Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
-
Ukraine Says 7 Villages Retaken in ‘Tough’ Offensive
Ukraine on Monday said it had retaken seven villages and made small gains in a “tough” counter-offensive against Russian forces that France said could last months. “The fighting is tough, but we are moving forward, this is very important,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a daily evening address. “I thank our guys for every…
-
‘Another Day Off’: Little Patriotic Fervor as Moscow Puts on Russia Day Festivities
MOSCOW — Russia marked its Russia Day holiday on Monday with widespread state-organized celebrations — but for many, the holiday is just another day off rather than a patriotic event, Muscovites who spoke with The Moscow Times said. Observed every year on June 12, Russia Day commemorates when the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic first…
-
Russian Police Detain Chechen Woman Fleeing Domestic Violence
A young Chechen woman has been detained at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport after attempting to flee from her abusive family in Russia, the human rights project Marem reported on Monday. Selima Ismailova, 19, fled her home region of Chechnya, a majority-Muslim republic in Russia’s North Caucasus, in March to escape regular beatings and death threats from…
-
Russia Says Beat Back Ukraine Near Villages Claimed By Kyiv
Russia said Monday it had repelled Ukrainian attacks around several villages in the war-battered southeast of the country, contradicting earlier claims from Kyiv’s forces that they had retaken the settlements. The contradictory reports from Kyiv and Moscow come as analysts have said that Ukraine has launched a long-awaited counteroffensive with Western weapons in an aim to…
-
Pro-Kremlin Reporter Claims to Block Anti-War Telethon’s Donations
A reporter for the Kremlin-funded broadcaster RT claimed Monday to have blocked ruble-denominated donations for an anti-war telethon organized by exiled Russian independent media. The outlets joined forces on the national holiday Russia Day for a day-long fundraiser in support of the 20,000 activists fined or detained for opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. RT correspondent…
-
‘They Forgot About Us’: Fear and Uncertainty Reign in Heavily Shelled Russian Border Town
SHEBEKINO, Russia — Weeks of relentless shelling have turned this once-thriving district center near the Ukrainian border with a pre-war population of about 40,000 into a ghost town. Rubble and broken glass litter the empty streets, and in the town’s central square, signs of shelling are visible on the building facades. Not far from there,…
-
Putin Mourns ‘Dear Friend’ Berlusconi’s Death
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday he was saddened by the death of his “dear friend” former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Berlusconi, who dominated Italian public life for decades as a billionaire media mogul, businessman and prime minister, was confirmed to have died at a Milan hospital at age 86. He had been suffering…
-
Wagner Chief Defies Russian Military’s Orders to Formalize Hierarchy
The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has said he will not sign contracts with the military that seek to formalize the hierarchy of forces fighting in Ukraine. The defiance is the latest episode in the public feud between Wagner, which has been at the forefront of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine for several months, and…
-
North Korea’s Kim Offers ‘Full Support’ to Putin on Russia Day
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offered his country’s “full support and solidarity” to Moscow in a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, state media reported. Kim sent the message of congratulations on the national day of Russia, one of a handful of nations that maintain friendly relations with Pyongyang. His message, published…
-
Ukraine Says 2 Villages Retaken in Fresh Offensive
Kyiv announced on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had retaken two villages in the eastern region of Donetsk, the first reported gains of their new offensive. After months of building expectations, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that a counteroffensive against Russian forces was underway, but refused to provide any details. “Neskuchne of the Donetsk region…
-
Russia Says Repels Ukraine Attack on Black Sea Warship
Moscow said on Sunday its forces repelled a Ukrainian attack on a Russian warship guarding gas pipelines in the Black Sea. “Ukraine’s armed forces made an unsuccessful attempt to attack the Black Sea Fleet’s Priazovye ship,” the Russian Defense Ministry said, adding Kyiv’s forces used six unmanned boats. “All the boats have been destroyed,” the…
-
Georgia Becomes Marriage Hub for Russian Emigres Amid Uncertainty of War
TBILISI, Georgia – Alexei Yermolaev hardly expected that he’d be proposing to his girlfriend Anna Volshuva in the dead of night, surrounded by packed bags. It was a few days after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and Yermolaev had just bought a one-way ticket to Tbilisi in the South…
-
Former U.S. Paratrooper Detained in Russia on Drugs Charges
A Russian court has detained a U.S. citizen on drugs charges that could see him jailed for several years. Moscow’s Khamovniki District Court said Travis Leake, a “former paratrooper and musician,” had “organized the sale of drugs to young people.” He will be remanded in custody “until Aug. 6, 2023,” pending a possible trial. The…
-
Tricia Starks Takes On ‘Cigarettes and Soviets: Smoking in the U.S.S.R.’
Anyone who spent time in the Soviet Union remembers the cigarettes — their ubiquity, first of all, and that particular scent wafting out of windows, filling stair landings, and permeating clothing down to underwear and socks. Cigarettes were essential for making friends and getting through the workday, guaranteeing the sanctity of smoking breaks in the…
-
Zelensky Says Counteroffensive Against Russia Underway
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that a counteroffensive against Russian forces was underway, while declining to give specifics on his troops’ operations. “Counteroffensive and defensive actions are taking place in Ukraine: at which stage I will not talk in detail,” Zelensky said on Saturday, commenting after Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Kyiv’s operation was…
-
Russia Says Will ‘Respond’ After Iceland Embassy Closure
Russia on Saturday said it would “respond” after Iceland became the first country to suspend its embassy operations in Moscow. “All of Reykjavik’s anti-Russian actions will inevitably prompt a response,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement, accusing Iceland of “ruining” relations between the two countries. “We will take this unfriendly decision into account…
-
Swedish Hygiene Product Manufacturer Leaves Russia
Swedish hygiene and health company Essity announced Saturday it had secured a deal to sell off its business in Russia. As noted in the company’s press release, the Russian authorities have already approved the deal, which is expected to be finalized during the second quarter of 2023. Essity did not say who bought its Russian…
-
Feed the Lion: Leo Tolstoy’s Favorite Almond Cake
Leo Tolstoy liked to take long walks. He would sometimes leave the estate and walk wherever his fancy led him. One day he wandered from Yasnaya Polyana to the railway station, where a train was standing under billows of steam, ready to leave. Suddenly, a pleasant-looking lady stuck her head out of the window and…
-
Striking Urals Miners Demand Video Call with Putin
Miners in Russia’s Ural Mountains region have demanded to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin as their strike against their mine’s closure and mass layoffs entered a second day, the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta Europa reported Friday. The strike at the Mariinsky emerald mine, located on Europe’s largest emerald deposit, started Thursday, when 80 to…
-
Russia Says Military Ties With China Provide Global ‘Stability’
Russian Armed Forces Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov said Friday his country’s strong military partnership with China provides stability around the world. Gerasimov, who is commander of Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, made the remark during a videoconference with his Chinese counterpart, Liu Zhenli. “The coordination of Russian and Chinese efforts on the…
-
Putin Says Ukrainian Counteroffensive Failed to Reach Goals
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that a long-expected counteroffensive from Ukraine had begun but Kyiv had so far “failed” to reach its goals. “We can definitely state that this Ukrainian offensive has begun,” Putin said in a video interview published on Telegram by a Russian journalist. “But the Ukrainian troops did not reach their…
-
Ukrainian POWs Transferred to Hungary – Russian Orthodox Church
A group of Ukrainian “prisoners of war” has been handed over to Hungary, according to the Russian Orthodox Church, with Kyiv saying Friday they had not been informed of the move. The transfer took place on Thursday “with the blessing” of Russian Orthodox leader Patriarch Kirill “within the framework of cooperation between churches and at…
-
A Gathering of Witches, Dues, Herbs and Classmates
Сборище: a crowd, a gang Are there many words in Russian that have one meaning in the singular and another in the plural? In most cases the plural just means a lot of the singular. And that’s sometimes true with сбор/сборы. Sometimes сборы are a lot of сбор, as it were. But there are a…
-
Russia to Build State Media Ecosystem in Occupied Ukraine
Russian-installed authorities in occupied Ukraine are developing a centralized “information space” for pro-Russian mass media and outreach, the Vedomosti business daily reported Friday. Russia claims to have annexed four regions of Ukraine — Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — in September 2022 following widely disputed referendums, despite failing to fully control any of them. Moscow-installed…
-
Russian Central Bank Holds Rate at 7.5%, Hints Future Increases
Russia’s Central Bank on Friday extended its interest rate pause, the longest in more than seven years, as inflation pressures sparked by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine continued to loom over the economy. The Central Bank maintained its key interest rate at 7.5%, a move widely expected by analysts. But the Bank also hinted at future…
-
Iceland to Suspend Embassy Operations in Russia in August
Iceland said Friday it would suspend work at its embassy in Russia as of Aug. 1, the first country to do so, and asked Russia to limit its operations in Reykjavik. “The current situation simply does not make it viable for the small foreign service of Iceland to operate an embassy in Russia,” Foreign Minister…
-
SBU: Russian Sabotage Group Behind Kakhovka Dam Explosion
Ukraine’s SBU security service on Friday published an intercepted phone call in which an alleged Russian soldier claims that Tuesday’s explosion at the Kakhovka dam was organized by a Russian sabotage group. “They [the Ukrainian military] didn’t blow it up. That was our sabotage group. They wanted to scare [Ukrainians] with this dam,” said the…
-
Dutch Top Court Says Crimean Gold Must Go to Kyiv
The Netherlands’ highest court ruled Friday that a priceless collection of Crimean gold must be handed over to Ukraine, the latest move in a legal tug-of-war spanning almost a decade. The treasures, dubbed the “Scythian Gold,” were loaned to the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam just before Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014. Both Ukraine and…
-
Norwegian Seismologists Detect Explosion Signals From Ukraine Dam
Seismologists from the Norwegian Seismic Array monitoring group (NORSAR) have detected signals of an explosion in the area of Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam, which collapsed Tuesday and caused catastrophic flooding in the south of the country. Data from NORSAR’s regional seismic stations showed signals of an explosion on June 6 at 02:54 a.m. local time (1:54 a.m.…
-
Chechens Pressured By Authorities to Fight in Ukraine – Rights Group
Authorities in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Chechnya have pressured Chechens to fight in Ukraine using money and force since the start of the war, according to a report published Thursday by the SK SOS human rights organization. “The invasion of Ukraine was another opportunity for [Chechen leader] Ramzan Kadyrov to curry favor with Vladimir…
-
Russian Gasoline Exports Up in 2023 Despite Sanctions
Russian oil companies have exported 37% more gasoline so far this year despite Western sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the Kommersant business daily reported Friday. January-May 2023 gasoline exports from Russia neared 2.5 million tons, the publication said, citing an unidentified source familiar with the data. Russia exported about 2 million tons of gasoline…
-
Western Companies Net $13Bln in Profits After Remaining in Russia
One hundred of the biggest Western companies still operating in Russia posted net profits totaling 1.1 trillion rubles ($13.3 billion) in 2022, the exiled independent Russian news website Novaya Gazeta Europe reported Thursday. The results, based on the financial statements of Russian-registered legal entities that are fully or partially foreign-owned, mark a 54% increase from…
-
Deadly Shelling in Flood-Hit Region as Ukrainian, Russian Forces Clash
Ukraine and Russia accused each other of shelling rescuers and evacuees in the flood-hit Kherson region on Thursday as Moscow said its forces fought off a Ukrainian offensive in another part of the front line. Emergency services were still racing to rescue people stranded by the flood-swollen waters of the Dnipro River, which have forced…
-
Russian F1 Driver Loses Latest Fight Against Sanctions
Russian Formula One driver Nikita Mazepin has lost the latest round of his High Court battle after being subjected to sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine. Mazepin used to race for Haas, but the F1 team “terminated its relationship” with him soon after Russia started the war in Ukraine last year. The 24-year-old has not…
-
Russia’s Memorial Rights Group Co-Chair on Trial Over Ukraine Criticism
Oleg Orlov, co-chair of the human rights group Memorial, went on trial in Moscow on Thursday over criticism of Russia’s Ukraine campaign, which could see him jailed for up to five years. AFP journalists at Moscow’s Golovinsky district court reported the beginning of the trial, the latest in a series against Russian civil society organizations.…
-
Leaving Russia: Four Artists Forced into Exile
In just six months Katya, a young Russian artist and anti-war activist, went from being unable to imagine leaving Russia to being forced into emigration. “There isn’t anyone abroad to welcome me,” the artist and activist told The Moscow Times in August 2022. “And I don’t want to fight [from another place]… when I’m here in…
-
Journalists Call on Big Tech to Prevent Russia’s Online Information Shutdown
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and a group of Russian independent media organizations have called on big tech companies to establish a working group to prevent Russia’s online information shutdown. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia has blocked or forced the closure of nearly all independent media outlets and blocked major platforms —…
-
Russia’s Massive Army Recruitment Drive Appears to Deliver Few Soldiers
MOSCOW – For Russians, avoiding the sight of army recruitment advertisements plastered on billboards and shop windows, distributed on street corners and flashed across television screens has become next to impossible in recent months. Appealing to a sense of patriotism, concern about Russia’s future and traditional ideas of masculinity, the unprecedented recruitment campaign has also…
-
Ukraine Says Launched Promised Counteroffensive Against Russia – WaPo
Ukraine’s forces have launched their long-awaited counteroffensive to reclaim territory occupied by Russia, The Washington Post reported Thursday, citing four Ukrainian soldiers and officers. The Ukrainian military opened a “crucial phase” in the war with intensified attacks on the frontline in southeast Ukraine on Wednesday, the members were cited as saying. Kyiv’s counterattack aims both…
-
Russia Tells UN Court Ukraine Shelled Dam
Russia accused Ukraine at the UN’s top court Thursday of destroying a key dam with artillery strikes, and alleged that Kyiv was led by neo-Nazis — a claim Moscow has used to try to justify its invasion. Moscow’s comments to judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) came as it denied wider allegations by…
-
Russian Officer Accuses Wagner of Torture, Disinformation
A Russian officer has accused the Wagner mercenary group of conducting a “cynical” campaign to discredit the conventional Russian army during efforts to capture eastern Ukraine’s Bakhmut. Lieutenant Colonel Roman Vinivitin first appeared in a Wagner video this week confessing to firing at a Wagner vehicle on orders to disarm its rapid response unit. Wagner leader…
-
Ex-Siberian Governor Appointed Senator After Son’s Escape from Italian House Arrest
The father of a Russian businessman wanted by the United States for smuggling U.S. military technology has been appointed as senator of a Siberian region that he governed for almost six years, state-run media reported Thursday. Alexander Uss, 68, stepped down as governor of the Krasnoyarsk region in April, one month after his son Artyom fled house…
-
West Rejects Russia’s Extradition Requests Over ‘Politics’ – Reports
Western law enforcement agencies have rejected Russian extradition and legal assistance requests for “political” reasons this year, the Kommersant business daily reported Thursday, as bilateral legal cooperation continues to deteriorate more than a year into Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. European countries rejected 46 Russian extradition requests in January-May 2023, the publication cited Russia’s General Prosecutor’s Office…
-
Putin Postpones Call-In Over Ukraine Counteroffensive – Kommersant
President Vladimir Putin’s traditional televised call-in show has been delayed because of worries about the military situation in Ukraine where Kyiv’s forces are expected to mount a major counteroffensive, Russia’s Kommersant business daily reported Thursday. This is the second consecutive year that the setpiece event, where ordinary citizens ask the Russian leader to solve their daily…
-
Ukraine Dam’s Destruction Increases Mines Threat: Red Cross
The destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine will have a catastrophic effect on locating landmines in the affected region, the Red Cross warned Wednesday. “We knew where the hazards were,” said Erik Tollefsen, head of the Weapon Contamination Unit at the International Committee of the Red Cross. “Now we don’t know. “All we know…
-
Belarus Pardons Russian Woman Pulled Off EU Flight
Belarus has pardoned Sofia Sapega, the Russian ex-girlfriend of Belarusian dissident journalist Roman Protasevich, the state-run Belta news agency reported Wednesday. Sapega and her then-boyfriend Protasevich were detained in May 2021 when their Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius was forcibly diverted in Minsk, with Belarusian authorities citing a bomb threat. The 25-year-old law student…
-
Foreigners Stranded in Russia’s Remote Far East as U.S.-Bound Flight Makes Emergency Landing
An Air India flight from New Delhi to San Francisco on Tuesday was forced to make an emergency landing in the Far East Russian city of Magadan due to an engine malfunction. After disembarking, the flight’s passengers — most of whom are likely citizens of India and the U.S. — found themselves stranded in a…
-
Former Members of Youth Activist Group Arrested Across Russia
Russian law enforcement officials arrested six former and current members of the democratic youth organization Vesna on charges of “extremism,” state-run media outlets reported Wednesday. The individuals — who were detained in various cities across Russia — are accused of “forming an extremist organization.” “All of those arrested were taken to Moscow. Before that, their…
-
Putin Orders Free Land Handouts for Ukraine War Veterans
Regional authorities in Russia have been tasked with distributing free plots of land to veterans of Moscow’s war against Ukraine, according to a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. Those eligible to receive land include combat veterans, as well as military personnel, volunteer fighters, and employees of the Russian National Guard who have…
-
Russia Blames Ukraine for Key Ammonia Pipeline Detonation
Moscow said Wednesday that a Ukrainian “sabotage” group had blown up the Tolyatti-Odesa pipeline that Russia used to export ammonia before the start of its 15-month offensive. “A Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group blew up the Tolyatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline” near the village of Masyutovka in the northeastern Kharkiv region on Monday evening, the Russian Defense…
-
Author Paul Hansbury Puts Belarus Back on the Map
“A Blank Space on the Map” is the first chapter of “Belarus in Crisis” – a fitting title for a country that faded from world news after its revolution stalled. Hansbury’s book on this “blank space” is a concise and yet wide-ranging study that corrects this cartographic crime. While the focus of the book is…
-
Blackouts in Russian Border Region After Drone Strikes – Governor
Overnight drone strikes on a power station across the state border have caused blackouts in two Russian villages, the regional governor said Wednesday amid an intensifying spate of cross-border attacks. Roman Starovoit, the governor of Russia’s Kursk region, said Ukrainian forces dropped two explosives on a substation in the village of Popovo-Lezhachi 4 kilometers east of…
-
Norway Rescues Russian By Helicopter Near North Pole
Norway rescued a Russian in need of emergency medical assistance on board a scientific vessel stuck in ice near the North Pole in a spectacular helicopter operation, its rescue services said Wednesday. The evacuation took place on Tuesday evening from the Russian ship Severny Polyus (North Pole), located at the 86th parallel north, above Norway’s…
-
Russia Detains Suspected Ukraine Spy in Far East
Russia’s domestic intelligence agency has arrested a resident of the country’s Far East on suspicion of spying for Ukraine, the state-run TASS news agency reported Wednesday. “Acting on the instructions of the Ukrainian military intelligence, the Primorye region resident collected and transmitted information about the region’s law enforcement agencies and military infrastructure,” the Federal Security Service…
-
Plaques Commemorating Gulag Victims Disappear Around Moscow
Plaques honoring the victims of the Soviet gulag forced labor camps have started to disappear from buildings across Moscow, the Kommersant business daily reported Wednesday. The palm-sized plaques first started appearing on building facades as part of a non-government-affiliated memorial project called Last Address in 2015. They feature the gulag victims’ names, occupations and birth and…
-
China Trade With Russia Hits Highest Level Since Start of Ukraine War
China’s total trade with Russia in May soared to levels not seen since the beginning of Moscow’s war in Ukraine, official data showed Wednesday, as Beijing steps up support for its sanctions-hit ally. Trade between the two countries last month was worth $20.5 billion, data from Beijing showed, with Chinese imports from Russia worth $11.3…
-
Ukraine Nuke Plant Safe for Now After Dam Break – IAEA
Ukraine’s dam break is posing “no short-term risk” to Europe’s biggest atomic plant, despite falling water levels in a reservoir used to cool its reactors, according to the UN nuclear watchdog agency. Ukraine’s Kakhovka hydroelectric dam was breached on Tuesday following an attack that Moscow and Kyiv have blamed on each other. The Kakhovka dam…
-
Ukraine Dam Destruction a ‘Consequence’ of Russian Invasion: UN Chief
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that the partial destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine was “another devastating consequence” of Russia’s invasion of its neighbor. An attack on the major Russian-held dam in southern Ukraine unleashed a torrent of water that flooded a small city, inundated two dozen villages and sparked the evacuation…
-
Ukraine Nuke Plant Safety at Stake After Dam Damage
While there is “no immediate nuclear safety risk,” the UN nuclear watchdog is exploring options to get water to keep cooling Europe’s biggest atomic plant after a dam in southern Ukraine was damaged on Tuesday. Moscow and Kyiv have blamed each other for the damage at the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, which has led to thousands…
-
Finland to Expel 9 Russian Embassy Staff for ‘Intelligence’ Activities
NATO’s newest member Finland on Tuesday said it would expel nine diplomats working at the Russian embassy in Helsinki for acting in an “intelligence capacity.” “Finland will expel nine people working in the Russian embassy who have been acting in an intelligence capacity,” the government said in a statement. It added that the “activities are…
Got any book recommendations?