Putin makes a surprise trip to Chechnya 3 weeks into Ukraine's cross-border incursion
Read full article: Putin makes a surprise trip to Chechnya 3 weeks into Ukraine's cross-border incursionRussian President Vladimir Putin has made an unscheduled visit to Chechnya, his first trip to the mainly Muslim republic within the Russian Federation in nearly 13 years.
Chechen warlord invites Musk to Russia after he's filmed driving machine-gun mounted Cybertruck
Read full article: Chechen warlord invites Musk to Russia after he's filmed driving machine-gun mounted CybertruckChechnya President Ramzan Kadyrov has invited Tesla CEO Elon Musk to Russia after being filmed behind the wheel of one of the company’s Cybertrucks mounted with a machine gun.
Dagestan, in southern Russia, has a history of violence. Why does it keep happening?
Read full article: Dagestan, in southern Russia, has a history of violence. Why does it keep happening?Over the years, Russia’s southern republic of Dagestan, located in the North Caucasus region, has been beset by extremist violence.
Gunmen kill 15 police officers and several civilians in Russia's southern Dagestan region
Read full article: Gunmen kill 15 police officers and several civilians in Russia's southern Dagestan regionRussian authorities say more than 15 police officers and several civilians, including an Orthodox priest, have been killed by armed militants in the southern republic of Dagestan.
Concert hall attack dents Putin's tough image. He tries to use it to rally support for Ukraine war
Read full article: Concert hall attack dents Putin's tough image. He tries to use it to rally support for Ukraine warThe attack on a Moscow-area concert hall that killed scores of people has dealt a major blow to President Vladimir Putin's image as a tough guy who is able to defend Russia from all threats.
Protests, poisoning and prison: The life and death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny
Read full article: Protests, poisoning and prison: The life and death of Russian opposition leader Alexei NavalnyAlexei Navalny, Russia’s top opposition leader and President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, has been buried in Moscow, two weeks after his still-mysterious death in an Arctic prison.
Russian journalist sustained a brain injury and fractures during a brutal beating in Chechnya
Read full article: Russian journalist sustained a brain injury and fractures during a brutal beating in ChechnyaA prominent Russian investigative reporter has received a brain injury and multiple fractures when she and a lawyer accompanying her were brutally beaten by unidentified assailants in the Russian province of Chechnya.
Protests, poisoning and prison: The life of Kremlin opposition leader Alexei Navalny
Read full article: Protests, poisoning and prison: The life of Kremlin opposition leader Alexei NavalnyIn a span of a decade, Alexei Navalny has gone from the Kremlin’s biggest foe to Russia’s most prominent political prisoner.
Rifts in Russian military command seen amid Ukraine fighting
Read full article: Rifts in Russian military command seen amid Ukraine fightingAs Russian troops wage a ferocious fight for control of strongholds in eastern Ukraine, a parallel battle is unfolding in the top echelons of military power in Moscow.
General who led Syrian bombing is new face of Russian war
Read full article: General who led Syrian bombing is new face of Russian warGen. Sergei Surovikin has become the face of Russia’s new military strategy in Ukraine, which includes unleashing a barrage of strikes against the country's infrastructure.
EXPLAINER: Russia's military woes mount amid Ukraine attacks
Read full article: EXPLAINER: Russia's military woes mount amid Ukraine attacksEven as the Kremlin moved to absorb parts of Ukraine in a sharp escalation of the conflict, the Russian military suffered new defeats that highlighted its deep problems on the battlefield and opened rifts at the top of the Russian government.
Frustration with Ukraine war spills out on Russian state TV
Read full article: Frustration with Ukraine war spills out on Russian state TVRussia’s retreat from a key Ukrainian city over the weekend elicited outcry from an unlikely crowd – state-run media outlets that typically speak glowingly about Moscow’s war.
Russia hits power stations after Ukraine counteroffensive
Read full article: Russia hits power stations after Ukraine counteroffensiveRussia attacked power stations and other infrastructure, causing widespread outages across Ukraine as Kyiv’s forces pressed a swift counteroffensive that has driven Moscow’s troops out of swaths of territory it had occupied in the northeast and south.
Ukraine Muslims pray for victory, end of occupation
Read full article: Ukraine Muslims pray for victory, end of occupationOn Eid al-Adha, an important religious holiday in Islam, Ukrainian Mufti turned fighter Said Ismahilov asked fellow Ukrainian muslims to pray for victory and for those still living in areas under Russian occupation.
Live updates | UN Chief: War in Ukraine driving world hunger
Read full article: Live updates | UN Chief: War in Ukraine driving world hungerUnited Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday he's in “intense contacts” with Russia and other countries to stop escalating global hunger exacerbated by the war in Ukraine by allowing the export of grain stored in Ukrainian ports and ensuring Russian food and fertilizers have unrestricted access to world markets.
EXPLAINER: Why the battle for Mariupol's steel mill matters
Read full article: EXPLAINER: Why the battle for Mariupol's steel mill mattersRussian President Vladimir Putin is claiming control over Ukraine’s seaside city of Mariupol even as its defenders are holding out inside a massive steel mill near the water.
Ukraine's port of Mariupol holding out against all odds
Read full article: Ukraine's port of Mariupol holding out against all oddsUnder relentless bombardment and a Russian blockade, the key port of Mariupol is holding out, but weapons and supplies shortages could weaken the resistance that has thwarted the Kremlin’s invasion plans.
Mariupol mayor says siege has killed more than 10K civilians
Read full article: Mariupol mayor says siege has killed more than 10K civiliansThe mayor of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol says more than 10,000 civilians have died in the Russian siege of his city and the full death toll could surpass twice that number.
Protests resume as Russia seeks to quash invasion critics
Read full article: Protests resume as Russia seeks to quash invasion criticsProtests against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine resumed in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities on Friday, even as authorities sought to push back against the spreading antiwar sentiment and project an image of strength and righteousness, following large demonstrations the day before.
UAE weapons show draws major deals, traders amid pandemic
Read full article: UAE weapons show draws major deals, traders amid pandemic(AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)ABU DHABI – In spite of the surging coronavirus pandemic, major arms makers descended Sunday on a convention center in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, hoping to make deals with militaries across the Middle East. The UAE unveiled $1.36 billion in local and foreign arms deals to supply its forces with everything from South African drones to Serbian artillery. Significant national pavilions were absent, including the United States, the world’s largest arms exporter. Ad“The threats are obvious lately,” said Walid Abukhaled, CEO of Saudi Arabian Military Industries Company, a holding company owned by the country’s sovereign wealth fund. “If Iran goes into a major rearmament program or starts to flex its muscles, that’s where missile defense and air defense systems come in,” he said.
Queer online series meets eager Russian LGBTQ audience
Read full article: Queer online series meets eager Russian LGBTQ audienceThis image released by Fancy Production shows actors Dmitry Simonov as Lyosha and Arsen Khandzhyan as Roma in a scene from the "Here I come" web series in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, July 18, 2020. Fenochka says his web series about queer young people is important for LGBTQ people in Russia, which bans gay "propaganda" among minors. (Fancy Production via AP)MOSCOW – Russian film director Andrei Fenochka says his online series about queer young people is important for LGBTQ people in a country that bans gay “propaganda” among minors. Fenochka's “Here I Come” series that debuted last fall is marked as only available to people older than 18 in accordance with Russian law. “It is important for them to feel that they are not alone, they are not in isolation, they are not banned.
6 suspected militants killed in Russia's Chechnya
Read full article: 6 suspected militants killed in Russia's ChechnyaKadyrov said Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021 that his forces have killed six suspected militants, including a warlord accused of organizing a 2011 suicide attack at a Moscow airport. He claimed that the raid marked the elimination of the last group of militants that remained in the region. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev, file)MOSCOW – Chechnya's Kremlin-backed leader said Wednesday that his forces have killed six suspected militants, including a warlord accused of organizing a 2011 suicide attack at a Moscow airport. After Umarov's death, Byutukayev became the leader of militants in Chechnya and swore allegiance to the Islamic State group. Despite Kadyrov’s relentless crackdown on suspected extremists, some of whom have sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group, militants have continued to launch sporadic attacks in Chechnya and other regions in Russia’s North Caucasus.
Officer, 2 suspects die in attack on police in Chechnya
Read full article: Officer, 2 suspects die in attack on police in ChechnyaPolice and investigators work at the scene after two men attacked road police in the center of the provincial capital, Grozny, Russia, Monday, Dec. 28, 2020. Two brothers attacked police with knives Monday in Chechnya, killing an officer and injuring another before being shot dead, the Russian republic's leader said. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev)MOSCOW – Two brothers attacked police with knives Monday in Chechnya, killing an officer and injuring another before being shot dead, the Russian republic's leader said. Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman head of Chechnya, said the men attacked road police in the center of the provincial capital, Grozny, in an attempt to seize their weapons. International human rights groups have accused Kadyrov of rampant rights abuses, including arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings by his feared security forces.
US slaps strongman ruler of Russia's Chechnya with sanctions
Read full article: US slaps strongman ruler of Russia's Chechnya with sanctionsMOSCOW The United States on Monday slapped the regional strongman leader of Russia's republic of Chechnya with sanctions over human rights violations. Ramzan Kadyrov, 43, has run Chechnya like his personal fiefdom, relying on his security forces to quash dissent. International human rights groups have accused Kadyrov and his lieutenants of abductions, torture and killings of their opponents. Chechen authorities have denied those accusations, and federal authorities said a probe found nothing to support the charges. The Kremlin has relied on Kadyrov to stabilize Chechnya after two separatist wars, providing generous federal subsidies and dismissing international criticism of his rule.
Chechen leader blames foreign spies for slaying his critics
Read full article: Chechen leader blames foreign spies for slaying his criticsFILE - In this Friday, May 10, 2019 file photo, Chechnya's regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov speaks during a meeting in Grozny, Russia. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev, file)MOSCOW The regional strongman leader of Russia's province of Chechnya on Thursday blamed unidentified foreign spy agencies for the recent killing in Austria of a Chechen man who criticized him. Austrian police have detained two ethnic Chechen men on suspicion of involvement in the killing, which is being investigated as a possible political assassination. On Tuesday, a group of Chechens rallied outside the Russian Embassy in Vienna to protest the killing. German prosecutors last month charged a Russian man in the brazen daylight killing in Berlin of an ethnic Chechen from Georgia.
Using 'face doubles,' a new doc captures an anti-LGBTQ purge
Read full article: Using 'face doubles,' a new doc captures an anti-LGBTQ purgeThis undated photo provided by HBO Documentary Films shows a scene from "Welcome to Chechnya." In documentary film, the anonymous source has often been reduced to a shadowy, voice-distorted figure, or worse, a pixelated blur. (HBO Documentary Films via AP)Anonymous sources in documentaries have often been reduced to a shadowy, voice-distorted figure or worse, a pixelated blur. In the predominantly Muslim region in southern Russia ruled by strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, LGBTQ Chechens have been detained, tortured and killed. The face doubles were shot on a blue screen stage and converted into algorithms that, with machine learning, could digitally mask the subjects of the film.
Putin says coronavirus situation in Russia has stabilized
Read full article: Putin says coronavirus situation in Russia has stabilizedRussian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting on education via teleconference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, Thursday, May 21, 2020. Speaking during a video conference with top officials, Putin pointed at the decreasing number of new infections in Moscow and other regions. Putin noted that the country's hospitals are capable of accommodating over 165,000 coronavirus patients, and they are currently two-thirds occupied. Russian officials have rejected the claim, saying that the low toll reflected efficient preventative measures and broad testing. Russian officials have rejected the claim, saying that the Russian approach is more accurate and is in full conformity with the World Health Organizations guidelines.
Were expendable: Russian doctors face hostility, mistrust
Read full article: Were expendable: Russian doctors face hostility, mistrustIn this handout photo taken from video footage, medical workers record s video appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Armavir, Russia, Saturday, May 16, 2020. Instead of applause, they face mistrust, low pay and even open hostility. Official statements and news reports in more than 70 Russian regions show that at least 9,479 medical workers have been infected with the virus in the past month, and more than 70 have died. Health workers say they haven't gotten bonuses the government promised them for working with coronavirus patients. In early April, Putin personally promised generous bonuses to monthly salaries about $1,100 for doctors, $680 for nurses and paramedics, and $340 for orderlies.