Russia Blacklists Clooney Foundation

Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office on Monday banned a charitable foundation created by U.S. film star George Clooney and his wife Amal. “The activities of The Clooney Foundation for Justice are deemed undesirable on the territory of our country,” it said in a statement. The organization “conducts extensive work aimed at discrediting Russia, actively supports false patriots…

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Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake Strikes off Russian Far East

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Russia’s Far East Kamchatka Peninsula early Sunday morning local time, according to the regional earthquake monitoring service. The local emergencies ministry said tremors were felt along the coast including in the region’s capital Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. “Operational teams of rescuers and firefighters are inspecting buildings,” the regional branch…

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Russia Adds Navalny Allies Pevchikh, Yarmysh to ‘Terrorists and Extremists’ List

Russian authorities on Friday added several close allies of the late activist Alexei Navalny to the government’s list of “extremists and terrorists.” Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s former spokeswoman, and Maria Pevchikh, head of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, are among the latest to be included on the Rosfinmonitoring list. According to the independent news outlet Mediazona, at least…

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‘I Never Believed I Could Get on That Plane’: Freed Political Prisoner Sasha Skochilenko

St. Petersburg artist Sasha Skochilenko was sentenced to seven years in prison last year for spreading “fake news” about the Russian army after she replaced supermarket price tags with statements criticizing the invasion of Ukraine and the killing of Ukrainian civilians. Defending her actions in a court hearing ahead of her sentencing, the 33-year-old Skochilenko…

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Russia Says Ukraine Struck Shopping Mall in Occupied Donetsk

A crowded shopping mall in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Donetsk caught fire after alleged Ukrainian shelling on Friday. Denis Pushilin, the Kremlin-appointed governor of the Donetsk region, accused Ukrainian forces of wounding at least seven civilians in “targeted massive strikes” on southwestern Donetsk. He said the attacks damaged a local hospital and burned the Galaktika shopping…

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Belarus Warns of Ukrainian Border ‘Provocations’ Amid Kursk Offensive

Belarus again claimed that Ukraine is planning “armed provocations” with continued troop movements along their shared border, state media reported Friday. Kyiv previously claimed Minsk, Russia’s close ally, was playing up tensions on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border to divert attention from Ukraine’s incursion into Russian territory. “Given the presence of Ukrainian armed formations in the border areas,…

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Major Power Outage Hits Far East Russia

At least two regions in Russia’s Far East faced blackouts on Friday after authorities held previously scheduled regionwide power outage drills. People reported being stuck in traffic, at shopping malls and inside elevators in the regions of Khabarovsk and Primorye, where the city of Vladivostok is located. Earlier, the Primorye region’s Energy Ministry announced that it…

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Ukraine’s Military Publishes Videos Showing First Moments of Kursk Attack

The Ukrainian military on Friday released several videos capturing the first hours of its surprise incursion into southwestern Russia’s Kursk region last week. One of the videos, nearly two minutes long, shows missile strikes, armored vehicles driving through open fields and residential areas, as well as captured Russian servicemen. Toward the end of the video, Ukrainian…

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Ukraine Says in Talks With Russia to Exchange Kursk Prisoners

Russia and Ukraine have entered negotiations to exchange prisoners captured during Kyiv’s unprecedented incursion into southwestern Russia’s Kursk region, Ukraine’s human rights commissioner said Wednesday. “There was a proactive conversation [with Russian human rights commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova],” ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets told Ukrainian television in a segment he posted on his Telegram channel, voicing hopes that the…

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Scores of Job Ads for Trench Diggers Appear Online as Ukraine Advances in Kursk Region

Scores of job advertisements for trench diggers and construction workers in the Kursk region have appeared online in recent days as Russian forces struggle to hold back advancing Ukrainian troops following their surprise offensive last week. The BBC’s Russian service reported Wednesday that it found at least 30 listings for trench diggers on the classifieds…

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Russian Investigators Refuse to Open Criminal Proceedings Over Navalny’s Death, Widow Says

Russian law enforcement authorities refused to launch a criminal investigation into the death of the late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, his widow said Thursday, citing a letter she received from investigators. In February, Navalny died under unclear circumstances at the “Polar Wolf” penal colony, where he was serving a 19-year prison sentence on a string…

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Russia Opens 10K Cases for ‘Discrediting’ Army Since Invasion – Medizona

Authorities in Russia have launched more than 10,000 cases against people accused of “discrediting” the army since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the independent news outlet Mediazona reported Thursday. Legislation passed soon after Russia’s February 2022 invasion punishes public acts or statements seen as critical of the Russian armed forces. Thousands of people have been…

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The joint Russian Federation-IAEA School on Nuclear Knowledge Management is over in Moscow

The 5th School of Russia and IAEA on Nuclear Knowledge Management was held in Moscow at the Rosatom Technical Academy.  The event brought together 28 representatives from 14 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the CIS.  Viktor Mazepov, Director for International Cooperation of the Rosatom Technical Academy, addressed the participants with a welcoming speech:…

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FSB-Linked Phishing Campaign Targets Russian Activists, Independent Media

Hackers with suspected connections to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) are using sophisticated phishing attacks to target civil society figures in Russia, Europe and the United States, according to a report published by digital rights groups on Wednesday. The Russian rights organization First Department said that phishing attacks since the start of this year have…

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Russia Says Downed 117 Ukrainian Drones, Air Bases Reportedly Targeted

Russia’s Defense Ministry said early Wednesday that its air defense systems intercepted 117 Ukrainian drones and four missiles across eight regions overnight. All four Tochka tactical missiles and 37 drones were downed in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have gained control of hundreds of square kilometers of territory since launching a surprise cross-border incursion last…

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Belgorod Region Declares State of Emergency Amid Ukrainian Shelling

Authorities in the Belgorod region declared a regionwide state of emergency on Wednesday, saying the situation was “extremely difficult” amid shelling attacks and Ukraine’s assault on the neighbouring Kursk region. “The situation in our Belgorod region remains extremely difficult and tense due to shellings from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Houses are destroyed, civilians died and…

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Russia Relocates Some Displaced Kursk Residents to Occupied Ukraine

Russian authorities announced Tuesday that they will help move people displaced from their homes in the Kursk region amid ongoing fighting to parts of occupied eastern Ukraine. Acting Kursk region Governor Alexei Smirnov said he was working in coordination with Yevgeny Balitsky, the Moscow-appointed head of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, to accommodate evacuees in resorts and…

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Putin Calls for ‘Full-Fledged’ State of Palestine in Talks With Abbas

Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his calls for Palestinian statehood in a meeting with Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday. “We believe that in order to ensure lasting, reliable and stable peace in the region, it’s necessary to… create a full-fledged Palestinian state,” Putin told Abbas at the presidential residence outside Moscow. He also expressed “great…

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Putin Appoints Ex-Bodyguard Dyumin to Oversee Defense of Kursk Region, Lawmaker Says

President Vladimir Putin appointed his aide and former bodyguard Alexei Dyumin to oversee Russia’s military response to the Ukrainian offensive in the Kursk region, a federal lawmaker said Tuesday, an apparent confirmation of rumors circulated earlier by Russian military bloggers. “Indeed, Alexei Gennadyevich Dyumin was summoned yesterday and tasked with supervising the counterterrorist operation,” State…

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Kadyrov’s Troops Draw Pro-War Bloggers’ Ire for Kursk Border Defense Failures

Chechen special service units deployed to Russia’s border region of Kursk to repel the Ukrainian incursion are coming under strong criticism from pro-war military bloggers who accuse Ramzan Kadyrov’s men of insubordination, desertion and collaboration with the Ukrainian army.  Kyiv’s daring assault entered its second week on Tuesday with Ukraine claiming control of approximately 1,000…

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Russian Army Employee Arrested for Allegedly Passing Secrets to Kyiv

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested an employee of a military unit in southern Russia for allegedly passing information to Ukraine, state media reported Tuesday. The woman, a resident of the city of Rostov-on-Don, reportedly joined a unit in the Southern Military District in January 2023. There, she gathered “information on arsenals, bases and depots,” the…

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Devastated By Russian Strike, Kyiv’s Largest Children’s Hospital Starts Long Road to Reconstruction

KYIV — Before it was ripped apart by a Russian missile strike last month, the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital treated about 700 patients daily.  Today, Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital operates at roughly 60% capacity. One month after the devastating strike that killed at least 42 people, including five children, global headlines have moved on. Yet for…

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