Contents tagged with Russia
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Political convictions in Putin's Russia surpass USSR levels under Khrushchev and Brezhnev
In Russia, the number of individuals convicted on political grounds during President Vladimir Putin’s most recent term has surpassed that of the USSR under Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev, reports the Russian publication Proekt (Project).
Proekt highlighted that the total number of those persecuted in Russia under criminal and administrative charges for the period from 2018 to 2023 is estimated to be around 116 thousand people. According to Proekt, from 2018 to February 2024, 5,613 …
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Media: Germany likely wants to transfer Taurus missiles to Ukraine
The governing coalition parties in Germany have prepared a proposal for arms supplies to Ukraine which include the provision of long-range weapons systems, reports the newspaper Bild, citing the German Press Agency. The Taurus cruise missiles were also considered but are not explicitly listed.
The coalition has reportedly crafted a non-public proposal aimed at delivering more ammunition to Kyiv. The assistance is also said to encompass the provision of transport vehicles and weapons systems. A …
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Russian Defense Ministry starts recruiting female prisoners for war in Ukraine
The Russian Ministry of Defence is reportedly recruiting convicted women from Correctional Colony No. 2 in the Leningrad Region to fight in the war in Ukraine, reports the investigative news outlet "Vazhnye Istorii" (Important Stories), citing accounts from former inmates of the Ulyanovka settlement facility.
Journalists explained that their sources acquired information from friends still detained at the colony. The names of two women who agreed to participate in the conflict have been …
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Russian pilot who hijacked a Russian military helicopter and transported it to Ukraine reportedly found shot dead in Spain
Maxim Kuzminov, the Russian pilot who hijacked a military helicopter, has been found dead in Spain, said Andriy Yusov, an official representative of Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR). However, he shared no further details.
The news about his murder was published by TASS on February 19, citing certain Spanish media sources. In reality, there were no such reports in the Spanish media, and the news originated from the Telegram channel Eureka News - a channel run by Russian blogger and …
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UAE banks restrict transactions with Russia amid sanctions risk
United Arab Emirates banks have restricted transactions with Russia and begun closing both corporate and personal accounts due to the risk of secondary sanctions, reports the Russian news outlet Vedomosti, citing Russian businessmen active in the UAE and representatives from the 'Business Russia' association.
Tax and legal consultants have confirmed this trend, the Russian government is reportedly aware of it, although the Russian officials consider it minor and solvable.
"At the moment, UAE …
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Luhansk leader poisoned, Russia accuses US and Ukraine of violating Chemical Weapons Convention
Leonid Pasechnik, head of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), suffered a serious phenolic compound poisoning in December 2023, said chief of Russian forces for radiation, chemical and biological protection, Igor Kirillov. Furthermore, Kirillov stated that in August 2022, the Russia-installed head of the Kherson regional administration, Saldo, was poisoned with ricin, a substance found in biomedical samples.
Kirillov highlighted other poisoning incidents involving senior …
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Six captured Ukrainian soldiers reportedly executed by Russian forces near Avdiivka
Russian forces have reportedly executed six captured Ukrainian service members near "Garage No. 1" area in Avdiivka (within the fortified area "Zenit" in the south of the settlement), according to the Telegram channel DeepState (a Ukrainian project that supports a regularly updated map of territorial control in the combat zone in Ukraine and publishes summaries of the front-line situation based on open sources and information from the Ukrainian military).
A video clip on was published on …
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Ukrainian military: Ukrainian Forces retain control over large part of Avdiivka
Troop withdrawal from a specific area of Avdiivka was meant to save Ukrainian soldiers, said Ukrainian serviceman Yehor Firsov in an interview with TSN. He clarified that the withdrawal was carried out to prevent the encirclement of Ukrainian forces. According to him, a big part of Avdiivka still remains under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF), but the situation is critical with relentless street fighting.
The Ukrainian serviceman said that, although his brigade is located some …
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US transfers confiscated Russian funds to Estonia for Ukrainian aid
The United States has transferred $500,000 in confiscated Russian funds to Estonia to aid Ukraine, repoted the US Department of Justice.
According to the department, the funds were seized by the US following the interception in 2022 of an illicit attempt to import into Russia a high-precision coordinate grinding machine produced in America, intended for use "in the defense sector and in the sphere of nuclear weapons proliferation."
The machine does not require an export license to European …
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Bild: on the eve of his death Navalny was supposed to be part of prisoner exchange
Alexei Navalny, Russia’s foremost critic of President Vladimir Putin, is reportedly dead. The Russian Federal Penitentiary Service announced this information on Friday, February 16. However, Western media are questioning why news of the supposed death of the key Russian political prisoner has emerged now, reports the German newspaper Bild.
The publication speculates that Navalny could have been exchanged in the coming weeks or months for Vadim Krasikov, who assassinated a former Chechen …