‘Endless Wave of Violence’: Leading Russian Anti-Torture Activist on Concert Attack Suspects’ Treatment

Four men accused of killing at least 137 people in the deadly attack on Crocus City Hall appeared in a series of late Sunday court hearings in Moscow with visible bruises, cuts and other injuries. Unverified graphic footage of the suspects’ interrogations had earlier been published on social media, leading some observers to conclude that…

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Kyrgyzstan Warns Citizens Against Travel to Russia After Concert Attack

Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Ministry on Monday urged citizens of the Central Asian republic to not make unnecessary trips to Russia in the wake of last week’s deadly attack at a concert hall outside of Moscow.  “Russia is currently implementing anti-terrorist measures [with] intensified entry and exit checks of those crossing the border,” senior diplomat Bakyt Kadyrov…

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Russian Opposition Blasts Putin’s Broken Security Promises After Moscow Attack

Russia’s opposition has slammed Vladimir Putin’s broken security promise in the wake of the Moscow concert hall attack, saying the country’s intelligence agencies were too focused on hunting Kremlin critics instead of actual threats. Questions have swirled over how the country’s powerful security apparatus was unable to thwart the deadliest attack in Russia in two…

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Russian State Media Release Interrogation Videos of Concert Attack Suspects

Russian state-run media on Saturday released videos of law enforcement agents interrogating three men suspected of carrying out the deadly attack on a Moscow region concert hall the night before. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) earlier on Saturday announced the arrest of 11 people, including four suspected assailants, in connection to the attack on Friday.…

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Spacecraft Carrying First Belarus Woman Cosmonaut Lifts Off

Maryna Vasileuskaya, Belarus’ first woman cosmonaut, was aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft that blasted off successfully on Saturday headed for the International Space Station, Moscow’s Roscosmos space agency said. “The Soyuz took off from Baikonur” in Kazakhstan at 12:36 GMT, a Roscosmos statement said, adding that the spacecraft went into orbit “as planned.” Initially programmed…

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Fake News and Other Fallacies

Фейк: fake I have been remiss. Although I have mentioned the “Russian” word фейк in many columns, I’ve never really focused on it. I suppose it’s because, well, what’s there to say? Фейк is the standard Russian insult for anything purported to be false, particularly factual information from non-Russian sources. There are plenty of official…

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Russia Adds ‘LGBT Movement’ to ‘Terrorists and Extremists’ List

Russia’s state financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring has added the so-called “international LGBT public movement” to its list of terrorists and extremists. Being added to the registry allows the authorities to freeze designees’ bank accounts without a court order. It was not immediately clear how Rosfinmonitoring planned to enforce its rules against the vaguely defined “LGBT movement,”…

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Kremlin Planning New Mobilization for Kharkiv Offensive – Vyorstka

Updated with comments from source close to Russia’s Defense Ministry. Russia is planning to recruit 300,000 soldiers for a renewed offensive to seize the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, the investigative news outlet Vyorstka reported Friday, citing sources in the Kremlin, Defense Ministry and regional governments. “We’re 300,000 snouts short, that’s why everything’s ready for ‘mobilization…

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Kremlin Says Russia in a ‘State of War’

Updated with Peskov’s remarks during Friday’s press briefing. Russia has found itself in a “state of war” with Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with the pro-government newspaper Argumenty i Fakty published on Friday.  Moscow officially refers to its full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operation,” seeking to downplay the impact of the two-year…

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Russia Sentences ‘Volga Maniac’ Serial Killer to Life in Prison

The Supreme Court of Russia’s republic of Tatarstan on Thursday sentenced infamous serial killer Radik Tagirov, widely known as the “Volga Maniac,” to life in prison.   Tagirov, a native of Tatarstan’s capital Kazan, was found guilty of murdering 31 elderly women and committing assault against another 33 between March 2011 and October 2012, according to Russia’s Investigative…

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Kremlin Slams Western ‘Pressure’ on Chinese Banks Over Russian Payments

The Kremlin on Thursday slammed the West for putting “unprecedented pressure” on Chinese banks accepting payments from Russia, admitting there were some “problems” with cross-border transactions. Citing Russian financial sources, the pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper reported earlier on Thursday that some Chinese lenders had stopped accepting payments in Chinese yuan from Russian companies. “The unprecedented U.S.…

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Russia’s FSB Says Arrested Man Planning Attacks on Soldiers

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Thursday that it arrested a man in the western Belgorod region on suspicion of planning attacks in coordination with pro-Ukrainian paramilitary groups. “A supporter of Ukrainian nationalist ideology was preparing acts of sabotage and terrorism against the Russian military on the instructions of the terrorist organization Russian Volunteer Corps,” the FSB said…

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ATOMEXPO-2024 will host a round table on the synergy of renewable and nuclear generation

Its participants will address the optimal combination of different types of low-carbon generation. On March 25, 2024, the International Forum ATOMEXPO-2024 will host a round table on the synergy of renewable and nuclear generation. Invited to participate are: Maxim Bystrov, Chairman of the Board, NP Market Council Association; Andrey Maximov, Director of the Department of…

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