Georgia’s EU Accession Frozen, Says Brussels’ Envoy to Tbilisi

The European Union has halted Georgia’s accession talks amid strained ties over Tbilisi’s controversial “foreign influence” law, the bloc’s top diplomat in the South Caucasus country said Tuesday. “Regrettably, Georgia’s EU accession process is stopped for now — this has been decided by EU leaders during the last European Council,” said EU Ambassador to Tbilisi Pawel…

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Kremlin Says Will Follow NATO Summit Closely

A Kremlin spokesman on Tuesday said that Russia will follow closely a NATO summit about to open in Washington, attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other world leaders. Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, told journalists that Moscow would follow “with the greatest attention… the rhetoric at the talks and the decisions that…

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Russian Tycoons Earn $11.3Bln in Dividends Amid Wartime Economic Boom – Bloomberg

At least a dozen Russian oligarchs received more than 1 trillion rubles ($11.3 billion) in dividends in 2023 as the country saw a sharp wartime economic rebound, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing data compiled from publicly disclosed information. The earnings underscore how the Russian economy has adapted to the punishing Western sanctions imposed in response to the…

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WhatsApp Disrupted in Dagestan to Stop Spread of Extremism – TASS

Authorities in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Dagestan are slowing access to WhatsApp over the platform’s refusal to curb the spread of “calls to participate in extremist actions,” the state news agency TASS reported Monday, citing an unidentified source. Users in Dagestan began experiencing disruptions with access to WhatsApp on Sunday, with additional reports saying…

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Black-Market Database of Leaked Info Lists Russian Wartime Emigres – Agentstvo

A provider of stolen personal data sold on the black market has compiled a list of Russians who left the country following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the independent investigative news outlet Agentstvo reported Sunday. The database lists individuals who left for more than two months between 2022 and 2024, Agentstvo said, without indicating how many names…

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FSB Claims to Foil Ukrainian, NATO Attempt to Hijack Strategic Bomber

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Monday it had prevented an attempt by Ukraine to hijack a missile-carrying strategic bomber. In the process, the FSB claimed it gained intelligence to help Russia’s military strike Ukrainian territory. “The FSB has stopped another Ukrainian special services attempt to carry out an operation to hijack the Tu-22M3 long-range strategic…

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Russian Wrestlers Reject Olympics Invitation

Russian wrestlers who were given permission to participate in this summer’s Olympic Games have rejected the invitation, the Russian Wrestling Federation said Saturday. After initially barring Russian athletes from the Games over Moscow’s war on Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has moved to allow a handful of Russian athletes to take part under a neutral…

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Jailed Kremlin Critic Kara-Murza Transferred to Prison Hospital, Lawyers Denied Access

Jailed Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza has been transferred to a prison hospital and his lawyers were denied access to their client, his wife said Friday. Kara-Murza, 42, suffers from health problems that his wife Evgenia and lawyers say are directly related to alleged attempts to poison him. Russian authorities have refused to investigate the incidents in 2015…

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Russian University Launches ‘Social Rating’ Platform

Russia’s State Social University (RSSU) has launched a “social rating” platform that claims to build a person’s “social portrait” with possible applications in future government policies. Named “We,” the platform promises to determine a user’s comparative “social status” based on a survey that includes questions about income, family status, benefits, creditworthiness, criminal record, lifestyle and…

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YouTube Bans Pro-War Russian Artists

Video-sharing website YouTube blocked the channels of several Russian singers and artists who support the country’s war in Ukraine on Thursday, following an appeal from the Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission (LRTK). The accounts of singers Yaroslav Dronov (who goes by Shaman) and Polina Gagarina were among those suspended.  “My YouTube channel was blocked because…

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Moscow Scraps Paper Ballots in Favor of Online Voting

Election officials in Moscow have scrapped paper ballots in favor of online voting at an upcoming vote for the Russian capital’s legislative assembly, state news agencies reported Thursday. Watchdogs and researchers say Russia’s opaque online voting system enables electoral fraud by making independent monitoring impossible. Moscow’s election commission voted 12-1 to make electronic voting the default way…

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Russia Moves to Ban Lawmakers From Unauthorized Foreign Travel

A bill introduced to Russia’s lower-house State Duma Thursday outlining a formal ban against unauthorized foreign travel for Russian senators and deputies has been passed. The Kremlin said in April that Russian officials face various restrictions on their ability to travel abroad. Reuters reported at the time that Russian officials across state bodies faced “chaotic” travel rules…

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Kremlin Officials Wishing for a Trump Victory — While Claiming Otherwise

Russia’s leadership is following the U.S. presidential campaign in private with excitement and interest — and are rooting for their favorite candidate, Donald Trump, to win, three government and presidential administration officials, three Foreign Ministry officials, former officials and two sources from Russia’s business elite told The Moscow Times. Officials in the Kremlin, the government…

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Ukraine, ‘Russian Legion’ Claim April Arson Attack on Kaliningrad Warship

Ukraine’s military intelligence and a pro-Kyiv paramilitary unit composed of Russian nationals claimed responsibility for damaging a Russian warship in the Baltic Sea region of Kaliningrad. In April, Ukraine’s military intelligence published a video of the Serpukhov guided missile corvette, stationed in the Kaliningrad region city of Baltiysk, catching fire from the inside. At the time it…

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Russian Priest’s Sons Jailed Up to 17.5 Years for Trying to Join Ukraine Army

Russia has sentenced three sons of a Russian priest to up to 17.5 years in prison for attempting to join the Ukrainian army, the independent news website Mediazona reported Wednesday. Ioann Ashcheulov, 24, Alexei Ashcheulov, 20 and Timofey Ashcheulov, 19, were detained in July 2023 while attempting to cross the Russian-Ukrainian border. The brothers, whose father…

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Russia Votes to Suspend OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Participation

Russian lawmakers on Wednesday voted to suspend Moscow’s participation in the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) parliamentary assembly, branding it anti-Russian and discriminatory. Both chambers of Russia’s rubber-stamp parliament — the State Duma and Federation Council — voted unanimously to cease participation in the body during sessions on Wednesday. The Federation Council,…

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China Developing Attack Drone Modeled on Iran’s Shahed for Russia – Bloomberg

Chinese and Russian companies are developing and testing an attack drone modeled on the Iranian-made Shahed for shipment to Russia, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing anonymous European officials familiar with the matter. Although the name of the unmanned aircraft under development has not been revealed, Bloomberg says reports by Chinese defense websites and media outlets suggest…

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Russia’s FSB Says Arrested French Citizen Was Collecting Military Information

Russia’s FSB security service said Wednesday that a French citizen arrested in Moscow last month was collecting military information that could be used by foreign intelligence agencies to harm Russia. Laurent Vinatier, a researcher with a Swiss conflict mediation NGO, was arrested on charges of breaching Russia’s “foreign agents” law in June, the latest case…

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Anti-Kremlin Protester Jailed for ‘Russian Warship, Go F**k Yourself’ Tattoo

A Russian anti-government protester has been jailed and fined for violating wartime censorship laws with his tattoo of the viral phrase “Russian warship, go f**k yourself,” media reported Tuesday. Authorities detained Stepan Zimin after pro-war bloggers published a video of him with the tattoo, which bears the phrase that became a rallying cry for Ukrainian resistance against…

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