Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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U.S. Announces $1Bln to Aid Ukraine as Russian Strike Kills at Least 17
The European Union condemned the strike along with the “escalation” of Russian attacks on “civilian objects” that has seen hundreds killed or wounded in recent weeks. “Intentional attacks against civilians are war crimes,” the bloc said in a statement. Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that “this Russian war of aggression…
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Russia to Finalize Route for Gas Pipeline to China
Russia said on Wednesday it will soon finalize its side of the route for the “Power of Siberia 2” pipeline, a huge project to deliver more natural gas to China. Moscow plans to start building the pipeline next year, after its military offensive in Ukraine forced it to move away from the European market in…
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Russia’s Ruling Party Downplays War in Sweeping Regional Election Push
Russia’s ruling, pro-Kremlin United Russia party is distancing itself from narratives related to the war in Ukraine in its campaign for the country’s regional and local elections this month. The Kremlin appears highly concerned about the outcome of the vote despite its tightened control over the media and suppressed opposition, sources familiar with the government’s…
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Russia Detains 4 Men for Donating to Navalny’s ‘Extremist’ Orgs
At least four Russians have been detained for donating to jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s “extremist” organizations, state and independent media reported Wednesday. Law enforcement officers carried out searches in connection with financing Navalny’s groups in the Russian cities of Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow and Krasnoyarsk, according to the independent human rights watchdog OVD-Info. The watchdog…
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Armenia, U.S. Forces to Hold Joint Drills Amid Moscow Tensions
Armenia will host joint drills with U.S. forces next week, officials in Yerevan said Wednesday, the latest sign of the ex-Soviet republic’s drift from its traditional ally Russia. The announcement came a day after Moscow dismissed criticism from Armenia that Russian peacekeepers were failing to maintain order over the only route linking Armenia to the…
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Russia Steps Up Support for Sagging Ruble
Russia’s Central Bank announced Wednesday that it plans to step up support for the ruble, which has gradually weakened over the past 18 months due to Western sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The Bank of Russia said that between Sept. 14 and 22 it would sell 21.4 billion rubles ($218.5 million) worth of foreign…
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Moscow Metro Passengers Detained for Harassing Muslim Woman, Lawyer Says
Authorities in Moscow have detained two men accused of harassing a female metro passenger for wearing traditional Islamic clothing, Russian media reported Tuesday. Video of the conflict surfaced last week, showing one young man demanding that the woman take off her niqab — a full veil with a small slit for the eyes — and…
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Russian Defense Ministry Removes Sacked General’s Bio From Website
Russia’s Defense Ministry has removed the biography of General Sergei Surovikin from its website amid reports of his dismissal after Yevegny Prigozhin’s failed mutiny in late June. Surovikin was long seen as the main intermediary between the Wagner mercenary group and the Russian Defense Ministry, where he had served as head of Russia’s Aerospace Forces since…
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In Photos: Re-Enactors Act Out Battle of Borodino on Anniversary
Re-enactors donned 19th-century military garb this week to act out the Battle of Borodino, a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars that took place outside Moscow. While the 1812 battle between imperial Russian forces and Napoleon’s army technically ended in a Russian defeat, both sides took huge losses. The Russian army retreated, allowing Napoleon to…
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FSB Says Busted Arms Smuggling Ring in Mass Raids
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Wednesday it has busted a major weapons smuggling ring in dozens of Russian regions. Between June and July, authorities seized thousands of firearms and artillery shells in sting operations across 53 Russian regions, including Moscow and St. Petersburg. The listed regions cover nearly every time zone in Russia and…
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Russia Announces ‘Tactical’ Withdrawal From Ukraine’s Robotyne
A Kremlin-installed official in southern Ukraine admitted Tuesday that Russian forces have withdrawn from the village of Robotyne more than a week after Kyiv announced its recapture. “The Russian army abandoned — tactically abandoned this settlement,” said Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-appointed governor of Ukraine’s occupied Zaporizhzhia region. Ukraine, which launched a grinding counteroffensive in June,…
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Putin’s Daughter Publishes in Western Academic Journals Amid Ukraine Invasion
Western academic journals have continued to publish articles by President Vladimir Putin’s oldest daughter since Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the independent news outlet Mozhem Obyasnit reported Tuesday. Maria Vorontsova is a candidate of medical sciences, roughly equivalent to a Ph.D. in Western countries, and an endocrinologist by training. Her profile on the Moscow State…
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Russia-Based Recruiters Lure Cubans to Fight in Ukraine with Promises of Money, Citizenship
Russia-based recruiters are targeting Cuban nationals online for the war in Ukraine, promising them lucrative military contracts, help with relocating to Russia and even citizenship for them and their families, according to an investigation by The Moscow Times’ Russian service. In a rare accusation against longtime ally Moscow, Cuban authorities announced Tuesday that they had…
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Russian University Fires Opposition Activist Galyamina Over ‘Foreign Agent’ Status
A leading Russian university has fired prominent opposition activist Yulia Galyamina over her “foreign agent” status, less than a day after she was reinstated at the same university by court order following a previous dismissal. Former Moscow city councilor Galyamina said in December that she had been fired from the Russian Academy of National Economy…
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Exiled Experts Lament Dashed Hopes for Russia’s Green Energy Transition
Throughout her career, independent renewables expert Tatiana Lanshina has launched innovative research and nonprofit projects related to Russia’s energy transition, including initiatives such as renewable energy certificates under the international I-REC standard. Following the Kremlin’s military offensive on Ukraine in February 2022, Lanshina realized that her experience in Russia was now worth nothing. Currently based…
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Bomb Detonates at St. Petersburg Military Enlistment Office
A bomb went off outside a military enlistment office in St. Petersburg, the local news website Fontanka reported Tuesday, citing eyewitnesses. Local residents reported hearing sounds of explosions near the enlistment office around noon on Tuesday. Authorities cordoned off a nearby abandoned bomb shelter, which Fontanka said sustained “minor damage.” Investigators believe the explosion occurred…
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Kremlin-Installed Official Targeted in Bomb Attack – Reports
A Kremlin-installed official was targeted in a bomb assassination plot at his home in occupied eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian and Russian media reported Tuesday, citing anonymous sources. Yury Afanasyevsky, head of the customs office in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), was at his home during the bomb attack, according to an anonymous Ukrainian security service…
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Kremlin Says Unable to Confirm Putin-Kim Jong Un Summit
The Kremlin on Tuesday declined to confirm a possible summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which U.S. officials have said they expect. U.S. officials and media have said they believe Kim will make a rare trip abroad to neighboring Russia to meet Putin. “No, we cannot” confirm this,…
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Russia Says Thwartered Cross-Border Incursion From Ukraine
Russian border agents have thwarted a Ukrainian sabotage group’s third attempt this past month to infiltrate western Russia’s Bryansk region, its governor said late Monday. Bryansk region Governor Alexander Bogomaz shared photographs of weapons and an ammunition cache he said were seized from the sabotage group by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) border guards and…
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Cuba Uncovers Human Trafficking for Russia’s War in Ukraine
Cuba has identified an alleged human trafficking ring aimed at recruiting its citizens to fight in Russia’s war in Ukraine, the foreign ministry said Monday. The government was working to dismantle a “trafficking network that operates from Russia to incorporate Cuban citizens living there, and even some from Cuba, into the military forces involved in…
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Top Russian General Resurfaces 2 Months After Wagner’s Failed Mutiny
Russian General Sergei Surovikin has resurfaced more than two months after his last public appearance in a video urging Wagner fighters to stand down from their march on Moscow, media reported Monday. Surovikin, long considered the main intermediary between the Wagner mercenary outfit and the Russian Defense Ministry, disappeared from public view after Wagner chief Yevgeny…
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Russia Downs 3 Drones on Approach to Moscow
Russian air defense systems destroyed three drones early Tuesday on their approach to Moscow, according to the city’s mayor. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defense had “destroyed drones which were trying to carry out an attack” on the Russian capital, adding that there had been no casualties. Russia’s Defense Ministry said one of the…
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Putin Says Free Grain Exports to Africa to Begin in ‘Weeks’
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Moscow is just weeks away from supplying free grain to six African countries after scrapping a deal allowing Ukrainian food exports through the Black Sea. His comments during a press conference with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi came hours…
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Russian Universities Admit 8.5K Ukraine War Veterans and Their Children
Universities across Russia have admitted 8,500 veterans of the war in Ukraine and their children this academic year, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko announced Monday. President Vladimir Putin in 2022 ordered a 10% university admission quota for war veterans and their children, granting them priority and clearing them of entrance exams. “On the president’s instructions,…
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Russia’s ‘Systemic Opposition’ Eyes Small Triumphs in Regional Elections
Voters across Russia are set to cast ballots in regional and municipal elections starting Sept. 8 in which they will choose, among others, 21 regional heads and deputies for 16 regional parliaments. Though the Kremlin’s tight grip on the electoral system and alleged widespread vote-rigging will ensure the victory of government-backed candidates in many of…
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Russian Graduate Student Detained After Serving Previous Jail Term
Russian authorities have detained a math graduate student and self-described anti-fascist immediately as he left prison after serving a previous jail term, the independent student news site DOXA reported Monday. Azat Miftakhov, 30, was released earlier in the day from a penal colony where he had served a four-year sentence for breaking the office window…
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Rosneft and the RUSSPASS travel planning service launch a joint promotion for car travellers
Rosneft and RUSSPASS travel planning service launched a joint project “Travel to Moscow with Rosneft” with the support of the Moscow City Tourism Committee.
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Moscow-Installed Court Jails Ukrainian Soldier 22 Years for Killing Civilian
A court in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine has sentenced a Ukrainian soldier to more than two decades in prison for killing a civilian in the occupied city of Mariupol, Russian authorities announced Monday. Gunner Maxim Ovcharenko and two of his unidentified fellow soldiers were accused of shooting a Mariupol resident in April 2022, according to Russia’s…
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Putin and Erdogan to Meet in Attempt to Avoid Food Crisis, Black Sea Confrontation
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan will hold their first face-to-face meeting for the first time in a year on Monday in a bid to resolve the crisis over Russia’s exit from a deal guaranteeing Ukrainian grain exports and stave off a renewed global food crisis. The meeting, which was initially…
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Russian Government Bucks Putin’s Call to Forgo Foreign Cars – Agentstvo
Russia’s government has continued to buy foreign-made cars despite calls by President Vladimir Putin last month for officials to start using domestic-made vehicles, the investigative news outlet Agentstvo reported Monday. Overall, Russian government bodies, agencies and state-affiliated companies purchased 151 foreign-made cars worth 566 million rubles ($5.9 million) in August, according to state procurement data cited…
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Russia Says Destroyed 4 Ukrainian Military Boats Carrying Troops in Black Sea
Russia said Monday it had destroyed four Ukrainian military boats carrying troops in the Black Sea. “Naval aviation aircraft of the Black Sea Fleet destroyed 4 ‘Willard Sea Force’ U.S.-made high-speed military boats with landing groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said on the Telegram messaging app. The ministry said the…
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Russia Hits Ukraine’s Danube Port in Attack Condemned by Romania
Russian drones targeted Ukraine’s southern Odesa region in the early hours of Sunday, with Moscow hitting a Danube port on the border with NATO member Romania in an attack condemned by Bucharest. Moscow has hit Ukrainian port infrastructure on the Black Sea and on the Danube for weeks, since exiting a key deal that allowed…
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Russian Army Has Recruited 280,000 Soldiers Since January — Medvedev
Russia’s former president and Security Council Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said Sunday that Moscow had recruited some 280,000 people into the army since the start of the year. Russia has not announced another mobilization — seen as an unpopular measure — but has led an active campaign to attract more men into the military as its…
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Sarasin Grain and Turkish Chicken
Until the middle of the 19th century, some foreigners might have had a hard time doing their food shopping in Moscow. Imagine a Frenchman walking into a grocery shop to buy buckwheat groats. He asks for “sarasin.” But to his dismay, the grocer puts a bag of rice on the scale. The Frenchman wanted to…
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Nobel Foundation Cancels Russian Ambassador Invite to Prize Ceremony
The Nobel Foundation said Saturday it was reversing its decision to invite ambassadors from Russia and Belarus to this year’s Nobel award ceremony in Stockholm, after the move sparked a backlash. In 2022, the Nobel Foundation, which organizes the annual Nobel prize ceremony and banquet in Stockholm, decided not to invite the Russian and Belarusian…
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Russia Says Destroys Three Ukrainian Drones Targeting Crimea Bridge
Russia destroyed three Ukrainian naval drones that targeted the Crimea bridge, Moscow said early Saturday. “On Sept. 2, at about 02:20 Moscow time (2320 GMT Friday), the third Ukrainian semi-submersible unmanned boat, sent by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge, was destroyed in the Black Sea,” Russia’s Ministry…
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Russia Brands Nobel Winner Dmitry Muratov a ‘Foreign Agent’
Moscow has stepped up efforts to stamp out dissent since launching the assault on Ukraine, with most high-profile opponents in exile or behind bars. Muratov was seen recently in Russia, being part of the legal team defending his friend Oleg Orlov, co-chair of Russia’s human rights organization Memorial. In 2021, Muratov who works as the…
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Russia Bans Minority Advocacy Group Free Buryatia
Russia on Friday branded the non-governmental organization Free Buryatia as “undesirable,” a label that criminalizes the group and puts its staff at risk of prosecution. The NGO was created in March 2022 and focuses on the rights of mobilized Buryats — an ethnic minority in Siberia — and provides them with legal advice. Russia was…
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Russia Says Seized ‘Key Heights’ Near Kupiansk in East Ukraine
Russia on Friday said it captured several strategic heights near Kupiansk, an eastern Ukrainian city where Moscow’s troops stepped up pressure in August. Ukraine launched a counteroffensive against Russian positions in the south in June but Russia responded by trying to take back territory in the northeast. “In the direction of Kupiansk, units of the…
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Putin Tells Schoolchildren Russia Is ‘Invincible’
President Vladimir Putin told pupils at the start of the school year on Friday that it was impossible to defeat Russia as Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine grinds through its 19th month. “I understood why we won the Great Patriotic War,” Putin said, referring to World War II, adding: “It is impossible to defeat this kind…
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Students in Russia, Ukraine and Occupied Territories Head Back to School
Children in Russia, Ukraine and the Moscow-occupied territories of Ukraine marked the start of a new school year for the second time since the start of the war in Ukraine on Friday. Every year on Sept. 1, schoolchildren in Russia and several other countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union celebrate День Знаний,…
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Russia Deploys Sarmat ICBM for Combat Duty
A strategic next-generation missile that Russian President Vladimir Putin once described as “invincible” has been deployed for combat duty, the head of state space agency Roscosmos said Friday. The Kremlin had previously stated that the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile would be ready for combat duty by the end of 2022, according to the state-run RIA Novosti news…
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Russian Ambassador Invite to Nobel Ceremony Sparks Ire
The Nobel Foundation’s decision to invite ambassadors from Russia and Belarus to this year’s Nobel award ceremony sparked anger on Friday in Ukraine, Sweden and among opponents of the Minsk regime. Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko wrote on Facebook that the Foundation should support efforts to isolate Russia and Belarus as “millions of Ukrainians…
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Russia Moves Missile Systems From Island Chain Claimed by Japan – Reports
Russia has moved two S-300 surface-to-air missile systems from a chain of disputed Far East islands that Japan claims as its own, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported Friday, citing satellite imagery. Yu Koizumi, a University of Tokyo lecturer who analyzed the images from U.S. space tech company Maxar, speculated that Russia may have repurposed the S-300V4…
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Rosneft Employees Organise Events Dedicated to the Day of Knowledge
Rosneft enterprises organised festive events and congratulated school children on the beginning of the new academic year.
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Erdogan to Meet With Putin Monday Amid Grain Deal Revival Hopes
Russian President Vladimir Putin will host his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, the Kremlin said, amid hopes the two countries can restore a deal ensuring safe passage for Ukrainian grain shipments. In July, Russia pulled out from the UN-backed grain deal that Turkey helped broker, effectively revoking safe navigation for civilian ships sailing…
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Drone Strike on Pskov Airport Launched From Inside Russia, Says Ukraine
Ukraine’s military intelligence chief said Friday that a recent drone attack on an airport in western Russia that damaged several transport planes was carried out from within Russian territory. The attack this week on Pskov airport, located some 700 kilometers from Ukraine, was carried out alongside similar strikes in several regions across western and central…
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Flash Floods Submerge Homes, Roads in Far East Russia
Dozens of towns and villages have been submerged under water in Russia’s Far East amid ongoing flash floods since early August, the environmental news outlet Kedr reported Friday. Russia’s Primorye region — which for weeks has been under a region-wide state of emergency since — witnessed fresh flooding from heavy rainfall in 19 settlements. Another…
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Russian Street Artist Faces Prison Term for Anti-War Graffiti – Polygon Media
Russian street artist Filipp Kozlov, who goes by the name Philippenzo, could face up to three years in prison for anti-war graffiti, just days after his release from prison over past minor offenses, the independent outlet Polygon Media reported Friday. Video published by Polygon Media showed Kozlov escorted by law enforcement officers wearing civilian clothing.…
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NASA Orbitor Spots Crash Site of Russia’s Failed Lunar Lander
NASA said Friday it had captured images of the likely crash site of Russia’s first post-Soviet lunar lander. The Luna-25 probe slammed into the Moon’s surface on Aug. 19 during pre-landing maneuvers, according to Russia’s space agency Roscosmos. NASA said its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) photographed the impact crater on the Moon’s south pole where Roscosmos…
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U.S. Charges Man With Smuggling Military Tech to Russia
A Russian-German man arrested earlier this week in Cyprus was charged Thursday by U.S. authorities with seeking to export American-made electronics to Russia for military use. The U.S. Department of Justice said Arthur Petrov, 33, violated export controls in a scheme to procure American microelectronics for a Russian firm that provides “critical electronics components” to…
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Russian Regions Targeted in Fresh Wave of Drone Attacks
Regions across western and central Russia were targeted in a fresh overnight wave of drone attacks, the second this week, authorities and media reported Friday morning. In Moscow, air defense systems destroyed a drone on its approach to the Russian capital, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Friday. Air defense near the Lyubertsy district on the southeast…
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Russian Ex-Priest Who Criticized Ukraine Offensive Jailed
A defrocked Russian priest who spoke out against Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine was jailed for three years Thursday, after a court found him guilty of spreading “fake news” about the army. The Russian Orthodox Church, led by Patriarch Kirill — an ally of President Vladimir Putin — has mostly backed the Kremlin’s offensive and often…
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Russian Region Appoints Male Official to Head Women’s Rights Council
Authorities in Russia’s southern Rostov region have appointed a male official to lead the region’s newly formed council on women’s rights. The government body will be tasked with creating policies on topics ranging from women’s health to strengthening women’s role in society to combating poverty and social disadvantage among women. But women will hold just eight seats…
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Having Fled War, Russian Emigres in Israel Find Themselves Drafted to IDF
Alice, a 17-year-old photographer, fled Russia for Israel shortly after the start of the war in Ukraine. Months later, she was summoned to serve in the Israeli army. “I left Russia because of the war, and I cannot imagine myself serving in any army, in any country,” Alice told The Moscow Times in a phone…
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Local Polls Open in Russian-Occupied Areas of Ukraine
Authorities in separatist and Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine on Thursday announced the start of early voting in local elections. Voting was due to take place on Sept. 10, as part of elections scheduled in dozens of regions across Russia, where voters will elect new governors, local parliaments and municipal councils. However, Kremlin-backed authorities in the…
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Towns in Russian Border Region Scrap In-Person Return to School Amid Drone Strikes, Shelling
Authorities in western Russia’s Bryansk region have scrapped in-person back-to-school day this Friday in towns that face regular drone and artillery strikes. Each year on Sept. 1, Russian schools open their doors to students, parents and teachers in what is known as Den’ Znanyy, or the Day of Knowledge. Bryansk region Governor Alexander Bogomaz said…
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Belarus Leader Slams ‘Stupid’ Polish, Baltic Calls for Wagner Withdrawal
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday criticized what he called “stupid demands” from Poland and the Baltic states for Wagner fighters sheltering in his country to leave. Wagner fighters took refuge in Belarus after they staged a short-lived rebellion against Moscow’s military leadership in June, prompting concerns from neighboring countries. “They are whipping up hysteria…
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Wagner Commander Utkin Buried in Moscow Cemetery After Plane Crash Death
The deceased commander and purported co-founder of the Wagner mercenary group has been buried at a Moscow cemetery, the MSK.1 news website reported Thursday. Dmitry Utkin, who is believed to have inspired the name for the mercenary outfit under his call sign “Wagner,” was killed in last week’s plane crash alongside his boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, according…
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2 Russian Planes Damaged in Ukraine Drone Strikes – RFE/RL
At least two Russian military aircraft were damaged as a result of Ukrainian drone strikes on an airbase in northwestern Russia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) investigative project Skhemy reported Thursday, citing satellite imagery. Authorities in the Pskov region said its airport came under a large-scale attack on Wednesday. Emergency officials told state media at…
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