All posts tagged: Moscow

American Man Arrested At Moscow Airport For Cannabis Gummies, Days After Marc Fogel Swap

American Man Arrested At Moscow Airport For Cannabis Gummies, Days After Marc Fogel Swap

Just days ago the Trump administration was able to finally secure the release of American school teacher Marc Fogel from Russian prison, who spent over three years in custody after being arrested for what he said was medical cannabis in August 2021. But already Russia has another American in its custody, as Russian news agencies have reported a US citizen has been arrested for “drug smuggling” after being caught passing through Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport with THC gummies. Via NBC The man, who had arrived from Istanbul, has yet to be identified but his age was given as 28. This comes after several Americans were caught in similar circumstances, most famously WBNBA start Brittney Griner. “While passing customs, one of his suitcases drew the attention of a service dog,” TASS reported of a Russia’s Federal Customs Service statement. “During the customs search, inspectors found two plastic jars and a zip-bag with the candy in it… Chemical analysis showed narcotic substances of the cannabinoid group in it.” Like with the Fogel case, the newly detained man has “claimed …

Donald Trump reveals bombshell phone call with Putin as US president invited to Moscow | World | News

Donald Trump reveals bombshell phone call with Putin as US president invited to Moscow | World | News

US President Donald Trump has announced he and Vladimir Putin have agreed to start negotiations “immediately” to end the war in Ukraine. The US leader said his phone call with the Russian president was “lengthy and highly productive” in a post on the platform Truth Social. Mr Trump wrote: “I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects. “We both reflected on the Great History of our Nations, and the fact that we fought so successfully together in World War II, remembering, that Russia lost tens of millions of people, and we, likewise, lost so many! We each talked about the strengths of our respective Nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together. “But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine. President Putin even used my very strong Campaign motto of, ‘COMMON …

With just one tank present, today’s march in Moscow was a shadow of previous years

With just one tank present, today’s march in Moscow was a shadow of previous years

War in Ukraine is reshaping our world. Every weekday The Telegraph’s top journalists analyse the invasion from all angles – military, humanitarian, political, economic, historical – and tell you what you need to know to stay updated. With over 70 million listens, our Ukraine: The Latest podcast is your go-to source for all the latest analysis, live reaction and correspondents reporting on the ground. We have been broadcasting ever since the full-scale invasion began. Ukraine: The Latest’s regular contributors are: David Knowles David is Head of Audio Development at The Telegraph, where he has worked for over three years. He has reported from across Ukraine during the full-scale invasion.  Dominic Nicholls Dom is Associate Editor (Defence) at The Telegraph, having joined in 2018. He previously served for 23 years in the British Army, in tank and helicopter units. He had operational deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland.  Source link

U.K. to Expel Russian Defense Attaché as Diplomatic Feud With Moscow Escalates

U.K. to Expel Russian Defense Attaché as Diplomatic Feud With Moscow Escalates

Britain’s diplomatic feud with Russia escalated on Wednesday after the British government announced it would expel a senior Russian diplomat who officials claim is an “undeclared” military intelligence officer, and also shut down several Russian diplomatic facilities in the country. The government accused Russia’s foreign intelligence service, the Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., of a pattern of “malign activity” in Britain and Europe, including hacking and leaking trade documents relating to the United States, and targeting of British lawmakers through malicious email campaigns. James Cleverly, the British home secretary, told Parliament that the government was announcing the retaliatory measures “to make clear to Russia that we will not tolerate such apparent escalations.” Britain’s action came two days after the Russian Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the British ambassador to Moscow to lodge a “strong protest” over remarks the British foreign secretary, David Cameron, had made about Ukraine’s using weapons supplied by Britain to strike Russian territory. The British Foreign Office disputed that the envoy, Nigel Casey, had been summoned, characterizing it instead as a …

Vladimir Putin’s ‘nervous’ speech as he’s sworn in as Russian President | World | News

Vladimir Putin’s ‘nervous’ speech as he’s sworn in as Russian President | World | News

She says he vacillated through multiple states during the heavily choreographed performance, during which he was pictured in his office looking at his papers before walking along the Kremlin’s long corridors, pausing at one point to look at a painting, on the way to his inauguration. His guard of honor waited in the sleet and rain for hours, in temperatures hovering just above freezing, while Putin made the brief journey to the Grand Kremlin Palace in his Auras limousine. James says the former KGB officer, 71, went “from humble during the religious ceremony to smiling and more buoyant as he walked past the crowds, although the ending of the non-verbal narrative saw him in his most familiar display recently as he made his speech: that of aggressive arousal as he spoke of ‘Our plans will make us stronger’ and that ‘Together we will win.’” Russia continues to gain ground in eastern Ukraine two years in, but President Volodymyr Zelensky has recently avoided a fresh attempt on his life by two Russian operatives who planned to …

NATO Drills Show It Is Preparing for Potential Conflict With Russia, Moscow Says

NATO Drills Show It Is Preparing for Potential Conflict With Russia, Moscow Says

MOSCOW (Reuters) – NATO’s four-month long military exercises near Russia’s borders, known as Steadfast Defender, are proof the alliance is preparing for a potential conflict with Russia, a spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday. The spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, dismissed accusations by NATO this week that Russia is engaged in hybrid attacks on its member states, saying this was misleading “misinformation” aimed at distracting people from the alliance’s activities. It was NATO that had waged a hybrid war with Russia by supporting Ukraine with arms, intelligence and finances, she said in a statement. “Right now, NATO’s largest exercise since the Cold War, Steadfast Defender, is taking place near Russia’s borders. According to their scenario, coalition’s actions against Russia are being practiced using all the instruments, including hybrid and conventional weapons,” she said in a statement. “We have to admit that NATO is seriously preparing for a ‘potential conflict’ with us.” Relations between Russia and the West have been at their most hostile in decades following the start of Russia’s military conflict in Ukraine in …

A Russian priest who held Navalny’s memorial service is suspended by Moscow church

A Russian priest who held Navalny’s memorial service is suspended by Moscow church

(AP) – A priest who oversaw a memorial for late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been suspended for three years by the head of the country’s Orthodox Church. Dmitry Safronov held a memorial service by Navalny’s grave in Moscow on March 26 to mark 40 days since the politician’s death, an important ritual within Russian Orthodox tradition. An order published Tuesday on the Moscow diocese website publicly demoted Safronov from his position as priest to that of a psalm-reader and stripped him of the right to give blessings or to wear a cassock for the next three years. He was also transferred to another church within the capital. No reason was given for the decision, which was signed by Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Navalny died suddenly on Feb. 16 in the remote Arctic penal colony where he had been serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges widely seen as politically motivated. The cause of Navalny’s death remains unexplained, although the …

Moscow court rejects Evan Gershkovich’s appeal, keeping him in jail

Moscow court rejects Evan Gershkovich’s appeal, keeping him in jail

MOSCOW —  Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will remain jailed on espionage charges until at least late June, after a Moscow court Tuesday rejected his appeal that sought to end his pretrial detention. The 32-year-old U.S. citizen was detained in late March 2023 while on a reporting trip and has spent more than a year in jail, with authorities routinely extending his time behind bars and rejecting his appeals. Last month, his pretrial detention was continued yet again — until June 30 — in a ruling that he and his lawyers challenged. A Moscow appellate court rejected the appeal Tuesday. In the courtroom on Tuesday, Gershkovich, wearing a white T-shirt and an open checked shirt, looked relaxed, at times laughing and chatting with members of his legal team. His arrest in the city of Yekaterinburg rattled journalists in Russia, where authorities have not detailed what, if any, evidence they have to support the espionage charges. Gershkovich and his employer have denied the allegations, and the U.S. government has declared him to be wrongfully detained. Analysts …

Georgia’s draft law targeting press freedom inspired by Moscow

Georgia’s draft law targeting press freedom inspired by Moscow

During a protest against the draft law on “foreign influence,” in front of the Georgian Parliament in Tbilisi, on April 17, 2024. ZURAB TSERTSVADZE / AP Georgia has long been a model of democratization in the post-Soviet space. But since the Georgian Dream political party came to power in 2012, and particularly since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, this former Soviet republic in the Caucasus has been sinking into authoritarianism, adopting methods reminiscent of Russia. This shift occurred despite Georgia gaining official candidate status for European Union membership in December 2023. Determined to silence any critical voices six months before the parliamentary elections in October, the ruling Georgian Dream party passed the first reading of its controversial bill on “foreign influence” on Wednesday, April 17. The bill, modeled on a Russian law aimed at destroying the media and civil society, was abandoned a year ago due to domestic and international pressure. Since its surprise return to Parliament in early April, thousands of Georgians have been protesting daily to demand its withdrawal, …