All posts tagged: Moscow

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

Published by skeptic

[ad_1] 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.  [ad_2] 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

Published by Sam

[ad_1] 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 …

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

Published by skeptic

[ad_1] 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 …

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

Published by skeptic

[ad_1] 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 …

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

Published by Sam

[ad_1] (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 …

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

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

Published by skeptic

[ad_1] 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. …

Georgia’s draft law targeting press freedom inspired by Moscow

Georgia’s draft law targeting press freedom inspired by Moscow

Published by skeptic

[ad_1] 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 …

What’s behind Putin’s attempts to link Ukraine to Moscow terror attack?

What’s behind Putin’s attempts to link Ukraine to Moscow terror attack?

Published by skeptic

[ad_1] Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying, without evidence, to link Ukraine to the recent attack on a concert hall in Moscow to further mobilize domestic public support for Russia’s military actions in Ukraine, international security experts tell VOA. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the March 22 attack on the Crocus City Hall music venue in suburban Moscow that killed at least 143 people and injured some 360 others. Russian authorities have announced the arrests of 12 people they say are connected to the attack, including four suspected gunmen who have been identified as Tajik citizens. IS-Khorasan, a branch of the extremist organization Islamic State, claimed responsibility for the attack, for which Russia received warnings from U.S. intelligence services in early March. Nevertheless, the Kremlin accused Ukraine of preparing a “window” for the escape of the Tajik citizens accused in the incident. “It’s a cynical but convenient tactic that the Kremlin is using, trying to link the attack to Ukraine,” said retired Colonel Robert Hamilton, a fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington and …

U.S. Intelligence Warning to Moscow Named Specific Target of Attack

U.S. Intelligence Warning to Moscow Named Specific Target of Attack

Published by Sam

[ad_1] The U.S. warning to Russia ahead of a terrorist attack near Moscow was highly specific: Crocus City Hall was a potential target of the Islamic State, according to U.S. officials. The warning had the right venue but imprecise timing, suggesting that the attack could come within days. Indeed, the public warning by the United States Embassy on March 7 warned of potential terrorist attacks in the next two days. Gunmen stormed the hall on March 22, killing 144 people, the deadliest attack in Russia in nearly 20 years. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, and Russia charged four men from Tajikistan, accusing them of carrying out the massacre. But President Vladimir V. Putin and other top officials have continued to claim, without evidence, that Ukraine could have played a role in the attack, a statement that American officials have repeatedly said was baseless. The news that the U.S. warning specified the precise target of the attack was reported earlier Tuesday by The Washington Post. The United States works intensely to collect intelligence …