A military drone has attacked an oil pumping station for the Druzhba pipeline near the Ukrainian border, the regional governor said Tuesday, blaming Kyiv for the strike. The Druzhba pipeline, one of the largest oil pipelines in the world, runs through Russia’s Bryansk region several dozen kilometers from the border with Ukraine. “The armed forces of Ukraine, using…
Xi Jinping said Tuesday that China would prioritize ties with Russia, calling the two “great neighboring powers” as he prepared for a second day of talks with Vladimir Putin expected to focus on Ukraine. The Chinese president also said he invited the internationally isolated Putin to visit China later this year as both leaders seek…
A local state of emergency has been declared in the town of Dzhankoi in the north of Russian-annexed Crimea following a drone attack late Monday, Interfax quoted the head of the city administration Igor Ivin as saying on Tuesday. Ukraine said the attack had destroyed Russian cruise missiles, though it denied responsibility for the “mysterious”…
Russia delivered enriched uranium to France on Monday in a move the NGO Greenpeace described as “scandalous” following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. A cargo ship unloaded cylinders of uranium from Russia at the French port of Dunkirk on Monday morning, according to an AFP journalist. Greenpeace said the delivery confirmed France’s dependence on the Russian nuclear industry, which…
Russian state oil giant Rosneft posted a sharp drop in its annual profit on Monday in the wake of Western sanctions against the country. The company announced a net profit of 813 billion rubles ($10.5 billion) for last year, down 7.9% from 2021. Rosneft said “non-monetary factors played a large role in determining the dynamics”…
A Russian university student has been added to the federal wanted list after she fled the country to evade prosecution for criticizing the war in Ukraine, the independent Sota news outlet reported Monday. Olesya Krivtsova, 20, from the northern city of Arkhangelsk, faces more than 10 years in prison on charges of “justifying terrorism” and…
In Russia, the anniversary of the 2014 annexation of Crimea has traditionally been marked with nationwide festivities including concerts, fireworks and speeches by top officials — but not this year. While the Kremlin was reportedly planning to go ahead with the usual lavish celebrations this weekend, they pulled the plug at the last moment. Instead,…
President Vladimir Putin said Monday that deepening ties between Russia and Africa was a key goal for the Kremlin, as Moscow seeks to expand its influence on the continent. He added that Russia would continue supplying the continent with grain if Moscow exits a landmark agreement with Ukraine to allow exports from the country’s Black…
Russia said Monday that it had opened a criminal investigation into International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan after the court based in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin. “The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case against the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Ahmad Khan” and several ICC…
Russia has halted its disposal of Soviet-era weapons since invading Ukraine last year, The Moscow Times’ Russian service reported Monday, citing procurement data. The report comes amid widespread reports of the Russian army being plagued with equipment shortages throughout the 13 months of its offensive. Russia had spent 7.7 billion rubles ($100.3 million) on contracts to…
Xi Jinping hailed his landmark visit to Moscow Monday as giving “new momentum” to Chinese-Russian ties ahead of talks with Vladimir Putin on Beijing’s proposals to stop the fighting in Ukraine. The summit between the Russian president and the Chinese leader comes as China seeks to portray itself as a neutral party in the Ukraine…
Prominent pro-Kremlin figures have lashed out at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for issuing an arrest warrant against President Vladimir Putin on war crimes charges. Former President Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, on Monday threatened ICC judges with missile strikes. “It’s quite possible to imagine a surgical application…
Kremlin staff involved in President Vladimir Putin’s 2024 re-election campaign have been banned from using their iPhones for fear of espionage, the Kommersant daily reported Monday, citing an unnamed source with knowledge of the decision. Officials in the Russian presidential administration’s domestic policy, public projects, State Council and IT departments — known as the Kremlin’s…
Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise trip to Mariupol, the Kremlin said Sunday, his first visit to territory captured from Ukraine since the start of Moscow’s invasion. Just hours after Putin visited Crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of the peninsula’s annexation, video distributed by the Kremlin showed him landing by helicopter in Mariupol,…
Russian strikes killed two people and wounded eight in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on Saturday, the mayor said, accusing Moscow of having used cluster bombs in the attack. “Russia continues to spread terror,” Oleksandr Goncharenko said in a Facebook post. “Consequences of Kramatorsk bombardment with cluster bombs: two people were killed and eight…
Pro-Kremlin activists rallied in Moscow Saturday outside embassies of countries considered “unfriendly” by Russia on the ninth anniversary of its annexation of Crimea, a youth movement said. The pro-Kremlin youth movement “Molodaya Gvardia” (“The Young Guard”) said that over 5,000 people demonstrated outside the embassies of 20 “unfriendly” nations including the United States, France, Germany…
Ukraine said Saturday it was struck overnight by a volley of explosive drones, some of which reached the relatively peaceful Lviv region in the war-battered nation’s west. Russia regularly pounds Ukraine with missiles, artillery and drones, often prompting painful power cuts that have blocked people from warming their homes or getting drinking water. “Around 21:00…
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Saturday introducing lengthy prison terms for “discrediting” and spreading “fake” information about any force, including the notorious Wagner Group mercenary unit, fighting for Russia in Ukraine. Nearly all anti-war voices have been silenced after Russia outlawed “discrediting” and spreading “deliberately false” information about the Russian Armed Forces shortly…
The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the “unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children during Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor. The Hague-based court also issued an arrest warrant for Russian presidential children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova on similar charges. Both Putin and Lvova-Belova “bear individual criminal responsibility”…
Belarus on Friday handed long jail terms to senior staff at the country’s largest independent news site, which was forced to shutter after historic demonstrations against strongman Alexander Lukashenko. The verdicts are the latest in a crackdown targeting journalists, opposition figures and activists who challenged Lukashenko’s claim that he won a sixth presidential term in…
Russian aluminum giant Rusal said Friday its net profit plummeted almost 45% in 2022, blaming inflation and geopolitical tensions for higher production costs. Rusal’s net profit of $1.8 billion marks a huge drop of 44.4% on the previous year, figures released by the group show. “Rusal faced unprecedented pressure and restrictions in 2022” and had…
A part of the Valdai National Park in northwestern Russia has been closed to visitors since an investigation revealed that President Vladimir Putin and his alleged mistress own property in the area, the independent Meduza news website reported Friday. Authorities announced that the specially protected zone of the national park had been expanded due to the “worsening…
Russia has awarded the pilots of two fighter jets involved in this week’s confrontation with a U.S. drone over the Black Sea, the Defense Ministry said Friday. The United States accused Russia of an “unsafe” and “unprofessional” intercept of its MQ-9 Reaper surveillance drone that forced it to be brought down over the Black Sea…
Chinese companies had sent assault rifles, body armor and drone parts to Russia last year in what appears to be the first documented proof of Beijing supplying Russian companies with dual-use goods, Politico Europe has reported, citing customs data. The shipments took place between June-December 2022, the outlet said Thursday, citing the customs data aggregator…
Chinese leader Xi Jinping will travel to Russia for a three-day visit early next week in an apparent show of support for Moscow as it wages war in Ukraine, the Kremlin announced Friday. “On March 20-22, 2023, the President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping will pay a visit to Russia for a…
Russia’s forced transfer and deportation of Ukrainian children to areas under its control amounts to a war crime, UN investigators said Thursday, adding that they are probing allegations of genocide in the Ukraine conflict. Presenting their first report, the high-level team of investigators said they had determined that Russian authorities had committed “a wide range…
A court in the city of Novokuybyshevsk in Russia’s Samara region has found regional deputy Mikhail Abdalkin guilty of “discrediting the Russian armed forces” for posting a video of himself watching Vladimir Putin’s state-of-the-nation address with noodles hanging from his ears, TASS reported Thursday. The noodles in the video, which was posted across Abdalkin’s social media…
Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who faces up to 25 years in jail on charges including treason, was too unwell to attend his hearing on Thursday, his lawyer said. His high-profile trial is the latest in a string of cases against opposition voices in Russia in a crackdown that has intensified since President Vladimir Putin…
Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday granted a motion made by Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov to recognize the Freedom of Russia Legion as a terrorist organization, RIA Novosti reported. Part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Freedom of Russia Legion was founded just over a year ago with the stated aim of freeing the occupied regions…
A school in central Russia has been filmed instructing its pupils to perform a raised right arm and clenched fist gesture that some have likened to a Nazi salute, independent student news outlet DOXA reported. Video footage published with the report shows a group of children seated in an auditorium being instructed by a woman…
Russian e-commerce platform Wildberries on Thursday announced a three-day suspension of controversial new rules that make employees financially liable for goods returned by customers after its staff launched a nationwide strike, the state-run TASS news agency reported. New rules introduced by Wildberries this month made employees liable for the costs of any defective items that were returned…
Russia’s Orthodox leader and staunch Kremlin ally Patriarch Kirill denounced Thursday the looming eviction of monks from a monastery in Kyiv over its links to Russia. Ukraine last week announced the termination of the lease that allowed the church to occupy part of the 11th-century Pechersk monastery free of charge, but the monks said they…
One person was killed and two others injured in an explosion at a Russian border guard building less than 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, state media reported Thursday, citing emergency services. Eyewitness footage published by the local news site 161.ru showed the Federal Security Service (FSB) border guard office in Rostov-on-Don engulfed in flames.…
Updated with new death toll. Four people were killed and five others injured in an explosion at a Russian border guard building less than 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian border on Thursday, regional online media reported, citing emergency services. Eyewitness footage published by the local news site 161.ru showed the Federal Security Service (FSB) border guard office…
Updated to add Roizman’s sentencing. Russian opposition politician and former Yekaterinburg Mayor Yevgeny Roizman has been jailed over a social media post in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the local media outlet It’s My City reported Thursday. Roizman was accused of posting a video clip that briefly showed the logo of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation,…
The Kremlin said Thursday that Russia was not a threat to Finland, ahead of the Finnish president’s visit to Turkey, which is expected to approve Helsinki’s NATO bid. Finland and Sweden dropped decades-long policies of military non-alignment and applied to join the Western alliance last May in the wake of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine. “We have many…
Russian police have detained opposition politician and former Yekaterinburg Mayor Yevgeny Roizman over a social media post in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the local media outlet It’s My City reported Thursday. Roizman allegedly posted a video clip briefly showing the logo of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, which was outlawed as an “extremist” organization…
Polish counterintelligence has dismantled a Russian spy ring, Poland’s defense minister said Thursday. “The whole network has been dismantled,” Mariusz Blaszczak told Polish public radio PR1. “It was an espionage group… collecting information for those who attacked Ukraine. “The threat was real,” he added, without giving further details. Poland’s interior minister is due to hold…
Updated to add Frolkin’s sentencing. A Russian court has sentenced a soldier who admitted to committing war crimes in Ukraine to a 5.5-year suspended sentence, the Sibir.Realii news website reported Thursday. The Khabarovsk Garrison Court Martial in Russia’s Far East found Daniil Frolkin, 21, guilty of spreading so-called “fake news” about the Russian military’s activities…
Nasdaq has notified Russia’s tech giant Yandex and four other major internet companies that their stocks will be delisted this month unless they appeal the stock market’s decision. Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange halted all listings of Russian companies in the days after Russian troops invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Nasdaq said…
Russia, China and Iran launched the active phase of joint naval exercises near the Islamic republic’s southernmost city on Thursday, the Russian military has confirmed after the Chinese defense ministry announced the drills. “Maritime Security Belt 2023” will run from March 15-18 in three stages, including an active phase on March 16-17, in the Gulf…
Jailed Russian dissident Alexei Navalny on Wednesday praised all those resisting dictatorship and war while thanking the team that made the Oscar-winning film about his 2020 poisoning. “I dedicate my entire contribution to this film to honest and courageous people across the world who day after day find the strength to confront the monster of…
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov insisted he was in good health on Wednesday amid growing rumors he has been suffering from serious kidney problems and even the aftereffects of a poisoning attempt. “I am healthy and full of energy,” Kadyrov said in a Telegram post, adding that he was “sorry to upset” anyone hoping he was…
Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad for talks on Wednesday as the Kremlin sought to mend ties between Damascus and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The meeting follows the surprise announcement last week of a Chinese-brokered re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Middle Eastern rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran. Ties between Erdogan and Assad…
Moscow said Wednesday it would try to retrieve the wreckage of a U.S. military drone that crashed over the Black Sea in a confrontation Washington blamed on two Russian fighter jets. Russia also warned that it would react “proportionately” to any future US “provocations” as tensions simmered and Moscow denied its Su-27 military aircraft had…
The outspoken founder of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Wednesday that he thought Russians should be free to criticize the country’s top military commanders after lawmakers introduced tougher penalties for anyone deemed to have discredited those fighting on Russia’s side in Ukraine. On Tuesday, the Russian parliament’s lower house approved legislation introducing long…
Employees of Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries launched a nationwide industrial action on Wednesday to protest against a new payment system, the Russian edition of Forbes reported, citing one of the protest organizers. “We will go to work so as not to violate the terms of labor contracts, but we won’t hand over goods to buyers,”…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called on prosecutors to increase pressure on “attempts to destabilize” Russia’s domestic situation amid the Ukraine offensive. Moscow has heightened its crackdown on critical voices since sending troops to Ukraine last year, introducing new legislation to silence dissent. “I ask you to react harshly to attempts to destabilize the socio-political…
The Kremlin on Wednesday denied that Russia was considering a second round of military mobilization for the war in Ukraine as military offices in a number of regions started asking reservists to “clarify” their personal information. Military commissariats in the Voronezh and Lipetsk regions have announced they will send summons to men eligible for the…
Russia moved Wednesday to suspend double tax agreements with “unfriendly” countries in response to sanctions imposed on Moscow over the Ukraine conflict. Double tax treaties prevent people or companies who receive income abroad also being taxed by their home countries. Russia’s foreign and finance ministries said they had proposed that President Vladimir Putin “issue a decree…
Russia is simplifying its bureaucratic requirements for foreign IT workers to live and work in the country, authorities announced Wednesday, in a reflection of how the country’s tech sector has been hit by the wartime exodus of Russian software engineers. “The employment and residence permit acquisition procedures have been simplified for foreign citizens who are IT…
Russia is simplifying its bureaucratic requirements for foreign IT workers to live and work in the country, authorities announced Wednesday, in a reflection of how the country’s tech sector has been hit by the wartime exodus of Russian software engineers. “The employment and residence permit acquisition procedures have been simplified for foreign citizens who are IT…
Sergei Grigoryants, a leading dissident in the Soviet Union and a Russian human rights activist, has died at the age of 82, his family said Tuesday. “My father passed away today,” Grigoryants’ daughter Anna Grigoryants wrote on Facebook without specifying the cause of his death. “Eternal memory.” Grigoryants, an Armenian-Ukrainian national who was born in Kyiv…
Russia’s oil-export revenue sank by almost half in February compared to last year as Western powers tightened sanctions on the country, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday. The country earned $11.6 billion from its oil exports last month after the European Union imposed a ban on Russian petroleum products alongside a price cap agreed…
Moscow warned against “hostile” U.S. flights on Wednesday, as tensions simmered after a Russian fighter jet was accused of colliding with an American drone over the Black Sea. Though Russia has denied its Su-27 plane clipped the propeller of an unmanned Reaper drone, Kyiv said the incident over international waters was a Kremlin attempt to…
A small concrete box marked with the word SHIZO (punishment cell in Russian) in giant red letters sits incongruously next to a 13th-century church just behind the Louvre museum in Paris. The grey box is a mock-up of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s punishment prison cell that his team unveiled in the French capital on Tuesday. The…
The British and German air forces carried out their first joint interception of a Russian aircraft near NATO airspace, the BBC reported Wednesday. The U.K. Royal Air Force and the German Air Force reportedly scrambled two Typhoon fighters to intercept an Il-78 refueling plane near Estonian airspace Tuesday. The Il-78 was said to fail to…
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) detained a woman in the city of Khabarovsk in Russia’s Far East on Monday for allegedly donating 2,500 rubles ($33) to a charity supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The woman, whose name and background have not been made public, is to be charged with treason according to an FSB report…
In an interview to mark 500 days until the start of the Paris Olympics, organizing committee head Tony Estanguet stressed that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would have the “last word” on whether athletes from Russia and Belarus would be allowed to compete next year. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which was facilitated by…
Ukrainian police have caught and detained a Russian soldier who spent six months in hiding in the northeastern Kharkiv region following Russian forces’ retreat from the area. The unidentified 42-year-old Russian soldier had been hiding in abandoned buildings in the village of Kupyansk-Uzlovoy, which was recaptured by the Ukrainian army on Sept. 27. The detainee,…