Russia has focused near-daily attacks on the Ukrainian capital recently, sending missiles and drones overhead in the early hours and even broad daylight. While Ukraine says it has mostly managed to intercept the barrages and has reported only two deaths from falling debris, the strikes raise questions about the motives for such disruptive tactics in…
A Ukrainian woman seeking to return her forcibly transferred godson and his brother from Russia has been detained and deported from Moscow, state media reported Tuesday. Olga Hurulia said she was instructed to retrieve the two boys, who had been taken from southern Ukraine’s Moscow-occupied Kherson region, according to a video of her interrogation at…
A fire erupted at an oil refinery in southern Russia’s Krasnodar region on Wednesday after a likely drone attack, its governor said as local officials reported a downed drone near another refinery. Governor Venyamin Kondratyev wrote on Telegram that there were no casualties and the blaze at the Afipsky oil refinery had been put out after…
At least one person has been killed and a number of others injured after a shelling attack on a Russian region bordering Ukraine, the region’s governor said Tuesday. Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the shelling struck a temporary shelter for evacuees from the region’s Shebekino district, which lies on the Ukrainian border and has reported…
A Russian military court has sentenced eight mobilized soldiers to prison terms of up to seven years for deserting their unit in eastern Ukraine, the independent Mediazona news website reported Tuesday, citing their lawyer. The soldiers had been sent to a field camp in the Moscow-occupied region of Luhansk after being drafted in September as…
Russian officials and pro-Kremlin voices were split over Tuesday’s unprecedented drone attack on Moscow and its surrounding areas, with some downplaying the attack and others sharply criticizing the country’s defense capabilities. President Vladimir Putin called the incident a provocation by Kyiv but appeared calm in televised comments, saying that Moscow’s air defense systems “worked fine”…
Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Tuesday’s drone attack on Moscow and the surrounding region on “terrorist activity” and called it an attempt to “intimidate” ordinary Russians. “The Kyiv regime has chosen… the path of attempting to intimidate Russian citizens and striking residential buildings,” the state-run TASS news agency quoted Putin as saying. “We do not…
Luxury houses owned by the Russian elite and President Vladimir Putin’s main out-of-town residence were just a few kilometers from where drones were shot down Tuesday during a major attack on the Russian capital, according to a crash site list published by a Russian parliamentary deputy. Since the Soviet era, Moscow’s western suburbs — where…
Russia has issued 1.5 million passports in occupied Ukrainian territories, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said Tuesday. Residents of the occupied regions told AFP this month that they had been pressured into taking up a Russian passport, necessary for using basic public services. Kyiv has described the passport handouts as an effort to suppress Ukrainian identity.…
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny said Tuesday that he and other inmates in his prison colony are forced to listen to pro-war and anti-Semitic songs several times a day as part of the prison’s “re-education” efforts. Navalny is serving his jail term in the IK-6 prison in the Vladimir region east of Moscow, a facility…
Russia on Tuesday told the West to stop its “deceitful propaganda” after more than 30 peacekeepers deployed in a NATO-led mission in Kosovo were injured in clashes with ethnic Serbs. Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade and Moscow have refused to recognize it. Russia, Serbia’s traditional ally, also effectively barred Kosovo…
Updated to add more details on the attacks, eyewitness accounts and context. Moscow was targeted by a swarm of drones early Tuesday morning, marking the first time that unmanned aerial vehicles have struck residential areas of the Russian capital since the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year. The attack on Moscow, located more than…
Russia fired a barrage of missiles at Kyiv on Monday sending panicked residents running for shelter in an unusual daytime attack on the Ukrainian capital following overnight strikes. A series of explosions rang out in Kyiv on Monday as Russia targeted the city for the second time in 24 hours. AFP journalists heard at least…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met Kenyan leaders on Monday on a surprise visit to Nairobi, as Moscow and Kyiv both seek to bolster support from African nations over the war in Ukraine. Lavrov’s trip to the East African powerhouse comes on the heels of a trip to the continent last week by his Ukrainian…
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law that allows elections to be held in areas under martial law, Russian state-controlled media reported Monday, paving the way for votes to take place in Russian-occupied Ukraine. Russian regional elections are scheduled for September and presidential elections are set to be held in spring next year. The…
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, which lies on the border with Ukraine, said Monday that Russia was in a “state of de facto war” and called for the annexation of adjacent Ukrainian territory. “We live in a state of de facto war. Whether we like it or not, it’s happening,” Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said…
Russia has issued an arrest warrant for United States senator Lindsey Graham for “Russophobic statements,” Russian media reported Monday. Russian officials and state-conotrolled media have slammed Graham for comments he made during a Friday meeting in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the U.S. politician’s third such visit since the start of the war. In…
Updates with statement of military damage in Western Ukraine. Kyiv repelled another large volley of overnight air strikes, officials said Monday, as the Ukrainian capital was still picking up the pieces from the biggest drone attack to hit it since Russia’s invasion began. Local air defenses managed to fend off more than 40 drones and…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday congratulated Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has collaborated closely with Russia on key international issues despite disagreements, on his re-election. “Your victory in these elections is the logical result of your dedicated work as head of the Turkish Republic,” Putin said, according to the Kremlin website. Putin told…
Corrected to reflect that one person was injured, not killed, in warehouse fire. Russia carried out its “most important” drone attack on Kyiv overnight Saturday-Sunday since the start of the invasion, Ukrainian military authorities said. Forty of the 54 drones launched targeted the capital, killing two people and wounding three. “In total a record number…
When animation artist Varvara returned to Russia earlier this year for the first time since fleeing abroad after the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the main emotion she felt was surprise. Not by how much had changed in her homeland after over a year of war — but by how little. “If you read the…
Shelling in Russian regions bordering Ukraine killed two people on Saturday, regional authorities said. The regional governor of Belgorod said there were fresh attacks, a day after dozens of strikes. “One person was killed. He was a security guard…he was outside at the time of the shelling” in the Shebekino area, Vyacheslav Gladkov said. He…
Two drones damaged an administration building of an oil pipeline in Russia’s western Pskov region, the regional governor said Saturday. The explosion is the latest in an escalating series of attacks in Russia amid the Ukraine offensive. “Early morning, an explosion damaged the administrative building of the oil pipeline near Litvinovo, Nevelsky district,” governor Mikhail…
Russia failed Friday in a bid to prevent Ukraine taking a place on the World Health Organization’s Executive Board, on a day which also saw North Korea gain a berth. Ten countries joined the board for a three-year term but Russia tried to exclude Ukraine, which it invaded 15 months ago, from joining the 34-nation…
Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday declined an invitation to travel to St. Petersburg during a telephone call with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The refusal came just days after a spat between Lula and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky at the G7 summit in Japan, where a planned meeting between the pair fell…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told China’s special envoy Li Hui on Friday that there were “serious obstacles” to resuming peace talks, blaming Ukraine and Western countries. “The Russian foreign minister reaffirmed Moscow’s commitment to a political-diplomatic resolution of the conflict, noting the serious obstacles to the resumption of peace talks created by the Ukrainian…
Amid reports this week that Russia has canceled its biggest air show, experts told The Moscow Times that there was little point in holding the International Air and Space Salon (MAKS) because the war in Ukraine and Western sanctions mean there will be so few foreign buyers present. Western countries imposed stringent sanctions on Russia’s…
French tire maker Michelin announced Friday that it had agreed to sell its Russian assets to a local distributor in the latest international business exit following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Michelin was among hundreds of mostly Western major companies to suspend Russian operations in March 2022 after President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine. The…
Lawyers representing Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, detained in Russia on spying charges, have appealed the latest extension of his arrest, Russian news agencies reported Friday. Gershkovich, who continued reporting from Russia after the Kremlin launched its large-scale offensive in Ukraine, became the first Western journalist to be arrested and accused of spying since…
At least two civilians have been killed and 23 wounded when a Russian missile struck a veterinary clinic in the south-central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, officials said Friday following an overnight barrage. “A 69-year-old man has died. He was just passing by when the Russian terrorists’ missile struck the city,” the head of the regional…
Ukrainian civilians forcibly deported to Russian jails are regularly beaten and threatened with death, Russia’s independent news website Meduza reported Friday, citing former inmates. Prison guards routinely subject Ukrainian detainees to beatings, air gun shootings, electric shocks and threats of execution, Meduza cited several detainees as saying. “We were turned into hunted animals,” said Alexander Tarasov,…
Updates with official statement. Two drones crashed and exploded in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar early Friday morning, local authorities reported. “The crash of two drones was the cause of this morning’s incident on Morskaya St. in the regional capital. There is damage to buildings, but critical infrastructure has not been affected,” Krasnodar region…
Japan announced fresh sanctions against Russia on Friday over its invasion of Ukraine, targeting its military as well as the construction and engineering sectors. Russia was hit with a wave of sanctions after it sent forces into Ukraine in February last year, but calls have grown from Kyiv and its allies for tougher action against…
An Algerian-born French commodities trader is seeking to broker an African peace initiative between Russia and Ukraine, The Financial Times reported Friday. Jean-Yves Ollivier, 78, is known as a fixer close to the long-time president of the Republic of Congo and as someone who has also advised Russia’s state nuclear power group Rosatom. The Ollivier-founded…
Authorities in the Netherlands have seized land belonging to the Dutch former son-in-law of Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of a criminal investigation, The Guardian reported Thursday. The confiscated land southeast of Amsterdam was owned by Jorrit Faassen, who married Putin’s eldest daughter Maria Vorontsova in 2008. The couple reportedly subsequently divorced. Protesters had…
Russian forces launched overnight air attacks on Kyiv, military officials in the Ukrainian capital said Friday, adding that all the missiles were intercepted and destroyed. “Another air attack on Kyiv, 13th in a row since the beginning of May! And, as always, at nighttime,” the city’s military administration said on its Telegram account. It said…
Arch foes Armenia and Azerbaijan are advancing toward normalizing ties following mutual recognition of territorial integrity, the two countries’ leaders said Thursday as they held talks in Moscow. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met separately with Russian President Vladimir Putin before the three held joint negotiations late on Thursday. The…
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday that Russia had begun moving nuclear weapons to its western neighbour and ally, after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to transfer them in March. There were no new comments from Russia on bringing the nuclear weapons to Belarus. “The transfer of nuclear munitions has begun,” Lukashenko said told…
Russian human rights activist Andrei Ivashev was sentenced to six years in prison on extremism charges for a series of social media comments, the independent 7×7 media outlet reported Thursday. Ivashev, 62, is well known in the northern republic of Komi for his criticism of the region’s Governor Vladimir Uyba, as well as one-man pickets…
Moscow’s prestigious Higher School of Economics (HSE) announced Thursday that it will pay for the education of those who fight in Ukraine and their family members. One of Russia’s top-ranked universities, HSE had long been seen as a bastion of liberal values. But in recent years, the university has increasingly aligned itself with the Kremlin’s positions.…
Russia on Thursday summoned the envoys of Germany, Sweden and Denmark over Moscow’s frustration with the lack of progress on probes into the sabotaged Nord Stream gas pipelines. Built to carry Russian gas to Germany, the pipelines in the Baltic Sea were ruptured by subsea explosives months after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops to…
Georgian Airways plans to launch transit flights connecting Russia to European countries via Tbilisi, the airline’s founder said in an interview with Russian media outlet RTVI. Russia has been largely cut off from Europe since its invasion of Ukraine prompted the European Union to ban Russian airlines from its airspace and vice versa. Russians traveling…
Kazakhstan’s president on Thursday criticized the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and appeared to caution against political integration between its members. Kazakhstan, an oil-rich state and traditionally been Moscow’s closest ally in Central Asia, has been shaken by the invasion of Ukraine that sparked fears about Russia’s geopolitical ambitions. Speaking at a plenary session of…
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, Moscow-born Ukrainian Marika Semenenko decided to flee abroad. “It was clear from the beginning that it would be impossible to speak out against the war and staying silent wasn’t an option for me,” the entrepreneur and activist who has since settled in Armenia told The…
Tajikistan has summoned Russia’s ambassador after police allegedly beat and interrogated more than 100 Tajik students at a university in Russia’s Far East, the foreign ministry said. It marked a rare instance of discord between Tajikistan, the poorest of Central Asia’s ex-Soviet republics, and Russia, on which it is still economically reliant. The incident occurred…
Russia’s Supreme Court has ordered the closure of the country’s oldest liberal opposition party, the independent news website Mediazona reported Thursday. The Party of People’s Freedom (Parnas) is the second iteration of the Republican Party of Russia, which was originally formed in 1990 and advocated for human rights and federalism before it too was dissolved. Parnas’ members have…
The defense ministers of Russia and Belarus on Thursday signed a document on the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory, the state-run TASS news agency reported, citing the Defense Ministry of Belarus. Russia will retain control over its non-strategic nuclear weapons stationed in neighboring Belarus, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at…
Russia will expel five Swedish diplomats in a tit-for-tat move, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced Thursday as tensions persisted over allegations of Russian spying and Stockholm’s bid to join NATO in response to the invasion of Ukraine. “The Swedish ambassador was informed that Russia reciprocated by declaring five Swedish diplomats ‘personae non grata’,” it said…
Russia has arrested two Ukrainians who had allegedly planned to target nuclear power plants in the country, the FSB security service said on Thursday. “A sabotage group from the Ukrainian foreign intelligence service… tried to blow up some 30 power lines of nuclear power plants in Leningrad and Kalinin” in early May with the aim…
Six drones were downed or blocked overnight in Russian-annexed Crimea, the region’s Moscow-appointed governor said on Thursday. “During the past night, six drones were shot down or blocked … in different parts of Crimea,” Sergei Aksyonov wrote on Telegram, adding “there were no victims or injured.” The incident comes after Moscow deployed jets and artillery…
Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has started withdrawing fighters from the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said Thursday. The announcement comes days after he claimed full control of the war-ravaged city, an assertion that Kyiv disputes. Prigozhin, a Putin ally who has clashed with Russia’s Defense Ministry throughout its 15-month invasion of Ukraine,…
Russia has called off a showcase biennial air show amid reports of security concerns and military equipment shortages arising from the 15-month war in Ukraine, state news agencies reported Wednesday. Russia’s International Air and Space Salon (MAKS) has been used by the authorities to display Russia’s achievements in high-end technology since it was inaugurated in…
Russian nationals fighting on Ukraine’s side on Wednesday hailed as a “success” a brazen mission to send groups of volunteers across the border into southern Russia and back. Russia on Tuesday said it deployed jets and artillery to fight off armed attackers who crossed into the southern region of Belgorod from Ukraine, exposing weaknesses on…
Russia said Wednesday it had fended off a Ukrainian attack on one of its warships in Turkish waters with unmanned vessels, the latest attempted sabotage attack Moscow has blamed on Kyiv. “Today at 5:30 am [0230 GMT] the armed forces of Ukraine made an unsuccessful attempt to attack the Ivan Khurs ship of the Black…
Record numbers of Russians, by far the highest in three decades, moved to neighboring Finland in 2022, official statistics published Wednesday showed. A total of 6,003 people moved from Russia to Finland last year, according to Statistics Finland, making it the top country of origin for immigration. Immigration to Finland was up overall, with almost…
An attack by an armed group on a Russian region bordering Ukraine earlier this week has been met with a mixture of shock, anger and indifference, according to six interviews with locals conducted by The Moscow Times. The Belgorod region, which lies across the border from Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv, has reported regular shelling and…
President Vladimir Putin donned his historian cap on Tuesday when Constitutional Court chairman Valery Zorkin brought a 17th-century French map to his office and presented the artifact as evidence that Ukraine did not exist as a state before the Soviet period, a view the Russian leader himself has expressed repeatedly both before and during Moscow’s…
Russia announced Wednesday that a court in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don will try five foreign men, including three British nationals, accused of fighting alongside Ukrainian forces against Moscow. The trial will begin on May 31 on terror-linked and other charges. The men are believed to face trial in absentia. Russian state news agency RIA…
Thousands of people in Russia’s majority-Muslim republic of Chechnya took to the streets of the regional capital on Tuesday to rally against a recent burning of the Quran. Police in the southwestern Russian city of Volgograd detained Nikita Zhuravel, 19, after he allegedly set fire to a copy of the Quran in front of the…
The head of Russia’s Central Bank visited Iran for the first time Wednesday for talks on expanding economic ties between the two countries, Iran’s state-run Mehr News Agency reported. Elvira Nabiullina met with her Iranian counterpart Mohammad Reza Farzin as Moscow, which has been heavily sanctioned over the invasion of Ukraine, seeks new allies. The…