Ukraine Says Attacked Military Air Base in Russia’s Lipetsk Region

Ukraine’s military said early Friday that it hit a Russian airfield in the Lipetsk region in an overnight strike that destroyed ammunition warehouses. “Last night, the Ukrainian Defence Forces attacked the Lipetsk airfield,” Ukraine’s General Staff said, adding that they struck “warehouses with guided aerial bombs and a number of other facilities.” The overnight attack…

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Putin Signs Law Banning Foreign State-Funded Orgs as ‘Undesirable’

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a law expanding legislation on “undesirable” organizations to include state-sponsored entities in addition to non-governmental organizations. Since introducing their “undesirable” list in 2015 to crack down on foreign-funded NGOs, Russian authorities have expanded the law to target independent news outlets, human rights groups, environmental organizations and educational institutions. Under the…

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Widespread YouTube Outages Reported Across Russia

Users across Russia reported widespread outages of YouTube on Thursday, just weeks after Russian authorities criticized the video streaming platform for what they described as anti-Kremlin actions. The online monitoring service Sboi.rf reported receiving around 12,000 complaints about YouTube within a 10-minute period. Downdetector, another outage tracking service, reported that three-quarters of the complaints it…

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Prosecutors Seek 15-Year Sentence for U.S.-Russian Woman Accused of Treason

A Message from The Moscow Times: Dear readers, We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has designated The Moscow Times as an “undesirable” organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a “foreign agent.” These actions are direct attempts to silence independent…

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Russian Customs Authorities Seize ‘Banned’ Zelensky Biography

Russian customs authorities seized Time correspondent Simon Shuster’s bestselling biography of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at an airport in Moscow, state media reported Wednesday. Expertise carried out at Sheremetyevo International Airport determined that Shuster’s “The Showman” is banned from crossing the customs border of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union, according to the RIA Novosti news…

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Putin Blasts ‘Indiscriminate’ Ukrainian Incursion Into Border Region

President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Ukraine was carrying out “indiscriminate” attacks on civilians during cross-border incursions into southwestern Russia’s Kursk region that triggered a regionwide state of emergency. “The Kyiv regime has launched another large-scale provocation, firing indiscriminately with various types of weapons, including rockets, at civilian buildings, houses and ambulances,” Putin told government…

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‘Why Did Our State Allow This?’: Russians in Border Region Slam Officials’ Inaction as Ukrainian Forces Attack

Residents of Russia’s Kursk region bordering Ukraine are appealing to authorities for help with evacuating and accusing them of taking insufficient action as an apparent attack by Kyiv’s forces continued for a second day. While armed militants from Ukraine have conducted multiple incursions into Russia’s border regions since last year in retaliation to Moscow’s full-scale invasion…

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Russian Army Says Clashes in Kursk Region Ongoing, Denies Ukrainian Advances

Russia’s Defense Ministry on Wednesday denied reports that Ukrainian forces made significant advances into the southwestern Kursk region amid ongoing clashes along the border. “Air strikes, missile forces, artillery fire and a swift response by units defending the state border in the Kursk region prevented the enemy from advancing deep into the territory of the…

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Russian Foreign Ministry Accuses Ukraine of Opening ‘Second Front’ in Africa

Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman on Wednesday accused Ukraine of opening a “second front” in Africa after Mali and Niger broke off diplomatic relations with Kyiv. “Unable to defeat Russia on the battlefield, the criminal regime of Volodymyr Zelensky has opened a second front in Africa,” spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the RIA Novosti news agency. Zakharova…

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Russia Says Downed Drones, Missiles Over Kursk Region Amid Border Incursion

Ukraine lobbed missiles and drones at southwestern Russia’s Kursk region overnight, the local governor said Wednesday, a day after pro-Kyiv forces stormed across the border with tanks and armored vehicles. “Two Ukrainian missiles were shot down by air defense systems in the Kursk region,” acting governor Alexei Smirnov wrote on Telegram, adding that three drones…

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Russian Ex-Defense Ministry Official Arrested on Bribery Charges

A former Russian military official responsible for overseeing clothing supplies was arrested on bribery charges, law enforcement authorities announced Tuesday. Vladimir Demchik, who holds the rank of colonel in Russia’s reserve forces, oversaw the defense ministry’s clothing department until April 2018. Investigators accuse Demchik of accepting 4 million rubles ($46,700) in bribes from the CEO…

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ROSATOM Started Pilot Commercial Production of New Gen Fuel Cladding

Chepetsk Mechanical Plant, Joint-Stock Company (Chepetsk Mechanical Plant, JSC, a company of Rosatom Fuel Division in Glazov, Udmurtia Republic) arranged a pilot floor for commercial production of fuel claddings with chromium coating. This structural material is a possible solution for creating fuel of a new safety generation (ATF – Advanced Technology Fuel). The technology makes…

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Ukrainian Drone Strike on Russia’s Belgorod Region Kills 1

A man was killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on southwestern Russia’s Belgorod region, authorities said early Tuesday. Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the attack took place in the village of Novostroyevka-Vtoraya, which lies directly on the border with northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.  “A Ukrainian military drone struck a moving vehicle,” Gladkov said, adding that…

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Head of Russian Army’s Theme Park, Major General Arrested on Fraud Charges

The head of the Russian military’s theme park and a senior defense ministry official were arrested for allegedly embezzling public funds, law enforcement authorities said Monday, the latest detentions in a growing military purge that began earlier this year. Investigators said Patriot Park director Vyacheslav Akhmedov and Major General Vladimir Shesterov were “involved in the…

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Anti-War Russian Pianist Dies in Custody

Russian concert pianist and anti-war activist Pavel Kushnir died in police custody after going on hunger strike, his mother confirmed Monday. Friends and activists said last week that Kushnir died at age 39 in a pre-trial detention center in the Jewish autonomous district, a remote region of Russia’s Far East. Federal Security Service (FSB) agents arrested Kushnir…

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Russia’s FSB Says Arrested Recruiters for Syrian Terrorist Network

Russian law enforcement officials said Monday that they arrested two “religious figures” in the Tyumen region who are suspected of recruiting people for terrorist organizations based in Syria. The Federal Security Service (FSB) said its agents “disrupted an international terrorist organization’s resource channel” in cooperation with police and investigators. The two arrested men recruited 19…

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Kissel and the Ancient Art of Pudding

However strange it seems today, our ancestors described ancient kissel (also spelled kisel in English) as being very different from today’s kissel. First of all, they didn’t drink it—they ate it. It was cooked down to a dense consistency. Hence the “kissel shores” celebrated in Russian fairy tales. Second, kissel was not sweet. Its name…

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‘If You Talk, You’ll Go in a Bag’: Freed Russian Political Prisoners Recount Harrowing, Surprising Prison Swap

Sasha Skochilenko did not know what was happening as she was taken from her St. Petersburg prison cell to Moscow, where men in balaclavas escorted her onto a plane with several other prisoners. “We were accompanied by a dozen people in balaclavas,” said the 33-year-old St. Petersburg artist, who was freed Thursday from a seven-year…

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Russian Lawmaker Charged With Ordering Killing of Business Partner

Law enforcement authorities on Friday arrested a senior Russian lawmaker on accusations that he ordered the murder of his business partner. Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said that Senator Dmitry Savelyev “instructed his friend to organize the murder of a businessman” in August 2023. It said law enforcement agents staged that businessman’s murder,…

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Kremlin Says Prisoner Deal ‘Completely Different’ From Ukraine

The Kremlin on Friday said possible talks over the conflict in Ukraine were based on “completely different principles” from negotiations over a prisoner swap deal that saw 24 people freed on Thursday. “If we talk about Ukraine and more complex international problems, there are completely different principles,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked…

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Lukashenko Says Biden Had ‘Nothing to Do With’ Historic Prisoner Exchange

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said Friday that U.S. President Joe Biden had “nothing to do with” the biggest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West since the Cold War. Washington and Moscow carried out a historic prisoner swap on Thursday, with Russian authorities releasing American journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, former U.S. Marine Paul…

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