Russian Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s troll farm and media outfit are looking for fresh ownership after his aborted rebellion and exile in Belarus, independent media reported Thursday. After years of denials, Prigozhin confirmed in February 2023 the widely held belief that he was behind Russia’s network of troll farms known as the Internet Research Agency. The…
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Russian railway depots are clogged with empty shipping containers from China amid a deepening trade imbalance between the two countries, the independent business news outlet VPost reported Wednesday. Managers at Russian shipping companies told journalists that the container build-up had reached “almost critical” levels in the Moscow region and across central Russia. According to Chinese…
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Poland will strengthen its eastern border with neighboring Belarus as Wagner Group mercenaries relocate to the Moscow-allied country following their failed mutiny against Russia’s military leadership, Polish officials said Wednesday. Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Wagner’s expected move to Belarus was “a new and much more difficult stage of [Russia’s] hybrid war,” according…
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Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said Wednesday that his country would send a note of diplomatic protest to Russia after three Colombians were injured in a missile strike that killed 12 in Ukraine. Petro said on Twitter that “Russia has attacked three defenseless Colombian civilians. In so doing, it violated the protocols of war.” He added…
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Russian General Sergei Surovikin has been arrested, The Moscow Times’ Russian service reported Wednesday, citing two sources close to the Defense Ministry who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Defense Ministry has yet to comment on the alleged arrest of Surovikin, who has not been seen in public since Saturday, when Wagner Group chief…
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President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said that he did not doubt the support of Russian citizens during the rebellion by the Wagner mercenary group. “I did not doubt the reaction in Dagestan and in all of the country,” he said as he met Sergei Melikov, the head of the Caucasus region, according to an extract…
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Russian authorities have added Latvia-based independent Russian news outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe to the country’s list of “undesirable” organizations. The designation means the outlet must cease all operations inside Russia and makes it a crime to engage with the publication in any way, including sharing its content online. The Prosecutor General’s Office said the decision was…
DetailsOn June 27-28, 2023, a delegation from ROSATOM, led by Deputy Director General Nikolay Spassky, embarked on a working visit to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. The primary objective of this trip was to evaluate the initial outcomes of the collaborative efforts between the two nations in the realm of peaceful nuclear energy…
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The Russian state played no role in the Wagner mercenary group’s multimillion-dollar business interests in Africa, the Kremlin said Wednesday. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov issued the denial after President Vladimir Putin revealed Tuesday that Russia’s state budget “fully financed” Wagner, detailing sums of 86 billion rubles ($1 billion) spent on upkeep and another 110 billion rubles ($1.3…
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Following Bumble and Badoo, the popular dating app Tinder will leave Russia on June 30. Explaining the decision in an annual impact report published on May 1, Tinder’s owner Match Group said it was “committed to protecting human rights.” Public reaction: rivals, politicians and Runet users In the end of May Russian users of Tinder…
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The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Pope Francis’s envoy would hold talks with President Vladimir Putin’s adviser in Moscow as Russia “welcomed” the Vatican’s peace efforts over Ukraine. Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi began a Russia visit on Tuesday in the first such trip since Putin sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022. High-ranking Catholic clerics are rarely seen in…
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At least 14 Russian troops were killed during a cross-border raid by anti-Kremlin units made up of Russian nationals this month, regional authorities have revealed nearly a month after the incident. Two anti-Kremlin militias fighting on the side of Ukraine staged raids into southwestern Russia’s Belgorod region on June 1. Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed to have repelled…
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Satellite images purporting to show the construction of a camp for exiled Wagner mercenaries after their failed revolt were shared online late Tuesday by independent Belarusian media. According to the Telegram channel Belarus Golovnovo Mozga, satellite images dated June 27 show what appears to be construction underway at a military compound near the town of…
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Recast with Kremlin response. The Kremlin said Wednesday that Russian forces only hit military-linked targets in Ukraine, after a strike on a restaurant in the eastern city of Kramatorsk killed at least 10 people. The comments come a day after the Ria Pizza restaurant — popular with soldiers, journalists and aid workers — was destroyed…
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Two Siberian opposition deputies backed by jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny have been stripped of their mandates over claims that they had failed to submit personal income statements, a move the deputies themselves called politically motivated. The Novosibirsk City Council voted by majority Wednesday to strip deputies Sergei Boyko and Helga Pirogova of their mandates,…
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Updated with Peskov’s comments. Russia’s former top commander in Ukraine, General Sergei Surovikin, had advanced knowledge of Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plans to topple the country’s military leadership last weekend, The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing unnamed U.S. officials. “Prigozhin would not have launched his uprising unless he believed that others in positions of…
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Taiwan sighted two Russian frigates sailing off its eastern coast on Tuesday and deployed surveillance ships and aircraft to monitor their movements, the island’s Ministry of National Defence said. The Russian warships were “detected sailing from south to north in the waters off our eastern coast” as of 11 pm local time (1500 GMT), it…
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The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions aimed at disrupting gold mining activities that fund the Wagner Group in Africa, vowing to hold the mercenaries accountable for abuses days after they staged a mutiny in Russia. The measures against the Wagner Group had been previously planned but were briefly put on hold as U.S. officials sought…
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The United States said Tuesday it let Moscow send an airplane to Washington to pick up diplomats despite a ban on commercial flights and called for reciprocal treatment. “The U.S. government allowed the Russian government to send a charter flight to the United States to transport to Russia those Russian diplomats whose assignments have ended,” State Department…
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At least three people were killed and more than 40 wounded in a Russian rocket strike that hit a restaurant in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, authorities said Tuesday. Ukrainian police said Russia fired two S-300 surface-to-air missiles at the city. “The bodies of three people, including a minor born in 2008, have been recovered from the rubble. Among…
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The biggest threat to Russia is the regime of President Vladimir Putin, jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny said on Tuesday, in his first comments since an aborted Wagner mutiny. “There is no bigger threat to Russia than Putin’s regime,” Navalny wrote on social media. “Putin’s regime is so dangerous to the country that even its…
DetailsJune 26, 2023, Büyükeceli, Turkiye. – Fifth tier of the, one of the key components of the nuclear power plant’s safety system that protects and provides leak-tightness of the reactor compartment, was installed at Akkuyu NPP Unit 2. The internal containment consists of steel lining and a special concrete mix that is produced directly at…
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Russia’s National Guard may be equipped with tanks and armored vehicles, it said Tuesday, after the army announced it was receiving military hardware from Wagner mercenaries following their failed uprising. “We have no tanks or long-range heavy weapons. We will supply our forces with those depending on funding,” guard head Viktor Zolotov was cited as…
DetailsThe Research Institute of Nuclear Reactors (a facility of ROSATOM in Dimitrovgrad) started tests of VVER type fuel rods with uranium-plutonium MOX fuel in the MIR research reactor. Based on the results of irradiation and special experiments, Rosatom scientists are committed to validate efficiency and reliability of MOX fuel operation in VVER reactors units, which…
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Russia’s Wagner private military group received roughly $1 billion in funding from state coffers over the past year, President Vladimir Putin revealed Tuesday. His comments mark a departure from Moscow’s previous denials of any links between the Russian state and Wagner. Speaking after a ceremony thanking soldiers for “stopping civil war” during Wagner’s aborted weekend rebellion,…
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A senior emergency official has been sentenced to 10.5 years in prison over a mall fire that killed 60 people more than five years ago, Russia’s Investigative Committee said Tuesday. The Winter Cherry mall fire in the Siberian city of Kemerovo claimed the lives of 37 children and 23 adults when it broke out due…
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President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday lauded Russian servicemen and security services for “stopping civil war” during the Wagner mercenary group’s aborted insurgency this weekend. “You have de-facto stopped the civil war, you acted in a clear and well-coordinated manner in a difficult situation,” Putin said at a ceremony on the Kremlin’s Cathedral Square. Wagner leader…
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Russia summarily executed 77 civilians being held in arbitrary detention during its invasion of Ukraine — killings which constitute war crimes, the United Nations said Tuesday. Since the invasion, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has documented 864 individual cases of arbitrary detention by Russia — 763 men, 94 women and seven boys — many of…
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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Tuesday he had issued “combat readiness” orders to his army during an uprising in neighbor and close ally Russia led by Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. “I gave all the orders to bring the army to full combat readiness,” Lukashenko said in comments carried by the state news agency Belta. “I…
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A railway in annexed Crimea has been damaged, the fourth such incident on the peninsula’s rail system over the past month and a half, the region’s Russian-installed Governor Sergei Aksyonov said Tuesday. Aksyonov did not identify the cause or nature of the damage, noting only that there were no casualties and that repair works were expected…
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The criminal case against Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin for “organizing an armed mutiny” has been closed, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Tuesday. The confirmation comes a day after reports said the FSB was still actively investigating the case against Prigozhin, who this weekend launched an armed rebellion against the Russian military that rattled…
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Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is arriving in Belarus, three days after his failed mutiny against Russia’s military leadership, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko confirmed Tuesday. “Yes, today he’s in Belarus,” Lukashenko said in comments carried by the state news agency Belta. It was not clear if the Wagner leader had already arrived in Belarus or was still in…
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Russian President Vladimir Putin told his nation that he had ordered that bloodshed be avoided during a weekend armed rebellion and offered Wagner fighters to join the army or leave the country after their mutiny. He spoke as Moscow appeared to show a business-as-usual approach in the aftermath of the dramatic rebellion staged by Wagner…
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The U.S. ambassador directly contacted Russia during weekend unrest and made clear that the United States was not involved, the State Department said Monday. The State Department said that Ambassador Lynne Tracy in Moscow relayed the message to Russian officials on Saturday, as did U.S. officials in Washington who contacted the Russian embassy. The United…
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MOSCOW — Muscovites on Monday responded with a mix of frustration and anxiety to a weekend mutiny organized by Wagner mercenaries, with some even saying they were “disappointed” when Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin called off his march. The reactions in Russia’s capital signal that the Kremlin and the Defense Ministry may not be able to…
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Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, launched a surprising attempt to stage a military rebellion on Friday evening. Prigozhin declared his armed campaign, which he dubbed a “march of justice,” with the goal of holding the country’s military leadership accountable. In a fast-moving series of events, Wagner’s forces advanced toward Moscow the…
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Amsterdam’s Hermitage museum said Monday it will change its name, a year after severing ties with the St. Petersburg version over Russia’s war in Ukraine. The museum in the Dutch capital will be called the H’ART Museum from September, in what it called a “new beginning.” It also announced partnerships with the British Museum in London,…
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Moscow residents awoke Saturday to news that the Wagner mercenary group’s forces had seized control of a military command center in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don and were headed toward the capital. As a convoy of thousands of Wagner fighters rapidly headed north from Rostov-on-Don, Russia’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee declared an “anti-terrorist operation” regime in…
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The leader of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group said Monday that his aborted rebellion march on Moscow over the weekend had exposed “very serious security problems” in Russia, while insisting he did not want to overthrow President Vladimir Putin. Prigozhin broke his silence in a Telegram audio message two days after staging the dramatic armed rebellion that saw…
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The Wagner mercenary group will continue operations in Mali and the Central African Republic despite its leader’s aborted insurrection over the weekend, Russia’s foreign minister said on Monday. Wagner members “are working there as instructors. This work, of course, will continue,” Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the RT outlet. Lavrov said Europe and…
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Ilya Yashin, a Moscow opposition politician now serving an eight-and-a-half-year prison sentence for his criticism of the invasion of Ukraine, on Monday published an appeal to Czech President Petr Pavel, who has said that Russians in the West should be monitored by their host countries. The Moscow Times has translated his message and published it below. To…
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Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi gave “his full support” to Vladimir Putin during a telephone call, the Kremlin announced in a statement on Monday, two days after an aborted mutiny in Russia. “The Iranian president has expressed his full support for the Russian leadership in connection with the June 24 events,” the Kremlin said in an…
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In the grimmest of circumstances, Feb. 24, 2022 transformed Volodymyr Zelensky from a Ukrainian star into a global one. As one would expect, authors have rushed to paint portraits of Ukraine’s telegenic leader. First came “Zelensky: The Unlikely Ukrainian Hero who Defied Putin and United the World” by Andrew L. Urban and Chris McLeod (April 2022);…
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The headquarters of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin led a mutiny over the weekend that rattled President Vladimir Putin’s rule, said Monday it was working in “normal mode.” The statement from the office came as the fate of Wagner was uncertain after the rebellion and as Russia appeared to take a business-as-usual approach. “Despite events…
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A Moscow court has sentenced a Russian aerospace scientist to 12 years in prison on charges of treason linked to his participation in a multinational high-speed flight project, media reported Monday. Valery Golubkin, 71, was detained in April 2021 on suspicion of passing state secrets to a NATO country that was not identified at the time. The…
Details23 June 2023, Istanbul, Türkiye – ROSATOM and AKKUYU NUCLEAR JSC took part in the Nuclear Power Plants V Expo and IX Summit (NPPES), which was held on 21-22 June in Istanbul, Türkiye. ROSATOM acted as the main partner of the annual industry forum, Türkiye’s largest business platform in the area of nuclear technologies and…
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Russia’s spy chief claimed Monday that Ukraine and the United Nations have agreed to remove holy relics from a revered Kyiv monastery to Europe to protect them from alleged Russian attacks. Kyiv however denied that any relics would leave Ukrainian territory. In his statement Monday, Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), said…
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Residents of Russia’s second-largest city St. Petersburg flocked to the banks of the Neva River on Saturday for the city’s annual Scarlet Sails celebration. Thousands of spectators watched ships with red sails glide down the river as fireworks lit up the night sky above. On Palace Square, a number of musical acts staged live performances.…
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Residents of a Russian city at the heart of a brief rebellion against army top brass expressed relief on Sunday but also voiced some sympathy for the mutiny and questions about what exactly happened. Fighters from the Wagner mercenary group with silver armbands and carrying assault rifles had deployed a day earlier across Rostov-on-Don in…
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Wagner mercenaries were headed back to base on Sunday after Russia’s President Vladimir Putin agreed to allow their leader to avoid treason charges and accept exile in Belarus. The agreement ended the immediate threat that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s private army could storm Moscow, but analysts said Wagner’s revolt had exposed Putin’s rule as more fragile than had…
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Yevgeny Prigozhin’s rebellion against Moscow will have stoked alarm in China and could throw sand in the wheels of the “no-limits” strategic partnership between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, experts said on Sunday. After a 24-hour armed insurrection in which Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenaries seized control of parts of the southern city of Rostov-on-Don and…
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They have sun-bathed bare-chested together in remote Siberia, shared fishing holidays and played on the same ice hockey team. Russia’s long-serving Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has long been seen not just as a political ally of President Vladimir Putin but one of the Kremlin chief’s few friends within the Russian elite. But their bromance and…
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Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday that Beijing had backed Moscow’s efforts to counter a short-lived armed uprising led by the head of the Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin. “The Chinese side expressed support for the efforts of the leadership of the Russian Federation to stabilize the situation in the country in connection with the events of June…
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Now that summer is truly here, the first locally grown peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants are appearing in the markets. The end of June is the perfect time to make stuffed vegetables. In the Caucasus, all vegetables, cabbage and vine leaves stuffed with meat are called “dolma.” We call our stuffed cabbage leaves golubtsy (“little pigeons”)…
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North Korea offered its full support for Russia in dealing with a recent mutiny, state media reported Sunday. At a meeting with the Russian ambassador to Pyongyang Alexander Matsegora, North Korea’s vice foreign minister Im Chon Il “expressed firm belief that the recent armed rebellion in Russia would be successfully put down,” the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)…
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The chief of the rebel Wagner mercenary force will leave Russia and won’t face charges after calling off his troops’ advance on Saturday, Moscow said, easing Russia’s most serious security crisis in decades. The feud between Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russia’s military brass came to a violent head in the past day, with his forces capturing a key army…
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Countries around the world were on Saturday closely watching events unfolding in Russia, where a mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group posed the most serious challenge yet to President Vladimir Putin’s long rule. Here is what governments and analysts are saying about the extraordinary situation taking place in nuclear-armed Russia: Ukraine Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky…
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ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Early Saturday morning, law enforcement agents in balaclavas were already guarding the entrance of the PMC Wagner Center, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s headquarters just outside St. Petersburg’s city center. Some agents were patrolling the parking lot out front while others were already inside, probably searching the building. “This was supposed to be my…
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A former convict turned Kremlin caterer, Yevgeny Prigozhin and his shadowy private military group Wagner have taken a prominent role in Russia’s 16-month offensive on Ukraine. Friction between Prigozhin and the Russian Defense Ministry has risen as the war has dragged on, ultimately reaching a breaking point Friday when Prigozhin accused military leaders of striking…
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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday spoke to his Belarus ally, President Alexander Lukashenko, in his first international phone call since a mutiny by Wagner mercenaries inside Russia began. “The president of Russia called the president of Belarus this morning, there was a phone conversation,” Belarusian state media reported. “Vladimir Putin informed his Belarusian colleague…
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