Russia’s Wagner Mercenary Group Launches Youth Club in St. Petersburg

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,…

Kremlin Says Will Take ‘Measures’ to Prevent Ukrainian Border Incursions

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…

Kremlin Promises ‘Measures’ to Prevent Ukrainian Border Incursions

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 Jails Nobel Winner Bialiatski for 10 Years

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…

Deadly Clashes with ‘Ukrainian Saboteurs’ in Russian Border Region, Officials Say

Russian forces are clashing with a Ukrainian sabotage group that illegally crossed into the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, and opened fire on civilians, law enforcement agencies said Thursday. The statements could not be independently verified, and Kyiv dismissed the claims from Moscow as a “deliberate provocation.” Bryansk region Governor Alexander Bogomaz said a sabotage and reconnaissance…

Law Hiding Russian Real Estate Ownership Data Comes Into Force

New legislation preventing the general public from accessing entries to Russia’s real estate register came into force on Wednesday, independent Russian-language news website Meduza reported. The move, which restricts information on the register to “competent state agencies” is expected to act as a massive hindrance to Russian investigative journalists, who have used the register on…

Navalny Lodged Over 50 Complaints to Russia’s Rights Commissioner

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has submitted more than 50 official complaints to Russia’s human rights commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova during his year-long incarceration, the state-run TASS news agency reported Monday. “Of the more than 50 appeals that we received — none of them was ignored, each was investigated by the prosecutor’s office, the leadership of the Federal…

Floral Tributes to Slain Opposition Leader Nemtsov Reported Across Russia

The Moscow custom of leaving floral tributes to honor the memory of murdered Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov on Feb. 27 each year appears to have spread throughout Russia, according to reports from six other cities.  Makeshift flower memorials have appeared in Russia’s five biggest cities, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and Kazan, on the eighth anniversary…

Ex-Kremlin Adviser Gleb Pavlovsky Dies at 71

Prominent ​​Russian political scientist and former Kremlin adviser Gleb Pavlovsky has died at age 71 following a serious illness, Simon Kordonsky, head of the local self-government department at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, told the Vedomosti business daily Monday. Pavlovsky had been an influential figure in Russian politics in the first decade of President Vladimir…

Over 15,000 Russian Soldiers Confirmed Killed In Ukraine – Independent Analysis

Over 15,000 Russian soldiers have been confirmed killed in Ukraine since the start of the Kremlin’s invasion, according to an independent tally published on the war’s one-year anniversary Friday. The independent Mediazona news website and the BBC Russian service have been verifying the number of Russian troops killed in Ukraine using publicly available information from media…

Russian Oligarchs Still Swerving Sanctions

Oligarchs reportedly close to Russian President Vladimir Putin who have had bank accounts frozen or property seized after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine are pushing back against the Western sanctions — or finding ways around them. Authorities have frozen about £18.4 billion ($22.2 billion) of Russian assets in Britain, and 17 billion euros worth ($18 billion)…