Prosecutors in the Yaroslavl region are reviewing claims made by mobilized Russian soldiers in Ukraine that their superiors ordered them to retreat and then later threatened them with criminal prosecution for desertion, local media reported on Wednesday. In a video address shared with the pro-war ProGorod news website, around two dozen men in military fatigues…
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The European Parliament has adopted a resolution to establish a special international tribunal that will prosecute Russia’s political and military leadership and its allies for “the crime of aggression against Ukraine.” In a statement Thursday, European MEPs said the tribunal would fill a vacuum in international criminal justice and complement the investigative efforts of the…
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Each year on Jan. 19, Russians celebrate the holiday of the Epiphany, which commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, by dipping into frigid rivers, ponds and lakes across the country. According to tradition, one must dip below the water’s surface three times to symbolize the Holy Trinity. The Kremlin said Thursday that…
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Despite widespread outrage over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, only a small number of Western companies have deserted Russia, according to a Swiss study. Researchers at the University of St. Gallen and at the IMD institute in Lausanne have delved into how many companies based in the European Union and in G7 countries have actually divested…
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Russia’s Health Ministry has asked regional health authorities to recruit doctors and nurses to work in Moscow-occupied regions of Ukraine, according to an internal document published Thursday by journalist Dmitry Kolezev. Regional health officials are asked to provide at least 10 people from each region for “saving lives and people’s health” in the Ukrainian regions…
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The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary force, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Thursday the group could “learn” from Ukraine’s army as battles continue for the key east Ukrainian town of Bakhmut. “The Ukrainian army is working clearly and harmoniously. We have a lot to learn from them,” Prigozhin said in a statement published by his press…
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The Kremlin on Thursday warned of escalation in Ukraine if the West gives the pro-Western country more weapons capable of striking Russia. “Potentially, this is extremely dangerous, it will mean bringing the conflict to a whole new level, which, of course, will not bode well from the point of view of global and pan-European security,”…
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A slain Ukrainian banker with ties to Russia had provided crucial information on Russia’s imminent invasion that helped Ukraine’s military to resist Moscow’s assault on Kyiv, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Denys Kireyev, 45, was an informal member of Ukraine’s negotiating team with Russia when officers from Ukraine’s SBU domestic intelligence agency summoned him…
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Russia’s domestic intelligence agency announced Thursday it has launched an espionage case against a U.S. citizen. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) alleged that the American national “collected intelligence information of a biological nature aimed against Russia’s security.” The FSB did not identify the man by name. It also did not specify when the U.S. citizen was…
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Ukrainian authorities on Thursday were investigating the circumstances surrounding a helicopter crash that killed the country’s interior minister and 13 others. Wednesday’s crash outside Kyiv came as the head of NATO said at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos that allies were set to provide “heavier weapons” to the war-battered country. Ukraine did not…
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The Russian missile strike on a residential apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro last weekend killed at least 45 people — including six children — and left another 20 people missing, making it one of the deadliest attacks since Russia’s invasion of its neighbor began almost a year ago. With any form of…
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had “no doubt” Moscow would emerge victorious in Ukraine on Wednesday, despite military setbacks in the nearly year-long offensive. Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February last year, and in September announced a military mobilization to prop up Moscow’s forces in the country. Despite a number of military…
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday likened Western policies on Russia to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s planned “Final Solution” for Europe’s Jews. Moscow’s top diplomat — whose comments on Hitler and Jews led to President Vladimir Putin issuing a rare apology on his behalf last year — made the comparison at his annual press…
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Russian authorities on Wednesday announced having killed a soldier who left his military base, with state media identifying the man as an armed deserter from fighting in Ukraine. “Dmitry Perov, wanted for the unauthorized abandonment of his military unit, was found and liquidated,” the government of the Lipetsk region in western Russia said on social media.…
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Russia’s largest bank Sberbank is launching operations in Crimea for the first time since Moscow annexed the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, Russian media reported Wednesday, citing the company’s press service. The majority state-owned lender had until now avoided operating in Crimea due to the threat of Western sanctions. But the bank was among the…
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Updates with reduced death toll, adds tributes to the dead. At least 14 people, including Ukraine’s interior minister, have been killed in a helicopter crash outside the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, authorities said Wednesday, in what President Volodymyr Zelensky has called a “terrible tragedy.” The aircraft fell near a kindergarten in the town of Brovary, some 20…
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At least 18 people, including Ukraine’s interior minister, have been killed in a helicopter crash outside the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, authorities said Wednesday, in what President Volodymyr Zelensky has called a “terrible tragedy.” The aircraft fell near a kindergarten in the town of Brovary, some 20 kilometers northeast of Kyiv, while children and staff were inside…
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Several people were detained in Moscow at a makeshift memorial dedicated to victims of Saturday’s deadly missile strike on a Ukrainian residential building, media reported late Tuesday. At least 45 people, including six children, were killed and 20 remain missing after a Russian missile struck an apartment building in the east-central city of Dnipro, in…
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Rescuers called off the search Tuesday for victims of the Russian missile strike on an apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, with 20 people still missing and funerals being held in the grief-stricken community. After the carnage, Ukrainians pressed ahead with talks to obtain more Western weapons, and Ukraine’s army chief Valery Zaluzhny…
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The Serbian government has asked Moscow to end its attempts to recruit Serbs to fight in Ukraine as part of the Wagner mercenary group, Reuters reported on Tuesday. “Why do you, from Wagner, call anyone from Serbia when you know that it is against our laws?” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic asked rhetorically during a TV broadcast late…
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Once a shadowy organization whose very existence was unconfirmed, Russia’s notorious Wagner mercenary group, whose profile has grown exponentially since the war in Ukraine began last year, has now been registered as a joint-stock company in Russia’s second city St. Petersburg, the BBC Russian Service reported on Tuesday. A joint stock company called “PMC Wagner…
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The Kremlin has given major Russian companies permission to disregard the votes of shareholders from so-called “unfriendly” countries this year as a means of combatting the effectiveness of Western sanctions. The decree, signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, stipulates that the regulations apply to big firms in the energy, engineering, and trade sectors…
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Russian independent media outlet Zvezda in the city of Perm consistently uses the word “war” in its coverage of the fighting in Ukraine — defying censorship laws that punish such direct language with crippling fines and even criminal prosecution. Despite the risks, some of the outlet’s staff remain inside Russia. But the small outlet has…
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An accidental grenade blast in a Russian region bordering Ukraine has led to at least seven deaths, the Interfax news agency reported Tuesday. “Four dead have been found among the missing. The number of victims has increased to seven people,” the emergency services told Interfax. It added that the search for four more people was…
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Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on Tuesday vowed to continue his political activism on the two-year anniversary of his return to Russia and subsequent imprisonment. Navalny, 46, was arrested upon arrival at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on Jan. 17, 2021, after recovering in Germany from a near-fatal 2020 poisoning he blames on the Kremlin. Western scientists identified…
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Russian governors and party leaders in several regions have informally restricted local officials from traveling abroad following controversy over civil servants’ wartime visits to luxury resorts overseas, the Kommersant daily reported Tuesday. Two regional deputies faced public backlash, including from a top official at Russia’s ruling party, after footage of their New Year’s holidays in Mexico and…
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The trial in absentia of Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya opened in Minsk on Tuesday, state news agency Belta reported, as strongman Alexander Lukashenko pursues critics that challenged his last election. Tikhanovskaya, who claimed victory in 2020 presidential elections, faces a litany of charges including high treason, “conspiracy to seize power” and creating and leading an…
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Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited the command headquarters of a group of forces deployed in Ukraine, where he discussed materiel needs and handed out awards, the military said Tuesday. Shoigu inspected the Vostok group of forces days after the Defense Ministry claimed the capture of eastern Ukraine’s Soledar and army Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov…
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Tennis Australia on Tuesday banned Russian and Belarusian flags at the Australian Open after Ukraine’s ambassador demanded action when they were seen among the crowd. Moscow called the ban an “unacceptable politicization of sports.” The red, white and blue stripes of Russia were held up by fans during Monday’s first-round clash between Ukraine’s Kateryna Baindl…
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The toll from a devastating strike on the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro was expected to rise past 40 on Tuesday as rescuers searched the rubble for 25 people still missing after one of Russia’s deadliest attacks since its invasion. President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the missile strike as a war crime. “There is no doubt: every…
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Russia has produced the first set of Poseidon nuclear-capable super torpedoes, state-run news agency TASS reported on Monday, citing an unidentified source in the military. The first batch of the long-anticipated Poseidon super torpedoes was produced for use by the Belgorod special-purpose nuclear submarine, a source close to the military told TASS. “The first set…
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A new exhibition entitled “U.S.S.R. 100” at Moscow’s New Tretyakov Gallery marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Soviet Union, albeit at a fairly awkward time given Russia’s ongoing invasion of another former Soviet republic and Russian society’s deep polarization on the subject of its Soviet legacy. The exhibition contains some 400 paintings,…
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Parents in the town of Demyanovo in Russia’s central Kirov region released a video appeal last week calling on local officials to make basic repairs to the run-down facilities at the town’s only school. The video, in which parents complain of broken toilets, rotten floors, leaking roofs, and a lack of heating in the building,…
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The owner of the rebranded Russian McDonald’s is seeking to expand into Kazakhstan, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Monday. The U.S. fast food giant sold its Russian business to a local licensee in May 2022 in response to the invasion of Ukraine. The rebranded McDonald’s, Vkusno i Tochka (“Tasty — and that’s it”),…
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A former commander for Russia’s Wagner private military group who claims to have witnessed several extrajudicial killings has fled to Norway and requested asylum, Russian activists and Norwegian media reported. “I heard dogs barking [and] two bullets flying near me,” the man identified as Andrei Medvedev said of his dramatic journey across the Russian-Norwegian border late…
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Russia and Belarus launched joint air force exercises Monday, using every military airfield in the country that served as a launchpad for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last February. The drills come as Russia’s invasion, now in its 11th month, grinds on as a bloody war of attrition in eastern Ukraine and a campaign of aerial strikes…
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The Georgian actor, singer and political figure Vakhtang Kikabidze died in a Tbilisi hospital on Sunday. The cause of death was not released, but his producer Rati Abzianidze said that Kikabidze had been in poor health for many years. Kikabidze was one of the Soviet Union’s most popular singers and actors. He had the distinction…
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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday praised his forces after their claimed capture of a Ukraine town and in the wake of a missile strike that killed 23 people in a tower block. The taking of Soledar in eastern Ukraine, a salt-mining outpost home to 10,000 before the conflict, was hailed as a major success…
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Alexander was quickly deployed to the frontlines in Ukraine after he joined a Russian unit for volunteer soldiers in October because he wanted to “defend his motherland.” One month later, he was badly injured by artillery fire near the Ukrainian village of Makiivka amid intense fighting in the east of the country. He told The…
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Inna Churikova, one of the most celebrated and prolific actresses of the Soviet Union and Russia, died on Saturday at the age of 79. The cause of death was reported to be heart failure, although she had been in poor health for several months. Churikova was born in 1943 in what is now Bashkortostan, where…
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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Saturday pledged to provide Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, making it the first Western country to supply the heavy tanks Kyiv has been calling for. The pledge saw a swift reaction from Russia which warned it would only “intensify” the conflict. “Bringing tanks to the conflict zone, far from…
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Buzhenina is one of the most delicious and ubiquitous main courses at holiday feasts. You might find it on a royal table or in a traveler’s backpack. It can be served piping hot, just from the oven, or nicely cold — perfect for a painful morning hangover. One of the first references to buzhenina is found in…
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Ukraine reported a fresh wave of attacks on key infrastructure facilities on Saturday, a day after Russia claimed to have captured the ravaged eastern town of Soledar following a long battle. Victory in Soledar would be a rare achievement for Moscow after an embarrassing series of military setbacks — although Kyiv insisted fighting was still…
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A Russian film reboot featuring legendary Soviet cartoon character Cheburashka has become Russia’s highest-grossing film of all time, surpassing the first part of James Cameron’s “Avatar” despite only being released two weeks ago, according to statistics published by the Russian Cinema Fund. The total box office from “Cheburashka,” which was released on Jan. 1, has already surpassed…
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A Russian film reboot featuring legendary Soviet cartoon character Cheburashka has become Russia’s highest-grossing film of all time, surpassing the first part of James Cameron’s “Avatar” despite only being released two weeks ago, according to statistics published by the Russian Cinema Fund. The total box office from “Cheburashka,” which was released on Jan. 1, has already surpassed…
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Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that its forces had won a significant victory on Friday with the capture of the eastern Ukrainian town of Soledar, despite military analysts cautioning that the salt-mining town held greater symbolic than strategic value. The situation on the ground in what remains of Soledar remained unclear late Friday, with Ukrainian officials…
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Germany on Friday demanded swift medical care for jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who has complained of being denied access to hospital treatment by prison officials in Russia. Navalny, the most prominent opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday said he had flu symptoms including a fever but was being kept in a punishment cell…
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Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday that the country’s Armed Forces had captured eastern Ukraine’s salt-mining town of Soledar, some 48 hours after the victory was claimed by the head of Russia’s mercenary company Wagner. The capture of Soledar is a key objective for the Russian military in a larger campaign to take control of the…
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A senior Russian lawmaker on Friday denied that the Russian military had canceled the right to mobilization deferment for fathers of three or more children amid ongoing speculation that Moscow could launch a second round of mobilization for the war in Ukraine. The Defense Ministry in October granted men with three or more children under the age of…
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Russia’s military has canceled the right to mobilization deferment for fathers of three children, a Russian lawmaker said, amid ongoing speculation that Moscow could launch a second round of mobilization for the war in Ukraine. In October, the Defense Ministry granted men with three or more children under the age of 16 the right to…
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Russians who criticize their country after fleeing abroad should have their remaining property confiscated, lawmakers proposed Friday in an apparent effort to increase pressure on exiled anti-war Russians. Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the lower-house State Duma, said “scoundrels” who have left the country can still face criminal prosecution for “insulting Russia, its inhabitants, soldiers and officers.”…
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Russians who criticize their country after fleeing abroad should have their remaining property confiscated, lawmakers proposed Friday in an apparent effort to increase pressure on exiled anti-war Russians. Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the lower-house State Duma, said “scoundrels” who have left the country can still face criminal prosecution for “insulting Russia, its inhabitants, soldiers and officers.”…
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The Kremlin has started preparing for the 2024 presidential campaign under the assumption that it will go on as planned despite Russia’s grinding military campaign in Ukraine, the Kommersant business daily reported Friday, citing unnamed sources. President Vladimir Putin, 70, has been in power as president or prime minister since 1999. While Russian presidents are…
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Valery Gerasimov, who in a surprise move was named to lead Russian troops in Ukraine after months of setbacks, has been Moscow’s top general for the past decade as chief of the general staff. The decision to appoint the country’s top soldier to lead an offensive on the ground in Ukraine is extremely unusual and…
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Russian families from the Volga region of Samara continue to bury loved ones who died in one of the most deadly single incidents of the Ukraine war as local anger simmers over the New Year’s Eve attack. At least 89 Russian soldiers — mostly men drafted from Samara — were killed when Ukrainian rockets slammed…
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Russia has released a U.S. Navy veteran who had been held in the country’s Kaliningrad region for nine months, U.S. negotiator and former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson announced on Thursday. Taylor Dudley had been held since April 2022 and was one of several detained Americans in Russia who release the U.S. authorities have been…
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A Russian court has sentenced a 24-year-old professional soldier to five years in prison for refusing to fight in Ukraine, officials said Thursday. The soldier, “not wanting to take part in a special military operation,” did not report for duty in May 2022, the court press service in the republic of Bashkortostan in the southern…
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A number of injured Russian soldiers are being sent back to the frontlines in Ukraine without permission from the military medical commission, the Agentstvo investigative outlet reported Thursday. The presidential Human Rights Council is investigating cases in which servicemen didn’t receive proper medical treatment before being sent back into battle, council member Olga Demicheva told the…
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Murtaza Rakhimov, the first president of Russia’s republic of Bashkortostan, died at age 88 on Wednesday in the region’s capital Ufa after a prolonged illness, Bashkortostan’s current head Radiy Khabirov announced. A village boy from Bashkortostan’s southwestern Kugarchinsky district, Rakhimov built a successful career in the region’s thriving oil refining industry before being elected the…
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Updates with clarification from VK source. Russian tech giant VK Group is demanding its employees based abroad return to the country as lawmakers consider a legal ban on remote work, investigative media reported Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The government estimates that 100,000 IT workers — or 10% of the nation’s tech workforce…
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