Tag Archives: Vladimir Putin

The Associated Press reports: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was wrestled to the ground and forced into a police vehicle Sunday as he headed to a Moscow protest that was part of a day of nationwide demonstrations. Navalny, the most prominent foe of President Vladimir Putin, organized the protests to urge a boycott of Russia’s March 18 presidential election, in …

Politico reports: The suspected Russian hackers accused of breaching the Democratic National Committee and meddling in France’s presidential election are now targeting the U.S. Senate, according to new research. Since last June, the hacking group known as “Fancy Bear” has been setting up fake websites mimicking the Senate’s login server, hoping to trick Senate staffers into entering their credentials there, …

Politico reports: In a gesture aimed at the Kremlin, the D.C. City Council has voted unanimously to rename a street in front of the Russian Embassy after Boris Nemtsov, the slain opposition leader and prominent foe of President Vladimir Putin. The 13-seat council, comprising 11 Democrats and two independents, approved a measure Tuesday to label a portion of Wisconsin Avenue …

McClatchy reports: A jailed Russian who says he hacked into the Democratic National Committee computers on the Kremlin’s orders to steal emails released during the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign now claims he left behind a data signature to prove his assertion. In an interview with Russia’s RAIN television channel made public Wednesday, Konstantin Kozlovsky provided further details about what …

Business Insider reports: Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Tuesday accused the US of a “direct interference in our electoral process and internal affairs” following the State Department’s criticism of Russia’s decision to bar opposition leader Alexey Navalny from running in the upcoming presidential election against Vladimir Putin. “This State Department statement, which I’m sure will be repeated, is …

Reuter reports: The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday imposed new sanctions on five Russians and Chechens, including the head of the Russian republic of Chechnya, for alleged human rights abuses. The new sanctions blacklisted Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader and a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Treasury Department said in a statement. U.S. authorities accused Kadyrov of …

The Washington Post reports: The Senate Intelligence Committee is looking at the presidential campaign of the Green Party’s Jill Stein for potential “collusion with the Russians,” a sign that the panel’s probe is far from over, even as allegations swirl that the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation is racing to a close. The expansion of the investigation to include Stein suggests …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump spoke by phone with President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Thursday, talking about how they can work together to resolve the situation involving North Korea’s nuclear program, the White House said. Trump also used the call to thank Putin for “acknowledging America’s strong economic performance in his annual press conference,” according to a White House …

Axios reports: Russian President Vladimir Putin said accusations of President Trump’s collusion with the Russians have “inflicted damage to the domestic political situation” and shows a “lack of respect for voters” who went for Trump in 2016, the AP reports. Putin was speaking at his annual news conference in Moscow. Why it matters: The U.S. intelligence community determined just months …

The Washington Post reports: U.S. officials declined to discuss whether the stream of recent intelligence on Russia has been shared with Trump. Current and former officials said that his daily intelligence update — known as the president’s daily brief, or PDB — is often structured to avoid upsetting him. Russia-related intelligence that might draw Trump’s ire is in some cases …

Entertainment Weekly reports: December is here, and Saturday Night Live is getting into the Christmas spirit — by casting Donald Trump as Scrooge. Alec Baldwin’s Trump returned to the show Saturday in the cold open, where he found himself visited by the ghosts of his past, present, and future. But first up was Mikey Day as Michael Flynn, who pleaded …

McClatchy reports: Political guru Paul Manafort took at least 18 trips to Moscow and was in frequent contact with Vladimir Putin’s allies for nearly a decade as a consultant in Russia and Ukraine for oligarchs and pro-Kremlin parties. Even after the February 2014 fall of Ukraine’s pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych, who won office with the help of a Manafort-engineered image …

ABC News reports: Travels by Trump campaign adviser Carter Page to meet with senior officials in Hungary during the 2016 presidential election are being closely examined by congressional investigators, given the increasingly close ties between Hungary and Russia and the role of the country as a hub for Russian intelligence activity. The Hungarian prime minister was the first foreign leader …

Vanity Fair reports: For all the norms and traditions and basic standards of human behavior Donald Trump has broken in his 10 months as president, there is one pastime he couldn’t get away from. At the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, held this year in Vietnam, Trump donned an oversize, bright blue, traditional Vietnam shirt alongside his fellow world leaders …

The Guardian reports: Wilbur Ross denied on Monday that he had done anything wrong after revelations from the Paradise Papers that he has significant investments in a shipping company that does business with Vladmir Putin’s son-in-law and his sanctioned inner circle. “There is nothing wrong with it. The fact that it happens to be called a Russian company doesn’t mean …

Bloomberg reports: A Russian lawyer who met with President Donald Trump’s oldest son last year says he indicated that a law targeting Russia could be re-examined if his father won the election and asked her for written evidence that illegal proceeds went to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. The lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, said in a two-and-a-half-hour interview in Moscow that she would …

Radio Free Europe reports: German Sterligov, an enigmatic multimillionaire and owner of the high-end chain Bread And Salt, said on his account on the Russian social network VKontakte this week that he is selling the chain’s six stores in Moscow due to pressure from authorities. He posted images of letters he received late last month from local police and prosecutors …

NBC News reports: Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary in the Trump administration, shares business interests with Vladimir Putin’s immediate family, and he failed to clearly disclose those interests when he was being confirmed for his cabinet position. Ross — a billionaire industrialist — retains an interest in a shipping company, Navigator Holdings, that was partially owned by his former investment …

The Guardian reports: Russia has placed a prominent British businessman on the Interpol wanted list. President Vladimir Putin is understood to have sanctioned the move against Bill Browder, who has led an international campaign against Russia over the killing of the jailed Moscow lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky. On Wednesday Canada became the latest country to pass a “Magnitsky Act”, targeting officials …

The Hill reports: Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Americans to show more respect for their president in response to a question posed to him at the Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi on Thursday. In his remarks, Putin called Americans’ disrespect for President Trump a “negative” feature of the American democratic system. “Inside the country, disrespect is shown for …