Tag Archives: Russia

REPORT: Zelensky To Visit US Capitol Tomorrow

Axios reports: Capitol Hill is preparing to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for a joint session of Congress this week, Axios has learned. This would be Zelensky’s first in-person visit to the U.S. since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. While the details are not yet finalized, U.S. Capitol Police is beefing up security for a potential Wednesday visit, multiple senior …

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Russian Oligarch Dies After “Falling Down Stairs”

Yahoo News reports: Russian real estate tycoon Dmitry Zelenov passed away earlier this month after tumbling down a flight of stairs while visiting friends in the French Riviera, according to a local outlet and an independent Russian outlet. The 50-year-old was the former owner of Russian developer Don-Stroy, which constructed the 61-story Triumph Palace Tower in Moscow, one of the …

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Pope Francis: Spend Less On Santa, Give To Ukraine

Yahoo News reports: Pope Francis on Wednesday encouraged people to spend less on gifts and parties this Christmas and send the difference to Ukrainians in need. “Let’s have a more humble Christmas, with more humble gifts,” Francis said. “They are hungry, they are cold, many die due to lack of doctors or nurses.” “Let us not forget them, Christmas in peace …

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PolitiFact’s 2022 “Lie Of The Year” Award Goes To Putin

PolitiFact reports: Ukraine wasn’t being led by neo-Nazis and it wasn’t committing genocide. Putin employed those lies to co-opt Russian citizens whose family members would be sent to fight a war, kill others and possibly die themselves. The lies have permeated the assault. When hundreds of bodies were discovered lying in the streets and homes of Bucha after weeks of …

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Beleaguered Putin Cancels Annual Press Conference

The Guardian reports: Vladimir Putin will not hold a year-end press conference for the first time in at least a decade, in what Kremlin-watchers view as a break with protocol due to his war in Ukraine. The marathon press-conferences are traditionally an occasion for the Russian president to burnish his image, a campy spectacle that allows Putin to play the …

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Trump Admits Rejecting Russian Offer To Trade Whelan

The Daily Beast reports: Speaking to Face The Nation on Sunday, former National Security Council Russia specialist Fiona Hill confirmed that Russia asked the Trump administration to swap Bout and another Russian – drug smuggler Konstantin Yaroshenko – for Whelan following his 2018 arrest. Hill said Russia raised the issue “many times.” The pair were “put on the table by …

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Brittney Griner Arrives In Texas After Release By Russia

CBS News reports: Brittney Griner, the American basketball star detained by Russian authorities in February, has safely returned to the US after being released from custody in a prisoner exchange. Griner stepped off the plane shortly after 5:30 a.m. ET Friday at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas. The Biden administration repeatedly made offers to get Paul Whelan released as …

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Paul Warns Russia: Not Releasing Whelan Hurts Tourism

“I think it’s good news that the basketball player is being released. Nine years of hard labor for drug possession is a ridiculous charge. “But I think also Russia needs to realize that the other gentleman’s being kept on trumped-up spy charges. What that means is particularly if he wasn’t a spy, which I don’t have any evidence that he …

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Biden And Brittney Griner’s Wife Celebrate Her Release

The Guardian reports: Speaking at the White House, Joe Biden formally announced the release of Brittney Griner from detention in Russia, and pledged to continue working to bring home another American jailed in the country. “Moments ago, standing together with her wife Cherelle in the Oval Office, I spoke with Brittney Griner,” Biden said. “She’s safe, she’s on a plane, …

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BREAKING: Brittney Griner Freed In Prisoner Swap

CBS News reports: Brittney Griner, the WNBA star who was held for months in Russian prisons on drug charges, was released Thursday in a one-for-one prisoner swap for international arms dealer Viktor Bout, according to a U.S. official. The one-for-one exchange agreement negotiated with Moscow in recent weeks was given final approval by President Biden within just the last week, according …

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Putin Signs Law Expanding Ban On LGBT “Propaganda”

The Associated Press reports: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a law that significantly expands restrictions on activities seen as promoting LGBT rights in the country. A 2013 law banned what authorities deem to be spreading “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” to minors. The new law expands that ban to spreading such information to people aged 18 and older. …

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$200M Russian Yacht To Be Sold, Proceeds To Ukraine

The Guardian reports: A $200m (£163m) superyacht owned by Viktor Medvedchuk, an oligarch and friend of Vladimir Putin who is under sanctions, is to be sold at auction after its seizure in Croatia earlier this year. The Ukrainian government said a Croatian court had ruled that Medvedchuk’s 92.5-metre Royal Romance yacht should be transferred to the Ukrainian Asset Recovery and …

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Edward Snowden Takes Russian Citizenship Oath

The Associated Press reports: Former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, who fled prosecution after revealing highly classified surveillance programs, has received a Russian passport and taken the citizenship oath, Russian news agencies quoted his lawyer as saying Friday. Lawyer Anatoly Kucherena was reported as saying that Snowden got the passport and took the oath on Thursday, about three months after …

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Gas Prices Now Lower Than Before Russia-Ukraine War

Axios reports: The average cost for a gallon of gas in the U.S. has dropped below the price it was before Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year, according to AAA. It is the first time since February that gas prices cost less than $3.50 per gallon, a significant decrease from record prices in the summer. A gallon of regular gas …

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NATO Commits To Future Ukraine Membership

The Associated Press reports: NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg reaffirmed the military alliance’s commitment to Ukraine on Tuesday, saying that the war-torn nation will one day become a member of the world’s largest security organization. Stoltenberg’s remarks came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his NATO counterparts gathered in Romania to drum up urgently needed support for Ukraine aimed …

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US Frustrated In Russian Talks To Free Brittney Griner

Reuters reports: The United States is still talking to Russia about a deal to free jailed Americans Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan but Moscow has not provided a “serious response” to any of its proposals, a senior U.S. diplomat said in comments published on Monday. Elizabeth Rood, the U.S. chargée d’affaires in Moscow, told Russia’s state-owned RIA news agency that …

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Pope Compares Putin’s War To Stalin’s “Genocide”

The New York Times reports: Pope Francis on Wednesday compared the war in Ukraine to the “terrible Holodomor genocide” of the 1930s, when the policies of the Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin, caused a devastating famine in Ukraine. The pontiff’s comparison of Moscow’s attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine to Stalin’s decision to let millions in Ukraine starve represents one of …

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Russian Parliament Bans “LGBT Propaganda” For Adults

Reuters reports: Russia’s parliament on Thursday passed the third and final reading of a law that expands an existing ban on promoting “LGBT propaganda” to children by banning it among people of all ages. Under the new law any event or act regarded as an attempt to promote homosexuality – including online, in film, books, advertising or in public – …

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European Parliament Votes To Adopt Resolution Which Declares Russia To Be A “State Sponsor Of Terrorism”

Via press release from the European Parliament: On Wednesday, Parliament adopted a resolution on the latest developments in Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine. MEPs highlight that the deliberate attacks and atrocities committed by Russian forces and their proxies against civilians in Ukraine, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and other serious violations of international and humanitarian law amount to …

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Russia Floats Prisoner Swap For Brittney Griner

Reuters reports: Russia said on Friday it hoped to clinch a prisoner swap with the United States to return convicted Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death”, in an exchange that would likely include U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner. Amid the deadliest war in Europe since World War Two, Russia and the United States are exploring …

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