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…
Russia’s Wagner mercenary group lost 20,000 fighters while fighting for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, half of which were convicts recruited from prisons, the group’s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an interview published late Tuesday. Prigozhin, a Kremlin-linked catering magnate, has relied heavily on convicts from Russian prisons to fuel Wagner’s offensive in eastern Ukraine,…
The governor of a southern Russian region bordering Ukraine said Wednesday that the territory was targeted overnight by numerous drones following an armed incursion from Ukraine. “The night was not entirely calm. There were a large number of drone attacks. Air defense systems handled most of them,” the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov,…
Georgia’s prime minister told an international forum Wednesday that his government cannot afford to impose sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine war as they would “devastate” the economy. Facing international criticism, Irakli Garbashvili strongly defended his country’s reluctance to take action against its giant neighbor which occupied about 20% of Georgian territory in a 2008…
Russian authorities have confiscated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s $800,000 apartment in annexed Crimea, the peninsula’s Kremlin-installed governor said Wednesday. Crimean Governor Sergei Aksyonov listed the property, which Zelensky’s wife Olena Zelenska purchased near the resort city of Yalta in 2013, alongside several Ukrainian-owned assets subject to seizure. These include “large wineries, banking structures, Zelensky’s apartment and…
Chinese President Xi Jinping offered Beijing’s support on Moscow’s “core interests” at a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Wednesday. China and Russia have in recent years ramped up economic and diplomatic cooperation, growing even closer since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine despite Beijing’s insistence that it is neutral in that conflict. Mishustin’s trip…
A migrants’ rights activist who worked with Russia’s oldest human rights group was sentenced to 14 years in prison late Tuesday on charges of terrorism for Facebook posts. Bakhrom Khamroyev, 59, was detained the day Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. He was previously a member of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning civil rights group…
Russian energy giant Gazprom, whose gas exports have plummeted in the wake of the Ukraine conflict, said Tuesday its net profit fell by 41% last year due to a tax increase. The company reported a profit of 1.2 trillion rubles ($15 billion) for 2022, down from 2.1 trillion rubles in the previous year. In a…
A Moscow court has extended the pre-trial detention of jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich by three months, the state-run TASS news agency reported Tuesday. The Lefortovo District Court granted the Federal Security Service’s (FSB) request to extend Gershkovich’s pre-trial detention until Aug. 30 in a closed-door hearing, TASS reported. Gershkovich, a United States…
Russia’s Embassy in Norway on Tuesday harshly criticized a planned visit by a U.S. aircraft carrier to Oslo as an “illogical and harmful” show of force. The 337-meter (1,106-foot) USS General Ford is scheduled to dock in the Norwegian capital this week. “There are no issues in the North that require a military solution, nor…
Russian lawmakers swiftly approved amendments Tuesday that would expand border guards’ power to seize the passports of Russians traveling outside the country. According to the legislation introduced by the government and approved by the lower-house State Duma in just a single day, border guards will be able to confiscate passports from Russian citizens who are…
This week’s incursion into Russia’s western Belgorod region sparked mixed reactions from prominent pro-Kremlin voices. The armed incursion, the most serious since the beginning of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine last year, prompted the Kremlin to express “deep concern” and the evacuation of nine villages in the Belgorod region. Ukrainian officials denied involvement as two anti-Kremlin…
A Russian man has fined a local man for “discrediting” the country’s military, the fourth time he has been convicted for the same offense since December. Ivan Losev, from the Siberian city of Chita, had been fined in February 2023 for speaking to the press about a fine he had previously received for sharing a…
A group of activists said it has mapped more than 250 locations inside Russia where Ukrainian children have been forcibly transferred since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Kyiv says more than 16,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia since its February 2022 invasion, with many believed to have been placed in institutions and foster…
Russian troops have spent the past six months constructing extensive defensive fortifications aimed at preventing Ukraine from launching its widely anticipated counteroffensive and liberating its occupied territories. However, analysts warn that the effectiveness of these defenses will largely depend on Russian troops’ ability to repel the Ukrainian armed forces’ assault. Lines of defense Satellite images…
Russia’s government has introduced legislative changes that would not punish mapmakers for displaying occupied territories as Ukrainian regions before their capture by Russian forces, the Vedomosti business daily reported Tuesday. Russia’s lower house of parliament passed the original draft bill in December imposing up to 15 days of jail or fines of up to 1…
Russia’s prime minister on Tuesday hailed economic ties with China during a visit in which he will meet with President Xi Jinping and ink a series of trade deals. The two nations have in recent years ramped up economic and diplomatic cooperation, with ties growing closer since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine despite Beijing’s insistence it…
The arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in March was the first time a Western journalist had been held on espionage charges in post-Soviet Russia — but it opened a floodgate of memories for Nicholas Daniloff. Daniloff was working as a journalist in the Soviet Union in 1986 when he was snatched off…
Ukraine’s occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was briefly cut off from the power grid Monday, its Russian administrators and the Ukrainian atomic agency said. The incident marked the seventh time that the plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, had been cut off from the power grid since invading Russian forces took control of the plant…
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Monday that his country could withdraw from Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), in a fresh show of discontent over the lack of support from its ally Russia. Yerevan has grown increasingly frustrated over what it calls Russia’s failure to protect Armenia in the face of military threats from…
The head of Russia’s Belgorod region which borders Ukraine, claimed Monday that a Ukrainian “sabotage group” had infiltrated the region, while anti-Kremlin Russians fighting alongside Ukraine’s forces appeared to take responsibility. “A VSU [armed forces of Ukraine] sabotage group entered the territory of Grayvoron district,” Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram, referring to a…
Belarusian authorities have pardoned dissident journalist Roman Protasevich, the state-run Belta news agency reported Monday. “I have signed all the documents about my pardon literally just now. This is, of course, simply wonderful news,” Belta quoted Protasevich as saying. Protasevich, 27, was arrested in 2021 when Belarusian authorities forced his EU-bound plane to land in Minsk,…
President Vladimir Putin has agreed on the sale of a majority stake in the Russian side of splintered tech giant Yandex to three sanctioned billionaires and the state-owned VTB Bank, the news websites The Bell and Meduza reported Sunday, citing four unnamed sources close to the company. Yandex, often referred to as the “Russian Google,”…
The occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been reconnected to Ukraine’s electricity grid again after being offline for several hours, officials in Kyiv said on Monday. Earlier Monday Ukraine’s nuclear agency Energoatom had accused Russia of carrying out attacks that caused a power cut. It said it was the seventh time the plant entered “blackout mode”…
Russian forces targeted the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro overnight with 16 missiles and 20 attack drones, Ukraine’s army said Monday. The attacks on troops and infrastructure were carried out by various types of missiles and Iranian-made Shahed drones, the general staff wrote on Facebook, saying its air defenses had destroyed all the drones and…
Russia has exported almost 20% more coal by sea so far this year than during the run-up and early months of its invasion of Ukraine, the Kommersant business daily reported Monday, citing an unnamed source familiar with the data. Russia shipped 69.9 million metric tons of the polluting fuel from ports in January-April 2023, or…
Russia’s Deputy Science Minister Pyotr Kucherenko has died months after a prominent journalist recalled him criticizing the invasion of Ukraine in private conversations. Kucherenko, 46, fell seriously ill on board a flight returning from Cuba on Saturday, Russia’s Science and Higher Education Ministry said Sunday. The flight made an emergency landing in southern Russia but doctors who…
Russia on Sunday accused G7 leaders of turning their summit in Japan into a “propaganda show” by inviting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and whipping up “anti-Russian and anti-Chinese hysteria.” “The leaders of the G7 brought to their meeting the ringleader of the Kyiv regime they control and turned the Hiroshima event into a propaganda show,” the…
Ukraine on Sunday denied Bakhmut had fallen to Russian troops in the longest battle of the war and said it was instead advancing around the suburbs, making it “very difficult” for Russian troops to stay in the devastated city. A day after President Vladimir Putin congratulated his troops and private mercenary group Wagner who claimed…
German police have opened an investigation after a Russian journalist and an activist who participated in a Berlin conference reported health problems that suggested possible poisoning, the Welt am Sonntag reported. “A file has been opened based on the information available,” a Berlin police spokesman told the Sunday weekly. Berlin police were not immediately available…
Russia’s private army Wagner claimed Saturday the total control of the east Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the epicenter of fighting, as Kyiv said the battle was continuing but admitted the situation was “critical”. Bakhmut, a salt mining town that once had a population of 70,000 people, has been the scene of the longest and bloodiest…
Russia on Friday said it banned entry to 500 Americans, including former president Barack Obama, in response to sanctions imposed by Washington. “In response to the anti-Russian sanctions regularly imposed by the Biden administration… entry into the Russian Federation is closed for 500 Americans,” the foreign ministry said, adding that Obama was among those on…
Moscow said Friday it had again denied a consular visit to arrested U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich after Washington refused visas to some Russian journalists. “The request of the US embassy in Moscow about a consular visit to reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested for espionage, is once again rejected,” said the Russian Foreign Ministry. The…
The United States added hundreds more companies and individuals to its sanctions blacklist Friday as it broadened efforts to choke off Russia’s global supply chains and starve its economy over its war on Ukraine. The new sanctions took particular aim at the firms and research institutes involved in Moscow’s investments into future energy production including…
Russia has placed International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan on its wanted list after the court indicted President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes, the independent Mediazona news website reported Friday. Khan’s photo and personal information are visible on the Interior Ministry’s search database, Mediazona reported. The ministry’s listing does not specify which crime Khan is…
More than 100,000 people have enlisted in the Russian army this year, former president Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday, as Moscow seeks to recruit volunteers for its offensive in Ukraine. Moscow has conducted an aggressive military recruitment campaign in recent months as Kyiv gears up for an offensive after months of stalemate in eastern Ukraine. “Between…
Greenpeace Russia announced its closure on Friday following the authorities’ decision to label it an “undesirable” organization. In a statement on its website, the environmental advocacy NGO called the “undesirable” status “an absurd, irresponsible and destructive step that has nothing to do with protecting the country’s interests.” “By destroying Greenpeace for being critical of environmental issues, the…
Five members of a Belarusian regiment fighting with Kyiv’s forces have been killed in Bakhmut, a conflict-scarred city in eastern Ukraine, A Belarusian opposition leader living in exile said Friday. “Heartbroken by the death of five members of the Belarusian Kastus Kalinouski Regiment fighting for Ukraine in Bakhmut,” Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said on Twitter.…
Yerevan Brandy Company, the producer of the iconic Armenian cognac brand Ararat, will halt exports to Russia, Interfax reported Thursday, citing Armenia’s Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan. The Russian market accounts for about 80% of all Ararat exports and the embargo is expected to negatively impact Armenian cognac grape suppliers, Kerobyan was quoted as saying at…
German carmaker Volkswagen said Friday it had completed the sale of its Russian assets to local dealership group Avilon, as part of its exit from the country following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The sale includes the flagship Kaluga factory southwest of Moscow, which employs around 4,000 people and has the capacity to build 225,000 vehicles…
The first direct flight from Russia landed in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi on Friday four years after Moscow banned air travel with the South Caucasus nation. The flight was met with protests against Georgia’s perceived return to the Russian sphere of influence amid its war in Ukraine. “Russian plane, go f*ck yourself,” read a…
Russian opposition figure Yevgeny Roizman has been fined for his comments about the Ukraine conflict, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Friday. Roizman, 60, the former mayor of Russia’s fourth-largest city Yekaterinburg, is among a dwindling number of prominent opposition figures who are not in jail or exile. A court in Yekaterinburg imposed a fine of…
Belarus has started constructing defensive fortifications near its border with Ukraine, the Belarusian monitoring group Belaruski Hayun reported. Construction equipment and a line of small anti-tank concrete pyramids known as dragon’s teeth were spotted 10 kilometers from Gomel, a city located some 44 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, Belaruski Hayun said Thursday. Dragon’s teeth were…
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin will seek his third term this fall as a member of the pro-Putin United Russia ruling party, the Kommersant business daily reported Friday. Sobyanin will shed his previous non-affiliation with a political party for the first time since he was appointed to the mayorship in 2010. Sobyanin is a 20-year veteran of United Russia…
One out of three Russian students have expressed a desire to leave the country in an unpublished Kremlin survey, the iStories investigative outlet reported Thursday. Forty-four percent of the polled students described the state of affairs in wartime Russia as a “crisis,” while 32% described it as a “collapse/breakdown.” Fear and anxiety ranked first at 36%…
Russian lawmakers are drafting legislation that would punish anti-Russian words and actions deemed as “Russophobia” with up to five years imprisonment, the independent news outlet Vyorstka reported Thursday. The bill is expected to amend Russia’s Criminal Code by adding clauses on “Russophobia” to articles criminalizing public calls for extremism and violating equal rights. Russia’s State…
The United States and its G7 allies rolled out new sanctions against Russia’s “war machine” Friday, targeting Moscow’s lucrative diamond trade and more entities linked to the invasion of Ukraine. Leaders from the Group of Seven wealthy democracies are meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, with Russia’s $4-5 billion annual trade in diamonds in the crosshairs. Vladimir…
Russia has lost over 50,000 scientific researchers in the past five years, a senior member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) has said. “The main problem in Russia is as follows: Over the past five years, only Russia — no other countries — has lost so many people working in the scientific field. Russia…
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Thursday ordered a quarantine for multiple districts in Russia’s capital due to an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu. The order introduces a quarantine for 11 of Moscow’s 125 districts that have been assessed to be most at risk for spreading influenza. Epidemiological surveillance services…
An investment forum in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan opened Thursday as its more popular counterparts contend with fewer international guests amid Moscow’s isolation during the war in Ukraine. The 14th annual KazanForum, known as KazanSummit in its previous 13 iterations, brands itself as a platform for Islamic investors. This year’s event is expected to draw 15,000…
The Kremlin confirmed Thursday it had suspended the bank accounts of the Finnish embassy in Moscow as Moscow’s ties with Europe deteriorate over the Ukraine conflict. Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto this week said the bank accounts of his country’s embassy in Moscow and consulate in St. Petersburg had been frozen at the end of…
Russian authorities warned the Crimean Tatar ethnic minority against protesting on the anniversary of their deportation under Stalin, the advocacy group Crimean Solidarity said. Crimean Tatars, which made up around 15% of the peninsula’s population of 2 million, largely opposed Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. They say they now face persecution by Moscow-installed…
Updated to add details of the prosecutors’ requested fine. Russian prosecutors on Thursday recommended a fine for prominent Kremlin critic Yevgeny Roizman, on trial in the central city of Yekaterinburg for comments about the Ukraine conflict. The prosecutor urged the judge to “find Yevgeny Roizman guilty and impose a fine of 260,000 rubles (around $3,250)”…
Russian police staged new raids in the homes of local politicians over alleged ties to a pro-Ukraine former lawmaker accused of spreading “fake news” about the invasion of Ukraine, state media reported early Thursday. The raids mark at least the fourth wave of mass searches linked to Ilya Ponomarev since Russian authorities ordered the vocal…
The wife of Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza voiced deep concern Wednesday at his failing health behind bars, hailing his courage in the face of an act of “cynical vengeance” by Moscow. “I am obviously concerned,” Evgenia Kara-Murza said in an interview with AFP. “His health indeed is failing.” Her husband had serious health issues even…
Ukraine said Thursday it had downed nearly an entire barrage of Russian missiles overnight, the latest in an “unprecedented” wave of aerial attacks on the capital Kyiv. The defense ministry said Russian forces had launched 30 cruise missiles from land, sea and air, targeting several regions and killing one person in the southern port of…
A Russian freight train carrying grain derailed in annexed Crimea early Thursday in what some media accounts described as an explosion. According to the Baza Telegram channel, which is believed to have links to Russia’s law enforcement agencies, five railroad cars tipped over at around 8:00 a.m. Moscow time near the south-central Crimean city of…