Several Russians serving sentences in the United States have vanished from the American prison database, reports the news portal Meduza, citing lawyer Igor Slabykh and the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

Among those missing from the records of the Federal Bureau of Prisons are Vladislav Klyushin, serving a nine-year term for hacking and insider trading. Meduza points out that Klyushin's name had come up during discussions about a possible exchange involving Alexei Navalny.

Additional …

A coalition of Tuareg rebels operating in northern Mali, known as the "Strategic Framework for the Protection of the People of Azawad" (CSP-DPA), announced on July 27 that they had successfully defeated a group of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner PMC. These mercenaries have been supporting the official government in Bamako in an ongoing conflict that has spanned several years. The rebels claim to have obliterated the Russian column, killing dozens of Wagner fighters and capturing prisoners, …

In a notable shift in policy following the recent easing of military equipment export regulations, Japan has agreed to provide domestically produced PAC-3 interceptor missiles to the United States for the Patriot missile defense systems which are planned to be delivered to Ukraine.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Nastaschin said that Moscow will view Tokyo's step as hostile if the Japanese PAC-3 interceptor missiles are delivered to Ukraine. 

The Russian response comes on the heels of …