Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Russian Army Replaces Top Logistics Commander
The Russian army on Sunday replaced its highest ranking general in charge of logistics ahead of an expected counteroffensive by Kyiv. The announcement followed days of rumours about the sacking of Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, under British sanctions for his role in the siege of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, which Russian troops captured…
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7 Known ‘Wagner Cemeteries’ in Russia and Occupied Ukraine
The final resting places of mercenaries killed while fighting for Russia’s Wagner Group are hard to miss, standing out from other graves with their colorful adornments. Most are marked by a wooden cross, with the heaped earth covered by green spruce branches and two wreaths: one in the colors of the Russian tricolor and the…
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Pro-Putin Bikers Launch Rally Bound for Berlin
Hundreds of Kremlin-loyal bikers under the banner of the Night Wolves motorcycle club took to the streets of Moscow on Saturday for a “patriotic” rally across Europe. The motorcade headed by club founder and leader Alexander Zaldastanov, known as “The Surgeon,” aims to complete the rally in Berlin by May 9. Several participants at…
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Crimea Fuel Depot on Fire, Russian-Held Towns Shelled in Ukraine
A huge fire erupted in Moscow-annexed Crimea after a suspected drone attack hit an oil depot on Saturday, as fighting intensified on the southern Ukrainian front and shelling deprived Russian border villages of power. The attacks came one day after Kyiv said preparations for a long-awaited counteroffensive were nearly complete, having vowed to expel Russian…
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5 Russian Villages Without Power After Ukraine Shelling
Five Russian villages on the border with Ukraine were without power as a result of Ukrainian shelling, the governor of Russia’s southwestern Belgorod region that borders Ukraine said Saturday. The region has been hit by attacks throughout Moscow’s more than year-long offensive in Ukraine. “The village of Novaya Tavolzhanka came under Ukrainian shelling today,” Belgorod…
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Poland Seizes Russian High School Building in Warsaw
Poland on Saturday said it had seized a high school building near Moscow’s Embassy in Warsaw meant for the children of diplomats, a move the Russian envoy called “illegal.” The spat over the 1970s multi-story building, nicknamed the “spy nest” by Warsaw citizens, has been going on for a year. “This building belongs to the Warsaw…
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Russian Rhubarb? Mais Oui!
Rhubarb is a plant with many virtues. Although it is sometimes overlooked today, a hundred or more years ago it was used in many ways in many different dishes. From ancient times it has been used in pies, salads, fruit drinks and as an accompaniment to meat. For example, in the “Chef’s Calendar” published in…
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Russian Strikes Kill 26 Including 5 Children
Russian strikes battered cities across Ukraine on Friday, killing 26 people including five children, as Kyiv said preparations for a counteroffensive against Moscow’s forces were nearly complete. The deadly new attacks included a strike on a residential block in the historic city of Uman in central Ukraine, where AFP journalists saw rescue workers extracting victims’…
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Peskov Son’s Alleged Wagner Deployment Risks Backfiring for Kremlin
Attempts by the Kremlin to present the children of Russia’s elite as equal participants in the war against Ukraine alongside ordinary soldiers have fallen flat, according to experts and former officials who spoke to The Moscow Times. Instead, these efforts have sparked more questions than answers, they said. Last Saturday the Wagner mercenary group’s leader,…
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Putin Authorizes Deportations of Ukrainians From Occupied Areas
President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree allowing the deportation of Ukrainian citizens in Moscow-occupied areas who refuse Russian passports. The move marks the latest chapter of the Kremlin’s Russification campaign in occupied Ukraine that rights experts have slammed as a war crime. Starting July 1, 2024, Ukrainian nationals who opt out of Russian citizenship…
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ROSATOM has finished test assembly of the first research reactor for Bolivia
April 28, 2023, Dimitrovgrad – RIAR JSC (an enterprise of ROSATOM’s Science Division) held a ceremony of completing the test assembly of the first research reactor for the Center for Nuclear Technology Research and Development (CNTRD) in Bolivia. The event has been attended by representatives of Rosatom and María Luisa Ramos Urzagaste, Ambassador of the Plurinational…
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Western Celebrities, Writers, Academics Urge Putin to Grant Navalny Proper Medical Care
Over 100 prominent Western academics, writers and celebrities have called on President Vladimir Putin to urgently provide Alexei Navalny with access to necessary medical care as the Kremlin critic’s allies sound the alarm about his deteriorating health in prison. “We call on you, Mr. President, to ensure that Alexey Navalny is immediately given the medical treatment…
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Russian Central Bank Holds Key Rate at 7.5%
Russia’s Central Bank decided Friday to hold its key interest rate at 7.5% for the fifth time in a row, noting that inflationary expectations remained high. “Over the medium-term, the balance of risks has not changed significantly and is still biased towards pro-inflationary ones,” the Bank said in a statement. Still, the Russian economy is…
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The Cat Cried and Ran By
Мурзик: Murzik (popular cat name) We interrupt our usually scheduled serious topics for a public service column about the care of and conversation with a Russian-speaking cat. What should you name your кот (tom) or кошка (dam, molly or queen)? How should you address him or her? And how can you entertain your питомец (pet)…
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Moscow Baker Fined Over Anti-War Cakes
Updated to add guilty verdict and fine. A Moscow baker has been fined for “discrediting” the Russian military’s actions in Ukraine with anti-war cakes, independent media reported Friday. Anastasia Chernysheva started posting photos of her confectionary creations decorated with anti-war slogans on her bakery’s Instagram in April 2022, two months into Russia’s invasion. “F*ck war,” reads the…
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Russian ‘Special Vessel’ Spotted Before Nord Stream Blasts – Danish Media
A Russian special vessel had been spotted near the Nord Stream gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea four days before it was sabotaged, Danish media reported, citing a document access request. The pipelines were ruptured by subsea explosives on Sept. 26, seven months after Russian forces invaded Ukraine. A Danish patrol boat had taken 26…
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Russian Strikes Kill 19, Kyiv Says Offensive Almost Ready
Russian strikes battered cities across Ukraine early Friday, killing at least 19 people as Kyiv said preparations for a highly anticipated offensive against Moscow’s forces were nearly complete. The barrage of almost two dozen missiles overnight ended a weeks-long pause following the repeated Russian strikes that had aimed to paralyze Ukraine’s energy grid during the…
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Russian Anti-Torture Group Members’ Homes Raided
Law enforcement authorities raided the homes of a prominent Russian anti-torture NGO’s lawyers in the city of Nizhny Novgorod early Friday. The Committee Against Torture, which changed its name to The Crew Against Torture (CAT) in June 2022, said criminal investigators arrived at the homes of its lawyers at 7:00 a.m. local time. CAT posted…
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Moscow Court Orders Closure Of Sova Analytical Center
A Russian court has ordered the closure of the Sova Analytical Center, one of the country’s leading research centers monitoring nationalist and racist movements, Interfax reported Thursday. Russia’s Justice Ministry in March filed a court order to shut the group down, accusing SOVA of carrying out its activities across Russia despite only being registered in…
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First batch of nuclear fuel was delivered to Akkuyu NPP
April 27, 2023, Büyükeceli, Turkey. – A solemn ceremony dedicated to the delivery of the first batch of nuclear fuel for the first nuclear power plant in Turkey was held at the Akkuyu NPP construction site. This historic event marks the entry of the Republic of Turkey into the community of countries developing nuclear generation…
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Russia Digs In Awaiting Ukraine’s Expected Offensive
Russia has boosted its defenses in occupied Ukraine ahead of Kyiv’s anticipated counterattack, wagering its position on 800 kilometers of triple-fortified lines and a gush of manpower. Now that the Ukrainian terrain, muddied by the spring thaw, has begun to dry and Russia’s latest wave of attacks has fizzled out, a counterstrike may be weeks…
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Suspended Sentence for Alleged Wagner Deserter in Oslo
A Russian man claiming to be a deserter from the Kremlin-linked Wagner mercenary group was handed a 14-day suspended sentence on Thursday for a street fight in central Oslo. Oslo’s district court however acquitted Andrei Medvedev, 26, of the more serious charge of assaulting police officers. Appearing in court on Tuesday, Medvedev pleaded guilty to…
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Putin, Erdogan Unveil Russia-Built Nuclear Plant in Turkey
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday hailed the loading of fuel into the first reactor at Turkey’s Russia-built Akkuyu nuclear power plant, the Kremlin said. “This is a flagship project and it brings both mutual economic benefits and, of course, helps to strengthen the multifaceted partnership between our two states,” Putin said at the virtual…
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Russia Blames Sanctions, Closed Borders for Rise in Traffic Accidents
Russian police ascribed an increase in road accidents to Western sanctions that have shifted traffic flows toward ill-equipped infrastructure in the country’s east, the Kommersant business daily reported Thursday. The Russian Interior Ministry’s road safety research center said in its 2022 report that some highway sections in eastern Russia saw upticks in accidents of as…
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Moscow Denies Consular Visit to Jailed U.S. Journalist, Citing Visa Row
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday it had denied an upcoming consular visit to jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in retaliation to Washington refusing to grant visas to several Russian journalists. “The U.S. Embassy was informed that its request for a consular visit on May 11… to U.S. citizen (Evan) Gershkovich, who was detained…
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Kremlin-Installed Ukraine Occupation Leader Listed as British Firm’s Owner – Guardian
A Russian-appointed governor in one of Ukraine’s partially occupied southeastern regions owns a British company despite being under sanctions, The Guardian reported Thursday. The appearance of a high-profile collaborationist in the United Kingdom’s registry books raises questions about sanctions enforcement. Vladimir Saldo, who has governed southern Ukraine’s Kherson region since April 2022 after it fell under…
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Armenia Urges Moscow Peacekeepers to Keep Vital Road Under Control
Armenia said on Thursday that Russian peacekeepers should have full control of the only land link between its territory and the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The comments, from Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, came during fresh tensions between arch-enemies Armenia and Azerbaijan. On Thursday, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna held talks in Baku on easing tensions…
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Memorial’s Yekaterinburg Head Accused of Double Army ‘Discreditation’
Law enforcement authorities in Russia’s fourth-largest city on Thursday arrested the local branch head of Memorial, the country’s oldest human rights group, the organization announced on Telegram. Alexei Mosin was detained at his apartment in the morning and brought to Yekaterinburg’s Yeltsin Center, which houses Memorial’s documents and archives, to retrieve legal documents, according to…
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Popular Russian Instagrammer Detained at Border on Tax Fraud Accusations
Popular Russian Instagram blogger Yelena Blinovskaya has been detained at the Russian border while trying to flee charges of 918-million-ruble ($11.3 million) tax fraud, the country’s Investigative Committee, which probes high-profile crimes, said Thursday. Blinovskaya is accused of underreporting and laundering her 2019-21 earnings from providing online services. With more than 5.3 million Instagram followers, she…
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Pushkin House Announces Short List for 2023 Book Prize
The Pushkin House Book Prize is celebrating its 11th awards year with six shortlisted books that represent a wide range of scholarship — and memories —about Russia, past and present. Every year a panel of distinguished judges considers dozens of books about or from Russia in every field imaginable, from art to war, from politics…
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Blast Kills Police Officer in Russia-Controlled Melitopol
A blast on Thursday killed a police officer in the Moscow-controlled Ukrainian city of Melitopol, Russian authorities said, in the latest in a series of such attacks. Melitopol, with a pre-war population of around 150,000 people, was captured early after Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year and now lies some 65 kilometers (40 miles)…
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Russian Smartphone Sales Dwarfed By Chinese Imports
Russian-made smartphone sales have plummeted to less than half of last year’s figures as they face stiff competition from Chinese imports, the Vedomosti business daily reported Thursday, citing data from suppliers. Compared with 99,300 units moved in January-March 2022, only 46,900 Russian-made smartphones have been sold in the first quarter of 2023. That marks a…
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Russia’s Oil Export Revenues Fall One-Third Due to Western Price Cap – Study
Russia’s oil export revenues fell by nearly a third between January and March this year compared to the last quarter of 2022, the Financial Times reported Wednesday, citing a recent study by the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE). The analysts say the change was largely due to the introduction of price caps on Russian petroleum products by…
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Russian Military Plane Crashes in Northern Region
A Russian military plane crashed in the country’s northern Murmansk region on Wednesday, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing the Defense Ministry. The Mikoyan MiG-31 supersonic aircraft crashed in an uninhabited area during a training exercise and both pilots safely ejected from the aircraft, according to officials. The incident happened near the town of…
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Fire at Russian Cultural Center in Cyprus After Molotov Cocktail Attack
A large fire broke out at the Russian Center of Science and Culture in Cyprus’ capital Nicosia after a Molotov cocktail was thrown into the building, the state-run TASS news agency reported Wednesday, citing the institution’s head. “We heard two explosions at around 1:30 p.m. We couldn’t connect them with anything at first, but then it…
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Russia Ramps Up Use of Glide Bombs Ahead of Ukraine Counteroffensive
During Russian forces’ spring assault on Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, air strikes played a key role in their attempts to encircle the city. One night in late March, Russian aircraft dropped 11 bombs on Ukraine’s Sumy region in a major attack. And last week, a Russian jet accidently released a malfunctioning bomb on the Russian…
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Russia Moves to Tighten Punishments on Dissent
Russian senators voted Wednesday to stiffen punishments of dissent by adding life sentences for treason and stripping citizenship for anti-war speech. The amendments to Russia’s Criminal Code are being advanced amid an intensifying crackdown on the few Kremlin critics who have not fled the country 14 months after its troops invaded Ukraine. Russia’s upper house…
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Urals Region Fire Damages Hundreds of Buildings, Kills Civilian
More than 100 homes were destroyed and one man was killed by overnight fires in the Ural Mountains region of Sverdlovsk, Russian media reported Wednesday. The destructive blaze started after eight railcars loaded with lumber caught fire on Tuesday evening in the village of Sosva, located around 260 kilometers northeast of the regional capital Yekaterinburg. …
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China’s Xi Holds Call With Ukraine’s Zelensky
Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky by phone on Wednesday, the first known call between the two leaders since the start of Russia’s invasion. The nearly one-hour discussion, which reportedly included Xi advocating for peace negotiations, was met by Russian accusations that Ukraine was undermining efforts to end the fighting.…
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Russia’s Novosibirsk Abolishes Direct Mayoral Elections
Local officials in Russia’s third-largest city scrapped direct mayoral elections on Wednesday. Novosibirsk, the most populous city in Siberia, had been one of just three Russian cities with over 1 million residents that retained direct mayoral elections amid a vigorous centralization of power by the Kremlin. The bill abolishing direct voting and introducing elections of…
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Russia Opts Out of Central Asian Football Championship
The Russian football team, shorn of international competition due to the invasion of Ukraine, will not take part in the inaugural edition of the Central Asian Championship despite having been slated to. Russia had been invited but declined the invitation this week claiming it was due to a loaded fixture list despite having been barred…
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Russia Says Expels 10 Norwegian Diplomats in ‘Retaliatory Measure’
Russia said on Wednesday it was expelling 10 Norwegian diplomats as a “retaliatory measure” after Norway announced it was kicking out 15 Russians. “(Norway’s Ambassador to Russia) Robert Kvile was handed a note declaring ‘persona non grata’ 10 representatives of the Norwegian embassy in Moscow,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said. In mid-April, Norway announced the expulsion of…
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Navalny Says Faces Life in Prison on ‘Absurd’ Terror Charges
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny said Wednesday he faces potential life imprisonment on fresh charges of terrorism amid an ongoing campaign to silence one of the most potent opposition forces in modern Russia. Authorities have launched as many as 10 new criminal cases against Navalny, 46, since he was sentenced to nine years in prison on…
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Russian Businessmen Slam Putin, Ukraine Invasion in Leaked Call – Reports
A leaked phone call allegedly between two wealthy Russian businessmen highlights frustration with Russia’s leadership and war effort among the country’s elite, the Current Time broadcaster reported late Tuesday. The men in the recorded conversation are identified as Roman Trotsenko, one of Russia’s richest businessmen, and Nikolai Matushevsky, the creator of Moscow’s Flacon and Khlebozavod…
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Former Opposition Mayor Roizman On Trial for ‘Discrediting’ Russian Army
Yevgeny Roizman, a prominent Kremlin critic and popular former mayor, stood trial on Wednesday over accusations of “discrediting” the Russian military. Roizman is one of just a few leading opposition figures who remain in Russia and have not been jailed. He faces up to five years in prison. Since invading Ukraine in February last year,…
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Putin Allows Seizure of ‘Unfriendly’ Foreign Assets
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Tuesday authorizing temporary control over foreign companies’ Russia-based assets. The move marks Russia’s latest retaliation to the freezing of its assets abroad over the invasion of Ukraine. Putin’s decree lists the Russian divisions of the German energy giant Uniper and Finland’s Fortum whose shares had already been taken over…
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Rebranded KFC Opens in Russia Following Chicken Chain’s Departure Over Ukraine
MOSCOW – The rebranded version of KFC reopened at its first location in central Moscow on Tuesday after the U.S. fast-food chain exited Russia’s market over the war in Ukraine. The rebranded restaurant chain’s flagship location on Tverskaya-Yamskaya Ulitsa some 5 kilometers from the Kremlin was fully packed at its grand opening Tuesday evening, over…
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Former Russian President Mocks ‘Desperate Grandpa’ Biden
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday called Joe Biden a senile and “desperate grandpa” after the U.S. president announced his candidacy for re-election in 2024. “Biden has taken his decision. A desperate grandpa,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram about the 80-year-old U.S. leader. “If I was in the place of the U.S. military I would…
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Russian Soldier Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison on Treason Charges
A Russian soldier has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for treason and illegal access to state secrets, the state-run TASS news agency reported Tuesday, citing court records. The sentencing is the latest in a series of increasingly frequent court verdicts against military servicemembers since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The case against…
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Russia Hosts Talks with Iran, Syria, Turkey
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Tuesday hosted four-way talks aimed at normalizing ties between Ankara and Damascus, which were severed at the start of Syria’s civil war in 2011. “Practical steps were discussed in the field of strengthening security in the Syrian Arab Republic and normalizing Syrian-Turkish relations,” the Russian Defense Ministry. Moscow stressed…
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Sweden Says Expelling 5 Russian Diplomats
Sweden on Tuesday announced it was expelling five Russian diplomats for “activities not compatible” with their diplomatic status. Sweden’s foreign ministry said “five officials at the Russian Embassy in Sweden are being asked to leave the country” due to activities incompatible with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The foreign ministry did not specify the…
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Russia to Close Red Square 2 Weeks Ahead of WWII Victory Parade
Russian authorities announced Tuesday that they will close Moscow’s Red Square to the public for an unprecedented two weeks ahead of the country’s annual parade marking the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. Each year on May 9, Russia celebrates the Victory Day holiday with a massive military parade on Red Square…
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Moscow Students Targeted in Russia’s Spring Military Call-Up
The Russian military’s spring call-up has targeted Moscow students in an apparent attempt to meet President Vladimir Putin’s target of enlisting 147,000 young men for compulsory service, the Meduza news website reported Tuesday, citing activists. The speculation follows reporting last week that authorities had started violently delivering students to enlistment offices. Students in at least three schools,…
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Fresh Wagner Graves Unearthed in Siberia
More than 200 freshly dug graves bearing the insignia of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group have been located at a cemetery in Russia’s third-largest city of Novosibirsk, the Siberia-based news site Tayga.info reported Tuesday. Wagner wreaths can be seen next to the majority of the tombs in footage shared by the outlet. The years of death on…
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Alleged Wagner Deserter on Trial After Oslo Street Brawl
A Russian man claiming to be a deserter from the Kremlin-linked Wagner mercenary group went on trial Tuesday in Oslo over a street fight in the center of the capital. Wearing a beige shirt and pants, Andrei Medvedev pleaded guilty to participating in a brawl outside a bar in February, resisting arrest and carrying an…
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Russian Tourists Set Sights on Europe Despite Flight, Visa Limits
Demand for European vacations among Russian tourists has increased slightly this month despite ongoing flight and visa difficulties due to the war in Ukraine, the Kommersant business daily reported Tuesday. European countries have tightened visa procedures for Russian nationals over the past year and have increased rejections of applications since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.…
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Ukraine Allies Denounce ‘Cynical’ Russian Meeting at UN
Kyiv’s allies on Monday slammed Russia for a Security Council meeting chaired by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about protecting the United Nations charter, which Moscow itself violated by invading Ukraine. “By organizing this debate Russia is trying to portray itself as a defender of the UN charter and multilateralism. Nothing can be further from the…
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Moscow Says ‘Serious Concern’ Over New Armenia-Azerbaijan Tensions
Moscow on Monday expressed “serious concern” over fresh tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which have been locked for decades in a deadly territorial conflict. The comments from the Foreign Ministry came a day after Azerbaijan set up a checkpoint on the only land link to the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh, sparking anger from Armenia. Armenia…
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Russia’s Sberbank Launches Own Version of ChatGPT
Russia’s Sberbank on Monday announced that it has developed a rival technology to ChatGPT, the widely popular Microsoft-backed artificial intelligence chatbot released in November. Called Gigachat, the Sberbank chatbot is said to excel among its peers — ChatGPT in particular — thanks to its excellent Russian-language comprehension as well as its ability to generate images,…
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‘Ukrainian’ Drone Found Outside Moscow
A “Ukrainian” drone has been found outside Moscow, an official said on Monday, adding this had led local authorities to call off a Victory Day parade for security reasons. Moscow has accused Ukraine of being behind a number of drone attacks on military infrastructure deep inside Russian territory. On Monday, Igor Sukhin, head of the…
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