The head of Russian mercenary outfit Wagner on Tuesday denied the group’s involvement in the execution of one of its fighters in Ukraine, after having said the man deserved a “dog’s death.” Last week, social media accounts linked to Wagner shared footage of the brutal killing of a man who had reportedly surrendered to Ukrainian…
Russia faced mounting diplomatic pressure Tuesday to end its war in Ukraine, as G20 allies and critics alike rued the painful global impact of nearly nine months of conflict. A draft communique obtained by AFP showed the world’s 20 leading economies coming together to condemn the war’s effects, but still divided on apportioning blame. The summit…
President Vladimir Putin issued a decree Monday allowing Russians who hold another citizenship to be conscripted into the army. The draft is now extended to dual citizens, Russians with permanent residency status abroad and stateless people, according to Putin’s amendments to military service regulations. Dual nationals have been exempt from conscription until now. The changes…
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Kremlin-linked businessman and founder of the notorious Wagner Group, a shadowy mercenary organization, has upped the ante in his long-running spat with St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov by requesting the Russian authorities investigate the politician for high treason. The Wagner founder has made formal requests to both the Federal Security Service (FSB)…
The heads of Russian and U.S. intelligence held an unannounced meeting in the Turkish capital Ankara on Monday, the Russian Kommersant newspaper reported, the first high-level face-to-face talks between the two countries since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in late February. The head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergei Naryshkin arrived in Ankara…
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday visited the newly liberated city of Kherson in southern Ukraine following the retreat of Russian forces across the Dnipro River on Friday. The Ukrainian president joined a large crowd of soldiers and local residents in singing the national anthem, holding his hand over his chest as the country’s blue and…
President Vladimir Putin has put forward legislation that would allow authorities to revoke the passports of naturalized Russian citizens who oppose the invasion of Ukraine, state media reported Sunday. Putin proposed amendments to Russia’s law on citizenship that would make “discrediting” and spreading “fake news” about the Russian military grounds for denaturalization, according to the RIA…
Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said that her country was under de facto “military occupation” by Russia on Monday as she urged the EU to maintain pressure on the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko. Moscow used ally Belarus as a key launchpad for its invasion of Ukraine and is deploying thousands of troops to its…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is in good health after two health checks at a hospital in Bali, an Indonesian health ministry official said Monday, as Moscow denied the top diplomat had been hospitalized. The Associated Press had reported, citing unnamed Indonesian government and health officials, that Lavrov, 72, had been hospitalized and treated for a…
The Kremlin-linked Wagner mercenary group’s influential leader has voiced approval for the brutal killing of a recruit who deserted in Ukraine. In footage published over the weekend, the man, who identifies himself as Yevgeny Nuzhin, says he surrendered to Ukrainian troops in early September but was kidnapped from the streets of Kyiv on Friday. The…
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that Ukrainian forces that retook the city of Kherson found evidence of new war crimes by Russian occupiers. “The Russian army left behind the same atrocities as in other regions of our country,” he said in a nightly address. “Investigators have already documented more than 400 war crimes,” the Ukrainian…
Russian authorities will start publicizing the personal data of people and groups they have labeled “foreign agents” from next month, according to a government decree published Friday. Russia’s Justice Ministry maintains a registry of nearly 200 “foreign agent” individuals and organizations that authorities say have received foreign funding and engaged in political activities. Starting Dec.…
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — Russian entrepreneurs Yulia and Ilya Kuleshov worked hard to transform the large house they rented in the Kyrgyz capital into a center for creative volunteer projects after they relocated from St. Petersburg in the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But, when President Vladimir Putin announced a “partial” mobilization in late…
Russia’s foreign minister on Sunday accused the United States of driving increased militarisation in Southeast Asia, saying that Washington was trying to contain Beijing and Moscow’s influence in the region. Sergei Lavrov was speaking to reporters at Phnom Penh’s airport after attending the East Asia Summit in Cambodia – and before flying to Bali for…
United Nations chiefs held talks with Russian officials Friday on the Black Sea agreements on exporting grain and fertilisers, eight days before one of the deals is set to expire. The discussions took place behind closed doors at the UN Palais des Nations headquarters in Geneva and wrapped up mid-afternoon. “The discussions updated on progress…
Russian troops withdrew from the right bank of the Dnipro River on Friday in a major military defeat for the Kremlin that led to scenes of jubilation in the port city of Kherson, the only Ukrainian regional capital Russia succeeded in occupying in almost nine months of bitter fighting. Unlike recent Russian retreats in eastern…
The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Friday that his organization had started training civilians in Russian regions bordering Ukraine to form a militia and build fortifications. “Wagner is helping and will keep helping the population in border areas to learn how to build engineering structures, to train and to organize…
Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of the Moscow-installed administration in the occupied Kherson region of Ukraine, was buried in the Crimean city of Sevastopol on Friday, state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported. Stremousov, 45, died in an apparent car accident near the town of Henichesk on Wednesday, according to local officials. The funeral ceremony was…
The Ukrainian capital Kyiv and its outskirts are facing sweeping heating and electricity cuts after weeks of Russian drone and missile strikes that targeted the city’s critical infrastructure. With the city cut off from electricity for 12 hours a day, the once-bustling neighborhoods of the city center fades into darkness once the sun goes down.…
Russia said Friday it had completed its withdrawal of forces from the southern city of Kherson, two days after Moscow said it had made the “difficult decision” to pull back amid Ukrainian advances. “Today at 5 o’clock in the morning Moscow time, the transfer of Russian troops to the left bank of the Dnipro River was…
Jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s team has joined four Russian and foreign investigative outlets in launching a smartphone app aimed at bypassing unprecedented restrictions on Russians’ access to independent media. Dubbed “Samizdat” in a nod to the bootleg handwritten publications that were circulated to circumvent Soviet censorship, the app features investigative reports from Team Navalny,…
Russian authorities have quietly launched inspections, repairs and cleanups of bomb shelters nationwide that have laid dormant since the end of the Cold War, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the efforts. The unannounced campaign for state workers to check Soviet-era basement shelters in apartment buildings, schools and government offices alongside other protected…
Russian hackers carried out a cyberattack on a major Australian healthcare company that breached the data of 9.7 million people, including the country’s prime minister, police said Friday. The hackers started leaking the data this week after Medibank, the country’s largest health insurer, refused to pay a $9.7 million (Aus$15 million) ransom. Australian Federal Police…
The Ukraine war has shown the heavy toll military conflict takes not just on people but also on the planet, say experts at the UN climate summit in Egypt. From the emissions caused by diesel-powered tanks, fighter jets and missile blasts to urban and forest fires and massive waves of refugees, the conflict has also…
The United States has stripped Russia of its classification as a “market economy” and downgraded it to a non-market country, the Commerce Department was quoted as saying Thursday. The move, based on findings of “extensive” government involvement in the Russian economy, could raise tariffs for Russian imports, which are already limited by sanctions and trade…
The European Union said Thursday it will not recognize Russian passports issued in regions of Ukraine annexed by Moscow. The move — which also covers two Kremlin-controlled areas of Georgia — means Russian travel documents given to residents of those regions cannot be used to get visas or to enter the Schengen zone. “This decision…
Kyiv forces have recaptured over 40 towns and villages in southern Ukraine, President Zelensky said Thursday, as Moscow signaled its army had begun retreating from the strategic city of Kherson. The United States meanwhile announced a new $400 million security assistance package for Kyiv, which will include defense systems and surface-to-air missiles as Ukraine is…
A collection of paintings from the Oleksii Shovkunenko Art Museum in the capital of the occupied Ukrainian region of Kherson have been removed and transferred to a museum in Russian-annexed Crimea, according to the museum authorities. The paintings, by renowned artists including Ivan Pokhitonov, Pyotr Sokolov, Leonid Chichkan and Mykhailo Andriienko-Nechytailo, were transported from Kherson…
The Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine has become the focus of intense speculation as Kyiv’s forces have pushed forward with a counteroffensive in the Kherson region in recent weeks. And this speculation has only intensified since Russia announced Wednesday that it would withdraw its forces from the right bank of the Dnipro River, abandoning the…
The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday that it had begun to pull its troops back across the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region, a day after it announced its troops would withdraw under increasing Ukrainian pressure. “Units of the Russian grouping of troops are maneuvering to readied positions on the left bank of the…
Japanese carmaker Mazda said Thursday it is pulling out of its joint venture in Russia because of the war in Ukraine, having ceased operations in the country earlier this year. Mazda stopped shipping parts to Russia in March and ended operations the following month “due to the situation in Ukraine that arose in February 2022,”…
A Russian court has handed down the country’s first jail sentence for arson of a military enlistment office amid a string of attacks nationwide sparked by the invasion of Ukraine. Around 70 military recruitment centers and government buildings have been attacked across Russia since the country launched its invasion on Feb. 24 and ordered a…
An earlier version of this story said Farber is the first Russian to be jailed for attacking a military enlistment office. This has been corrected. A Russian court has handed down one of the country’s first jail sentences for arson of a military enlistment office amid a string of attacks nationwide sparked by the invasion…
High-profile Kremlin loyalists voiced support for the military’s decision to withdraw from the strategic southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Wednesday, the latest major reversal for Russia’s embattled offensive in Ukraine. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered to pull troops out of Kherson and set up defenses on the left bank of the Dnipro River after…
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been shunned by the West over his offensive in Ukraine, will not travel to Indonesia for the G20 leaders’ summit next week, officials said Thursday. The Kremlin, which has been mired in a protracted conflict in Ukraine and threatened the West with nuclear weapons, will instead send Foreign Minister…
Russia on Wednesday vowed to defend its “traditional” values against threats from the United States and so-called “gay propaganda” in a document signed by President Vladimir Putin. The presidential decree, setting out official policy and entering force immediately, stresses the importance of “traditional values as the basis of Russian society.” It warns that Moscow must…
Updates with reaction and details. The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday it was withdrawing its forces over the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region, abandoning the only Ukrainian regional capital to have been captured since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine earlier this year. The withdrawal announcement was made by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu…
Updates with reaction and details. Kirill Stremousov, the vocal deputy head of the Moscow-installed administration in the occupied Kherson region of Ukraine was killed Wednesday in an apparent car accident, according to local officials. Stremousov, known for his strongly anti-Ukrainian rhetoric, died near the town of Henichesk, Russian pro-war blogger Semyon Pegov wrote on Telegram.…
Viktor Cherkesov, a longtime associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin who fell foul of the Kremlin for publicly discussing a rift within Russia’s security elites, has died in St. Petersburg at age 72. Cherkesov’s death, which followed “a severe illness,” was announced late Tuesday by the Rosbalt news website. He is survived by his wife,…
Russia has made little progress in absorbing four partially occupied areas of eastern and southern Ukraine that it annexed with great fanfare in September, analysts told The Moscow Times, as intensifying military activity and political challenges hinder integration. Aligning economies and political administrations has been stymied by local resistance, including assassination attempts on Russian-appointed officials. …
Uzbek officials have been using meetings with the European Union to lobby for the lifting of sanctions on Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov and his sister Gulbakhor Ismailova, the Financial Times reported Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the talks. The Central Asian country has also signaled readiness to assist the tycoon in his legal action against the…
The Kremlin said Wednesday that Moscow’s ties with Washington were likely to remain at rock bottom regardless of the results of the U.S. midterm elections, with relations at a historic low over the conflict in Ukraine. “These elections won’t have any significant impact,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies,…
Russia secretly flew $141 million in cash and Western weapons seized in Ukraine to Iran this summer in exchange for 166 Iranian drones, Sky News reported Tuesday, citing an unnamed security source from an unidentified country. According to Sky News, two Russian military cargo planes landed at a Tehran airport early on Aug. 20 carrying…
The only crematorium in central Russia’s breadbasket region has been forced to shut down due to EU sanctions levied over the invasion of Ukraine, local media reported Tuesday. The crematorium in the city of Voronezh south of Moscow cannot replace its broken Czech-made cremation oven due to EU restrictions on the export of high-tech goods…
Russia is moving detained U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner to a penal colony, her lawyers said Wednesday, drawing a sharp rebuke from the White House. Griner, convicted for possession of a small quantity of cannabis oil, was transferred out of a detention center on Nov. 4, her legal team said. She “is now on her way…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday posthumously awarded the highest state decoration to pro-Kremlin archpriest Mikhail Vasilyev, who died in Ukraine over the weekend. The archpriest had said women should have more children to ease the pain of sending their sons to the military operation in Ukraine. He received the Hero of the Russian Federation medal on…
The Russian mercenary organization Wagner Group hosted a series of pro-war lectures for schoolchildren in its newly opened headquarters in St. Petersburg, Telegram news channel SOTA reported on Tuesday. A SOTA video of the event shows a group of bored-looking school children listening to various speeches justifying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including some delivered via…
Dozens of recently mobilized Russian soldiers who surrendered to Ukrainian troops in eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk region have been decrying their conditions and lack of training according to unverified video footage circulating on social media. At least 21 soldiers — most of them hailing from Moscow and the surrounding Moscow region — were captured by Ukrainian…
German police have confiscated 30 paintings owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported Monday. The collection, whose value is estimated at 5 million euros ($4.9 million), includes works by renowned artists including Marc Chagall. The works had been displayed on Usmanov’s $600 million superyacht, Dilbar, until 2021, when they were…
Kremlin-installed authorities in Ukraine’s southern region of Kherson said Tuesday that power had been fully restored to its main city, after blaming Kyiv for attacks that disrupted water and electricity supplies. Kherson city was the first urban hub to be captured by Russia after Moscow announced its “special military operation” in February and it has suffered outages…
Russia’s Defense Ministry supports reinstating Soviet-era basic military training in high schools, pro-Kremlin media reported Tuesday, citing correspondence between lawmakers and army officers. Russia retired the so-called “initial military training” program — which taught teens to respond to a nuclear or chemical attack, provide first aid and handle firearms — in 1993. Several attempts to revive…
Thousands of people on Sunday flocked to Red Square for an interactive exhibit re-creating the Soviet Union’s October Revolution Parade of 1941. The parade held 81 years ago took place during the Battle of Moscow against Nazi Germany. Soldiers who marched in the parade went straight to the front lines afterward, and many would be…
Russia and the United States are discussing resuming nuclear arms reduction negotiations in the coming weeks in the first face-to-face contact since Russian forces invaded Ukraine, the Kommersant business daily reported Tuesday, citing three unnamed sources. The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) talks could take place in an unnamed Middle Eastern country, instead of their traditional…
Armenia and Azerbaijan held peace talks on Monday, mediated by the United States, just hours after a fresh shootout along their troubled border in a conflict which has left hundreds dead in recent months. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosted the foreign ministers of the rival nations. “The United States is committed to the…
North Korea said Tuesday that claims by the United States that Pyongyang is supplying artillery ammunition to Moscow for its war in Ukraine were groundless, state media KCNA reported. The rebuke comes amid heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula after a spate of North Korean weapons tests last week — including an intercontinental ballistic missile…
Russian media personality Ksenia Sobchak has returned to Russia days after she fled the country amid police searches of her residence linked to an extortion case, state media reported on Monday. Sobchak, 41, entered Lithuania on an Israeli passport in late October after Russian police raided her villa outside Moscow in connection with an investigation into…
Influential Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is linked to President Vladimir Putin and sanctioned by Washington and European countries, admitted on Monday to interfering in U.S. elections. “Gentlemen, we interfered, we are interfering and we will interfere,” Prigozhin, who has been accused of running a “troll factory” to influence the outcome of votes in several…
Armenia and Azerbaijan on Monday traded accusations of provoking a shootout along their troubled border, just hours before the arch-foes were to hold U.S.-mediated peace talks. The incident came ahead of a meeting in Washington of Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov for a fresh round of peace talks hosted by…
A Russian priest who encouraged women to have more babies so they would feel less distressed about sending their sons to fight in Ukraine has been killed on the battlefield, the Russian Orthodox Church announced Sunday. Archpriest Mikhail Vasilyev died “while carrying out pastoral duties in the area of the special military operation in Ukraine…
An elite Russian naval infantry unit has blasted its superiors’ decision-making after suffering massive losses in what its members called a “baffling” assault on an eastern Ukrainian village, pro-war reporters said Sunday. Russian forces launched an offensive on the Ukrainian garrison in Pavlivka southwest of Donetsk on Nov. 2 to seize control of a key…