Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2006 signed a secret decree awarding Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin with a state decoration as a Kremlin staffer, the BBC’s Russian service reported Tuesday. The outlet noted that Prigozhin — who died in a plane crash on Wednesday — had already received the Medal of the Order “For Merit to…
The death of Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has silenced one of the loudest critics of the Russian military’s performance in Ukraine and thrown the future of his business and private military empires into uncertainty. His enduring image — and popularity — among some ordinary Russians and pro-war voices alike may prove much more…
A group of Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine have threatened to abandon their posts unless a hazardous landfill in their home region in southern Russia is closed down, media reported Monday. In a video addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s General Prosecutor’s Office and the Investigative Committee, seven men in military uniforms called on…
President Vladimir Putin will not attend the funeral of Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Kremlin said Tuesday. Prigozhin was one of the 10 people on board his private jet when it crashed in the Tver region northwest of Moscow last Wednesday. Russian authorities confirmed Prigozhin’s death on Sunday. “The president is not expected to attend…
The Kremlin said Tuesday that Russia would not give up its ambitions to land a craft on the Moon after its first lunar mission in nearly 50 years failed this month. The Luna-25 module crashed on the Moon’s surface after an incident during pre-landing maneuvers. An Indian mission days later successfully landed near the Moon’s…
Repeated drone attacks on Moscow and its surrounding areas reflect a shift in Ukraine’s war strategy to chip away at Russia away from the frontlines, experts have told The Moscow Times. Russia’s capital, located some 450 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, has been targeted by drones nearly every night for the past several weeks, damaging…
Russian state-run broadcaster RT on Tuesday showed rare footage of former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan inside a penal colony, in what his brother said was his first public appearance in over three years. The United States has designated Whelan — who is serving a 16-year sentence on espionage charges in Russia’s remote republic of Mordovia — as…
A Russian teenager accused of plotting a terrorist attack on a market has been detained in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, the state-run news agency TASS reported Tuesday, citing an anonymous Russian law enforcement source. “A 16-year-old student of a Krasnoyarsk preparatory high school has been detained while acquiring components for a homemade explosive device,”…
Russian air defense systems downed multiple Ukrainian drones over the Tula and Belgorod regions, Moscow’s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday, without indicating if there had been damage or casualties. Two drones “were destroyed” by air defenses over the Tula region south of Moscow, Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.…
A Russian consul general in Kazakhstan has been sacked following a controversial interview in which he claimed that the Central Asian country was intentionally discriminating against the Russian language in schools. Yevgeny Bobrov, who headed the Russian consulate in Almaty, said in the interview published last week that Kazakhstan, which is home to the world’s…
A Kyrgyzstan court said Monday state prosecutors had urged it to close down Kloop, a mainly U.S.-funded media organization, for content allegedly discrediting the government of the Central Asian nation, a Russian ally. “We have received a complaint from the Bishkek prosecutor for the shutting down of public foundation Kloop.Media,” a court spokesperson told AFP.…
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to visit Russia “soon” for talks with Vladimir Putin on reviving a deal to ship grain across the Black Sea, his party spokesman said Monday. The meeting will take place in Russia’s resort city of Sochi, Erdogan’s ruling party spokesman Omer Celik told reporters, adding that Turkey hoped to…
A Swedish-Russian dual national who was arrested last year in a spectacular helicopter raid on his Stockholm home was charged in Sweden on Monday with spying for Moscow. Sergei Skvortsov, 60, was formally charged with carrying out “unlawful intelligence activities” against the U.S. and Sweden for a decade until his arrest in November 2022, court…
Russian authorities have detained a man in northwestern Russia suspected of assaulting an Al Jazeera reporter live on air last week, the St. Petersburg-based news website Fontanka reported Monday. Rania Dridi was broadcasting from the former headquarters of Russia’s mercenary outfit Wagner last Thursday when the man accosted her, demanding that she speak Russian during…
The world’s largest crypto exchange Binance said Monday that it has banned Russia-based users from trading in all currencies besides the ruble. Binance’s restrictions follow reporting by Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal on a U.S. Justice Department investigation into the company’s possible violation of financial sanctions on Russia despite its public commitment to comply with…
Russia said it has arrested a former employee of a U.S. consulate on charges of collecting information about Moscow’s war in Ukraine, Interfax reported Monday. The U.S. State Department had in May denounced Robert Shonov’s detention in the Far Eastern city of Vladivostok, saying he had been performing routine activities as a private contractor. Russia’s Federal Security…
Russian air defenses destroyed a drone approaching Moscow and two in a region bordering Ukraine, authorities said early Monday. Air defenses in the Lyubertsy district southeast of the Russian capital “destroyed a drone flying toward Moscow,” the city’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on the Telegram messaging app without specifying whether it was Ukrainian. “There were…
The death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner paramilitary group, following a plane crash on Wednesday has been confirmed by formal genetic analysis, Russia’s Investigative Committee said Sunday. “Molecular-genetic examinations have been completed as part of the investigation into the plane crash in the Tver region,” Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said. “According to…
Russia said it downed two Ukrainian drones flying over border regions on Sunday after the governor of Belgorod region said a drone carrying explosives had killed a man. Russia and the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula have been hit by a wave of attacks in the past month since Kyiv warned in July it aimed to “return”…
Yegor Chastukhin, an 18-year-old environmental activist, holds a flask to a drain spurting out warm, putrid water near the historic city of Penza in western Russia. “It smells like herbal tea,” he jokes after taking a waft of the sample while Sonia, his wife, jots down notes. She records the odor and its yellowish color…
U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich has appealed against a Russian court’s decision to extend his pre-trial detention by three months, according to documents published by a Moscow court. Gershkovich was detained in March during a reporting trip to the Urals and accused of spying — charges that he, the U.S. government and his employer the Wall…
Two people were killed and one wounded after Russian forces shelled a village near the town of Kupiansk in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, the region’s governor said Saturday. Officials in Kupiansk, about four miles (six kilometers) from the frontline, had urged vulnerable residents living near the town to evacuate earlier this month as Russia stepped…
Russia said Saturday that its air defences shot down one drone approaching Moscow and another in a border region while Ukrainian shelling wounded six in a border town. Russia and the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula have been hit by a wave of attacks in recent days as Kyiv warns it aims to bring the conflict back…
The plane crash that presumably killed Yevgeny Prigozhin is expected to restore the image of President Vladimir Putin as Russia’s sole and unshakeable leader, whom no one can challenge with impunity following Wagner’s mutiny. Yet Prigozhin’s fall will lead to the weakening of Russia’s forces in Ukraine, as well as its influence in the Middle…
Russian paramilitary fighters will have to swear an oath to the Russian flag, according to a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin on Friday, two days after the presumed death of mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin. The measure is aimed at “forming the spiritual and moral foundations for the defense of the Russian Federation” and applies…
The Kremlin on Friday dismissed claims that President Vladimir Putin was involved in the presumed death of Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash this week. The circumstances surrounding Wednesday evening’s crash, which occurred exactly two months after Wagner’s failed mutiny against Russia’s military establishment, stirred speculation of a possible assassination. Putin had said as…
A Moscow court has extended the pre-trial detention of the suspect in a St. Petersburg cafe bombing that killed a prominent pro-war blogger earlier this year, Russian media reported Friday. Daria Trepova, 26, was detained in April after a bomb planted inside a gilded bust she presented to blogger Vladlen Tatarsky exploded during an event…
Dutch brewer Heineken on Friday announced it was pulling out of Russia after selling its operations to the Arnest Group, Russia’s largest manufacturer of cosmetics, household goods and metal packaging. Like other major Western companies, Heineken pledged to leave the Russian market following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, but it drew criticism earlier this year after…
Flash floods have struck Far East Russia’s Primorye region for the second time this month, causing major power outages in the territory’s administrative center of Vladivostok on Friday. A total of 70,000 out of the 600,000 residents of Vladivostok were left without electricity over an eight-hour period, said the Primorye region’s prosecutor’s office. It was…
Russia downed a barrage of 42 Ukrainian drones near Crimea, the Russian Defense Ministry said Friday, in the largest recent air attack on the peninsula and a day after Kyiv claimed its special forces carried out a raid on the annexed territory. Nine drones were “destroyed… over the territory of the Republic of Crimea,” the…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday expressed his “condolences” over a plane crash that killed Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, describing him as a man who made mistakes but “achieved results.” An investigation is currently underway into what caused Wednesday’s crash, which came exactly two months after Wagner’s short-lived rebellion against Moscow’s military leadership. “First of…
Norwegian authorities said Thursday they will upgrade a fence near Norway’s border with Russia in the far north to stop its reindeer from making crossings over the international boundary. A fence spanning some 150 kilometers along the Russia-Norway border is already in place, constructed to prevent cross-border movement by the animals. However, some sections have…
Updated with Putin’s remarks. A plane carrying Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin crashed northwest of Moscow on Wednesday, exactly two months after he and his mercenary outfit launched a failed coup against Russia’s military leadership. Here’s everything we know about the crash, reactions from world leaders and analysis of what it could mean for Russia:…
Russian television aired what is perhaps one of the world’s shortest political debates after none of the candidates for next month’s regional elections showed up for the event. The state broadcaster Rossia’s regional affiliate in the Siberian region of Kemerovo went ahead with the debate program on Wednesday evening despite the no-shows. “Hello, we’re broadcasting joint…
Exiled Russian political activist Maxim Katz has been sentenced to eight years in prison in absentia for spreading “fake news” about the Russian military’s actions in Ukraine, the independent news website Mediazona reported Thursday. Katz, 38, is well-known for his YouTube channel, where he discusses and criticizes Russia’s military actions in Ukraine to his more…
Orenburgneft, part of the Rosneft oil production complex, won the 12th regional competition “Best Young Personnel Management Organisation”.
Supporters of Wagner Group leader Yevegny Prigozhin, who is believed to have been killed in a dramatic plane crash, have started laying flowers outside the former headquarters of the mercenary outfit in St. Petersburg. Russian officials said Prigozhin and several of his close aides were on board the Embraer executive jet that crashed in northwestern…
A Moscow court has extended the pre-trial detention of jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich by three months, the state-run Interfax news agency reported Thursday. The Lefortovo District Court granted the Federal Security Service’s (FSB) request to extend Gershkovich’s pre-trial detention until Nov. 30 in a closed-door hearing, Interfax wrote. Gershkovich, a United States…
A plane carrying Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has crashed northwest of Moscow, Russia’s emergencies ministry said Wednesday. The apparent death of the Kremlin-linked businessman, whose mercenary forces had taken on a leading role in the war on Ukraine, comes nearly two months after his aborted revolt against Russia’s military leadership. Authorities initially said that…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday hailed an “impressive” achievement from India, which was the first nation to land a spacecraft on the Moon’s south pole, days after Moscow’s own mission crashed. Putin sent his “heartfelt congratulations” to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi according to the Kremlin’s website. “This is a big step forward in…
Russians have faced increasing disruptions to their summer travel plans as near-daily drone attacks on Moscow have prompted airports in the surrounding area to introduce temporary closures and flight restrictions. The closures prompted by the drone incidents, which authorities blame on Kyiv, are the latest impact of Moscow’s 18-month war on Ukraine on ordinary Russians.…
Ukrainian forces have destroyed a Russian S-400 missile defense system in annexed Crimea, Kyiv said Wednesday. “The explosion completely destroyed the system, its missiles and personnel,” Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency said in a statement, which was accompanied by a video of the blast. Without identifying the weapon that destroyed Russia’s S-400, the intelligence agency…
Bashneft supported the construction of a building of the Orlyonok children’s health camp in the Ilishevsky district of Bashkortostan.
A Ukrainian drone strike has killed three people in the Russian border region of Belgorod, its governor said Wednesday. “Three civilians have been killed,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a social media post. “The Ukrainian forces launched an explosive device through a drone when people were on the street.” He later identified two of the…
The pro-war chief editor of a news publication in southern Russia has been charged with “discrediting” the country’s Armed Forces just a day after receiving an award for “patriotism,” local media reported Tuesday. Rostov-on-Don’s 1RND news website said its editor-in-chief Yelena Dorovskikh is accused of publishing news last fall about anti-mobilization leaflets that contained instructions…
Russian airlines have continued to import spare parts for Western aircraft despite sanctions designed to cut off the flow of key equipment, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing customs data. Ural Airlines, Norwdind Airlines, S7, Aeroflot and others have imported $1.2 billion worth of spare parts from third parties between May 2022 and June 2023, according to…
Russia’s ruling United Russia party announced it will expel one of its members running for local office over insulting remarks she made about President Vladimir Putin. Yulia Trukhmanova, a member of the Marx city council in the southern Saratov region, was recorded on audio ridiculing Putin as a “nobody” and “dirty schmuck” before he came to…
President Vladimir Putin has dismissed General Sergei Surovikin as head of Russia’s Aerospace Forces, two months after a failed mutiny by the head of the Wagner mercenary outfit, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Wednesday, citing an anonymous source. Surovikin was last seen on video urging Wagner fighters to stand down during their march toward Moscow…
A Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow damaged a building in a central business district, Russian authorities said on Wednesday, in the sixth consecutive night of aerial attacks on Russia’s capital and its surrounding areas. The latest strike on Moscow just comes hours after Ukrainian authorities said Russian artillery hit two villages near the eastern Ukraine…
Russian military officials including Moscow’s deputy defense minister arrived in Libya on Tuesday after receiving an invite from pro-Moscow military strongman Khalifa Haftar. Haftar, who backs the country’s eastern administration, is close to Russia’s private Wagner mercenary group, whose troops guard military and oil infrastructure in the country. “This is the first official visit of…
The governor of the Moscow region is expected to secure an overwhelming majority during his re-election bid in next month’s gubernatorial elections by manipulating voter turnout, the independent news website Novaya Gazeta Europe reported Tuesday, citing leaked audio. Moscow region Governor Andrei Vorobyov, a member of the ruling United Russia party, is among over a…
Russian forces repelled an attempt by Ukrainian “saboteurs” to break into the western border region of Bryansk, the region’s local governor said Tuesday. “Today, Ukrainian saboteurs attempted to break through the [Russian] state border in the Klimovsky district,” Bryansk region Governor Alexander Bogomaz said on the Telegram messaging app. He said the attack was repelled by multiple…
Russia said on Tuesday its forces destroyed a Ukrainian military boat in the Black Sea, the second vessel it claims to have attacked in the space of a few hours. “On Aug. 22 at about 11:00 Moscow time (08:00 GMT) east of Snake Island, a U.S.-made Willard Sea Force speedboat with a Ukrainian landing group was…
Russia said on Tuesday its forces destroyed a Ukrainian military boat in the Black Sea, the second vessel it claims to have attacked in the space of a few hours. “On Aug. 22 at about 11:00 Moscow time (08:00 GMT) east of Snake Island, a U.S.-made Willard Sea Force speedboat with a Ukrainian landing group was…
The frontman of a popular Russian rock band that had previously condemned the war in Ukraine has made a surprise visit to occupied eastern Ukraine to meet with Russian troops, as shown in a video published Monday by pro-war military bloggers. Roman Bilyk, whose stage name is Roma Zver, is the lead singer of the…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday arrived in South Africa, where he will head Russia’s delegation at the annual BRICS summit this week. Lavrov was greeted by a group of dancers and musicians upon disembarking his plane in Johannesburg on Tuesday morning and was seen briefly dancing along with the performers. The Kremlin confirmed last…
Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has appeared on video recruiting new fighters for deployment in Africa, just two months after launching a failed mutiny in Russia. “PMC Wagner… makes Russia even greater on all continents, and Africa more free,” Prigozhin said in the video published late Monday by the Wagner-affiliated Telegram channel Razgruzka Vagnera. “We’re…
Russian air defense systems downed two attack drones near Moscow, the city’s mayor said on Tuesday. “Air defense shot down two attack drones. One in the Krasnogorsk area, the other in the Chastsy area,” Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on the Telegram messaging app, adding that emergency services were responding to the scene. He did not…
Moscow said Tuesday it had destroyed a Ukrainian military “reconnaissance boat” near Russian gas infrastructure in the Black Sea. A Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jet destroyed a “reconnaissance boat” belonging to Ukraine’s armed forces “in the area of Russian gas production facilities in the Black Sea,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. It did…
Russian-installed courts in Ukraine’s eastern regions sentenced five Ukrainian soldiers to lengthy prison terms, Russia’s Investigative Committee said Monday. “The court sentenced (Andrey) Klementovich, (Artur) Sivitsky and (Ivan) Melnikovich to 20 years’ imprisonment each, to be served in a strict-regime penal colony,” the Investigative Committee said in a statement. It published footage of three men…