Flurry of Drone Attacks on Moscow Disrupts Russians’ Summer Travel

Russians have faced increasing disruptions to their summer travel plans as near-daily drone attacks on Moscow have prompted airports in the surrounding area to introduce temporary closures and flight restrictions.  The closures prompted by the drone incidents, which authorities blame on Kyiv, are the latest impact of Moscow’s 18-month war on Ukraine on ordinary Russians.…

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Ukraine Says Destroyed Russian Missile Defense System in Crimea

Ukrainian forces have destroyed a Russian S-400 missile defense system in annexed Crimea, Kyiv said Wednesday. “The explosion completely destroyed the system, its missiles and personnel,” Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency said in a statement, which was accompanied by a video of the blast.  Without identifying the weapon that destroyed Russia’s S-400, the intelligence agency…

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Russian Journalist Charged With ‘Discrediting’ Army After Receiving Patriotism Medal

The pro-war chief editor of a news publication in southern Russia has been charged with “discrediting” the country’s Armed Forces just a day after receiving an award for “patriotism,” local media reported Tuesday. Rostov-on-Don’s 1RND news website said its editor-in-chief Yelena Dorovskikh is accused of publishing news last fall about anti-mobilization leaflets that contained instructions…

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Russian Airlines Import $1.2Bln Worth of Western Parts Despite Sanctions – Reuters

Russian airlines have continued to import spare parts for Western aircraft despite sanctions designed to cut off the flow of key equipment, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing customs data. Ural Airlines, Norwdind Airlines, S7, Aeroflot and others have imported $1.2 billion worth of spare parts from third parties between May 2022 and June 2023, according to…

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Russian Army Officials Visit Libya After Haftar Invite

Russian military officials including Moscow’s deputy defense minister arrived in Libya on Tuesday after receiving an invite from pro-Moscow military strongman Khalifa Haftar. Haftar, who backs the country’s eastern administration, is close to Russia’s private Wagner mercenary group, whose troops guard military and oil infrastructure in the country. “This is the first official visit of…

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Leaked Audio Reveals Governor’s Predetermined Election Victory – Novaya Gazeta Europe

The governor of the Moscow region is expected to secure an overwhelming majority during his re-election bid in next month’s gubernatorial elections by manipulating voter turnout, the independent news website Novaya Gazeta Europe reported Tuesday, citing leaked audio. Moscow region Governor Andrei Vorobyov, a member of the ruling United Russia party, is among over a…

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Russian Forces Repel Ukrainian Attack on Border Region – Governor

Russian forces repelled an attempt by Ukrainian “saboteurs” to break into the western border region of Bryansk, the region’s local governor said Tuesday. “Today, Ukrainian saboteurs attempted to break through the [Russian] state border in the Klimovsky district,” Bryansk region Governor Alexander Bogomaz said on the Telegram messaging app. He said the attack was repelled by multiple…

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Russia Downs 2 Drones Near Moscow

Russian air defense systems downed two attack drones near Moscow, the city’s mayor said on Tuesday. “Air defense shot down two attack drones. One in the Krasnogorsk area, the other in the Chastsy area,” Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on the Telegram messaging app, adding that emergency services were responding to the scene. He did not…

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Russian-Installed Court Hands Heavy Jail Terms to 5 Ukrainian Soldiers

Russian-installed courts in Ukraine’s eastern regions sentenced five Ukrainian soldiers to lengthy prison terms, Russia’s Investigative Committee said Monday. “The court sentenced (Andrey) Klementovich, (Artur) Sivitsky and (Ivan) Melnikovich to 20 years’ imprisonment each, to be served in a strict-regime penal colony,” the Investigative Committee said in a statement. It published footage of three men…

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Raiffeisen’s Russian Division Imposes 50% Commission on Incoming Dollar Transfers 

The Russian division of Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank will start charging 50% commission on all incoming U.S. dollar transfers, the bank announced Monday in a statement, citing unspecified “market conditions.” “The bank is forced to limit the number of incoming transfers in U.S. dollars due to changing market conditions. We encourage customers to use other payment…

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Russia Files Lawsuit Against Country’s Wealthiest Businessman

The Russian government is suing the country’s wealthiest businessman for alleged “corrupt collusion” in a deal to buy a Siberian power plant operator from an ex-minister, according to media reports. The Prosecutor General’s Office seeks to seize the operator, Sibeco, that industrialist Andrei Melnichenko had purchased from ex-minister Mikhail Abyzov in 2018, Forbes Russia reported…

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Transgender Ex-FSB Officer Fined for Trying to Flee Russia – Mediazona

A transgender former Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agent has been fined for attempting to flee the country, the independent news website Mediazona reported Monday, citing her lawyer. Katerina Meyers was pressured to leave a 12-year career as an FSB counterintelligence officer after she started her gender transition in 2020. Authorities launched a criminal case against…

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Zelensky Hails ‘Historic’ Decision to Hand F-16 Fighter Jets to Ukraine

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed Sunday a “historic” decision by the Netherlands and Denmark to provide American F-16 fighter jets, the latest move by Western allies to bolster his country’s efforts to fend off Russia’s invasion. Zelensky had sought the advanced jets for months to strengthen Ukraine’s Soviet-era air force as it pursues a grinding…

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Russia ‘Does Not Need’ Western Democracy, Elections Chief Says

Russia’s elections chief said Friday that Russia has no use for Western-style democracy, just weeks before regional elections are set to take place across the country. Central Election Commission head Ella Pamfilova — who is known for overseeing the widespread implementation of controversial online voting, the “resetting” of presidential term limits, and sham referendums in occupied…

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Russian Orthodox Church Probes Priest Who Blessed Stalin Statue

Russia’s Orthodox Church announced late Thursday it had launched an internal investigation into a priest who blessed a recently erected monument to Soviet leader Josef Stalin. Father Anatolyi was filmed dousing holy water on the eight-meter Stalin statue earlier this week during an unveiling ceremony in Velikiye Luki, located in northwestern Russia’s Pskov region. While he admitted that…

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Exiled Kadyrov Critic Charged With ‘Calls for Terrorism’ – Report

Russian authorities have charged prominent Chechen human rights lawyer and activist Abubakar Yangulbaev with “calls for terrorism,”  the Ostorozhno Novosti news outlet reported Friday. Chechen law enforcement officials opened the charges in response to a post made by Yangulbaev on the Telegram messaging app last year, according to unnamed sources cited by the outlet.  The post,…

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Mass Survellience in Russia Expands Rapidly Since Ukraine Invasion – MT Russian

Russia has steadily expanded its sprawling facial recognition surveillance system since invading Ukraine last year, The Moscow Times’ Russian service reported Thursday, citing thousands of state procurement documents. While formally designed to fight crime, Russia’s facial recognition system has been more effective in identifying anti-war activists and draft dodgers, surveillance experts told the outlet, adding…

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Putin Opts Against Stricter Capital Controls Amid Ruble’s Slide – Vedomosti

Russia will not tighten capital controls in response to a weakening ruble, the Vedomosti business daily reported Thursday, citing two anonymous sources close to the Russian government. President Vladimir Putin met with cabinet members and Central Bank governor Elvira Nabiullina on Wednesday to hear proposals on converting foreign currency earnings held by exporters into rubles.…

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Russian Election Watchdog Chief Charged With Running ‘Undesirable’ Group

An earlier version of this article, citing a report by Kommersant, incorrectly stated that Melkonyants was outside of Russia on Thursday. He is currently in Russia.  Russian authorities have charged the co-chair of the independent election monitor Golos for running an “undesirable” organization, state media reported Thursday, citing an anonymous source. Law enforcement carried out searches…

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Russia Says ‘Eliminated’ Ukrainian Fighters in Border Region

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Wednesday it had “eliminated” a group of four Ukrainian fighters who tried to cross into Russia’s western Bryansk region from northern Ukraine, news agencies reported. The announcement came a day after Moscow said it had prevented Ukrainian militants from infiltrating the Bryansk region, which has regularly seen similar attacks.…

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Russians Issued Military Summonses for ‘Data Verification’ – Reports

Military enlistment offices across Russia have begun sending out summonses, sparking fears that the Kremlin may be preparing for a new wave of mobilization, media outlets have reported. The summonses were sent to residents in central Russia’s Ulyanovsk and Perm regions, as well as in Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk, Kemerovo and Chelyabinsk, according to the independent news outlets…

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