Georgia’s jailed ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili called off a hunger strike he had announced a few hours earlier Wednesday over the authorities’ failure to ensure a video link between the hospital where he is being held and his court hearing. Saakashvili has been a key figure of politics in the ex-Soviet Caucasus country for two decades…
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Two workers were killed in a powerful blast at the largest oil refinery in Siberia, authorities said Thursday, in the second such incident in recent weeks. Processing unit fumes may have caused the blast at the Rosneft oil giant-owned Angarsk Petrochemical Company, according to emergency officials. The Irkutsk regional branch of Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said…
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Ukraine’s SBU security service on Wednesday found “propaganda literature” in counter-intelligence searches in churches and monasteries across the country, in its most recent descent on religious sites of the Russia-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church. “The Security Service of Ukraine found Russian passports, propaganda literature and laissez-passer” issued by Russian occupation authorities during searches on Wednesday, the…
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The cancellation of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual press conference earlier this week was a last minute decision taken due to growing fears the televised event would be dominated by the Ukraine war, six Kremlin and government officials told The Moscow Times. Putin has held 17 such press conferences — a set piece of the…
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New legislation that punishes organization, financing and recruitment for acts of sabotage with stiff sentences of up to life imprisonment was approved by Russia’s State Duma in its first reading on Wednesday, state-owned news agency RIA reported. The legislation, which supplements an existing law with three new articles, mandates severe punishments including life imprisonment for…
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A bridge separating two brother is set on fire in a short video, one of the latest works by the art group Yav. The art event was held on National Unity Day, which is celebrated in Russia on Nov. 4. Fans of the art group immediately understood this artistic performance as a direct reference to…
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Ukraine announced that it had secured the release 64 Ukrainians and one U.S. citizen in its latest prisoner swap with Russian forces on Wednesday. “64 soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces who fought in the Donetsk and Luhansk sectors are going home,” the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak tweeted. “It was also possible…
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The Russian military has formed what it called its first “artistic” units of musicians, actors and other creatives to boost troop morale amid a series of battlefield losses in Ukraine. “Two permanent frontline creative brigades were formed for the first time in the modern history of the Russian Armed Forces,” the Defense Ministry said in a…
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The Kremlin said on Wednesday that it had not received any proposals from Kyiv to halt fighting in Ukraine during the upcoming holiday period and that a ceasefire was not on Moscow’s agenda. “No, no proposals have been received from anyone and no topic of this kind is on the agenda,” the Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry…
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St. Petersburg has contributed 100 million rubles ($1.5 million) toward the reconstruction of Mariupol, the southern Ukrainian port city largely destroyed by Russian troops this year, the independent media outlet Rotonda reported. The allocation has apparently cut into the city’s budget for ice and snow cleanup, making the streets of Russia’s second-largest city — already…
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A former Russian presidential guard who fled President Vladimir Putin’s mobilization now faces extradition from neighboring Kazakhstan on charges of desertion and illegal border-crossing, Kazakh media has reported. If approved, Mikhal Zhilin’s extradition would mark the first publicly known time an allied country has returned a draft dodger to Russia, where his family says he faces…
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Russia has sourced at least $2.6 billion in computer components and electronics in the months since falling under Western tech sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing purchased Russian customs records. Semiconductors and other technology arrived in Russia between April and Oct. 31 via Hong Kong and Turkey — which have not…
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The Pentagon is finalizing plans to send Patriot missile batteries that can shoot down incoming missiles to Ukraine, U.S. media reported Tuesday. As Russia has ramped up missile strikes on key Ukrainian infrastructure, the administration of President Joe Biden could announce the deployment as early as this week, U.S. officials told The New York Times…
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Ukraine’s Western allies pledged an additional one billion euros ($1.1 billion) in emergency winter aid on Tuesday, responding to pleas from President Volodymyr Zelensky to help the country withstand Russia’s onslaught against its energy grid. Around 70 countries and international organizations gathered in Paris for a meeting aimed at enabling Ukrainians “to get through this…
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Russian E-scooter firm Whoosh’s plans for an initial public offering (IPO) this week — the first since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — will be a test of the country’s battered capital markets after nearly 10 months of Western sanctions, analysts said. If successful, Whoosh is due to begin trading on the Moscow Exchange on Wednesday.…
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Russia’s FSB security service on Tuesday confirmed that it had arrested and charged a Russian citizen who attempted to join the Ukrainian Armed Forces earlier this year, according to state-run news agency TASS. “The detainee decided to switch to the side of the enemy and join the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to…
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Turkey said Tuesday it has cleared up a dispute linked to a Western price cap on Russian crude that had stalled the passage of tankers through the Bosphorus and Dardanelle straits. A queue of around 20 oil ships had been waiting to sail through the straits for much of the past week in a spat…
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An independent Kazakh media outlet said it has refused to follow a demand by Russian authorities to take down its reporting on the war in Ukraine. Russia’s state media regulator, Roskomnadzor, rarely orders media based outside Russia to delete content. The Vlast.kz news website in Russia’s southern neighbor Kazakhstan said Tuesday that Roskomnadzor ordered the…
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A Russian priest who opposes the war in Ukraine has fled the country and is now seeking asylum in the United States, according to reports. Archpriest Theodore Shumskikh traveled to the U.S. with his wife and six children, said Alexei Gorbachev, a journalist with the Voice of America broadcaster’s (VOA) Russian service. “He opposes the…
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The Belarusian military announced snap combat readiness drills on Tuesday, with orders to move troops to designated areas and set up bridge crossings over two major rivers. The drills were launched “at the instruction of the President of the Republic of Belarus,” the Belarusian Defense Ministry wrote on its Telegram channel. The ministry did not reveal…
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President Volodymyr Zelensky urged G7 nations on Monday to provide extra gas and weapons to help Ukraine survive a brutal winter that threatens to bring further suffering to millions in the war-torn country. With snow on the ground and Ukraine’s energy grid battered by Russian strikes, many are facing freezing temperatures without power or heating.…
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Russian forces have been attempting to seize Bakhmut in Ukraine’s Donetsk region for at least seven months. But in recent weeks, the battle in and around the city has become one of the fiercest of the nine-month war in Ukraine. Bakhmut, which sits above a vast salt mine and is famed for its Soviet-era winery,…
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Demand for luxury homes in Moscow has fallen to its lowest level in five years, according to research by real estate company NF Group. The number of property sales in so-called elite new builds in the Russian capital fell 44% year-on-year, from 1,620 sales in 2021 to just 900 in 2022, the lowest number recorded…
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Viktor Bout, the arms dealer once dubbed the “Merchant of Death” who was released from a U.S. jail in exchange for U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner last week, has joined Russia’s ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), according to video footage posted on the party’s Telegram channel on Monday. In his first public appearance since arriving…
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The Kremlin on Monday called for a “diplomatic” resolution to a recent flare-up in tensions in Kosovo following attacks targeting the police. “We are in favor of the parties making efforts of a peaceful nature and this situation being resolved through diplomatic means,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “We stand for ensuring that all…
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has canceled his annual end-of-year press conference for the first time in 10 years, the Kremlin announced on Monday, as the war in Ukraine enters its 10th month. “As for the big press conference, yes, it won’t happen before the New Year,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “But we hope…
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Russia has blocked an average of 4,900 websites per week so far in 2022, according to an internet freedom NGO’s tally published by the Kommersant business daily Monday. According to the NGO, Roskomsvoboda, authorities restricted 14,800 websites last week alone — the highest total in a single week in several years. While it did not name…
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Authorities in St. Petersburg said the Russian military has opened collection points for musical instruments for Russian soldiers in Ukraine to boost morale. “The Russian Defense Ministry has organized the collection and transfer of musical instruments to the mobilized [and] military personnel performing special tasks who have no professional musical education,” reads a message posted…
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The body of a Zambian student who died while fighting in Ukraine after he was recruited in a Russian jail arrived home in a makeshift coffin Sunday. AFP journalists saw a white, glass-paneled hearse adorned with small curtains affording a partial view of the container holding the body arrive on the tarmac at Lusaka airport,…
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Moscow transportation authorities have removed city bus ads recruiting Central Asian nationals into the Russian military with promises of expedited citizenship, media reported Sunday. Photos showing an Uzbek-language recruitment message on board a Moscow bus went viral last week. “If you join the Russian Armed Forces under contract, you can easily obtain Russian citizenship in…
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U.S. efforts to negotiate the freedom of a former Marine held in Russia as part of the swap involving basketball star Brittney Griner were thwarted by Moscow’s demand for the release of a convicted murderer held in Germany, according to a top U.S. official and media reports. The swap of Griner for convicted Russian arms…
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday that it was imperative the Kremlin “clear” Kurdish forces from northern Syria. Erdogan has been threatening to launch a new incursion into northern Syria to push out Kurdish forces he blames for a November bomb blast that killed six people in Istanbul. A…
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Russia’s ex-president Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday the country was ramping up production of new-generation weapons to protect itself from enemies in Europe, the United States and Australia. “We are increasing production of the most powerful means of destruction. Including those based on new principles,” Medvedev said on messaging app Telegram. “Our enemy dug in…
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In Russia’s rural villages, there are very few cultural institutions. Oftentimes, there is only a single library and a single House of Culture (community center for arts and culture). Because libraries are free to visit, they are crucial in low-income regions where people can’t afford to spend money on culture and education. In addition to…
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A trio from the three nations at the center of the war in Ukraine accepted their Nobel Peace Prize on Saturday, calling for an unabated fight against Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s “insane and criminal” invasion. Jailed Belarusian rights advocate Ales Bialiatski, Russian organisation Memorial and Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties (CCL) were honoured by the…
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Viktor Bout, a notorious arms dealer dubbed the “Merchant of Death,” praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and backed Moscow’s assault on Ukraine in his first interview since being released from a U.S. prison as part of an exchange for U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner. Speaking to the Kremlin-backed RT channel in an interview released on…
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Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine may not have resulted in the dramatic economic collapse some predicted — but they have still had a far-reaching impact. Russia is now the world’s most-sanctioned country and shortages of goods, limited access to services and other restrictions are slowly changing everyday life in sometimes surprising…
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Like many Russians in and outside of Russia, we can’t imagine New Year’s without Salad Olivier. It was made in our parents’ homes a half-century ago, and we’ve been making it ourselves for as long as we can remember. We’re sure that our children and grandchildren will also serve this immortal salad, too. Some people…
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The southern Ukrainian city of Odesa was left without power Saturday following a night-time attack by “kamikaze drones” launched by Russia, authorities said. “As of now, the city is without electricity,” Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, said on messaging app Telegram. Only critical infrastructure including hospitals and maternity wards had access…
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The Russian military has sustained over 10,000 verifiable deaths in the course of its nine-month invasion of Ukraine, according to open-source research conducted by the BBC and independent Russian news outlet MediaZone that was released on Friday. Among the 10,002 dead servicemen identified in the investigation are scores of elite servicemen belonging to Russian airborne…
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French energy group TotalEnergies said Friday it was withdrawing from the board of Russian gas giant Novatek and taking a $3.7 billion hit in the wake of sanctions against Moscow. While other Western oil and gas majors have exited Russia following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, TotalEnergies has come under criticism for maintaining investments in the country. The…
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has backed out of an annual Russia-India summit because of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threats to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported Friday citing an anonymous source in the Indian government. Modi believes that drawing too much attention to the relationship with the Kremlin could be damaging to his image,…
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A Chechen dissident blogger living in Sweden who it was claimed earlier this week had been murdered is reportedly still alive, according to Chechen government in exile. “Tumso Abdurakhmanov is alive and is under the protection of the Swedish police,” news website Kavkaz.Realii, an affiliate of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, quoted the government-in-exile’s press officer…
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Слово года 2022: Word of the year, 2022 Every year a group of Russian word-watchers track all the words and expressions that seem to capture the spirit — or obsessions — of the year coming to an end. The group, headed by linguist and professor of Russian language and literature Mikhail Epstein, is made up…
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American basketball star Brittney Griner arrived in the United States Friday morning after being released from a Russian prison in exchange for an arms dealer known as the “Merchant of Death.” Griner, 32, who was arrested in Russia in February on drug charges, was seen by an AFP reporter walking across a runway after her…
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American basketball star Brittney Griner returned to the United States after she was released from a Russian prison in exchange for an arms dealer known as the “Merchant of Death.” Griner’s family and WNBA teammates rejoiced at the news that the star athlete’s imprisonment in Russia on drug charges had come to an end. Russia’s…
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Russia’s largest social network VKontakte has started labeling LGBT-themed pages on its site with warnings that they may violate draconian legislation signed into law this week banning the depiction of non-heterosexual relationships and identities. “There may be controversial material in this community,” a warning label displayed to potential visitors reads before allowing users the option…
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Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was freed in a prisoner swap with U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, told Kremlin-run media on Friday that Western countries are seeking to “destroy” and “divide” Russia. “The West believes that they did not finish us off in 1990, when the Soviet Union began to disintegrate… They think that they…
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A Moscow court on Friday sentenced prominent opposition politician Ilya Yashin to eight and a half years in jail for spreading “false” information about the Russian military in his criticism of the Kremlin invasion of Ukraine. The 39-year-old Moscow city councilor was found guilty for saying that occupying Russian forces in Ukraine were responsible for…
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Millions of barrels of oil on apparently non-Russian tankers were stuck in Turkish waters due to Ankara’s proof-of-insurance demands as part of a Western price cap on Russian crude, Bloomberg reported Thursday. Shipping data compiled by the news agency showed 26 tankers with more than 23 million barrels of oil from Kazakhstan had been unable…
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A massive fire at one of Russia’s largest shopping malls has killed one person and burned down a formerly German-owned home improvement store in northwest Moscow, emergency officials and state media reported early Friday. The fire, which broke out before dawn, engulfed 18,000 square meters of the MEGA Khimki mall at its peak. It was eventually contained…
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Russian President Vladimir Putin will attempt to shore up Russia’s regional authority on a visit Friday to the Central Asian state of Kyrgyzstan for a summit of a Moscow-led trade bloc, analysts and an ex-official told The Moscow Times. The war in Ukraine has not only led to Western sanctions on Russia and wide-spread condemnation…
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A former Russian paratrooper who took part in the Russian invasion of Ukraine before fleeing the country and writing a book about his experience has taken the prominent human rights NGO Gulagu.net, which helped him leave Russia, to court in an attempt to win back the royalties for his work. Pavel Filatyev’s lawsuit claims that…
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Russia and the U.S. on Thursday conducted a one-for-one prisoner swap that secured the release of American basketball star Brittney Griner in exchange for Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout. Bout, 55, was meant to serve a 25-year sentence in a prison in Illinois after being convicted of a handful of offenses by the U.S. courts,…
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Russia and the United States have exchanged the U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, U.S. and Russian officials said Thursday. The WNBA star, who was serving a nine-year-prison sentence in a Russian jail on drug charges, was released on Thursday in a one-for-one swap for Bout, an arms dealer…
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Russian-annexed Crimea remains at risk of Ukrainian attacks, the Kremlin said Thursday after Russian-aligned authorities claimed to have shot down a drone over the Black Sea peninsula. The Crimean affiliate of the U.S. news organization RFE/RL reported hearing powerful explosions in the port of Sevastopol, which is home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Sevastopol’s Kremlin-aligned Governor…
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A court in Norway has acquitted the dual-national son of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s former ally on charges of defying a ban on flying drones, media reported late Wednesday. Andrei Yakunin, 47, was arrested in October on accusations of launching drones from his luxury yacht over the strategic Arctic archipelago of Svalbard last summer. Yakunin,…
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Russia hit back Thursday at widely reported data which placed the country as a leader in new HIV infections worldwide as “provocative propaganda.” Russia accounted for 3.9% — the world’s fifth-highest share — of the 1.5 million new HIV cases reported around the world in 2021, the data platform Statista said last Thursday, citing the Joint…
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ST. PETERSBURG — Four years after achieving global football celebrity as host of the 2018 World Cup, Russia’s exclusion from international competitions in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine has led to declining standards in domestic matches, fan apathy and foreign players leaving in droves. The Brussels Bar, a sports bar in Russia’s second-largest…
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A Moscow court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by the jailed Russian journalist Ivan Safronov against his 22-year jail sentence for treason earlier this year. The decision to uphold Safronov’s sentence, which was announced at a closed-doors hearing, means that the journalist will soon be transferred from the detention facility where he is currently being…
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