A previously unreported Kremlin strategy document purports to lay out in detail Russia’s plans to absorb neighboring Belarus by 2030, U.S. and European media reported Tuesday. The 2021 Russian presidential administration paper spells out Minsk’s political, military, defense, humanitarian, trade and economic integration with Moscow as part of a so-called “Union State,” according to Yahoo News.…
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday vowed to press onward with Russia’s one-year war in Ukraine and railed against the West for a litany of wrongdoings, including allegedly escalating the war by offering Kyiv support. In his first wartime state-of-the-nation address, Putin relied on familiar talking points as he pledged to continue his offensive on Ukraine…
Recasts throughout and updates with reaction and analysis. President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday vowed to press onward with Russia’s war in Ukraine and railed against the West for a litany of wrongdoings in his first state-of-the-nation address since invading Ukraine one year ago. Addressing lawmakers from both houses of parliament alongside other members of the…
While most members of Russia’s political and business elite have come to terms with the invasion of Ukraine one year in, some are frustrated by the Kremlin’s apparent inability to act more forcefully against Kyiv — and others said the mood is downbeat. The Moscow Times spoke with more than a dozen top Russian officials…
A Russian missile smashed a Ukrainian apartment complex, killing dozens. Pro-Russian propagandists offered a slick counter-narrative that shifted the blame away from Moscow — using pseudo-fact-checking as a tool of disinformation. Since the start of its invasion one year ago, Russia and its supporters have sought to aggressively distort Moscow’s role in Ukraine with what experts call a…
Human Rights Watch on Tuesday accused Russia of committing a “war crime” with a missile attack that killed some 60 fleeing civilians at a railway station in eastern Ukraine. The attack on the Kramatorsk train station in April is one of the deadliest targeting civilians since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year. Russia…
China’s foreign minister said Tuesday that Beijing is “deeply concerned” about the conflict in Ukraine, which is “intensifying and even getting out of control.” China has sought to position itself as a neutral party on the war in Ukraine, while maintaining close ties with its strategic ally Russia. Beijing has pledged to publish a proposal…
A dissident blogger who is a vocal critic of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov turned up alive Tuesday after going missing for more than two months. Tumso Abdurakhmanov, a YouTuber based in Sweden, disappeared in late November as the Chechen opposition claimed he had been shot dead amid a string of politically motivated murders of ethnic…
The Russian economy contracted by 2.1% last year, the government’s statistics agency Rosstat said Monday, absorbing Western sanctions over Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine better than expected. The data was published on the eve of a keenly awaited speech to parliament by President Vladimir Putin, days before the first anniversary of the launch of Russia’s offensive against…
The Wagner group’s internal security division is marred by poor discipline and insubordination that has led to frequent leaks revealing the group’s alleged crimes, according to an investigation published by Dossier Center on Monday. The non-profit organization, which was set up by exiled Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky and is aimed at supporting the rule of…
The legislature in the Siberian region of Novosibirsk has voted to end the practice of holding direct mayoral elections in the regional capital as well as in the adjacent scientific research center of Koltsovo, Interfax reported on Monday. The bill to stop one of the last major cities in Russia from having a directly elected…
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny published a 15-point plan outlining his view of Russia’s future in the postwar era on Monday, predicting Russia’s “military defeat” and outlining his plans to transform Russia into a parliamentary republic. Entitled “15 theses of a Russian citizen who desires the best for their country,” Navalny’s Twitter thread was posted four…
The Kremlin on Monday accused tiny Moldova of “anti-Russian hysteria” after its prime minister called for the demilitarization of the Moscow-backed separatist region of Transnistria. Tensions have run high between pro-EU Moldova, wedged between Ukraine and Romania, and Russia during Moscow’s offensive against Kyiv. “Moldova is slipping into anti-Russian hysteria,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “The lack…
Russia’s presidential air fleet is quietly repatriating the bodies of soldiers killed in Ukraine and sending them to local morgues in small numbers to prevent public backlash, The Moscow Times’ Russian service reported Monday, citing flight tracking data, morgue workers and the soldiers’ relatives. Rossiya Airlines, a subsidiary of the state-owned Aeroflot Group, operates 68…
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that China was considering providing weapons to Russia in its war against Ukraine, warning Beijing that any supplies would “cause a serious problem.” “The concern that we have now is based on information we have that they’re considering providing lethal support,” Blinken told CBS’s “Face The Nation.” Asked what…
International companies faced a dilemma in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: to leave the country in protest of the war and take a financial hit, or stay and risk significant reputational damage. While some departed immediately after Russian troops entered Ukraine, others tried to hang on — only to announce their exit under…
The Dutch Foreign Ministry on Saturday announced the expulsion of several Russian diplomats and the closure of Russia’s trade mission in Amsterdam, accusing Moscow of using diplomatic cover for spying. It was the latest development in a dispute over Russia’s failure to grant visas to Dutch diplomats to staff their embassy in Moscow and the consulate in…
Russia on Saturday claimed to have taken control of a small village near the key city of Kupiansk in the northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv. “The settlement of Gryanikovka… was completely liberated,” the defense ministry said in a statement, referring to the Ukrainian village of Hryanykivka by its Russian name. Hryanykivka was home to around…
The Russian authorities have created a digital database of citizens who are eligible to be drafted into the military amid growing rumors of a second mobilization campaign, independent journalists Farida Rustamova and Maksim Tovkailo reported Saturday. The database will reportedly contain information about Russian citizens gathered from the country’s Central Election Commission, the Ministry of…
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday accused Russia of committing “crimes against humanity” in Ukraine and Russian forces of conducting “widespread and systemic” attacks on the country’s civilian population. She made the comments at the Munich Security Conference, days ahead of the one-year anniversary of Moscow sending its forces into Ukraine, unleashing war in…
Ukraine’s Western backers on Saturday urged allies to give Ukraine what it needs to beat Russia, with NATO’s chief warning of the risks of victory for Moscow, ahead of the anniversary of the war’s outbreak. World leaders are meeting at the Munich Security Conference with conflict still raging almost a year after Moscow sent troops…
When Russia introduced patriotism classes in primary and secondary schools last September, Tatyana Chervenko decided she was not going to peddle Kremlin “propaganda” to her eighth-grade students in Moscow. The 49-year-old used some of the classes to teach math instead and ignored talking points pushed by the Kremlin about the conflict raging in Ukraine. Chervenko…
President Joe Biden will be “messaging” Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin when he speaks in Warsaw next week, while hailing NATO’s unprecedented effort to help Ukrainians save their country as the war reaches the one-year mark. The White House says Biden will give the speech in Poland — a key U.S. ally and fulcrum of vast…
Amnesty International has demanded the Russian authorities reveal the location of imprisoned Kremlin critic Andrei Pivovarov, whose whereabouts have been unknown since he was transferred to new a penal colony in mid-January. “The authorities are subjecting him to enforced disappearance — a crime under international law, by not revealing his fate or whereabouts,” Amnesty International’s Russia…
Ukraine’s foreign minister on Friday accused French retailer Auchan of being a “full-fledged weapon of Russian aggression” following a joint investigation by The Insider, Le Monde and Bellingcat that concluded the retail giant has been supplying goods to the Russian army. According to the investigation, goods including flack jackets, as well as non-military equipment, worth a…
President Vladimir Putin lashed out Friday against “direct attempts” to hinder the work of Russian gas giant Gazprom, at the center of deteriorating ties between Moscow and Europe over the Ukraine conflict. European countries were heavily reliant on the company for natural gas supplies but have since raced for other sources after Russia dispatched troops to Ukraine.…
A former security guard at the British Embassy in Berlin was sentenced to over 13 years in prison Friday on charges of spying for Russia. David Ballantyne Smith, 58, admitted to passing sensitive material to the Russian Embassy in Berlin before being caught in a sting operation. Sentencing him to 13 years and two months…
President Vladimir Putin has personally pardoned Russian convicts who fight in Ukraine with the Kremlin-linked Wagner mercenary group, a Russian investigative journalist reported Friday. Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said last month that the first recruited inmates had been pardoned as promised after completing a six-month term of service. The release of convict soldiers has sparked questions about…
Russia’s main state broadcaster has started airing weekly classes that aim to rally patriotism and support for the invasion of Ukraine among schoolchildren, a website that promotes the service said Thursday. Russia kickstarted the classes, called “Important Conversations,” at the start of the 2022-2023 school year. Now, the Telegram channel Razgovory o Vazhnom has announced that…
When migration officials detained six pregnant Russian women at a Buenos Aires airport last week, they exposed a phenomenon that has been growing in the country for a year: Russian birthing tourism. As Russia’s President Vladimir Putin wages war in Ukraine, Argentina has gradually become the destination of choice for Russian expectant parents fleeing the…
The head of Russia’s mercenary outfit Wagner said on Thursday it could take months to capture the embattled Ukraine city of Bakhmut and slammed Moscow’s “monstrous bureaucracy” for slowing military gains. Russia has been trying to encircle and capture the battered industrial city ahead of Feb. 24, the first anniversary of what it terms its…
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s commissioner for the protection of children’s rights informed the Russian leader during a meeting on Thursday that she had recently adopted a 15-year-old child from the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine. “Now I know what it means to be a mother of a child from Donbas. It’s hard, but…
A Belarusian dissident journalist whose dramatic arrest in 2021 made international headlines after his plane was forced by the authorities to land in Minsk has pleaded guilty to an array of charges against him on the first day of his trial in the Belarusian capital. Roman Protasevich, 27, was the former editor of Nexta, a…
A former pro-Kremlin lawmaker condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in a tweet on Thursday, calling it “a war that no one but Vladimir Putin needed” and commending the “real heroes” in Russia who have spoken out publicly against it. Robert Schlegel, who has lived in Germany since 2019, was previously a member of the pro-Kremlin…
“Wagner brings together committed professionals and highly motivated people,” intones a voiceover at the beginning of a film about the mercenary company as slow-motion footage plays of men in camouflage and maneuvering tanks. “It’s where true patriots gather,” the voice continues. The documentary “PMC Wagner: Contract with the Motherland,” which was produced by state-run channel…
President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday that Belarus would join the offensives in Ukraine “only if attacked” first by Kyiv’s army. “I’m ready to fight together with the Russians from the territory of Belarus in one case only: if so much as one soldier from (Ukraine) comes to our territory with a gun to kill my…
Russian police detained a gay Chechen refugee upon his arrival in Moscow, activists said early Thursday, raising fears that he may be imprisoned and tortured by security officers in his home region. Idris Arsamikov, 28, is believed to have been taken to the conservative, majority-Muslim region hours after landing at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport to attend his father’s…
Russian police detained a gay Chechen refugee upon his arrival in Moscow, activists said early Thursday, raising fears that he may be imprisoned and tortured by security officers in his home region. Idris Arsamikov, 28, is believed to have been taken to the conservative, majority-Muslim region hours after landing at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport to attend his father’s…
Russian tech giant Yandex announced on Wednesday that its revenues climbed 46% last year following a corporate restructuring amid unprecedented Western sanctions over Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine. Often dubbed “Russia’s Google”, Yandex is the country’s top internet company and most popular search engine. The firm also provides taxi and food delivery services. Yandex said its…
Russian tech giant Yandex announced on Wednesday that its revenues climbed 46% last year following a corporate restructuring amid unprecedented Western sanctions over Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine. Often dubbed “Russia’s Google”, Yandex is the country’s top internet company and most popular search engine. The firm also provides taxi and food delivery services. Yandex said its…
Ainur Akhmetov awoke in the early hours of Feb. 6 in his apartment in the Turkish city of Mersin after feeling a sudden jolt. “Everything around me was shaking, the doors of the closet we have near the bed were violently sliding back and forth. I had never experienced an earthquake before,” said Akhmetov, a…
Ainur Akhmetov awoke in the early hours of Feb. 6 in his apartment in the Turkish city of Mersin after feeling a sudden jolt. “Everything around me was shaking, the doors of the closet we have near the bed were violently sliding back and forth. I had never experienced an earthquake before,” said Akhmetov, a…
Ainur Akhmetov awoke in the early hours of Feb. 6 in his apartment in the Turkish city of Mersin after feeling a sudden jolt. “Everything around me was shaking, the doors of the closet we have near the bed were violently sliding back and forth. I had never experienced an earthquake before,” said Akhmetov, a…
Russia is planning to introduce visa-free travel for citizens of up to 11 states as well as ease entry requirements for citizens of some six others, including India and Indonesia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced on Wednesday. Lavrov also announced Russia would be restarting its e-visa program, which was introduced in 2020 but then almost immediately…
Russia is planning to introduce visa-free travel for citizens of up to 11 states as well as ease entry requirements for citizens of some six others, including India and Indonesia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced on Wednesday. Lavrov also announced Russia would be restarting its e-visa program, which was introduced in 2020 but then almost immediately…
Russia is planning to introduce visa-free travel for citizens of up to 11 states as well as ease entry requirements for citizens of some six others, including India and Indonesia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced on Wednesday. Lavrov also announced Russia would be restarting its e-visa program, which was introduced in 2020 but then almost immediately…
Switzerland’s government announced Wednesday that confiscating private Russian assets in the country to help rebuild Ukraine would be contrary to Swiss law. Traditionally neutral Switzerland decided four days after Russia invaded a year ago to align itself with European Union sanctions against Moscow, since when it has frozen billions in Russian assets. Faced with international…
Viagra’s brand owner has suspended deliveries of the erectile dysfunction pill to Russia, the country’s Industry and Trade Ministry said Wednesday. The U.S. pharmaceutical corporation Viatris had notified Russia of the suspension as far back as early 2022 following Moscow’s initial invasion of Ukraine, the ministry told Interfax. Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry said domestic…
Viagra’s brand owner has suspended deliveries of the erectile dysfunction pill to Russia, the country’s Industry and Trade Ministry said Wednesday. The U.S. pharmaceutical corporation Viatris had notified Russia of the suspension as far back as early 2022 following Moscow’s initial invasion of Ukraine, the ministry told Interfax. Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry said domestic…
Viagra’s brand owner has suspended deliveries of the erectile dysfunction pill to Russia, the country’s Industry and Trade Ministry said Wednesday. The U.S. pharmaceutical corporation Viatris had notified Russia of the suspension as far back as early 2022 following Moscow’s initial invasion of Ukraine, the ministry told Interfax. Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry said domestic…
A Russian court has imposed a 40-year entry ban on a Chinese-American animal rights activist after she was jailed while walking a young cow near the Kremlin, the woman said Tuesday. Alisa Day, 34, was sentenced to 13 days of arrest earlier this month on charges of disobeying police orders after being detained with the calf…
Russia has held at least 6,000 children from Ukraine in camps aimed at re-education in what could constitute a war crime, a U.S. study said Tuesday. Since the start of the war nearly a year ago, children as young as four months have been taken to 43 camps across Russia, including in Moscow-annexed Crimea and Siberia, for…
A Russian court has sentenced a Siberian journalist and activist to six years in prison for spreading so-called “fake news” about the war in Ukraine. Maria Ponomarenko, a journalist for the RusNews outlet, was arrested in April for publishing information about the Russian bombing of a theater in southern Ukraine’s Mariupol. The Kremlin denies responsibility for…
The once publicity-averse founder of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has for the first time confirmed the widespread belief that he also founded the Internet Research Agency, better known as the network of troll farms used to push Kremlin propaganda narratives around the globe over the past decade. “I was never just a financier…
Dozens of damaged military vehicles with Russian markings could be seen scattered chaotically across a snow-covered field in footage released last week of a battlefield near the eastern Ukrainian mining town of Vuhledar, southwest of the Russian-held city of Donetsk. The hulls of some of the armored vehicles were covered in black soot from what…
The Russian governor of the city of Sevastopol in annexed Crimea has called on Russians not to celebrate Valentine’s Day on the grounds that the holiday is alien to the country’s traditions and was “imposed by the Western entertainment and consumption industry.” Instead, Mikhail Razvozzhayev suggested in a telegram post on Tuesday that people write…
A Russian airports operator has bought a stake in running an airport in northwestern Kazakhstan close to the Russo-Kazakh border. With its first foreign acquisition, Russia’s Airports of Regions company is hoping to develop the Oral airport as a regional hub, most likely to serve travelers affected by the shortage of flights out of Russia…
The European Union added Russia to its tax haven blacklist on Tuesday, the latest in a series of economic and diplomatic measures taken against Moscow since its invasion of Ukraine. In a statement, the bloc said Russia’s 2022 tax legislation had failed to allay concerns over its opaque treatment of the tax affairs of international holding companies. “In…
An elite Russian naval infantry unit made up of mostly mobilized troops has lost nearly all its troops in fighting near the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, Russian media reported Monday, citing one of the survivors. The 5,000-strong 155th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade has been “nearly destroyed” after up to 300 marines per day were killed…
Russia on Tuesday slapped down as “completely unfounded” accusations from Moldova that Moscow was plotting to violently overthrow the country’s pro-European leadership with the help of saboteurs. “Such claims are completely unfounded and unsubstantiated,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Moldova’s President Maia Sandu on Monday accused Russia of plotting her government’s overthrow. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr…