Russian Missile Attack on Kyiv Wounds 9

Nine people including a teenage girl were wounded on Monday after Ukrainian air defense systems downed two Russian missiles over Kyiv, sending metal debris crashing to the ground. Emergency workers in hardhats could be seen clearing concrete and bent metal from one building ripped apart during the attack, the third aerial bombardment of the capital…

Details

Kyiv Says 2 Russian Ships Hit in Crimea Strikes

Ukraine claimed Sunday to have hit two Russian military ships stationed at the annexed peninsula of Crimea in overnight strikes, as it suffered another night of “massive” Russian aerial attacks. Ukraine’s ally and neighbor Poland said a Russian cruise missile headed for western Ukraine breached its airspace overnight, after it had put its armed forces…

Details

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…

Details

Moscow Concert Attack: What We Know

An attack by gunmen on a Moscow suburban concert hall Friday left at least 133 dead, according to Russian authorities. Here is what we know about the attack on the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk ahead of a concert by the Piknik rock band: Attackers in ‘tactical uniforms’  The attack began around 8:15 pm before…

Details

Cracking the Myth of the Russian Monastery Kitchen

In Russia today there is a belief that the food served in Russian Orthodox monasteries is the apotheosis of Russian cooking. Some people insist that the monasteries preserved the very best that had survived from ancient Russian cuisine — beautifully prepared, delicious, healthy food. But isn’t there a contradiction here? On the one hand, Christianity…

Details

Islamic State Group Claims Russia Gun Attack

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a gun attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday, which Russian authorities said killed at least 40 people. IS fighters “attacked a large gathering… on the outskirts of the Russian capital Moscow,” the group said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app. The IS statement said…

Details

Timeline of Attacks in Moscow Since 1999

Russia is reeling from a mass shooting and blaze at a Moscow rock concert, which the government has labeled a “terrorist attack.” Here is a look back at previous attacks on the city in the past 25 years. Apartment building bombed, 118 dead (1999) A bomb blast in the early hours of Sept. 13, 1999,…

Details

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…

Details

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,”…

Details

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…

Details

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…

Details

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…

Details

Russia Aborts Spacecraft Launch Seconds Before Liftoff

Updated with Boris’ statement. The launch of a Russian Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) was aborted just seconds before liftoff on Thursday, with officials blaming a loss of pressure at a power source. “There was an automatic launch cancellation,” a flight controller said in a live stream broadcast by Russia’s space…

Details

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.…

Details

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…

Details

Artdocfest and the Power of Documentary Film

Documentary filmmaking has a long and illustrious history in Russia, with waves of popularity that have tended to correlate with changes in the political climate. Soon after Vladimir Putin became president in 2000 and his government began chipping away at media freedom, interest in documentary film began to rise. As television network news became more…

Details

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…

Details

The Sad Beauty of Russia’s Abandoned Villages

Russia’s big cities may appear to be flourishing, filled with shops, restaurants, recently built apartment buildings, malls and entertainment venues. But many if not most of Russia’s villages are not enjoying the same economic boom. Infrastructure is in poor shape, job opportunities are scant, schools are closed as families move to larger towns and cities,…

Details

‘We’ll Keep Fighting’: Attack on Navalny Aide Volkov Startles, But Doesn’t Deter Russian Exiles in Lithuania

VILNIUS, Lithuania — Thousands of Russian opposition activists fled to Lithuania’s capital following the Kremlin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, seeking safety from the political crackdown quickly sweeping their home country. That sense of safety was blighted when Leonid Volkov, a close aide of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was attacked near his home with a…

Details

Three-Layer Pancakes From the Mari People

When people think of the Orthodox Christian Maslenitsa (Shrovetide), they almost all think of one food: pancakes (blinis). But pancakes are not a purely Russian culinary achievement, and it’s silly to associate them solely with Orthodox traditions. Pancakes have been around for much longer.  The Mari people (in Russia once called Cheremis) live mainly between…

Details