Tag Archives: Russia

The Miami Herald reports: Snipers from Russia and other countries hostile to the United States are competing in war games being held this week in Venezuela in events described as Olympic games for soldiers that were organized not only to show that Moscow still has friends but also that some of them are in Latin America. The international war games …

Reuters reports: The daughter of an ultra-nationalist Russian ideologue who advocates Russia absorbing Ukraine was killed in a suspected car bomb attack outside Moscow, Russian state investigators said on Sunday. Darya Dugina, daughter of prominent ideologue Alexander Dugin, was killed on Saturday evening after a suspected explosive device blew up the Toyota Land Cruiser she was driving, investigators said. Father …

The Washington Post reports: A federal appeals court has ordered the release of a secret Justice Department memo discussing whether President Donald Trump obstructed the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The unanimous panel decision issued Friday echoes that of a lower court judge, Amy Berman Jackson, who last year accused the Justice Department of dishonesty in its …

The Associated Press reports: People in Moscow who were disappointed when Starbucks closed its coffee shops after Russia sent troops into Ukraine may now feel a caffeine jolt of hope: A nearly identical operation is opening in the capital. The name’s almost the same: Stars Coffee. The logo could be the separated-at-birth twin of the Starbucks mermaid, with flowing hair, …

Vice News reports: At a Russian arms fair this week, a developer showed off their new creation, and the logical next step of the robot arms race: a Boston Dynamics-style dog robot with an RPG strapped to its back. A video uploaded by RIA Novosti, a Russian-state owned news agency, shows the robot in action, in which the robot tiptoes …

Axios reports: Russia confirmed for the first time on Thursday that it is negotiating with the U.S. regarding a possible prisoner swap deal that would secure the freedom of WNBA star Brittney Griner and former Marine Paul Whelan. Driving the news: The news comes after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed last week that Russia was “ready to discuss” a …

The Daily Beast reports: Ukraine’s defense ministry published a video Thursday mocking Russian tourists who fled Crimea after huge explosions ripped through an airbase on the occupied peninsula this week. Footage shared on social media earlier this week showed beachgoers running for cover after the blasts at the Saki base, an attack that has been credited to Ukrainian special forces. …

Open Secrets reports: A Russian media organ agreed to pay American conspiracy theorist Benjamin Swann about $6.8 million to produce Kremlin propaganda on topics like the war in Ukraine and U.S. “culture wars,” according to new Foreign Agents Registration Act registration records filed with the Department of Justice. A youth pastor turned news anchor who used his platform to spread …

Reuters reports: China, which Russia has sought as an ally since being cold-shouldered by the West over its invasion of Ukraine, has called the United States the “main instigator” of the crisis. In an interview with the Russian state news agency TASS published on Wednesday, China’s ambassador to Moscow, Zhang Hanhui, accused Washington of backing Russia into a corner with …

The Wall Street Journal reports: As many as 80,000 Russian troops have been wounded or killed in less than six months of fighting in Ukraine, the Pentagon said Monday, the first time the U.S. military announced its estimates of the toll of the invasion on Russia. According to U.S. estimates, Russia has suffered 70,000 to 80,000 casualties, Colin Kahl, the …

Reuters reports: Russian airlines, including state-controlled Aeroflot, are stripping jetliners to secure spare parts they can no longer buy abroad because of Western sanctions, four industry sources told Reuters. Sanctions imposed on Russia after it sent its troops into Ukraine in late February have prevented its airlines from obtaining spare parts or undergoing maintenance in the West. Equipment was being …

The Washington Post reports: The way to stop Russia from annexing any more of Ukraine’s territory, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday, is for Western countries to announce that they would ban all Russian citizens in response. In a wide-ranging interview with The Washington Post, Zelensky said that “the most important sanctions are to close the borders — because the Russians …

NBC News reports: The prospect of a nuclear catastrophe spurred growing international alarm Monday after shelling attacks hit a Russian-controlled power plant in Ukraine that is almost twice the size of Chernobyl. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for international inspectors to be given access to the sprawling nuclear site as fears grew of a disaster after the weekend strikes …

The Insider reports: In an interview with Insider, Paul Manafort, who served as Donald Trump’s campaign chairman, made his first public admission that in 2016 he shared polling data from the Trump campaign with Konstantin Kilimnik, a longtime business associate with suspected ties to Russian intelligence. Kilimnik then passed the data on to Russian spies, according to the US Treasury …

The Hill reports: President Biden on Friday said he’s “hopeful” about Brittney Griner’s situation after the WNBA star was sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia. “I’m hopeful. We’re working hard,” Biden told reporters when asked about Griner, who a day earlier was sentenced by a Russian judge on charges that she illegally brought drugs into the country. White …

NPR reports: A Russian court has found Brittney Griner guilty on drug smuggling and possession charges. The widely expected verdict comes after a monthlong trial and nearly six months after the basketball star was arrested at a Moscow-area airport with cannabis vape cartridges in her luggage. The judge sentenced Griner to nine years in prison. The trial’s outcome was not …

Reuters reports: A Russian prosecutor demanded U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner be sentenced to nine and a half years in prison on drugs charges at a trial that is expected to end in a verdict later on Thursday. Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and a Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) star, was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on Feb. …

The New York Times reports: The war is adding impetus to a drive to legalize gay marriage, with a petition recently reaching the desk of President Volodymyr Zelensky calling for same-sex partners to have the same rights as heterosexual couples, including the right to marry. “At this time, every day can be the last,” says the petition. The petition’s author …

The Sunday Times reports: Russian students heading back to school in the autumn will be taught about the country’s values amid the Kremlin’s wider campaign to implement “patriotic” education in schools. Starting from September 5, schools across the country will dedicate hours to so-called “conversations about important things”, Sergei Novikov, head of the presidential directorate for social projects, told Tass, …

Mediaite has the transcript: She went in there loaded up with drugs into a hostile territory where they’re very vigilant about drugs. They don’t like drugs. And she got caught. And now we’re supposed to get her out — and she makes, you know, a lot of money, I guess. We’re supposed to get her out for an absolute killer …