Russia Kicks Off Early Voting in Occupied Ukrainian Regions

Early voting for Russia’s presidential election has begun in remote areas of the country and parts of occupied Ukraine, the pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia reported Monday, citing election authorities. While regular voting in the presidential race is due to take place between March 15 and 17, people in occupied parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions…

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Denmark Closes Nord Stream Sabotage Probe

Danish police said Monday that they were closing their investigation into the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines linking Russia and Germany, a move dubbed “close to absurd” by the Kremlin. Neighboring Sweden closed its investigation in early February citing a lack of jurisdiction, meaning only Germany now has an ongoing investigation into…

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Sri Lanka Scraps Long-Term Visa for Russians, Ukrainians

Sri Lanka said Sunday it had ended long-term tourist visa extensions for thousands of Russians and Ukrainians using the policy to live on the island since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “The government is not granting further visa extensions,” Commissioner-General of Immigration Harsha Ilukpitiya told AFP, giving a March 7 deadline for departure. “The flight situation…

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The Food of War and Isolation

The past two years of full-scale war are not only the most shameful time in Russian history. They also show how the entire Putin government is permeated with lies and hypocrisy. Attempts to create some kind of racially pure Russian culture or even cuisine to spite Western civilization turned out to be just the usual…

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2 Years Into Ukraine War, Russia’s Ethnic Minorities Disproportionately Killed in Battle

Russia’s ethnic minorities continue to suffer outsized fatalities in the country’s two-year war in Ukraine, a trend that analysts warn will have long-term destructive impacts on these communities. Though ethnic Russians comprise the majority of deaths in absolute terms, Russia’s non-Slavic minorities and indigenous peoples are greatly overrepresented among the casualties relative to their share…

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In Photos: 2 Years of Russia’s War on Ukraine

On Feb. 24, 2022, people across Ukraine awoke to the sound of Russian missiles as President Vladimir Putin declared what he called a “special military operation.” Two years later, millions of Ukrainians have been displaced, tens of thousands of civilians and combatants have been killed and a number of cities and towns have been destroyed…

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Boris Nadezhdin: ‘I Learned from Navalny’s Mistakes’

Boris Nadezhdin says he will not rally his supporters to protest against his exclusion from next month’s presidential election — because, he says, he has learned from “Alexei Navalny’s mistakes.” “It would mean exposing my supporters to the police and Rosgvardia’s batons,” Nadezhdin told The Moscow Times, referring to the inevitable crackdown awaiting unauthorized protests…

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Russian Appeal Against Olympic Suspension Dismissed as Moscow Blasts ‘Discrimination’

Russia’s appeal against its suspension by the International Olympic Committee was dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Friday with Moscow lambasting its banishment from this summer’s Paris Games as “discrimination.” The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in October last year for violating the territorial integrity of the membership of Ukraine…

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Russia Bans Entry to EU Officials Over New Sanctions

Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced Friday that it has “significantly” expanded an entry ban for European officials in response to the EU’s “illegal and unfriendly” sanctions on the eve of the second anniversary of the war in Ukraine.  The EU’s 13th round of sanctions, adopted on Wednesday, targets 200 officials and entities mainly from Russia involved…

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U.S. Charges Russian Banker Kostin With Sanctions Evasion, Money Laundering

The United States on Thursday charged Russian banking tycoon Andrei Kostin and two U.S.-based associates for violating sanctions by paying for the maintenance of his luxury property. Kostin, chairman of Russia’s second-largest state-owned bank VTB, was accused of participating in a scheme to evade sanctions and launder funds to support his two superyachts, the Justice Department…

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Political Persecution Under Putin Highest Since Stalin Era – Proekt

Russian authorities have prosecuted more than 116,000 activists during President Vladimir Putin’s latest term in office, the investigative news outlet Proekt reported, surpassing levels of political repression seen during the rule of Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev. Between 2018 and 2023, Russian courts fined 105,000 people for making public statements or attending protests.  Another…

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Russian Police Raid ‘Anti-War LGBT Party’ – State TV

Anti-riot police raided an activist meeting near St. Petersburg that state television claimed was an “LGBT party against the special military operation” in Ukraine, the independent news website Mediazona reported Thursday. The broadcasters Ren-TV and 78.ru published identical reports of the Feb. 18 raid showing masked agents lining up several attendees and asking them about their…

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Over 4.5K Russian Soldiers Convicted of Desertion Since Invasion – Proekt

Russian courts have convicted more than 4,600 soldiers for desertion and other offenses related to refusing to serve in the military since Moscow invaded Ukraine nearly two years ago, the independent investigative outlet Proekt reported Thursday. Russia passed new legislation in the fall of 2022 that toughened punishment for voluntary surrender, conscientious objection and desertion.…

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Russian Booksellers Remove Potentially Banned Books

Earlier this week broadcast and print journalist Alexander Plyushev published a list of 252 books that could be considered to be in violation of the Russian law prohibiting “LGBT propaganda.” The list contained some books that might expected, such as Oscar Wilde’s “Portrait of Dorian Gray” and James Baldwin’s “Giovanni’s Rooms.” But it also included…

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ROSATOM presented advanced Russian nuclear technologies at the 13th International Conference on Nuclear Sciences and Applications in Hurghada, Egypt

As part of the participation at the 13th International Conference on Nuclear Sciences and Applications, Rosatom showcased technologies in medicine, healthcare, and agriculture. ROSATOM, a global technological leader, participated in the 13th International Conference on Nuclear Sciences and Applications organized by the Egyptian Society of Nuclear Sciences and Applications (ESNSA) and Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority…

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