Ex-Russian Military Construction Head Arrested for Abuse of Power – Kommersant

The former head of the Russian military’s construction company has been arrested on abuse of power charges, the Kommersant business daily reported late Wednesday, citing anonymous government sources familiar with the matter. Andrei Belkov headed the Defense Ministry’s chief military construction authority for special facilities until 2021, when he was picked to head the newly…

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Russian Attack Helicopter Crashes Southwest of Moscow, Killing Crew

A military attack helicopter crashed in an uninhabited area of central Russia, killing the entire crew, authorities said early Thursday. “A Mi–28 helicopter crashed in the Zhizdrinsky district,” Kaluga region Governor Vladislav Shapsha said. “A task force and rescuers are working at the crash site.” The Zhizdrinsky district, located in the central Kaluga region, is around…

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Wildberries Founder Announces Divorce as Husband Enlists Kadyrov to Fight ‘Hostile Takeover’

Russia’s wealthiest woman Tatiana Bakalchuk has announced that she is divorcing her husband and business partner Vladislav Bakalchuk, who is seeking the help of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov to fight what he characterized as a “hostile takeover” of the leading online retailer Wildberries. “I confirm the start of divorce proceedings,” Tatiana Bakalchuk, who founded Wildberries in…

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‘No One Needs Your English Single’: Anti-War Russian Performers Grapple With Staying Relevant in Exile

“Stop sinking and think of your income, my star. Overseas you’re going to rot in a stinking backyard. No one needs your English single in the Anglophone world.”  These are the lyrics of “Kalinka,” the first English-language track by popular rapper-in-exile Noize MC. The song captures the struggles of the many Russian artists, musicians and…

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Russia Bans Entry of Top Japanese Business Execs

Russia has banned the head of Toyota and 12 other senior Japanese business figures from entering the country, prompting a protest from authorities in Tokyo on Wednesday. The list, published by Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, includes Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda, Rakuten chief Hiroshi Mikitani and Akihiko Tanaka, president of the government-backed Japan International Cooperation…

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Russian Arrested Over ‘Destabilization’ Plot for Paris Olympics – Prosecutors

French police on Tuesday arrested a Russian man suspected of plotting acts of “destabilization” during the Paris Olympics, prosecutors said. The man, born in 1984, was held in custody and placed under judicial investigation on suspicion of “organizing events likely to lead to destabilization during the Olympic Games,” a source in the state prosecution service,…

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Russian Lawmakers Pass Bill Expanding ‘Undesirable’ Label to Include State-Affiliated Orgs

Lawmakers in Russia’s lower-house State Duma voted Tuesday to expand the criteria for blacklisting organizations as “undesirable” to include any entity affiliated with a foreign government. The 2015 law, initially aimed at foreign-funded NGOs, has gradually been extended to target independent news outlets, human rights groups, environmental organizations and educational institutions. The recent amendments would empower Russia’s…

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Igor Sechin: Realignment of routes to Asia-Pacific markets and stable oil exports ensure resilience of the Russian economy

The reorganisation of logistics routes to Asia-Pacific markets and stable oil exports have played a major role in ensuring the sustainability of the Russian economy, said Igor Sechin, Executive Secretary of the Presidential Commission on the Strategy for the Development of the Fuel and Energy Complex and Environmental Safety, Chief Executive Officer of Rosneft

Moscow City Offers 1.9 Mln Ruble Bonus to Newly Recruited Contract Soldiers

The Moscow city government announced Tuesday that it will offer newly enlisted contract soldiers an extra one-time payment of 1.9 million rubles ($21,783) as Russia continues to face an acute manpower shortage in the war on Ukraine. Moscow’s mayor’s office said all local and national-level support measures previously introduced for soldiers and their families would…

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Igor Sechin: The West overestimated the impact of its pressure on the powerful potential of the Russian and Chinese economies

Western countries have overestimated the effectiveness of their pressure on the potential of the Russian and Chinese economies; all efforts to curb growth have the opposite effect, said Igor Sechin, Executive Secretary of the Russian Presidential Commission on the Strategy for the Development of the Fuel and Energy Complex and Environmental Safety, Chief Executive Officer…

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Exiled Russian Journalist Mikhail Zygar Jailed 8.5 Years in Absentia for Bucha ‘Fakes’

A Moscow court has sentenced exiled journalist Mikhail Zygar to eight-and-a-half years in prison in absentia for spreading so-called “fake” information about the Russian military’s actions in Ukraine, the independent Mediazona news website reported Tuesday. The criminal case against Zygar stems from his April 2022 Instagram post in which he spoke about the Russian army’s atrocities against…

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Putin Transfers Seized TGK-2 Utility to Gazprom

President Vladimir Putin has ordered the transfer of the nationalized power-generating company TGK-2 to a subsidiary of Russian state-owned gas monopoly Gazprom. TGK-2 is one of northwestern Russia’s largest thermal power companies with 12 plants, 30 boiler houses and four heat network enterprises spanning six regions. A court in the city of Yaroslavl northeast of Moscow ruled…

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Russian Army Says Killed 50 ‘Western Instructors’ in Missile Attack

A Russian ballistic missile attack on northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region killed dozens of Western military instructors, state media reported on Tuesday, citing Russia’s Defense Ministry. “[An] Iskander-M missile defense system launched an attack on the temporary deployment point of instructors and mercenaries from Western countries in the locality of Derhachi, Kharkiv region,” the state-run TASS…

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Rejecting Kremlin Propaganda’s ‘Russophobia’ Claims, Russian Exiles in Warsaw Hope for a Bright Future

WARSAW, Poland — “Poland has never been a popular immigration destination for Russians,” says Alexandr Menyukov, a Warsaw-based coordinator of Kovcheg, an international group supporting Russian wartime emigres and activists.  “This is, perhaps, understandable, because in Russian propagandists’ list of enemies Poland ranks second after the U.S. It even seems like Russia is fighting the…

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‘Worse Than a Monkey With a Grenade’: Russian State TV Reacts to Biden’s Withdrawal, Harris’s Presidential Bid

Russian state-run TV channels mocked the United States presidential election after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race on Sunday and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s new nominee. Vladimir Solovyov, the host of a popular evening talk show broadcast on the Rossiya 1 channel and one of the Kremlin’s most loyal…

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Indonesia Seeks to Buy Russian Oil for the First Time in Decade – Reuters

Indonesia’s state-owned oil and natural gas corporation Pertamina is looking to purchase Russian oil for the first time in more than a decade, Reuters reported on Monday, citing three anonymous traders familiar with the matter. As Southeast Asia’s largest economy, Indonesia stepped back from buying Russian oil following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but the country…

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Russia Sentences U.S.-Russian Journalist Alsu Kurmasheva to 6.5 Years in Prison – AP

A court in the republic of Tatarstan has sentenced Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva to six-and-a-half years in prison for spreading “fakes” about the army, the Associated Press reported on Monday, citing court records and a court spokeswoman. Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian citizen who works for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), was arrested in October of last…

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Russian Spending on Cemetery Expansion Triples Since Ukraine Invasion

Читайте русскую версию здесь. Russian regions’ spending on cemetery expansion projects was nearly three times higher during the first two years of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine than it was during the two years prior, The Moscow Times has found.  According to data from the official state procurement portal, Russia’s regions spent more than 225…

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Liquor Store in Southern Russia Explodes

A gas explosion ripped through storefronts in southern Russia’s Krasnodar region, injuring at least four people, investigators said Monday. “Building structures collapsed in the city of Apsheronsk as a result of the explosion of a gas-air mixture early this morning,” Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said in a statement. Videos published by independent…

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Russia’s FSB Says Dismantled Explosives Smuggling Channel From Italy, Germany

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced Monday that it dismantled a channel for smuggling explosives and detonators into St. Petersburg from Europe, allegedly intended for carrying out terrorist attacks. “The terrorist weapons were transported in several packages in stages from Italy and Germany and were hidden in spare car parts,” the law enforcement agency said…

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Kremlin Says Watching U.S. Election After Biden’s Exit, But Focused on Ukraine War

Updated with Peskov’s comments on Monday. The Kremlin said late Sunday that it would continue to follow the 2024 U.S. presidential election after President Joe Biden made a surprise announcement to withdraw from the race, but otherwise stressed that Moscow’s main priority is progress in its ongoing war against Ukraine. “The [U.S.] election is still four…

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A Priest, a Pianist and a Spy: Russia’s Latest “Foreign Agent” Designations

Authorities in Russia on Friday designated a Grammy-winning pianist, a priest who helps Ukrainian refugees and a former Soviet spy as “foreign agents,” the latest update to Moscow’s burgeoning list of individuals it deems as enemies of the state. Hundreds of cultural figures, journalists, businesspeople, as well as news outlets and organizations, have been branded “foreign…

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