U.S. intelligence officials believe Russia could retaliate with lethal force if the Biden administration allows Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike deep within Russian territory, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter. The warning comes as President Vladimir Putin this week announced plans to revise Russia’s nuclear weapons…
A Moscow court has begun hearings into a 72-year-old American man accused of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine, state media reported Friday. The state news agency RIA Novosti identified the man as Stefan Hubbard, though another possible spelling of his name could be Stephen Hubbard. In May, a Facebook user named Trisha Hubbard Fox…
Russian authorities may soon block the popular messaging platform Discord, the Kommersant business daily reported Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Discord, which allows users to communicate in virtual communities known as “servers,” is widely used by gamers, students and cryptocurrency traders. It reportedly has between 29 and 40 million active users in Russia.…
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) pressed criminal charges against two Australian journalists and one Romanian journalist for illegally crossing the border into the southwestern Kursk region while on reporting assignments, state media reported Friday. Authorities in Russia have so far charged 12 foreign journalists over their work in the Kursk region following a surprise incursion…
Alexei Soldatov, a pioneering figure of the Russian internet and former deputy minister, is “dying in prison” while serving a two-year sentence for “abuse of power,” his son, investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov, said in a social media post on Thursday. Known as the father of the Russian internet, Alexei Soldatov led the Relcom computer network…
An American rejected his U.S. citizenship in a Moscow court on Thursday, saying he was the victim of political persecution in the United States, Russian state news agencies reported. Joseph Tater was in court after being accused of assaulting a police officer after abusing staff at a hotel in the Russian capital last month. In…
Google has restricted the creation of new accounts inside Russia, state media reported Thursday, citing Russia’s Digital Communications Ministry. Authorities said that Telecom operators reported a “significant decrease in the number of SMS messages sent by” Google to users in Russia, referring to messages the tech company uses to verify new account creation. While two-factor authentication…
The Kremlin said Thursday that an updated nuclear doctrine allowing Moscow to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states should be seen as a warning to the West. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday announced plans to broaden Russia’s rules on the use of its nuclear stockpiles, allowing it to unleash a nuclear response in the…
Russia’s army said Thursday it had captured the Ukrainian town of Ukrainsk in the eastern Donetsk region, the latest in a series of territorial gains for Moscow’s advancing forces. In a daily briefing posted on Telegram, the Russian Defense Ministry said its troops “liberated” Ukrainsk, a town that once had more than 10,000 residents before…
School buses in southwestern Russia’s Belgorod region will soon be outfitted with “electronic warfare systems” designed to counter drone attacks, the region’s governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said Thursday. These electronic warfare systems work by disrupting radio frequencies, effectively jamming communication, targeting systems and radars used by drones. The Belgorod region received 55 of the systems, according…
Beer sales in Russia have seen significant growth since the start of the year, outpacing other fast-moving consumer goods, the Kommersant business daily reported Thursday, citing market data. According to NielsenIQ, a global marketing research firm, beer sales in Russia rose 8.7% year-on-year between January and July, a stark contrast to the modest 1.6% growth…
Authorities in Moscow returned nine Ukrainian children with the help of Qatari mediators, Russia’s presidential commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, announced Thursday. Lvova-Belova posted photos on Telegram showing her alongside Qatari Ambassador Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, speaking to the children at the Qatari Embassy in Moscow. “There are eight boys, ages 12 to…
Russia has convicted 785 foreign nationals for fighting on the side of Ukraine since hostilities between the two countries first broke out in 2014, Russia’s Investigative Committee said Thursday. Investigators disclosed the figure while announcing criminal charges against Georgian citizen Giorgi Goglidze, accusing him of fighting for Kyiv “for monetary compensation.” In November 2023, Russia’s…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday announced plans to broaden Russia’s rules on the use of its nuclear weaponry, allowing it to unleash a nuclear response in the event of a “massive” air attack. Under the proposed rules, Russia would also consider any attack by a non-nuclear country supported by a nuclear power as a…
Russia’s parliament Wednesday voted to back a bill banning the adoption of Russian children in countries that allow gender reassignment, the latest in a series of ultra-conservative social measures. Moscow has long portrayed itself as a bulwark against liberal values, but that trend has hugely accelerated since the Kremlin launched its war in Ukraine, further…
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he expected his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to attend a BRICS summit in Russia next month, after Turkey requested to join the group of emerging economies. Putin said he was due to meet Erdogan on Oct. 23, a day after the start of the summit in the Russian…
President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia on Wednesday of plotting potentially catastrophic attacks on Ukrainian nuclear plants, in a defiant UN address in which he denounced bids to impose peace from the outside. Zelensky sought to rally support among world leaders at their annual gathering in New York as his concerns grow, weeks before a U.S.…
A Russian non-profit organization focused on church restoration is set to launch a faith-based messaging app dubbed “Orthodox WhatsApp” this November, state media reported Tuesday. The app, officially called “Zosima,” will allow users to communicate directly with their local churches and clergy, as well as to make donations, according to a statement by the Innotekh…
Vladislav Bakalchuk, the estranged husband of Wildberries CEO Tatyana Kim, credited Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov with helping him stay alive and out of jail amid a family dispute over a controversial business merger that escalated into a shootout at the company’s headquarters last week. Bakalchuk made those comments in an interview just days before he led…
Russia’s armed forces said Wednesday it captured two more villages in eastern Ukraine, the latest gains as Moscow’s troops inch closer to the strategically important city of Pokrovsk. The Russian military has claimed a series of territorial gains in the area since the start of the year, pressing on even as Kyiv mounts its own…
The imprisoned mother of a prominent critic of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has seen a dramatic deterioration of her health in recent weeks, her lawyer said Wednesday. Zarema Musaeva, the mother of activist Abubakar Yangulbaev and the wife of a retired federal judge, was initially sentenced last summer to five and a half years in…
The Kremlin said Wednesday that “forcing” Russia into peace would be a “fatal mistake,” rejecting remarks made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the United Nations. Zelensky said Tuesday that Russia could only be forced into peace, and vowed not to negotiate on Moscow’s terms to end the conflict. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters…
Moscow has been secretly negotiating the delivery of anti-ship cruise missiles to Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militias, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing anonymous Western and regional sources. “Russia is negotiating with the Houthis for the transfer of [P-800] Yakhont supersonic anti-ship missiles,” a Western intelligence told Reuters. The talks are reportedly brokered by Iran, though Tehran seeks to…
Valentina Matviyenko was re-elected Wednesday for her fourth term as speaker of Russia’s upper house of parliament, the Federation Council. Matviyenko, 75, is third in line for the presidency, following the prime minister, in the event of Vladimir Putin’s death. “We all work on the president’s team,” Matviyenko said during the opening of the 178-member…
Lawmakers in Russia’s Far East Primorye region on Wednesday passed a law outlawing the act of “coercing” women into having an abortion, a move that comes as federal lawmakers debate a bill to ban the so-called “childfree movement.” The new law defines “coercion” into abortion as actions such as persuasion, bribery, deceit, blackmail or workplace pressure…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that Russia can only be forced into peace, as he denounced Iran and North Korea as “accomplices” in the war. Addressing a special UN Security Council session attended by a representative of Russia, Zelensky described Moscow as insincere in its calls for dialogue. “We know some in the world…
The Kremlin is attempting to create the illusion that Russian men who fight in Ukraine will enjoy greater career prospects — including the possibility of future government roles — as it grapples with a shortage of military volunteers and seeks to quell criticism from Ukraine war veterans. Russian media reported Monday that several veterans of…
Russian strikes on a residential quarter of Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv killed three civilians and wounded more than 30 on Tuesday afternoon, Ukrainian officials said. Kharkiv lies around 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Russian border and has been pounded by Russian aerial attacks throughout the two-and-a-half-year war. “The targets of the Russian bombs…
A Russian warship taking part in naval drills fired a warning shot at a Norwegian fishing boat in the Arctic Ocean earlier this month, the boat’s captain told local media on Monday. The confrontation occurred on Sept. 12 in the Barents Sea between the anti-submarine destroyer Admiral Levchenko — one of Russia’s largest warships — and…
A park dedicated to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine was torn down in order to make way for the construction of a new business center, the regional news outlet Govorit Moskva reported Tuesday. The “Homecoming Alley,” unveiled in the Bashkortostan capital of Ufa in September 2022, featured 130 tree saplings planted by soldiers’ relatives, local…
JPMorgan and HSBC unknowingly processed payments for companies controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenary group, according to a new report by the U.S.-based Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS). According to the center, Wagner was able to establish an early foothold in Africa during the mid-2010s thanks to access it had to an international “network of financial services and…
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will hold talks with Vladimir Putin during a visit to Russia next month to attend the BRICS summit, an Iranian government spokeswoman said Tuesday. The visit to the BRICS summit in the Tatarstan capital of Kazan from Oct. 22 to 24 will be Pezeshkian’s first to Russia since he took office…
Russian lawmakers adopted a bill Tuesday allowing criminal defendants to serve in the military, closing a loophole that previously limited enlistment to suspects and convicts. The lower-house State Duma said its deputies voted in favor of two bills that, if signed into law, will allow defendants to sign military contracts or be mobilized. “Criminal proceedings against such persons will be…
Several men accused of being involved in last week’s shootout at the headquarters of online retailer Wildberries are seeking to join the Russian military and fight in Ukraine, the Kommersant business daily reported Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Two security guards were killed and several others injured during the Sep. 18 shooting outside the…
Three Russian men were detained in the African nation of Chad, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said late Monday, confirming earlier reports. The ministry identified the detained Russians as Maxim Shugaley, Samer Sueifan and E. Tsaryov, saying it was in “close contact” with authorities in Chad and taking the “necessary steps in the interests of their swift…
The Kremlin said Monday that it was “extremely” concerned over relentless Israeli airstrikes that have killed over 500 people and wounded around 1,800 others, as the Russian Embassy in Lebanon urged citizens to leave the country. “This development is potentially extremely dangerous,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, warning of the “widening area of conflict…
Russia plans to boost defense spending to 13.2 trillion rubles ($142 billion) in 2025 from 10.4 trillion rubles projected for this year, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing draft budget proposals it had seen. That increase would represent 6.2% of Russia’s projected GDP, a historically high figure as the war in Ukraine shows little sign of ending…
Two teenagers in western Siberia’s Omsk region were arrested and charged with terrorism for setting fire to a helicopter, the regional court’s press service announced Tuesday. Baza, a Telegram news channel with reported links to Russia’s security services, published a video Monday in which one of the teenagers admits to breaking into the helipad and…
Russia on Monday sentenced an American man to six years in prison on charges of trying to take his son, a Russian citizen, out of the country illegally, officials said. Moscow has jailed several American citizens in recent years in cases ranging from allegations of espionage and attacking police officers to theft and family disputes.…
Jails controlled by Russia are deliberately withholding medical care for Ukrainian prisoners, with doctors in one prison even taking part in what it called “torture,” a commission mandated by the UN rights council said. The commission, set up by the Human Rights Council to investigate violations in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, had already concluded that…
Russian troops edged closer to encircling Kyiv’s stronghold of Vuhledar in the eastern Donetsk region on Monday, according to the Ukrainian crowd-sourced tracking site DeepState. The advance is a part of Moscow’s wide-reaching offensive in eastern Ukraine that rapidly accelerated last month despite Ukraine’s surprise incursion into western Russia’s Kursk region. “The situation is difficult,”…
Russia will be barred from next year’s ceremony commemorating 80 years since the Red Army liberated the Nazi German death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, the museum said Monday. The museum, located in the southern Polish city of Oswiecim, decided to exclude Moscow for a third time since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. NATO and…
Russia’s Central Bank on Monday extended restrictions on transferring money abroad for an additional six months, with their new expiration date set for March 31, 2025. The curbs were first introduced by President Vladimir Putin shortly after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, aimed at protecting Russia’s economy from the impacts of Western sanctions.…
The CEO of Russian retail giant Wildberries said Monday that she reverted to her maiden name amid an ongoing business dispute with her estranged husband that escalated in a deadly shootout last week. Tatyana and Vladislav Bakalchuk, the co-founders of Wildberries, one of Russia’s largest online retailers, have been locked in a bitter dispute for…
A 13-year-old middle school student in Siberia’s Irkutsk region was arrested after attacking his classmates, local police said Monday. Police said the student injured one classmate inside a locker room and caused “minor injuries” to other students in the town of Balagansk, located around 5,000 kilometers (3,107 miles) east of Moscow. The victims are receiving…
At least one person was killed and 23 others were injured in Russia’s latest strikes on Ukrainian, officials said Monday. One person was killed and seven wounded in the Kherson region Sunday, while in the Zaporizhzhia region, 16 people were wounded in a strike on the region’s capital overnight, authorities said. Zaporizhzhia region Governor Ivan Fedorov…
Authorities in Russia’s Sverdlovsk region have raised one-time payments for new military recruits for the third time in two months, as efforts to bolster recruitment intensify across the country. New recruits from the Ural Mountains region, which has a population of 4.2 million, will now receive 1.5 million rubles ($16,100) as a sign-up bonus, the…
Russia’s digital military draft system will be fully implemented at the start of next year, while the upcoming fall conscription drive will still rely on paper summonses, a senior lawmaker said Monday. Andrei Kartapolov, chair of the State Duma’s defense committee, said that the digital draft system — originally expected to launch this fall —…
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Monday that its agents arrested 15 people in the North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, accusing them of spreading “radical ideology” via WhatsApp. Law enforcement officials said the individuals were “involved in the public dissemination of a radical ideology based on the rejection of traditional Islamic norms and Russian laws”…
A Russian strike on a residential neighborhood in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv wounded 21 people including three minors, the regional governor said Sunday. Oleg Synegubov posted on Telegram that eight of the victims were hospitalized, two in critical condition, after the strike late Saturday, when dozens of people were asleep in the two multi-storey…
Russia said Saturday it would not attend a possible second Ukraine peace summit in November, despite Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky signaling that this time he would invite Moscow’s representatives. Moscow rejected the idea ahead of Zelensky’s travels to the United States, where he is due to present his peace proposals to Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and…
Kyiv said Saturday it struck two weapons depots in southern and western Russia — including a key site for Moscow’s forces — with Russian authorities announcing some evacuations and declaring a local emergency situation. Kyiv also said a Russian nighttime strike on President Volodymyr Zelensky’s home city of Kryvyi Rih killed a 12-year-old boy and two…
A Communist Party lawmaker in Russia’s lower-house State Duma is facing allegations that he invited a sex worker to his office after Kremlin-linked media released a video Friday purportedly showing him receiving oral sex from a woman. In the video circulated by the Telegram news channel Shot, a man who appears to resemble 36-year-old Duma member…
Over 70,000 Russian soldiers have been confirmed killed in Ukraine since the Kremlin launched its invasion more than two and a half years ago, according to an independent tally by the BBC’s Russian service and the independent Mediazona news website. The two outlets have been verifying the number of Russian troops killed through open-source information…
At least two cities in Russia canceled pro-war singer Shaman’s concerts due to low ticket sales for his “Victory” tour, the independent news outlet Agentstvo reported Friday. Shaman kicked off his 100-city tour on Red Square last month, with plans to perform in Ukrainian cities occupied since Russia’s invasion. The singer said he aims to “program” his audience…
A U.S. court ruled that a 27-year-old protester from Russia’s republic of Bashkortostan can remain in the United States without the risk of deportation, media reported on Friday. Zahir Mukhamedyarov fled Russia in March, entering the U.S. illegally from Mexico to avoid arrest following large-scale protests in January over the imprisonment of prominent indigenous rights activist…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will not meet his U.S. counterpart Antony Blinken despite both attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York this weekend, Moscow said Friday. Tensions between Russia and the United States have worsened in the two and a half years since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and Washington…
Four Russian soldiers have been arrested and charged with torturing and murdering Russell Bentley, a U.S. citizen who had fought alongside pro-Kremlin rebels in eastern Ukraine, Russian investigators said Friday. Bentley, a 64-year-old self-described communist from Dallas, Texas, joined pro-Russia separatists in 2014 to fight against Ukrainian forces. He went missing in the Russian-occupied city…
A magnitude 4.5 earthquake shook Siberia’s Kemerovo region overnight Thursday, according to Russia’s seismic monitoring center. The quake struck around midnight local time, with the intensity at the epicenter measured at 5.8. Videos shared on social media showed damage to apartments, with tiles falling from walls and sections of ceilings collapsing. Despite the damage, the…
Russia’s military had anticipated a possible Ukrainian incursion into the southwestern Kursk region for months, according to documents seen by The Guardian. Ukrainian troops crossed into the Kursk region on Aug. 6, advancing several kilometers into Russian territory and capturing scores of towns and villages, including the border town of Sudzha. Russia has since claimed…