On February 20, journalists learned that police have started questioning individuals who have contributed money to opposition politician Alexey Navalny’s offices and his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). Calls and summons from law enforcement have been reported in different regions across Russia, from St. Petersburg to Omsk. Some people have already been interrogated. Meduza spoke to two of these individuals to find out what the police

A group of 12,000 satellites launched by Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starlink can be used for military purposes, said the chief designer of the Russian Missile Attack Warning System, the general director of the defense company VYMpel, Sergey Boev, as qoted by Interfax. Boev recalled that John Raymond met with Musk, Richard Branson (head of Virgin Galactic) and others involved in space

Turkey may soon close the Bosphorus to Russian warships in an attempt to weaken the advance of Bashar al-Assad’s army in Idlib and Aleppo, which is largely dependent on Russia’s large-scale which provides air power and weapons to Assad’s Army, reports the Russian news outlet Novaya Gazeta. Such actions, the newspaper suggests, will allow pro-Turkish military units in Syria to buy time

By Oleksiy Sorokin. Published Feb. 21. Updated Feb. 21 at 12:00 pm Instead of overhauling Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies, President Volodymyr Zelensky kept some tainted officials in place, including Interior Minister Arsen Avakov (top left) and Spacial Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Nazar Kholodnytsky (top right), both of whom are accused of stalling investigations. Zelensky’s childhood friend Ivan Bakanov (bottom right) runs the Security Service

Olesya Krasilova, a Russian citizen and employee of the state agency All-Russian Plant Quarantine Center, was detained while departing from Tenerife airport, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday, February 21. This happened on February 14, when the Russian was returning from a business trip, which she went to on February 10, as part of an official Russian delegation, the

A pipeline is lowered on Nov. 21, 2018, below the Baltic Sea near the German island of Rügen during construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. U.S. sanctions have halted work on the pipeline meant to bypass Ukraine. Only one thing is clear about the future of Russia’s controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline project that bypasses Ukraine’s transit system: Ukraine

A large convoy of military equipment and cargo trucks carrying ammunition is moving from Turkey to the Syrian province of Idlib, reports the Russian news agency Interfax with reference to the head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Warring Partiesin Syria, Rear Admiral Oleg Zhuravlev. According to him, the roads in the north of the province have not been destroyed and

Now the arbitration should begin consideration of the claim of Ukraine against Russia on the merits. REUTERS Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Vadym Prystaiko says the Hague Arbitration Tribunal has reaffirmed its jurisdiction to consider Ukraine’s claim against Russia on the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait. “The Law of the Sea case goes forward! The Hague Arbitration

The ride-sharing platform will no longer be available on the annexed peninsula. Updated: 5 hours ago French ride-sharing startup BlaBlaCar has stopped offering its services in Crimea, for fear of being caught up in EU sanctions against firms operating on the annexed peninsula. The service, which connects drivers with spare seats with travellers looking to catch a ride, launched operations in both Russia

Peskov joked that Putin was only starting his presidential term. REUTERS Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has called on Russians not to be afraid of the potential stepdown by Russian President Vladimir Putin, addressing the latest survey revealing fears of the Russians related to Putin’s possible leave.  He is “only at the beginning of his presidential term,” Peskov added jokingly, according to an

To justify its breakup of Ukraine, the Kremlin seeks to embarrass the U.K. and other major NATO allies. But the Scottish National Party wants nothing to do with Putin 13:19, 19 February 2020Reuters A little over two years ago, Alex Salmond, the former first minister of Scotland, announced he was being hired to host a show on RT, the Kremlin-funded

Corruption may have lessened in recent years in this area, but price fixing and company profitability look set to endure and probably limit the Kremlin’s ambitions18:28, 20 February 2020rbc.ru In late December 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an ukaz (decree) detailing plans to write off a large portion of the debt collectively owed by the country’s defense industrial complex (Oboronnyi Promyshennyi Kompleks—OPK). The details

Environmental activists hold up a poster reading “Clog Nord Stream 2!” as they stage a protest at the construction site for the European Gas Pipeline Link (EUGAL) pipeline in Wrangelsburg, northeastern Germany on May 16, 2019.Photo by AFPPopular The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Europe through Germany may become only a pipe dream if Russia cannot find a way to complete

Judges of Ukraine’s Constitutional Court.Photo by Ratynskyi Viacheslav The Constitutional Court has recognized Ukraine’s 2016-2017 judicial reform as partially unconstitutional, according to a decision published by the court late on Feb. 19. Specifically, the Constitutional Court ruled that the liquidation of the old Supreme Court in 2017 as part of the judicial reform was unconstitutional. The decision triggered indignation among judicial

Russia was the major supplier of nuclear fuel to Ukraine. Ukraine is trying to diversify the sources of nuclear fuel supplies / Photo from UNIAN Ukraine in 2019 imported fuel assemblies for its nuclear power plants to the tune of US$396.889 million. Over the period under review, Russia supplied 263 tonnes of nuclear fuel worth US$240.91 million (60.6% in the

On the sixth anniversary of the Euromaidan Revolution, former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych published a message addressed to the new government. The statement appeared on the Facebook page of his lawyer, Vitaliy Serdyuk. Yanukovych himself fled Ukraine in 2014. Yanukovych said that he is happy that former president Petro Poroshenko, who had ruled Ukraine since the revolution in 2014, has been