A pro-Russian official in Ukraine’s partially occupied Zaporizhzhia region has been injured in an explosion that authorities called an assassination attempt, the state-run TASS news agency reported Friday. Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said that an explosive device was placed in a trash can at the entrance of an apartment building in the city of…
Details
Russia said Friday a decision by the U.K. to deliver Storm Shadow long-range missiles to Ukraine was an extremely hostile move. By announcing it would deliver the air-launched deep-strike weapon, Britain became the first country to provide longer-range armament to Kyiv. “We see this decision as an extremely hostile step from London, aimed further pumping…
Details
President Vladimir Putin on Friday ordered officials to develop measures aimed at reversing the mass emigration of Russian citizens sparked by the invasion of Ukraine and the country’s “partial” mobilization of reservists. Putin’s decree on amendments to Russia’s state migration policy notes that the emigration of Russian nationals abroad “increased” in 2022 “due to changing…
Details
Residents of Yuldus, a Tatar village in western Siberia destroyed by ongoing forest fires, have called on the head of Russia’s republic of Tatarstan to invest 500 million rubles ($6.5 million) into the area’s reconstruction. “The republic won’t lose much [by allocating] half a million, but…we will know that Tatarstan hasn’t forgotten about us,” local…
Details
The head of Russia’s private Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin on Friday said Moscow’s conventional army was leaving its positions near the eastern Ukraine hotspot town of Bakhmut. His comments came just after Russia’s Defense Ministry announced it had redeployed forces around to take up stronger defensive positions north of Bakhmut. “This is not called…
Details
A major university in Russia’s Volga region is urging students to report “suspicious” peers to the authorities amid heightened anxieties over possible sabotage acts aimed at hampering the war effort. Penza State University’s vice-rector in charge of security, Vladimir Shimkin, flagged a Federal Security Service (FSB) warning that a group of 15-to-21-year-olds are allegedly plotting attacks…
Details
Police in Russia’s second-largest city St. Petersburg have formed a special unit for shooting down drones, the city’s Interior Ministry said Friday, as concerns have risen over drone attacks on Russian territory amid its war on Ukraine. The so-called “sky control unit” in St. Petersburg mainly consists of officers who have served in Russian-occupied areas…
Details
Измена: replacement (sometimes); betrayal (sometimes) If there is one bit of Russian that continues to confuse me, it’s prefixed verbs. You know — when you take a basic verb and then add при-, от-, из-, пере-, об-, за-, or по-, at the beginning of the verb to get seven new verbs with 27 meanings, except…
Details
British consumer goods giant Unilever has doubled profits and increased ad spending in Russia despite its pledge to stop profiting from the market after Moscow invaded Ukraine last year, investigative media reported Friday. Unilever became the first major European food company to stop imports and exports from Russia, as well as media and ad spending there,…
Details
The Kremlin on Friday denied it was meddling in Turkey’s presidential election campaign, after Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main rival accused Moscow of spreading “deep fakes” targeting him. Turkish opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu claimed earlier this week that Russia was behind an online smear campaign against him ahead of the crucial election on Sunday. …
Details
When an oil depot in Russian-annexed Crimea was attacked in late April, the resulting fire sent a plume of thick black smoke into the sky. The incident at the facility in Sevastopol was one of at least five attacks on oil infrastructure in southern Russia in less than two weeks. There was also a double…
Details
Ukraine claimed Friday to have retaken swathes of ground near the frontline city of Bakhmut, as Russia reported having repelled an attack along a broad stretch of the front line. The rival reports from the battlefront indicated an increase in fighting after months of relative stability, as expectations grow over Kyiv’s spring offensive. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head…
Details
The United States is considering easing sanctions against Moscow in order to secure the release of jailed Americans Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan from Russian prison, CNN reported Thursday, citing unnamed senior White House officials. The U.S. has classified Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, and Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, as “wrongfully detained.” The “narrow…
Details
Ukrainian forces have launched preparatory strikes on Russian military targets ahead of their highly anticipated counteroffensive, CNN reported Friday, citing a senior unnamed U.S. military official. “Shaping” operations prepare the battlefield for advancing forces by attacking weapons depots, command centers and armor and artillery systems. CNN describes these operations as a standard tactic employed ahead…
Details
Russian prisoners are increasingly denied parole amid efforts by the Wagner mercenary group and later the Defense Ministry to recruit convicts for the war in Ukraine, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper reported Thursday. Only 23,000 requests for conditional early release (CER) were granted in 2022 out of nearly 59,000 requests reviewed by courts, according to judicial…
Details
Russia has added exiled actor Artur Smolyaninov and former Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksii Arestovych to its list of “terrorists and extremists,” the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Thursday. Russia’s Investigative Committee opened a criminal case in January against war movie star Smolyaninov, 39, for his support of Ukraine and criticism of the war. At the time,…
Details
Armenia and Azerbaijan on Thursday blamed each other for an exchange of fire along their restive border, which killed one person and wounded four days ahead of EU-hosted peace talks. The Caucasus neighbors have been locked in a decades-long territorial dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, which has reignited in recent months. Russia urged…
Details
Russian authorities will launch construction of a village outside Moscow for conservative-minded Americans and Canadians next year, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Thursday. Russia has for years positioned itself as a bastion of “traditional” values in contrast with Western liberalism as its relations with the West have deteriorated over its 2014 annexation of Crimea…
Details
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny said Thursday that he has been returned to solitary confinement for the 15th time since he was imprisoned in 2021. “Yesterday at 8 in the evening I was released from solitary confinement. Today at 9:30 in the morning I’m back in solitary,” read a tweet shared by Navalny’s team. According…
Details
A Russian court has sentenced a former teacher to five and a half years in prison for referring to last fall’s Crimean Bridge explosion as President Vladimir Putin’s “birthday gift” online, independent media reported Thursday. Nikita Tushkanov, 28, was accused of “approving of” the blasts, which badly damaged the bridge linking mainland Russia to annexed Crimea,…
Details
A Moscow confectioner fined for making cakes decorated with anti-war slogans told The Moscow Times that she plans to keep opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine despite harassment from pro-war figures and the risk of jail. Anastasia Chernysheva was ordered to pay 35,000 rubles ($446) last month on charges of “discrediting” the military over cakes with…
Details
Russia is waging a “very difficult” military campaign in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a rare concession of the Russian military’s underwhelming performance over a year into its war on Kyiv. “It’s a very, very difficult operation and of course certain goals have been achieved in a year,” Peskov told the Bosnian Serb broadcaster ATV…
Details
Russia’s budget deficit has surpassed the government’s entire 2023 target in the first four months of the year as wartime spending and falling energy revenues continued to cut into the state budget. The federal budget deficit rose to 3.42 trillion rubles ($45 billion) in January-April 2023, according to the Finance Ministry figures published Wednesday. Revenues fell…
Details
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Wednesday calling up military reservists for annual training as legal experts say those who turn up could face pressure to sign contracts to be sent to fight in Ukraine. Such trainings are a routine event in which reservists undergo two-month combat readiness drills in the Armed Forces, National…
Details
The United States has for the first time transferred millions seized from a Russian oligarch to a fund for rebuilding Ukraine, the Justice Department announced Wednesday. Some $5.4 million seized from Russian tycoon Konstantin Malofeyev was handed over to the State Department to be used to “remediate the harms of Russia’s unjust war,” Attorney General…
Details
A senior Ukrainian military official said Wednesday that Russian forces had dropped back from some areas near Bakhmut after limited counterattacks by Kyiv’s forces in the longest-running battle of Moscow’s invasion. Commander of Ukrainian ground forces Oleksandr Syrskyi said Russian troops had fallen back in some regions of the front in the eastern Donetsk region…
Details
Russia said on Wednesday that a roadmap to normalize ties between Syria and Turkey will be drafted following a meeting of their foreign ministers in Moscow. Earlier Wednesday the foreign ministers of Turkey and Syria held their first official meeting since the start of the Syrian civil war more than a decade ago. The talks in…
Details
Type “Is Russia fascist?” into a search engine and you will find no shortage of op-eds and articles seeking to enlighten you. RFE/RL, Al Jazeera, Politico, and The New York Times are just some of the major outlets that have published articles weighing up divided expert opinion on the issue. The title of “Z Generation:…
Details
Poland will stop using the official name for Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave and revert to its historic equivalent, the government in Warsaw said Wednesday, drawing Moscow’s ire. Citing a recommendation by a state commission tasked with standardizing foreign names in the Polish language, Poland’s development minister Waldemar Buda said Kaliningrad would now officially be called Konigsberg (“Krolewiec”…
Details
Russia has seized four tugboats belonging to a subsidiary of Danish shipping giant Maersk in Russia’s Far East, according to the group, which ceased operations in the country after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “On April 25 we were informed a local court has ordered the tugboats cannot leave Russia and also transferred custody of the…
Details
A total of 7.4 billion Swiss francs ($8.3 billion) of reserves and assets of the Russian Central Bank are being held in Switzerland, the Swiss economic affairs ministry said Wednesday. Transactions related to the management of Russia’s Central Bank assets and reserves have been prohibited since a month after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in…
Details
President Vladimir Putin has lifted a flight ban and visa regime with Georgia, against which Russia fought a brief war in 2008, the Kremlin said on Wednesday. According to a decree released on Wednesday, Putin has introduced a 90-day visa-free regime for Georgian citizens from May 15. Another decree resumed air travel between Russia and Georgia.…
Details
The two military veterans seated next to President Vladimir Putin at Tuesday’s Victory Day parade on Red Square did not fight in World War II, the Agentsvo investigative outlet reported. Putin is traditionally flanked by World War II veterans on Victory Day, which celebrates the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945 with a…
Details
AFP’s Ukraine video coordinator Arman Soldin was killed on Tuesday by rocket fire near Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine, AFP journalists who witnessed the incident said. The attack happened at around 4:30 p.m. (13:30 GMT) on the outskirts of the town close to Bakhmut, the epicenter of the fighting in eastern Ukraine for several months.…
Details
Support for Yevgenia (Zhenya) Berkovich and Svetlana Petriychuk has flooded Russian media abroad and social media inside and outside Russia. The director and author of the play “Finist the Brave Falcon” were taken into custody on May 5 for two months of pre-trial detention under the charge of “justifying terrorism.” The charge is punishable by…
Details
KURSK, Russia — The main World War II memorial complex in this western Russian city was fenced off and guarded by dozens of police officers on Tuesday morning as celebrations marking the 78th anniversary of the Soviet defeat over Nazi Germany got underway. Visitors who came to lay flowers were carefully checked with metal detectors. …
Details
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said peace negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine were “not possible at this moment,” in an interview published by Spanish daily El Pais on Tuesday. His statement came as the leaders of Russia and Ukraine both called for victory during events commemorating the end of World War II. “It is…
Details
Russia’s ambassador to Poland was blocked by activists from laying flowers at a Soviet memorial in Warsaw on Tuesday, the day Russia celebrates Victory Day over Nazi Germany in World War II. Several dozen activists also unveiled an art installation at the entrance to the memorial, comprising hundreds of Ukrainian flags and crosses for Ukrainians…
Details
Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said Tuesday that he had received a letter from Russia’s Defense Ministry threatening to charge his mercenary outfit with treason if they withdrew from Bakhmut, for months the focal point of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. In a video published on the messaging app Telegram as Russia kicked off Victory Day…
Details
Updated with details of military parade in Moscow and recast throughout. Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a combative speech Tuesday attacking the West and claiming that Russia’s future depended on the outcome of the war in Ukraine as he attended a slimmed-down military parade on Red Square to mark Victory Day. “Civilization again finds itself…
Details
Ukraine was hit by a barrage of Russian missiles for the second night in a row Monday and early Tuesday, just hours before Moscow’s planned May 9 celebration of the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat in the Second World War. Russia fired 25 missiles between late Monday night and early Tuesday morning, according to the…
Details
Updates with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko’s arrival in Moscow on Monday evening. The leaders of six former Soviet republics are now expected to attend Russia’s annual Victory Day parade in Moscow on Tuesday, after Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko arrived unannounced in Moscow on Monday evening for what his press service said would be a “working visit.”…
Details
Russia will “develop” its military installations in Central Asian ally Kyrgyzstan, the Kremlin said Monday, following talks between the two countries’ leaders in Moscow. “The heads of state emphasized the importance of strengthening the Kyrgyz Republic’s armed forces and developing Russian military facilities on its territory,” the Kremlin said in a statement. Kyrgyzstan, a majority-Muslim…
Details
Updated with leaders of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan planning to attend Russia’s Victory Day celebrations. Russia is due to hold drastically scaled-back Victory Day celebrations Tuesday amid heightened security concerns following last week’s drone attack on the Kremlin and an imminent Ukrainian counteroffensive. The 78th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s defeat of…
Details
The suspect in the car blast that wounded pro-Kremlin nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin and killed another person has been indicted on charges of terrorism and arms smuggling, Russia’s top investigative body said Monday. Alexander Permyakov faces up to 20 years in prison on charges of terrorism and 15 years for arms smuggling, Russia’s Investigative Committee, which…
Details
President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed Monday that Russian forces would be defeated in Ukraine just as Nazi Germany was beaten in 1945, during an address commemorating the end of World War II. His speech recorded at a war memorial in Kyiv comes one day ahead of Victory Day in Moscow, a Soviet war anniversary to be…
Details
Several people have been killed, more than 300 homes destroyed and states of emergency declared in two Russian regions as forest fires raged across western Siberia, news agencies reported Monday. The governors of the Tyumen and Kurgan regions issued back-to-back emergency declarations Sunday as residents were evacuated and efforts to contain the fast-moving flames proved unsuccessful. Siberia’s…
Details
At least five civilians were injured in Russian drone strikes on Kyiv early Monday, according to authorities in the Ukrainian capital. Kyiv’s military administration reported that fallen debris had likely hit a two-story building, roads and vehicles. The administration said it was the fourth air attack on Ukraine’s capital in the first eight days of…
Details
The leader of Russia’s paramilitary Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said that he had received “a promise” of more ammunition from the Russian army on Sunday, following his unprecedented public threat to pull his forces from the embattled Ukrainian town of Bakhmut due to a lack of ammunition. “They promised to give us all the ammunition…
Details
In 1993 Natasha Lance, a television producer with excellent Russian who had made documentaries in the Soviet Union and the newly formed Russian Federation, was hired to be the executive producer of a Russian Sesame Street. This was not as crazy as it perhaps sounds today: the Children’s Television Workshop behind Sesame Street were working…
Details
Investigators said Ukraine was behind a car explosion on Saturday that killed one person and wounded pro-Kremlin writer Zakhar Prilepin, one of Russia’s best-known novelists. Investigators said they were “probing Alexander Permyakov’s involvement in the assassination attempt on Zakhar Prilepin”. “During the interrogation [the suspect] testified that he acted on the instructions from the Ukrainian…
Details
Dan Andreevich, a Russian who grew up in Italy, bicycled 5,000 km from Italy to the Russian-Estonian border to spread the message that not all Russians support Russia’s war against Ukraine. But by the end of his trip, the 18-year-old Andreevich no longer called himself Russian. “I have Russian blood — but I don’t have…
Details
A prominent pro-Kremlin writer and Russian nationalist was injured Saturday in a car “explosion” and one other person was killed, the interior ministry said, after a string of recent drone attacks in Russia amid the fighting in Ukraine. “According to initial reports, one person was killed by the explosion, and the writer Zakhar Prilepin, who…
Details
Borodinsky has been one of the most popular types of bread in Russia for many decades. When foreigners visit they are given a taste of Borodinsky to show them what Russian cuisine is all about. And when Russians go abroad they bring loaves for their friends who long for the flavors they left behind in…
Details
Preparations in Moscow for the Victory Day holiday on May 9 are already underway, with decorations, public memorials and a children’s Immortal Regiment event all taking place. One of the country’s most significant holidays, Victory Day has been a central part of the Kremlin’s efforts to rally patriotism by invoking the Soviet Union’s World War…
Details
The border authority in Belarus has begun setting up temporary checkpoints at its land borders with Russia to screen arrivals from its neighbor, the independent news outlet Zerkalo reported Friday, citing official sources. Readers told Zerkalo that work on installing the checkpoints began Thursday evening, with guards putting up barriers, barricade tape, and spikes on the…
Details
Russia on Friday ordered the evacuation of families with children and of the elderly from Russian-held frontline areas in southern Ukraine because of an increase in shelling from the Ukrainian side. “In the past few days, the enemy has stepped up shelling of settlements close to the front line,” the Russian-installed head of the Zaporizhzhia region,…
Details
Russia on Friday announced the full restoration of rail traffic on the controversial Crimean Bridge, which had been closed and under repair since it was badly damaged in an explosion in October. “We managed to finish this work in just seven months. During normal times, it would certainly take over a year, and maybe even…
Details
Задубеть: to be frozen stiff In the part of the world where I’m now living, oaks are protected. They have little green oak leaf badges on their trunks to remind everyone that they may not be cut down or harmed in any way. And so there are some truly mighty oaks around, including one that…
Details
Russian authorities have ramped up their GPS suppression measures following a slew of drone attacks in recent weeks. Since April, “strong” interference has been observed in at least 15 regions across Russia, according to data from gpsjam.org, which tracks satellite communication based on radio messages from civilian aircraft. Interference is considered “strong” if more than…
Details