Siberian Officials Wage Denunciation Campaign Against Baikal Defenders

Officials in Russia’s Irkutsk region in southeastern Siberia have publicly denounced activists seeking to block a controversial bill that would ease logging restrictions along the shores of Lake Baikal, the Govorit NeMoskva news outlet reported Monday.  In an open letter, 34 regional officials, including six mayors, accused environmental activists of waging a cyberbullying campaign and inciting…

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190 Criminal Cases Opened Against Pardoned Wagner Fighters Returning from Ukraine – Reports

Russian authorities have opened at least 190 criminal cases against Wagner mercenaries who were pardoned in exchange for fighting in Ukraine, the independent media outlet Vyorstka reported Monday. Russia’s Defense Ministry and the Wagner mercenary group have recruited heavily from Russian prisons to bolster their manpower in Ukraine, promising convicts a pardon in exchange for military…

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Foreign Shareholders Suspend Participation in Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 Project – Kommersant

Foreign shareholders have suspended their participation in Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project due to U.S. sanctions, the Kommersant business daily reported Monday, citing anonymous government sources. The United States in November issued sanctions on Arctic LNG as part of broader measures targeting Russia’s future energy production and other areas over its invasion of Ukraine. The European Union…

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Russian Nuclear-Powered Cargo Ship Catches Fire in Arctic

A fire erupted on board Russia’s Sevmorput nuclear-powered cargo ship, authorities said Monday, adding that the blaze was quickly extinguished. Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said it had dispatched crews to vessel manager Atomflot’s base outside the Arctic city of Murmansk late on Sunday. “It was established there was a fire in one of the Sevmorput cabins spanning…

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Russian Strikes Kill 4 in Ukraine’s Kherson — Governor

Russian bombardment killed four people and injured nine over 24 hours in the frontline southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, a regional official said Sunday. Russian forces fired 71 shells at Kherson from Saturday to Sunday morning, hitting the city center, residential areas, medical and educational institutions and “critical infrastructure facilities,” the region’s governor Oleksandr Prokudin…

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Russia Space Agency Official Held Over Multi-Million-Euro Fraud

Police on Friday detained the deputy director of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos over the suspected embezzlement of 4.3 million euros ($4.7 million) from the crisis-hit sector. Oleg Frolov and two other suspects are accused of a “large-scale fraud,” said a statement from the Russian investigative committee, which handles major criminal investigations. “Frolov, using his official…

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‘Twas the Night Before Christmas 2023

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; Молчат все соседи, сидят в тишине Не знаешь кто слушает — дома, вовне. Все дети, конечно, затихли и спят А этажом ниже соседи храпят. Everyone dreaming of what they want most: A ticket to somewhere and…

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Russia Charges Exiled Opposition Politician With ‘War Fakes’ – Reports

Russian authorities have charged exiled liberal opposition politician Leonid Gozman with violating the country’s wartime censorship laws, the state-run TASS news agency reported Friday, citing an anonymous law enforcement source. Gozman is reportedly accused of spreading “fake news” about the Russian military’s actions in Ukraine. “He posted distorted statements about the leadership of Russia and the…

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Putin Seizes Exiled Billionaire’s Car Dealership

President Vladimir Putin has ordered the seizure of Russia’s largest car dealership from exiled former lawmaker and billionaire Sergei Petrov, a presidential decree said Thursday. Shares in the Rolf dealership will be transferred from the Cypriot company Delance Limited and Rolf Motors to Russia’s Federal Property Management Agency (Rosimushchestvo), according to the document. This appears to…

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Russian Officials, Pro-War Activists Denounce Star-Studded ‘Naked Party’

Russian officials and pro-war activists have slammed a star-studded “almost naked” party hosted by media personality Anastasia Ivleeva for going against the country’s conservative values. Footage from the party at Mutabor, a popular Moscow nightclub, on Wednesday showed scantily clad pop stars Filipp Kirkorov, Lolita and Dima Bilan, as well as TV host and 2018…

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Russia Issues Arrest Warrants for Exiled Navalny Aides

Russian authorities have issued arrest warrants for two exiled associates of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the independent Mediazona news website reported Thursday. The Interior Ministry’s database of wanted persons lists investigator Maria Pevchikh and Navalny YouTube channel host Dmitry Nizovtsev, both of whom live outside Russia. The database does not indicate which criminal charges Pevchikh and…

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Kazakhstan to Extradite Russian Cybersecurity Expert to Moscow After Snubbing U.S.

Kazakhstan will extradite Russian cybersecurity expert Nikita Kislitsin to face hacking and extortion charges in his home country, Moscow’s Prosecutor General’s Office announced Thursday.  Kislitsin was detained in the Central Asian country in June following an extradition request from the United States, which accused him of buying personal data obtained through the 2012 hack of the…

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Putin’s 2024 Campaign Headquarters Open

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 2024 campaign headquarters has opened its doors in Moscow one week after he gave an end-of-the-year marathon press conference there, state media reported Thursday. The campaign headquarters at the Gostiny Dvor venue near the Kremlin is open to visitors on weekdays during working hours, according to the news broadcaster Rossia 1. The headquarters…

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ROSATOM presented interim results of work on elimination of accumulated environmental damage from the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill to UNESCO experts

A complex of measures to bring the facilities to a safe state is planned to be completed within the next four years. Experts from UNESCO and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources visited the industrial site of the former Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill JSC (BPPM JSC) as part of…

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Russian Deserter Decries Rampant Extortion in Military’s Convict Unit – Reports

A member of the Russian military’s Storm-Z penal unit has alleged widespread corruption among commanders in the Ukraine war, the independent news outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe reported Wednesday. Officers regularly extort up to 20,000 rubles ($220) in exchange for releasing troops from so-called “punishment pits” in the ground where they are placed for various infractions, the…

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Russia Refuses to Limit ‘Indefinite’ Service of Mobilized Soldiers – Opposition Member

The Russian military will not impose a one-year service limit for mobilized soldiers despite requests from the soldiers’ families, St. Petersburg opposition politician Boris Vishnevsky said Wednesday. Vishnevsky, a veteran Kremlin critic and member of the St. Petersburg legislative assembly, said his request on behalf of the soldiers’ relatives for Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to back…

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Russia Jails Left-Wing Activist for ‘Extremism’ After Transfer From Kyrgyzstan

A Russian left-wing activist has been sentenced to two years in jail for “extremism” after being detained in Kyrgyzstan, the Moscow court system said late Tuesday. Alyona Krylova was among three Russian anti-war activists arrested by authorities in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, this summer. One of the activists was fined and released from…

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Russian Court Finds ‘Gay Propaganda’ in Pro-War Singer’s Music Video

A Russian music channel has been fined for displaying “LGBT propaganda” by airing a music video by popular pro-war singer Nikolai Baskov, the independent Vyorstka news website reported Wednesday. Moscow’s Tagansky District Court determined that the video for Baskov’s 2012 single “Strannik” (Wanderer), which depicts an imagined orgy in the Roman Empire, contains “signs of…

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Russian Lawmakers to Lose Free Gas Privileges for Driving Foreign Cars – Izvestia

Russian lawmakers will lose their free gas privileges for ignoring President Vladimir Putin’s calls to stop driving foreign cars, the pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia reported Wednesday, citing a senior member of Russia’s lower house of parliament.  Putin ordered officials in August to support sanctions-hit domestic carmakers by giving up foreign-made vehicles. Senior State Duma officials notified executive authorities in Russia’s…

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