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…
The chief of the Russian space agency Roscosmos on Monday advocated for Russia to stay in the lunar race, a day after announcing its mission had crashed. “In no case should the lunar program be interrupted, that would be the worst decision,” Yuri Borisov said in an interview on television. The Luna-25 mission was meant…
Updated with revised death toll, end of search operations. Search operations have been called off after all eight members of a guided tour of Moscow’s sewer system were found dead following heavy rain over the weekend, emergency services told state media on Tuesday. According to the TASS news agency, water levels in the sewer rose quickly…
The Russian division of Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank will start charging 50% commission on all incoming U.S. dollar transfers, the bank announced Monday in a statement, citing unspecified “market conditions.” “The bank is forced to limit the number of incoming transfers in U.S. dollars due to changing market conditions. We encourage customers to use other payment…
The franchise operator of Domino’s Pizza in Russia said Monday that its Russian business will file for bankruptcy after reportedly failing to sell off its assets. “A bankruptcy petition of DPRussia will be filed in accordance with the relevant statutory requirements in due course,” DP Eurasia said in a statement. The process “will bring about…
The Russian government is suing the country’s wealthiest businessman for alleged “corrupt collusion” in a deal to buy a Siberian power plant operator from an ex-minister, according to media reports. The Prosecutor General’s Office seeks to seize the operator, Sibeco, that industrialist Andrei Melnichenko had purchased from ex-minister Mikhail Abyzov in 2018, Forbes Russia reported…
Navalny, who recently had his jail term extended, warned he expected high levels of fraud in the upcoming elections and that the Moscow mayoral elections had “no meaning” at all. “Strategically, we see Smart Voting and its participants as the opposition’s greatest asset and best opportunity,” he said. Smart Voting was a strategy devised by…
A transgender former Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agent has been fined for attempting to flee the country, the independent news website Mediazona reported Monday, citing her lawyer. Katerina Meyers was pressured to leave a 12-year career as an FSB counterintelligence officer after she started her gender transition in 2020. Authorities launched a criminal case against…
Authorities in southwestern Russia on Sunday sealed off an area of roughly 1,400 square kilometers for at least three months over an anthrax outbreak. Voronezh region Governor Alexander Gusev declared a local state of emergency, banning unauthorized persons from entering the region’s Paninsky district until Nov. 16. Gusev also banned the movement and slaughter of…
Updates with injuries, Simonyan comment. Russia said Monday it had thwarted two Ukrainian drone attacks in the Moscow region, with at least two people injured due to falling debris. “An attempt by Kyiv to carry out an attack with an aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicle was foiled” around 6:50 am local time, the Russian Defense Ministry said…
Hundreds of people around the world took part in protests Sunday against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his violent actions in Russia and abroad. The protests, titled “Putin Is a Killer,” were organized by jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s associates on the three-year anniversary of his near-fatal poisoning that he blames on Putin, and took…
KUBINKA, Moscow region — Two children could be seen playing inside a military personnel carrier emblazoned with the letter Z — a symbol of the invasion of Ukraine — and the words “NATO won’t pass.” The vehicle was one of thousands of pieces of hardware on display at the Army-2023 international military-technical forum, Russia’s largest…
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed Sunday a “historic” decision by the Netherlands and Denmark to provide American F-16 fighter jets, the latest move by Western allies to bolster his country’s efforts to fend off Russia’s invasion. Zelensky had sought the advanced jets for months to strengthen Ukraine’s Soviet-era air force as it pursues a grinding…
The Luna-25 probe, Russia’s first Moon mission in almost 50 years, has crashed on the Moon after an incident during pre-landing maneuvers, Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Sunday. Communication with Luna-25 was lost at 2:57 p.m. (11:57 GMT) on Saturday, Roscosmos said. According to preliminary findings, the lander “has ceased to exist following a…
Russia said it had thwarted Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow and its region on Sunday, the second such incident in two days as Kyiv presses ahead with a counteroffensive. Both sides have reported regular drone incursions during the conflict, with strikes on Russian territory becoming increasingly regular. “At around 4:00 a.m. (01:00 GMT), an attempt…
Russia on Saturday said it had thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack on a military airfield in the northwestern Novgorod region, the first time the region has been targeted since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “Today, at around 10:00 am Moscow time, the Kyiv regime carried out a terrorist attack using a copter-type drone on a military…
Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with the top military commanders at an army headquarters in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, the Kremlin said early Saturday. Moscow gave no details on when the meeting took place but footage released by state media indicated it was at night. “Vladimir Putin held a meeting at the…
Igor Sofonov, who was recruited to fight in Ukraine from a Russian penal colony where he was serving a sentence on drug charges, returned to civilian life this spring after he was pardoned as part of a deal with the Russian military. Sofonov’s acquaintances told The Moscow Times that his military service had “changed him…
Russia’s elections chief said Friday that Russia has no use for Western-style democracy, just weeks before regional elections are set to take place across the country. Central Election Commission head Ella Pamfilova — who is known for overseeing the widespread implementation of controversial online voting, the “resetting” of presidential term limits, and sham referendums in occupied…
A Russian court has ordered the closure of the Sakharov Center, one of the country’s oldest human rights groups, Interfax reported Friday. The center, which was founded to honor the memory of Soviet dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov, had been an iconic place for exhibitions and discussions about human rights since its…
Russia’s Orthodox Church announced late Thursday it had launched an internal investigation into a priest who blessed a recently erected monument to Soviet leader Josef Stalin. Father Anatolyi was filmed dousing holy water on the eight-meter Stalin statue earlier this week during an unveiling ceremony in Velikiye Luki, located in northwestern Russia’s Pskov region. While he admitted that…
Employees of the Saratov Oil Refinery (an enterprise of Rosneft Oil Company’s refining complex) cleaned the Volga flows and banks from garbage as part of an environmental campaign.
Russian authorities have charged prominent Chechen human rights lawyer and activist Abubakar Yangulbaev with “calls for terrorism,” the Ostorozhno Novosti news outlet reported Friday. Chechen law enforcement officials opened the charges in response to a post made by Yangulbaev on the Telegram messaging app last year, according to unnamed sources cited by the outlet. The post,…
Senior Chechen officials applauded the son of Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov for allegedly beating up a teenager who was detained earlier this year on charges of burning the Koran. Nikita Zhuravel, 19, was detained in May on suspicion of publicly burning a Koran in the southwestern region of Volgograd. The criminal case against him was…
A Moscow court has placed a dual U.S.-Russian citizen, who is serving a prison sentence for bribery, in pre-trial detention on charges of espionage, according to court data published Thursday. Russian-born American Gene Spector faces 20 years in prison if convicted. Few details outside the court ruling have been made public, as espionage cases are held…
Russian forces have destroyed a Ukrainian drone targeting Moscow, officials said, the latest in a series of attacks on the capital. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air force downed a Ukrainian drone over the Russian capital at around 04:00 am on Friday. “The unmanned drone, after being exposed to air defense weapons, changed its flight…
Russia has steadily expanded its sprawling facial recognition surveillance system since invading Ukraine last year, The Moscow Times’ Russian service reported Thursday, citing thousands of state procurement documents. While formally designed to fight crime, Russia’s facial recognition system has been more effective in identifying anti-war activists and draft dodgers, surveillance experts told the outlet, adding…
A Russia-installed court in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region has jailed three Ukrainian soldiers, Russia’s Investigative Committee said Thursday, accusing them of a range of crimes including murder. The verdicts came a day after the same court sentenced three other Ukrainian soldiers, all of whom were charged with inflicting “cruel treatment on the civilian population.” The…
Rosneft in cooperation with Innopraktika, a non-governmental development institute, presented the atlas «Seabirds of the Russian Arctic».
Russia will not tighten capital controls in response to a weakening ruble, the Vedomosti business daily reported Thursday, citing two anonymous sources close to the Russian government. President Vladimir Putin met with cabinet members and Central Bank governor Elvira Nabiullina on Wednesday to hear proposals on converting foreign currency earnings held by exporters into rubles.…
Around 45,000 residents of Moscow have been deployed on the frontline in Ukraine, the Russian capital’s mayor said late Wednesday. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said some 20,000 Muscovites are serving in the war as mobilized soldiers, while another 20,000 are either contract or volunteer fighters. The remaining 5,000 are professional soldiers, he added. Sobyanin’s figures suggest that…
An earlier version of this article, citing a report by Kommersant, incorrectly stated that Melkonyants was outside of Russia on Thursday. He is currently in Russia. Russian authorities have charged the co-chair of the independent election monitor Golos for running an “undesirable” organization, state media reported Thursday, citing an anonymous source. Law enforcement carried out searches…
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Wednesday it had “eliminated” a group of four Ukrainian fighters who tried to cross into Russia’s western Bryansk region from northern Ukraine, news agencies reported. The announcement came a day after Moscow said it had prevented Ukrainian militants from infiltrating the Bryansk region, which has regularly seen similar attacks.…
Military enlistment offices across Russia have begun sending out summonses, sparking fears that the Kremlin may be preparing for a new wave of mobilization, media outlets have reported. The summonses were sent to residents in central Russia’s Ulyanovsk and Perm regions, as well as in Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk, Kemerovo and Chelyabinsk, according to the independent news outlets…
Russia has expelled Politico Europe correspondent and former Moscow Times editor-in-chief Eva Hartog, Politico Europe reported Wednesday. Russia’s Foreign Ministry had reportedly informed Hartog last Monday that her visa would not be extended and gave her six days to leave Russia. Moscow provided no information as to the reason for Hartog’s expulsion, saying only that the…
Moscow’s Luna-25 lander is due to reach the Moon’s orbit Wednesday, in the first such Russian mission in almost 50 years, according to Roscosmos space agency. With the lunar launch, Moscow’s first since 1976, Russia hopes to provide renewed momentum to its space industry, which has been struggling for years and has become increasingly isolated amid…
A former official in northwestern Russia’s republic of Komi has sought asylum in the United States after fleeing Russia to avoid being drafted into the war in Ukraine, according to the Russian-language broadcaster RTVI. Denis Sharonov, 48, served as the republic of Komi’s agriculture minister between 2020 and January 2022, a month before Russia invaded…
Siberia’s boreal forests, long considered to be a carbon “sink,” may soon become a net source of carbon emissions, as wildfires causing forest loss and degradation have grown increasingly more intense over the past decade, researchers at the Russian Academy of Sciences said Thursday. Citing a recent study, the researchers said carbon emissions from high-intensity…
Russian authorities on Wednesday designated the Polish-based anti-war group For a Free Russia an “undesirable organization,” making any work for or with the collective a criminal offense. “From abroad, they involve Russians in volunteer battalions within the Ukrainian armed forces and train so-called ‘resistance groups’,” the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement. For…
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday it shot down three Ukrainian drones in the central Kaluga region, the latest in a surge of air attacks deep inside Russia. Ukraine launched the attack at 5:00 am using “three unmanned aerial vehicles against buildings in the Kaluga region,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app. “All of…
Russian military and security forces prevented a Ukrainian sabotage group from infiltrating western Russia’s Bryansk region, the regional governor said Tuesday. Russia’s armed forces, together with Federal Security Service (FSB) border agents and National Guard special units, thwarted “an attempt by a Ukrainian diversionary reconnaissance group to infiltrate” the Bryansk region, Governor Alexander Bogomaz said. After initially…
A former Russian military intelligence officer known for publically endorsing Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has been fined for “discrediting” the country’s armed forces, the independent news website Mediazona reported Tuesday. The case against ex-GRU colonel Vladimir Kvachkov, 74, stands out as a rare example of Russia’s justice system targeting pro-war figures instead of dissenters who…
Russia reserves the right to use cluster munitions in Ukraine in response to U.S. supplies of the banned weapons to Kyiv, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday. Though Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of using cluster bombs in the 17-month conflict, Shoigu claimed Moscow has refrained from doing so out of “humanitarian”…
Authorities in the flood-stricken Primorye region of Russia’s Far East on Tuesday declared a state of emergency to expand relief efforts following an outcry by local residents in affected areas. Governor Oleg Kozhemyako promised higher payouts to families whose homes were damaged by tropical storm Khanun, which pummeled the Primorye region last week, triggering evacuations…
Russia’s Central Bank hiked interest rates from 8.5% to 12% on Tuesday in an emergency meeting after the ruble slid past 100 against the U.S. dollar the day before. “The decision is aimed at limiting price stability risks,” the Bank said in a statement. The ruble gained strongly ahead of the decision, rising by more…
Updated with new death toll. At least 35 people were killed and dozens injured in an explosion and fire at a petrol station in Russia’s Caucasus republic of Dagestan, the Emergency Situations Ministry said Tuesday. A total of 102 people were injured and killed as a result of the incident, the ministry said on the Telegram…
Russia said Monday that it had dispatched a MiG-29 fighter jet to “prevent a violation” of its border by a Norwegian military patrol aircraft over the Barents Sea. “As the Russian fighter approached, the foreign military plane made a U-turn away from the borders of the Russian Federation,” the Russian Defense Ministry said. “There was…