The Ukrainian military was preparing Sunday for an upcoming counteroffensive, with a top commander saying his forces’ ongoing defense of Bakhmut in the face of fierce and sustained Russian attacks was necessary to “buy time” for that push. The remarks came as British intelligence said the frontline had shifted in the fight for Bakhmut —…
The chief of Russian mercenary group Wagner said in a clip posted Saturday that his forces were close to the centre of the frontline hotspot of Bakhmut. In a video posted on messaging app Telegram, Yevgeny Prigozhin is seen standing on the rooftop of a high-rise building in what is said to be Bakhmut. “This is…
Canada on Friday announced a ban on imports of Russian aluminum and steel products, with the aim of denying Moscow revenues to fund its war in Ukraine. The imports were worth almost $180 million in 2021, according to the latest government data. The ban comes as a 200% tariff on Russian aluminum imports announced last…
Russian officials and employees of state-owned companies are increasingly being told to surrender their passports to members of the security services to ensure they cannot flee the country, a joint investigation by independent media outlets Current Time and Radio Liberty has concluded. Requirements vary from job to job, with some state employees told to hand…
The head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced the opening of Wagner recruitment centers in dozens of cities across Russia on Friday. Wagner has been spearheading offensives against cities in eastern Ukraine including Bakhmut, in what has become the longest and bloodiest battle of Russia’s year-long invasion. Both sides have suffered heavy…
Moscow on Friday accused the West of fomenting days of mass protests in Georgia, likening them to an attempted coup designed to sow tension on Russia’s borders. Hundreds of Georgians rallied outside parliament for a fourth day on Friday, as lawmakers dropped a controversial new “foreign agent” law that triggered violent clashes between police and…
Ukraine’s SBU security service said Friday it has detained two former aerospace officials over the destruction of the world’s largest plane, the Antonov-225 cargo plane, soon after the Russian invasion. With an 88-meter (290 feet) wingspan, the unique Antonov An-225 plane named “Mriya,” which means “dream” in Ukrainian, was destroyed last year during attacks on…
Georgia’s parliament voted Friday to drop controversial new legislation, which it earlier approved in an initial reading, sparking an international outcry and mass protests in the Caucasus country. Tens of thousands took to the streets this week after lawmakers moved to introduce the “foreign agent” law. On Friday, the bill was voted down in its…
The protests in Georgia reflect internal political turmoil over its geopolitical destiny in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, analysts say. The ruling Georgian Dream party has insisted it remains committed to Georgia’s EU and NATO membership. But a “foreign agent” bill reminiscent of Russian legislation used to silence critics has in recent days…
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday congratulated Xi Jinping on his appointment to a third term as China’s president, hailing the growing links between the two nations. “Dear friend, please accept sincere congratulations on the occasion of your reelection,” Putin said in a statement released by the Kremlin. “Russia highly values your personal contribution toward…
Updates with Alfa Bank confirmation. Russian billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven are set to offload their stakes in Alfa Bank, Russia’s largest private bank, in a $2.3-billion deal, the Financial Times reported late Thursday. Fridman, the co-founder of Alfa Group, and Aven, who headed Alfa until March 2022, are seeking the removal of Western…
The leader of Moldova’s breakaway region said on Thursday that his government would appeal to the UN Security Council to probe a “terror” attack and ensure the security of Transnistria. Pro-Russian authorities in the region earlier on Thursday accused Kyiv of planning such an attack, fueling fears of a spillover of the Ukraine conflict. “I…
Russia and the United Nations will hold talks in Geneva on Monday on renewing the Ukraine grain export deal, with the UN saying the fate of millions rested on its extension. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year saw Ukraine’s Black Sea ports blocked by warships until a deal signed in July allowed…
Russia’s Sberbank on Thursday announced its net profit dropped nearly 80% in 2022, a year marked by unprecedented Western sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. The group published a net profit of 270.5 billion rubles ($3.56 billion) last year, a 78.3% decrease compared to 2021. “2022 has been an extremely difficult year for…
The head of Russia’s notorious Wagner mercenary group Yevgeniy Prigozhin said on Thursday that he’d been cut off from all government communication channels following his recent public plea to the Ministry of Defense to supply his fighters in Ukraine with urgently needed ammunition. “In order to stop me from asking for ammunition, they turned off all…
Russia hit Ukraine with a barrage of missiles on Thursday, killing nine people and triggering a wave of power cuts, including at Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant. The UN nuclear agency’s chief warned next time “luck will run out” in reference to the danger of repeated electricity outages at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia facility. Russia said the…
Turkish customs officials have suddenly stopped permitting the transit of sanctioned goods bound for Russia through Turkish territory, Russia’s Kommersant FM radio station reported on Thursday citing Russian logistics operators. Turkey has been a key hub for Russia’s sanction-busting efforts ever since President Vladimir Putin signed the country’s “parallel import” scheme into law in June. The…
Russian authorities have seized the assets of Pyotr Kanayev, the chief editor of the leading business daily RBC, over a delayed payment of a fine for violation of Russia’s foreign agent law, the publication confirmed Thursday. Kanayev had been fined 5,000 rubles ($66) for failing to add a “foreign agent” label next to a mention…
Alexei Navalny’s top aide Leonid Volkov resigned from the board of the jailed Kremlin critic’s Anti-Corruption Foundation on Thursday, as the political fallout over a letter in defense of oligarch Mikhail Fridman continued to rock Russia’s fragmented political opposition. The letter, which was signed by a group of Russian opposition politicians and activists and addressed to…
Pro-Moscow authorities in Moldova’s separatist region of Transnistria, which borders Ukraine, said Thursday they had prevented an attack organized by Kyiv that targeted separatist officials. Transnistria is a narrow Kremlin-backed region in eastern Moldova that separated from the ex-Soviet republic after fighting in 1992. Russia has maintained a contingent of troops there since. Moldovan President…
The largest Russian strikes on Ukraine in weeks killed at least six people and caused power outages across the war-battered nation on Thursday. Kyiv’s military downed nearly half of the missiles launched by Russia over at least 10 regions, as the fight raged on for control of the symbolic prize Bakhmut in Ukraine’s east. The…
Georgian lawmakers have dropped a controversial “foreign agents” bill, which critics said resembled Russian legislation used to silence critics, following days of mass protests that saw clashes between police and protesters. “We, as an authority responsible to every member of society, have decided to unconditionally withdraw the bill we supported without any reservations,” the ruling Georgian…
Iran has supplied large quantities of bullets, rockets and mortar shells to Russia for use in Ukraine, Sky News reported Wednesday, citing a security source. The deliveries were reportedly made by two Russian-flagged cargo ships that traveled from Iran to the Russian port of Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea earlier this year. Tehran has emerged…
President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday praised Russian women participating in Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine at a Kremlin event marking International Women’s Day. “Now that Russia is facing direct threats to its security and sovereignty, we see many examples of bravery and determination,” Putin said during the ceremony. “In this hall there are women who…
The Russian security services have detained a 19-year-old political activist on suspicion of involvement in the sabotage of railway lines, Oleg Filatchev, the head of a group called the Russian Citizen Alliance, told The Moscow Times on Wednesday. Nikita Klunya, who is also a member of Russian Citizen Alliance, was reportedly detained in the Russian…
The Ukrainian government was not involved in the sabotage last year of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, the country’s defense minister said Wednesday. “This is not our activity,” Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov told reporters in Stockholm ahead of a meeting with European Union defense ministers, in response to a report in…
Russia marked International Women’s Day on Wednesday amid the ongoing war in Ukraine that has caused significant suffering for women — and seen the Kremlin double-down on its promotion of “traditional” values. “It’s beneficial for the authorities to promote rhetoric about male defenders and women as guardians of the hearth and fragile, vulnerable creatures,” the…
The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group said Wednesday that his forces had taken “all the eastern part” of Bakhmut, the east Ukrainian town where fierce fighting has raged for months. “Wagner units have taken all the eastern part of Bakhmut, all that’s east of the Bakhmutka river” that bisects the town, Wagner chief and Kremlin…
Hundreds of mourners packed a Kyiv church on Tuesday for the funeral of Ukrainian saboteurs killed on a mission in Russia, following a spate of attacks along Moscow’s frontier. Mourners, many in camouflage and covering their faces, attended a service in a central Kyiv church for four men — one still a teenager — who…
U.S. officials have seen new intelligence that indicates a “pro-Ukrainian group” was responsible for the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. In a cautious report that did not identify the source of the intelligence or the group involved, the Times said the U.S. officials had…
Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko said Tuesday that more than 20 people had been detained in connection with an attack on a Russian military plane, claimed by regime opponents late last month. “To date, more than 20 accomplices who are in Belarus have been detained. The rest are hiding,” said Lukashenko, a key Kremlin ally, according…
Ukraine said on Tuesday it had identified a soldier filmed being shot dead in a video that circulated widely on social media, sparking outrage and spurring officials to demand a probe. The footage shows what appears to be a captured Ukrainian fighter standing in a shallow trench, smoking, and being shot after saying “Glory to…
A Moscow court has sentenced activist and student Dmitry Ivanov to 8.5 years in prison on charges of “spreading false information” about the Russian Armed Forces, the independent Mediazona news website reported Tuesday. Ivanov, 23, the head of the Protesting MGU (Moscow State University) Telegram channel with over 9,000 subscribers, was arrested in June for…
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday the capture of the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut was key to launching a further offensive in the wider region. “This city is an important defensive hub for Ukrainian troops in Donbas,” Shoigu said of the industrial east of the country. “Capturing it will allow for further…
Russia has lost approximately five soldiers for every Ukrainian soldier killed in the battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut, CNN reported late Monday, citing NATO estimates. Moscow’s forces, led by fighters from the Wagner mercenary group, have been waging brutal fighting for Bakhmut since August, taking severe casualties in pursuit of what would be…
Ukraine’s foreign minister on Monday urged the International Criminal Court to probe footage circulating on social media that he said showed Russian forces killing a Ukrainian prisoner of war. “Horrific video of an unarmed Ukrainian POW executed by Russian forces merely for saying ‘Glory to Ukraine.’ Another (piece of) proof this war is genocidal,” Foreign…
The political repression driven by the invasion of Ukraine has drastically altered the landscape of Russia’s disparate opposition. While some well-established movements such as Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation have been forced to shut down inside Russia entirely, other initiatives to unite those opposed to the war in Ukraine have sprung up in their place. To…
updates with Transparency International Russia comment. Russia has added global anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International to its list of “undesirable” organizations, the Prosecutor General’s Office announced on Monday. “Formally declaring itself an organization that fights corruption around the globe, it interferes in the internal affairs of the Russian Federation, which threatens the constitutional order and the security…
Belarus on Monday sentenced exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya to 15 years in prison for spearheading historic protests against the former Soviet country’s authoritarian leader. Tikhanovskaya — who was forced to flee to neighboring EU member Lithuania after the protests sparked by a disputed presidential election in 2020 — was sentenced in absentia on charges…
Corrects “eight-month jail sentence” with “eight months of community service.” A Russian court on Monday sentenced independent journalist Andrei Novashov to eight months of community service for spreading “falsehoods” about the Russian army, independent Russian TV channel Dozhd reported citing sources close to the journalist. Novashov, a freelance journalist from the Kemerovo region in southwestern…
The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, which is spearheading the longest battle of Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine, has complained his forces still lack ammunition, blaming possible “betrayal.” Kremlin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose recruits have been fighting for months to capture the battle-scarred city of Bakhmut, has been entangled in a power struggle with the Defense…
More than 1,000 people attended a ceremony on Red Square on Sunday to mark the 70th anniversary of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s death. Led by Russia’s Communist Party, the event drew people waving Soviet flags or holding portraits of Stalin at the site on the Kremlin wall where he is buried. Stalin’s image has been…
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has visited the war-battered city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine, his ministry announced Monday, one year after his forces besieged the city, leveling it to the ground. His visit comes as Russian forces are closing in on Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine that has become the stage of the longest-running battle…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday paid tribute to his soldiers fighting in the “painful and difficult” battle for the country’s frontline eastern Donbas region. He was speaking after Ukraine’s general staff reported that its forces had fought off “more than 130 enemy attacks” the previous day, including in Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut and Avdiivka. “The…
Kyiv said Sunday it was holding off attacks from Russian troops still attempting to surround Bakhmut, a now-destroyed eastern Ukrainian city that Moscow has been trying to capture for months. Ukraine has vowed to defend “fortress Bakhmut” but it has faced Russian troops determined to take the city that has turned into a political prize…
Russia’s defense minister has inspected the front line in eastern Ukraine, the defense ministry said Saturday, with the battle for Bakhmut raging and the US offering to pump more money into Kyiv’s survival. Sergei Shoigu had “inspected a command post on the front” in the direction of the southern Donetsk region, the defence ministry said,…
A 10-year-old boy who was wounded in a deadly attack in Russia’s Bryansk region on Thursday has been awarded the Medal of Valor and Courage, according to an announcement on Telegram by Russia’s Investigative Committee on Friday. According to Russian officials, two Ukrainian sabotage groups illegally crossed from Ukraine into the Bryansk region on Thursday,…
Nearly all the Irkutsk region conscripts whose video appeals to President Vladimir Putin decrying their lack of training made headlines last February are believed to have died in Ukraine’s Donetsk region on March 1, the Sibir.Realii website reported on Friday. The unit’s members came to prominence in February 2022, when its recently mobilized reservists made three…
The Supreme Court of Crimea has sentenced a St. Petersburg resident to six years in prison with hard labor after finding him guilty on charges of treason for illegally crossing the border when he attempted to swim from Russia-occupied Crimea to join the Ukrainian military, the RIA Novosti news agency reported on Friday. The man,…
Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has launched a youth club aimed at fostering patriotism and preparing young Russians for military service. The club, called Wagneryonok (“Junior Wagnerite”), is based at the Wagner Center, the group’s glass-fronted headquarters and technology center that opened in St. Petersburg in November. Wagneryonok is headed by recent high-school graduate Alexander Tronin,…
Russia will take measures to prevent border incursions from Ukraine following an alleged deadly attack by Ukrainian “saboteurs,” the Kremlin said Friday. Russian officials claimed Thursday that two Ukrainian sabotage groups crossed into Russia’s Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, killing two civilians, injuring a 10-year-old boy and wounding several Russian servicemen. Ukrainian officials dismissed the…
Russia will take measures to prevent border incursions from Ukraine following an alleged deadly attack by Ukrainian “saboteurs,” the Kremlin said Friday. Russian officials claimed Thursday that two Ukrainian sabotage groups crossed into Russia’s Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, killing two civilians, injuring a 10-year-old boy and wounding several Russian servicemen. Ukrainian officials dismissed the…
Belarus on Friday handed a 10-year jail term to veteran activist Ales Bialiatski, a Nobel Prize winner and founder of the ex-Soviet authoritarian country’s most prominent rights group. Bialiatski was in the dock with two allies after they were jailed in the aftermath of historic demonstrations against the disputed 2020 re-election of Belarus’s strongman President…
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, said Friday that the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut was “practically surrounded” by Russian forces. In a video published by his press service, Prigozhin can be seen saying that Kyiv’s forces had access to only one road leading out of the city, which has been the site of…
South Korea’s Justice Ministry is to appeal a court ruling that granted two Russian men fleeing military mobilization the right to apply for refugee status, The Korea Times reported Wednesday. Three men, whose identities haven’t been disclosed to protect their family members in Russia arrived at Incheon International Airport late on various dates last year…
Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska has warned the country faces an impending financial crisis and used his appearance at an economic forum in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk on Thursday to urge the Kremlin to ease its rules on foreign investment in the country’s economy. “There will already be no money next year. We will need…
Like many other independent Russian journalists, the staff of the St. Petersburg-based news website Bumaga relocated to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi last year to avoid censorship, fines or imprisonment amid their country’s wartime crackdown on the free press. Once the dust settled from their relocation, they faced a new challenge: Staying connected with their…
Russia’s deputy foreign minister said Thursday that drone attacks which Kyiv is alleged to have carried out on Russian military bases would only have been possible with U.S. assistance. Sergei Ryabkov, who is in Geneva to address the UN Human Rights Council and the Conference on Disarmament session, said Washington must have provided intelligence and…
The United States and Russia met in their highest face-to-face contact since the invasion of Ukraine last year on the sidelines of a G20 meeting that ended in disarray due to divisions over the conflict. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke briefly at the meeting of the world’s…
Russian lawmakers on Thursday voted in favor of a bill that would make it a criminal offense to “discredit” anyone fighting on Russia’s side in the war in Ukraine, not just the Russian military. The legislation aims to expand current laws criminalizing the discrediting of the Russian Armed Forces to include mercenaries serving in the…