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Russian authorities have opened at least 190 criminal cases against Wagner mercenaries who were pardoned in exchange for fighting in Ukraine, the independent media outlet Vyorstka reported Monday. Russia’s Defense Ministry and the Wagner mercenary group have recruited heavily from Russian prisons to bolster their manpower in Ukraine, promising convicts a pardon in exchange for military…

Foreign shareholders have suspended their participation in Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project due to U.S. sanctions, the Kommersant business daily reported Monday, citing anonymous government sources. The United States in November issued sanctions on Arctic LNG as part of broader measures targeting Russia’s future energy production and other areas over its invasion of Ukraine. The European Union…

A fire erupted on board Russia’s Sevmorput nuclear-powered cargo ship, authorities said Monday, adding that the blaze was quickly extinguished. Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said it had dispatched crews to vessel manager Atomflot’s base outside the Arctic city of Murmansk late on Sunday. “It was established there was a fire in one of the Sevmorput cabins spanning…

Hundreds of supporters of Igor Girkin, a jailed former commander of Russian-backed fighters in Ukraine, rallied in Moscow Sunday to back his bid to stand for president. Better known by his alias Igor Strelkov, Girkin was a key leader of separatist fighters in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine in 2014. The nationalist…

Iran has summoned Russia’s envoy to protest a recent statement by Moscow and Arab countries calling for talks over three islands controlled by Tehran but claimed by the United Arab Emirates. The summoning of Moscow’s charge d’affaires came days after Iran’s key ally Russia signed a joint declaration with Arab countries which “supported peaceful solutions…

Two suspects have been detained in Riga following a grenade attack at a bar where journalists from the BBC Russian service had gathered, Latvian police said Sunday. While police claimed the motive was a “personal” conflict with the bar’s owners, many have speculated that it was a targeted intimidation effort against the journalists. An unidentified…

Russian bombardment killed four people and injured nine over 24 hours in the frontline southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, a regional official said Sunday. Russian forces fired 71 shells at Kherson from Saturday to Sunday morning, hitting the city center, residential areas, medical and educational institutions and “critical infrastructure facilities,” the region’s governor Oleksandr Prokudin…

ST. PETERSBURG — A pair of tall drag queens is performing on a stage, cracking jokes and interacting with the only three guests who have come to this gay bar on a Thursday night. The entrance to this renowned venue is marked only by a nondescript metal door in a dimly lit courtyard. “We could…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been telegraphing a readiness to discuss a ceasefire in his nearly two-year war on Ukraine through diplomatic backchannels, The New York Times reported Saturday. The report comes as the 22-month Russian invasion of Ukraine has effectively ground to a stalemate, Western aid for Kyiv is at risk of drying up…

The Communist Party of Russia, the second-largest party in parliament, on Saturday selected a 75-year-old to stand next March in presidential polls against Vladimir Putin. At a party congress in the Moscow region, the members held a single-candidate vote backing Nikolai Kharitonov. He won just under 14% of the national vote when he stood against…

Independent Russian presidential candidate Yekaterina Duntsova will not be permitted to appear on the ballot in the March 2024 vote after the Central Election Commission (CEC) rejected her nomination documents. Duntsova, 40, a journalist and local politician from the Tver region northwest of Moscow, announced her bid for the presidency in November on a pro-peace,…

Ukraine’s military said it has shot down three Russian fighter-bombers in the south of the country. Air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said the Su-34 jets were downed around noon on Friday. In his announcement he noted a message found on a downed Russian drone which read “Die, bitches.” “Great idea! Here is our response!” he…

Police on Friday detained the deputy director of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos over the suspected embezzlement of 4.3 million euros ($4.7 million) from the crisis-hit sector. Oleg Frolov and two other suspects are accused of a “large-scale fraud,” said a statement from the Russian investigative committee, which handles major criminal investigations. “Frolov, using his official…

A man in the Russian city of Saratov has been detained on suspicion of arson after the door of a museum dedicated to the war in Ukraine was set on fire, the ASTRA Telegram news channel reported Friday.  ASTRA identified the detainee as 21-year-old Saratov resident Maxim Kim and said no injuries had been reported in the early…

The leader of Armenian separatists, who were ousted from the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan this year, on Friday said his previous decree ordering the dissolution of separatist institutions was not valid. The statement appeared to undo a historic move by the separatists to dissolve the disputed territory that was at the center of two costly wars…

The United States said Friday it will impose sanctions on foreign banks that support Russia’s war in Ukraine, in a new bid to exert pressure on Moscow as it diversifies from the West to China. Under an executive order signed by President Joe Biden, the United States will slap so-called secondary sanctions against financial institutions…

Russian authorities have charged exiled liberal opposition politician Leonid Gozman with violating the country’s wartime censorship laws, the state-run TASS news agency reported Friday, citing an anonymous law enforcement source. Gozman is reportedly accused of spreading “fake news” about the Russian military’s actions in Ukraine. “He posted distorted statements about the leadership of Russia and the…

On Dec. 8, President Vladimir Putin, 71, announces his candidacy for a fifth term. Putin and Lieutenant Colonel Artyom Zhoga Artyom Zhoga, a former separatist fighter in eastern Ukraine, are seen after a ceremony to award Gold Star medals to people honored with the title of Hero of Russia, at the St. George’s Hall of…

Russian air defense systems have downed a Ukrainian drone approaching Moscow for at least the second time this week, the Defense Ministry said Friday. The Russian military referred to the afternoon drone incursion as “an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack.” Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the unmanned aircraft was shot down on…

A court in Russia’s republic of Bashkortostan has sentenced ethnic Bashkir activist Ramilya Saitova to five years in prison over an anti-war video, local media reported Thursday.  Saitova, 57, recorded and published a video appeal calling on Bashkir soldiers and mobilized men to refuse to fight during Russia’s partial military mobilization in the fall of…

Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s dramatic death by plane crash was ordered by Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin and former spy, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing Western intelligence agencies and a Russian intelligence officer. The Kremlin has denied a role in the deaths of Prigozhin and…

President Vladimir Putin has ordered the seizure of Russia’s largest car dealership from exiled former lawmaker and billionaire Sergei Petrov, a presidential decree said Thursday. Shares in the Rolf dealership will be transferred from the Cypriot company Delance Limited and Rolf Motors to Russia’s Federal Property Management Agency (Rosimushchestvo), according to the document. This appears to…

Russian officials and pro-war activists have slammed a star-studded “almost naked” party hosted by media personality Anastasia Ivleeva for going against the country’s conservative values. Footage from the party at Mutabor, a popular Moscow nightclub, on Wednesday showed scantily clad pop stars Filipp Kirkorov, Lolita and Dima Bilan, as well as TV host and 2018…

The White House said Thursday it was preparing a new proposal to Russia to seek the release of two imprisoned Americans after Moscow rejected an earlier attempt. “We’re working hard to see what we can do to get another proposal that might be more successful,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters. The State…

The Kremlin and the Defense Ministry plan to continue their campaign to recruit contract servicemen for the Russian army next year, our sources have said.  Russia’s regions have already received the 2024 contract soldier recruitment plan from Moscow, and its quota is approximately the same as in 2023, a high-ranking source familiar with the military…

A Russian court Thursday condemned a former minister and ally of ex-president Dmitry Medvedev to 12 years in prison for embezzlement and criminal conspiracy. Mikhail Abyzov was also fined 80 million rubles ($860,000) by the Moscow court, according to Russian media reports. One of his lawyers, Arthur Bolshakov, told the TASS news agency that he…

Russian authorities have issued arrest warrants for two exiled associates of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the independent Mediazona news website reported Thursday. The Interior Ministry’s database of wanted persons lists investigator Maria Pevchikh and Navalny YouTube channel host Dmitry Nizovtsev, both of whom live outside Russia. The database does not indicate which criminal charges Pevchikh and…

Russia on Thursday handed long jail sentences to a Ukrainian man and another individual for financing an ultranationalist group in Ukraine by selling illegal drugs. Thousands of Russians have been detained for protesting Russia’s large-scale military campaign against Ukraine and authorities have handed out long jail terms to people accused of providing material support to…

A 34-year-old man died in hospital after being hit by a falling ice block while standing in line at the Lyubertsy military enlistment office in the Moscow region, the local prosecutor’s office said Thursday. The accident on Wednesday left three other people injured, prompting investigators to open a criminal case of causing death by negligence.…

Kazakhstan will extradite Russian cybersecurity expert Nikita Kislitsin to face hacking and extortion charges in his home country, Moscow’s Prosecutor General’s Office announced Thursday.  Kislitsin was detained in the Central Asian country in June following an extradition request from the United States, which accused him of buying personal data obtained through the 2012 hack of the…

Russian authorities have opened a record number of treason cases in 2023, the human rights project Perviy Otdel, which specializes in cases under investigation by the Federal Security Service (FSB), said Thursday. A historical maximum of 70 cases have been submitted to courts, 63 of which were for high treason. Seven others were for “confidential cooperation…

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 2024 campaign headquarters has opened its doors in Moscow one week after he gave an end-of-the-year marathon press conference there, state media reported Thursday. The campaign headquarters at the Gostiny Dvor venue near the Kremlin is open to visitors on weekdays during working hours, according to the news broadcaster Rossia 1. The headquarters…

Russia’s Embassy in Yerevan denounced Thursday the temporary suspension of Russian broadcaster Sputnik’s local branch over “offensive” comments a presenter made about Armenia on air. The commission responsible for television and radio announced late Wednesday that the license of Tospa, the broadcaster of Sputnik Armenia, was being suspended for 30 days after remarks by the…

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been missing for over two weeks, with his team saying his health and life could be in danger. Navalny, 47, has not appeared at a number of scheduled court hearings this month and his lawyers last met with him on Dec. 5, Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh told The Moscow…

Among the nations condemning Israel’s war in Gaza, one has stood out — Russia had built a growing friendship with Israel, but that dalliance is over, analysts said, erased by the shifting sands of Middle East geopolitics. Just under two years ago, the picture had been very different. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022,…

Former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan says he feels “abandoned” and betrayed by his country after being imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges, the BBC said in an interview published Wednesday. Whelan, 53, has been behind bars since 2018 and is serving a 16-year sentence for spying, a charge the U.S. government says is without merit.…

A member of the Russian military’s Storm-Z penal unit has alleged widespread corruption among commanders in the Ukraine war, the independent news outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe reported Wednesday. Officers regularly extort up to 20,000 rubles ($220) in exchange for releasing troops from so-called “punishment pits” in the ground where they are placed for various infractions, the…

A European Union court has dismissed Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich’s challenge to remove war-related sanctions against him, the Court of Justice of the EU said Wednesday. The EU included Abramovich in its sanctions list in March 2022, one month after Russia invaded Ukraine, for his alleged ties to President Vladimir Putin and contributions to Russia’s war…

The Russian military will not impose a one-year service limit for mobilized soldiers despite requests from the soldiers’ families, St. Petersburg opposition politician Boris Vishnevsky said Wednesday. Vishnevsky, a veteran Kremlin critic and member of the St. Petersburg legislative assembly, said his request on behalf of the soldiers’ relatives for Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to back…

The Russian Football Association on Wednesday voted against leaving UEFA to join the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), despite having been banned from the European body over the conflict in Ukraine. “We decided that we will not move to Asia. Everyone supported the decision unanimously,” Vice-President of the Russian Football Union Akhmed Aydamirov said, according to…

A Russian left-wing activist has been sentenced to two years in jail for “extremism” after being detained in Kyrgyzstan, the Moscow court system said late Tuesday. Alyona Krylova was among three Russian anti-war activists arrested by authorities in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, this summer. One of the activists was fined and released from…

German federal prosecutors said Wednesday they aim to seize hundreds of millions of euros from an unnamed Russian bank as part of a Western crackdown over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The federal public prosecutor’s office said in a statement it had filed a motion before a court in the German financial capital Frankfurt requesting “independent…

A Russian music channel has been fined for displaying “LGBT propaganda” by airing a music video by popular pro-war singer Nikolai Baskov, the independent Vyorstka news website reported Wednesday. Moscow’s Tagansky District Court determined that the video for Baskov’s 2012 single “Strannik” (Wanderer), which depicts an imagined orgy in the Roman Empire, contains “signs of…

Sixteen candidates have filed to run for Russia’s presidency next year, officials said Wednesday, in an election that is expected to easily hand Vladimir Putin a fifth term. Moscow has for years sidelined opposition figures from elections and political life, a clampdown that accelerated after the Kremlin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in 2022. “So…

President Vladimir Putin has ordered the revival of Soviet-era Athletes Parades on Red Square.  The government has been instructed to prepare proposals for the parades by March 2024, according to the order published on the Kremlin website. The Soviet Union regularly held these parades on Red Square beginning in 1919 as a way of promoting…

Russian lawmakers will lose their free gas privileges for ignoring President Vladimir Putin’s calls to stop driving foreign cars, the pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia reported Wednesday, citing a senior member of Russia’s lower house of parliament.  Putin ordered officials in August to support sanctions-hit domestic carmakers by giving up foreign-made vehicles. Senior State Duma officials notified executive authorities in Russia’s…

Ukraine said nine people, including four children, were wounded by Russian shelling in the southern city of Kherson as drones also targeted the capital Kyiv and the second-largest city Kharkiv. “During the evening shelling of Kherson by the Russian occupiers, nine people were injured, four of them were children,” said Roman Mrochko, head of Kherson,…

Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Wednesday for a “severe” response to foreign agents who aim to destabilize Russia by aiding Ukraine. “The Kyiv regime with direct support of foreign special services has taken the path of terrorist methods, practically state terrorism,” Putin said in a video address. “These are acts of sabotage against civilian…

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that there was no end in sight to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as fatigue builds among Kyiv’s allies nearly two years into the war and the Kremlin voices growing confidence of victory. Zelensky said he had turned down a request from the military — for now — to mobilize as many…