to the United Nations to help seek his release from detention in Russia, where the American journalist has been held since March on spying charges. Gershkovich’s parents and sister said they had submitted a petition to the UN Working Group…
Russia said it destroyed multiple Ukrainian drones in its border regions of Bryansk and Belgorod during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, with no casualties reported. The Russian Defense Ministry said six drones had been shot down in four separate locations over the Bryansk region, which is located around 400 kilometers southwest of Moscow. “Air…
Ukraine’s armed forces Friday said the village of Andriivka near the key frontline town of Bakhmut had been “liberated,” a day after claims it had been retaken were dubbed premature. On Thursday, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar backtracked on an announcement that Kyiv had wrested control of the eastern village from Russian forces, after Ukrainian…
“We will always be with Russia,” Kim said, according to footage broadcast on Russian TV. “An old friend is better than two new ones,” Putin said, quoting a Russian proverb and referencing the Soviet Union’s role in the Korean War. Kim then “said goodbye to Putin, wishing him good health” and headed to his next…
A Russian-installed court in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region jailed two Ukrainian soldiers for 29 years each, Russia’s Investigative Committee said Wednesday, after it accused them of killing three civilians. Moscow has repeatedly sentenced captured Ukrainian soldiers to long jail terms, in court proceedings that Kyiv does not recognize on Russian-occupied territory. Russia’s Investigative Committee named…
Pegasus spyware was used to hack into the cellphone of Galina Timchenko, the CEO of the independent Russian news website Meduza, the outlet said Wednesday. The incident marks the first known case of Pegasus being used against a Russian journalist, Meduza said. Timchenko’s phone appeared to have been hacked in February just hours before she…
When journalist Yevgeniya Baltatarova arrived in Kazakhstan in March 2022, she had no plans to stay in the country long-term. Just days before, the Federal Security Service (FSB) raided her apartment in Ulan-Ude, the capital of the Siberian republic of Buryatia. According to Baltatarova, the officers were searching for evidence proving that she violated a then-unpassed “army…
Moldova has deported the local bureau chief of Russia’s state-run Sputnik news agency, Russian media reported Wednesday. “I was issued a 10-year ban on entering Moldova,” Vitaly Denisov, head of Sputnik Moldova, told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency. Denisov said Moldovan migration officers had informed him that he posed a threat to national security…
The EU will keep Russian tech billionaire Arkady Volozh under sanctions despite his recent condemnation of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg reported late Tuesday, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter. Volozh co-founded Russia’s internet giant Yandex and announced his resignation in mid-2022 after being targeted by EU sanctions. His lawyers last month petitioned the…
As the Russian ruble has slumped to post-invasion lows in recent months, talk of a possible exodus among millions of Central Asian labor migrants has bubbled to the surface. Federal and local news channels have been awash with stories about how hundreds of thousands could leave Russia altogether, as the value of their salary has…
Moscow will not discuss “speculation” about the inclusion of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny in a list of candidates for a prisoner swap with the West, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday. “This is speculation that requires neither official commentary nor informal discussion,” Zakharova said at a briefing on the sidelines of the…
Updated to clarify that the ban applies to passenger vehicles. Estonia has banned passenger vehicles with Russian license plates from entering the country, authorities in the Baltic nation announced Wednesday amid heated debates over an EU directive on sanctions enforcement. “Starting from today… Estonia will deny entry to all Russian registered vehicles,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna…
A Russian Su-24 bomber on Tuesday crashed in southern Russia during a training flight, state-run media reported, citing Russia’s Defense Ministry. The two-man crew’s fate remains unknown more than 12 hours after the incident, which occurred in the Volgograd region. The Su-24 was not equipped with weapons and crashed in an uninhabited area, Interfax reported,…
“We will always be with Russia,” Kim said, according to footage broadcast on Russian TV. “An old friend is better than two new ones,” Putin said, quoting a Russian proverb and referencing the Soviet Union’s role in the Korean War. Their talks as well as discussions with delegations lasted around two hours before the leaders…
Updated with confirmation by the Ukrainian military. A Ukrainian cruise missile and seaborne drone attack on a shipyard in annexed Crimea damaged two Russian warships that had been undergoing repairs, Russian and Ukrainian military officials said Wednesday. The overnight attack targeted a shipyard in the port city of Sevastopol, home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet,…