Russia

ABC News reports: Russia has defaulted on its foreign debt because it offered bondholders payments in rubles, not dollars, credit ratings agency S&P has said. Russia attempted to pay in rubles for two dollar-denominated bonds that matured on April 4, S&P said in a note on Friday. The agency said this amounted to a “selective default” because investors are unlikely …

CNN reports: Finland and Sweden could soon join NATO, moves that would likely infuriate Moscow and that officials say would further underscore Russia’s strategic error in invading Ukraine. NATO officials told CNN that discussions about Sweden and Finland joining the bloc have gotten extremely serious since Russia’s invasion, and US senior State Department officials said the matter came up at …

Agence France-Presse reports: Pro-Russia protesters rallied in Germany on Sunday, the country’s significant Russian-speaking population demanding an end to the discrimination it says it has suffered since war began in Ukraine. Germany is home to 1.2 million people of Russian origin and 325,000 from Ukraine. Authorities fear the conflict could be imported into Germany and the protests used to promote …

Reuters reports: YouTube has blocked Duma TV which broadcasts from Russia’s lower house of parliament, drawing an angry response from officials who said the world’s most popular streaming service could face restrictions in response. On Saturday, a message on YouTube said the Duma channel had been “terminated for a violation of YouTube’s Terms of Service”. YouTube, owned by Alphabet, has …

Via press release from Human Rights Watch: Russia’s Justice Ministry on April 8, 2022 canceled the registration of Human Rights Watch, along with Amnesty International and 13 other offices of foreign nongovernmental organizations and foundations, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch had maintained an office in Russia for 30 years. The action was announced just days after an …

Peter Montgomery reports at Right Wing Watch: The U.S. Justice Department this week indicted Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, a close ally of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, friend of U.S. religious-right culture warriors, and funder of the World Congress of Families, a network of organizations that mobilizes opposition to reproductive rights, LGBTQ equality, feminism, and “gender ideology” in the name of …

Reuters reports: At least 39 people were killed and 87 wounded on Friday when two rockets hit a railway station in eastern Ukraine packed with evacuees, Ukrainian authorities said, as the region braced for a major Russian offensive. Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region, said thousands of civilians had been at the station at the time the rockets struck, …

Sky News reports: Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has admitted a “significant” loss of Russian troops since the invasion of Ukraine began, telling Sky News their deaths are a “tragedy”. Dmitry Peskov, in his first broadcast interview with Western media, also said Russia hopes “this operation” will reach its goals “in the coming days”. He told Sky News’ Mark Austin that “we’re …

Newsweek reports: The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday voted nearly unanimously to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus, as well as to ban the import of Russian oil and gas. Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Matt Gaetz of Florida joined Tom Massie of Kentucky as the “no” votes (420-3) suspending normal trade relations. Earlier Thursday, …

The Wall Street Journal reports: The Senate voted 100-0 on separate bills Thursday stripping Russia of its most-favored-nation trade status and approving a ban on Russian oil imports to punish Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, several weeks after the House cleared both pieces of legislation. The Suspending Normal Trade Relations with Russia and Belarus Act and the Suspending Energy …

Global News reports: The United Nations General Assembly voted Thursday to suspend Russia from its human rights body. The vote to remove Russia from the Human Rights Council comes several weeks after the country invaded Ukraine and just days after reports of a massacre of Ukrainian civilians in Bucha, Ukraine. The vote count was 93 in favour of the resolution, …

Yahoo News reports: Six Republican lawmakers in the House opposed a bill passed Wednesday seeking to encourage efforts to document and preserve evidence of Russian war crimes during the war in Ukraine. The bill seeks to “direct the President to submit to Congress a report on United States Government efforts to collect, analyze, and preserve evidence and information related to …

The Washington Post reports: Finnish Customs has seized artwork en route to Russia as part of sanctions imposed by the European Union. The paintings, sculptures and antiquities are worth 42 million euros ($46 million), the agency said. Finnish Customs stopped three shipments headed to Russia at the Vaalimaa border crossing, the agency said in a news release. The artwork was …

Ars Technica reports: Roskomnadzor, Russia’s censorship authority, issued another demand on Tuesday for Wikipedia to remove what it called “unreliable socially significant information.” The agency warned that failure to comply could lead to fines of up to 4 million rubles ($50,000). A March 3 statement on the Wikimedia website declared that “we will not back down in the face of …

CNN reports: The US announced new sanctions Wednesday on Russian financial institutions and individuals, including Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two adult daughters, as it aims to increase economic pressure on Russia and Putin himself following horrific images from the Ukrainian city of Bucha. The US is targeting Putin’s two adult daughters because they believe the Russian President may be hiding …

Popular Info reports: In an internal email obtained exclusively by Popular Information, Stand Together, the influential non-profit group run by right-wing billionaire Charles Koch, argues that the United States should seek to deliver a partial “victory” to Russia in Ukraine. The email was sent to Stand Together staff by Dan Caldwell, the group’s Vice President of Foreign Policy, on March …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: A $300 million slice of Florida’s nearly $200 billion public pension portfolio is invested in Russian companies, even as the pariah nation faces mounting accusations of genocide and other war crimes in Ukraine. Democrats want Florida to divest that tiny part of the fund, arguing the state’s leaders should act swiftly to dump Russian investments. Florida’s …

Politico Europe reports: Italy is to expel 30 Russian diplomats, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio announced on Tuesday during a visit to Berlin. He said the move was “for national security reasons.” Also Tuesday, Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod tweeted: “Denmark will expel 15 Russian intelligence officers working at the Russian embassy in Copenhagen. They pose a threat to our …

San Diego’s Fox News affiliate reports: Ukrainian Americans held a silent protest outside Awaken Church in San Diego County as it hosted a controversial guest speaker Saturday, Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Saturday’s protesters claimed Carlson spreads pro-Russia propaganda. They arranged strollers, car seats and baby shoes to represent the more than 150 children killed by the war in Ukraine. …

CNBC reports: President Joe Biden said Monday that evidence needs to be gathered to put Russian leader Vladimir Putin on trial for war crimes related to his nation’s invasion of Ukraine. “He is a war criminal,” Biden said of Putin, on the heels of reports of mass killings of civilians by Russian troops in the town of Bucha, northwest of …