‘It could become a trigger’: Fearing public discontent ... - Meduza
WEB6 days ago · In late September, the Russian government submitted a draft budget for 2025–2027 to the State Duma for approval. The plan calls for a record-setting 41 percent of federal spending to go to national security and defense, leaving little doubt that the war in Ukraine is the Kremlin’s top priority. With many citizens struggling economically amid …
Horses, Hyundais, and headless rubber goats: A dispatch from
WEB4 days ago · Since its debut in Kyrgyzstan 10 years ago, the World Nomad Games has grown into the largest international ethnic sports competition and earned a spot on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List. This year, more than 2,500 participants from 89 countries came to compete in Astana, hoping to win gold in events ranging from …
Russian state investigators seized everything Alexey Navalny
WEB4 days ago · A new set of leaked documents published by the investigative site the Dossier Center includes a list of items seized by Russian state investigators in connection with opposition politician Alexey Navalny’s death in February. The catalogue, which was previously posted by the anonymous Telegram channel VChK-OGPU, appears to …
Russian authorities reportedly planning to send 40 percent of …
WEBOct 1, 2024 · The Russian authorities plan to use new legislation to send approximately 40 percent of criminal defendants to fight in the war in Ukraine, the independent outlet iStories reported on Tuesday.. In late September, Russian lawmakers approved a bill in all three readings that would allow defendants to sign contracts with the Defense Ministry while …
American historian Amy Knight sizes up Russia’s ‘war weary’ elites
WEBOct 1, 2024 · American historian Amy Knight has been studying Russian elites for decades. She spent 18 years at the U.S. Library of Congress as a specialist in Russian and Soviet affairs and has written multiple books on the Cold War, the KGB, its post-Soviet ideological successors, and the Kremlin. Some of her most recent work focuses on the culture of …
Russia’s Defense Ministry could recruit at least 225,000 ... - Meduza
WEB4 days ago · Over the next three years, Russia’s Defense Ministry could recruit at least 225,000 contract soldiers, according to estimates from the independent outlet iStories, which reviewed the government’s draft federal budget for 2025-2027. The Russian government has allocated 90 billion rubles ($944.9 million) for sign-on bonuses, or 30 …
This was Russia today, Friday, October 4, 2024 - Meduza
WEB4 days ago · 4. As the world turns. 🚂 A train going from Moscow to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad was nearly denied entry from Belarus into Lithuania on Thursday after Lithuanian border guards noticed graffiti on the locomotive containing the pro-war Z and V symbols as well as the phrase “Vilnius is a Russian city.” The train was allowed to …
Meduza’s daily newsletter: Tuesday, October 1, 2024
WEB6 days ago · The news in brief. ⚖️ Russian authorities reportedly planning to send 40 percent of criminal defendants to war after changes to legislation; ⚖️ Billionaire Petr Aven has filed a defamation complaint in Latvia against Russian activist Dmitry Savvin (who recently obtained Latvian citizenship), claiming that Savvin posted “derogatory and false …
Meduza’s daily newsletter: Wednesday, October 2, 2024
WEB5 days ago · The news in brief. ⚖️ A district court in Krasnoyarsk sentenced regional legislative assembly deputy Alexander Gliskov to 10 years in prison for threatening to fire a local roadways official if he didn’t pay a 5-million-ruble ($52,660) bribe. Gliskov’s attorneys dispute the testimony against their client and point out that the alleged victim was once …
This was Russia today, Thursday, October 3, 2024 - Meduza
WEB5 days ago · Today’s main story: Russia’s 2025 federal budget outlines record military and ‘top secret’ spending. Nearly a third of the federal government’s proposed expenditures are hidden from public view — a record share of expenditures classified as “secret” or “top secret.”The draft budget is roughly 7,000 pages and allocates 41.5 trillion rubles ($435.7 …