Since February 24, Meduza has been tracking major developments in Ukraine, Russia, and around the world, following President Putin’s decision to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For coverage of the first three days of the war, see Meduza’s original live reporting here and here. Below, you will find the latest major developments, updated every few hours.
Maksim Levin / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA Ukrainian soldiers at an airfield in the city of Vasylkiv, outside Kyiv, on February 26, 2022
27 февраля 2022 г. 00:16:36
Latest major developments, 1 a.m., Moscow time (5 p.m. New York time)
Facebook crackdown on Kremlin propaganda: Meta has started identifying all Facebook and Instagram media accounts that are controlled by the Russian state. The company has also banned Russian state outlets from buying advertisements or monetizing their content anywhere in the world.
YouTube blocks RT in Ukraine: YouTube has blocked Russia Today’s Russian-language channel inside Ukraine.
TV ties are being cut: The Russian entertainment television network Pyatnitsa! has stopped airing the Ukrainian travel program “Oryol i Reshka.”
Soccer fallout: The national soccer teams of Poland and Sweden have refused to play Russia in pivotal FIFA World Cup playoff qualifiers in March.
Closed skies: Russia has closed its airspace to Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Slovenia, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia are closing their skies to Russian planes. The Czech Republic, Poland, and Bulgaria have banned Russian aircraft until at least March 26.
A refugee catastrophe: According to the United Nations, more than 150,000 Ukrainian refugees have fled the country. About half of these people went to Poland.
SWIFT: The Western allies are preparing to disconnect “selected Russian banks” from the SWIFT global bank messaging system. “We will paralyze the assets of Russia’s Central Bank,” announced EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Black Sea access: President Zelensky has said Turkey blocked Russian warships from passing through the Black Sea straits, but Ankara has not confirmed this information.
Lockdown in Ukraine’s capital: Kyiv has extended its curfew, active between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m., from February 26 to February 28.
Russian casualties: President Zelensky’s office claims that the Ukrainian has killed more than 3,500 Russian soldiers. Moscow has not acknowledged a single combat loss.
“Collateral damage”: Ukraine’s Health Ministry it has confirmed the deaths of at least 198 civilians in Russia’s invasion, so far. On Friday morning, a missile struck a residential high-rise building in Kyiv causing several injuries. Moscow denies that it has attacked any apartment buildings.
The other kind of rockets: Russia’s national space agency has suspended Soyuz rocket launches from the Guiana Space Center, “Europe’s Spaceport.”
27 февраля 2022 г. 01:10:58
In a new statement, the Gorbachev Foundation calls for an immediate end to fighting in Ukraine
In connection with Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, began on February 24, we declare the need for a speedy cessation of hostilities and the immediate start of peace negotiations. There is and cannot be anything dearer in the world than human lives. Only negotiations and dialogue based on mutual response and the consideration of shared interests can resolve our sharpest contradictions and problems. We support any efforts aimed at resuming the negotiation process.
27 февраля 2022 г. 05:43:30
Leaked audio records indicate that Chechnya’s leader had advance notice of Putin’s invasion plan
“One hundred percent of all the actions that we’re going to take there are approved and supported by the leadership. Today, I reported in detail how our units will act when repelling an attack if we’re ambushed. […] Separately, I reported on our work itself in the city. We’ve arranged ourselves where we’ll enter, which buildings, and where we’ll seize control.” — (allegedly) Daniil Martynov
BBC Russia has obtained voice messages recorded on the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine purportedly between Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov and regional National Guard deputy director Daniil Martynov. The correspondence indicates Kadyrov’s advance knowledge about the president’s decision to attack Ukraine and that officials in Chechnya began preparing local soldiers ahead of the Kremlin’s “special military operation in the Donbas.” BBC Russia received the voice messages from a former employee in the security services who opposes Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
27 февраля 2022 г. 08:10:34
Latest major developments, 9 a.m., Moscow time (1 a.m., New York time)
Kyiv still stands: The Ukrainian government says it remains in complete control of the nation’s capital, Kyiv. On Sunday morning, February 27, Deputy Mayor Mykola Povoroznyk said the military clashed overnight with multiple Russian infiltration groups.
Silicon Valley cuts Russian state media’s revenue streams: Google has reportedly disabled all monetization capabilities for state-funded Russian media. Meta previously barred Russian state media outlets from buying any advertisements or monetizing content on Facebook or Instagram anywhere in the world.
Russia’s first official combat death: The head of Dagestan, Sergey Melikov, became the first Russian official to acknowledge a Russian combat death in Ukraine. In an Instagram post, he reported the death of Army officer Nurmagomed Gadzhimagomedov. Russia’s Defense Ministry, however, has declined confirm this information. The investigative news project Agentstvo previously spoke to Gadzhimagomedov’s relatives and verified his death in battle, citing claims on social media that he killed himself and several Ukrainian soldiers with a grenade. Ukrainian officials have launched a website to share information about Russian soldiers who have been captured or killed in combat. The authorities also opened a telephone hotline.
Kadyrov’s preparations: BBC Russia obtained leaked voice messages recorded on the eve of the invasion purportedly between senior state officials in Chechnya indicating that Grozny received advance notice about Moscow’s attack plans.
Russia starts targeting civilian infrastructure: A rocket attack against an oil depot caused a fire in the city of Vasylkiv, outside Kyiv. Russian missiles also destroyed part of a gas pipeline in Kharkiv. In Rovenky (now under separatist control), another oil depot caught fire.
Kharkiv could fall soon: The Ukrainian news media reports that Russian military vehicles bearing the infamous “Z” markings have entered Kharkiv, where, at the time of this writing, Ukrainian forces are still fighting to defend the city. Three hundred miles to the south, Russian troops captured the Ukrainian city of Nova Kakhovka, outside Kherson, reported the local mayor.
NATO aspirations in Finland: An online Kansalaisaloite petition calling for Finland’s pursuit of NATO membership has gained the 50,000 necessary signatures, allowing parliamentary consideration of the measure.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are conducting a special operation to defend the DNR and LNR
Be aware that providing financial, logistical, consulting, or assistance of any other kind to a foreign state or international or foreign organization or its representatives that are involved in activities directed against the security of the Russian Federation constitutes an illegal action under Article 275 of the Russian Federation’s Criminal Code (high treason).
The punishment for committing this crime is imprisonment for a period of up to 20 years.
Separate legal assessments will be made for each instance of financial or other assistance to a foreign state involved in activities against the security of the Russian Federation.
27 февраля 2022 г. 14:31:32
Latest major developments, 3:30 p.m., Moscow time (7:30 a.m., New York time)
Crackdown inside Russia: Federal officials in Russia have threatened 20-year imprisonment for aiding the Ukrainian state or any other organization “involved in activities” against Russia. Meanwhile, Internet users throughout Russia have reported difficulty accessing networks like YouTube and Twitter without the aid of VPNs.
Germany’s evolving position: Chancellor Olaf Scholz called the attack on Ukraine “Putin’s war,” not a war by the Russian people, and vowed to increase Germany’s defense spending. At the same time, he says he has not ruled out negotiations with the Kremlin.
No talks in Belarus: President Zelensky says Ukraine will not join peace talks in Gomel, where Moscow offers to meet, so long as Belarus hosts Russian invasion forces. Zelensky reported on his Telegram channel that he spoke to Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko on the telephone but offered no further details about the call. Earlier on Sunday, the Russian media reported that Putin would make another national address, but his press secretary later denied it.
More European skies close to Russia: France, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Ireland, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, and Iceland are the latest countries to close their airspace to Russian planes. Much of Europe is now off limits to Russian aircraft.
Kharkiv reportedly still stands: The Ukrainian military has reportedly repelled a major Russian ground assault against Kharkiv, the nation’s second-largest city.
More cultural figures call on Putin: Russian film star Danila Kozlovsky appealed directly to Putin on Instagram. “Mr. President, only you can stop this terrible disaster,” he wrote. “Civilians are dying. Missiles are hitting homes.” Other Russian celebrities who have appealed to Putin include opera singer Anna Netrebko, actress Maria Mironova, and writer Vladimir Sorokin.
Banking officials seek to calm: In a special statement, Russia’s Central Bank said it has the necessary resources and instruments to maintain and ensure the financial sector’s “operational continuity,” continuously providing banks with cash and non-cash liquidity in rubles. The Central Bank insisted that the nation’s banking system has sufficient capital and liquidity, and that customers’ funds will remain available at any time. Bank cards will continue to work normally, officials said.
“It’s the fourth day now and our special operation in Ukraine continues. But I don’t understand: Why do we continue to coddle the Banderites? After all, from day one, it was obvious that the nationalists are inclined to understand no language but force. […] They’re armed to the teeth there with new weaponry, ammunition, and the latest generation of heavy equipment. And we’re still fiddling around with them in the hope that the Ukrainian authorities and military leadership will come to their senses. […]
We don’t need any losses. Every life on our side for us is most important. If they’ve refused talks twice, then we have to change our tactics. That will be more convincing for them.
I ask the country’s leadership, Supreme Commander of the Russian Armed Forces Vladimir Putin, to issue the appropriate order to all [Russian] special forces, so they can finish off the Nazis and, of course, the terrorists who killed our women, elderly, and children in the Chechen Republic.
“Western countries aren’t just taking unfriendly actions against our country in the economic sphere, meaning sanctions, but high-level officials of leading NATO countries are making aggressive statements about our country. Therefore, I order the Defense Minister and the Chief of the General Staff to move Russia’s deterrence forces to a special regime of duty.”
Following a phone calls with Belarusian head of state Alexander Lukashenko, Zelensky announced that the Ukrainian delegation had agreed to meet with the Russian delegation without preconditions. The meeting will take place on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, near the Pripyat River.
“Alexander Lukashenko has taken full responsibility for ensuring that all aircraft, helicopters, and missiles stationed in Belarus remain on the ground during the travel, negotiations, and return of the Ukrainian delegation,” reads the statement on Zelensky’s official Telegram channel.
The basis of the Russian Federation’s Armed Forces’ combat strength to deter aggression against Russia and its allies, as well as to defeat an aggressor in war using various types of weapons, including nuclear weapons.
[Weapons] designed to deter aggression against the Russian Federation, as well as to defeat an aggressor (inflicting defeat), including in a war using nuclear weapons. Strategic Deterrence Forces include the Strategic Offensive Forces and Strategic Defensive Forces. The basis of the Strategic Offensive Forces, which include the Strategic Missile Forces, form the basis of the Strategic Nuclear Forces, are equipped with intercontinental-range missile and aviation systems and long-range precision weapons.
The Strategic Offensive Forces also include strategic non-nuclear forces as dual-purpose forces — formations and units of strategic and long-range bombers of the Long-Range Russian Air Force, as well as submarines, surface ships, and naval missile-carrying aircraft armed with conventional long-range, high-precision weapons. The basis of the Strategic Defensive Forces are the combat-ready forces and means of the Aerospace Defense Forces, including [Russia’s] missile-attack warning system, space-control system, missile defense, anti-space defense, and air defense.
27 февраля 2022 г. 16:30:29
Countries that have closed their airspace to Russian planes
Last updated at 8 a.m., U.S. Eastern Time
27 февраля 2022 г. 18:18:06
Telegram’s Pavel Durov has urged Russian and Ukrainian users to “doubt all information” shared on the app during the war. The platform, he said, doesn't have the capacity to verify everything being posted amid the conflict. However, Durov has walked back an initial warning saying that Telegram may turn off channels.
“Many users have asked us not to consider disconnecting Telegram channels during the conflict as we are the only source of information for them. In connection with these appeals, we've decided not to consider such measures. However, I once again ask you to double-check and not take on faith information that is published in Telegram channels during this difficult period.”
27 февраля 2022 г. 18:31:22
OVD-Info has already recorded around 1,800 arrests at anti-war protests in Russia today. This includes more than 900 people detained in Moscow and 500 in St. Petersburg.
27 февраля 2022 г. 18:42:36
European Union to close its airspace to Russia and and ban ‘the Kremlin’s media machine’ — including RT and Sputnik
27 февраля 2022 г. 18:55:14
The European Union has also announced a new package of sanctions targeting the Belarusian the authorities
“Unfortunately we have dead and wounded comrades. But our losses are many times less than the destroyed nationalists. And the losses among the military personnel of the Ukrainian armed forces.”
The Defense Ministry did not disclose the number of Russian casualties. In a similar vein, the Defense Ministry also said that “few” Russian serviceman have been captured by the Ukrainian side.
“Additionally, bp chief executive officer Bernard Looney is resigning from the board of Rosneft with immediate effect. The other Rosneft director nominated by bp, former bp group chief executive Bob Dudley, is similarly resigning from the board.”
27 февраля 2022 г. 20:00:08
At least 5,250 people have been arrested at anti-war protests in cities across Russia since February 24, reports OVD-Info. This includes 2,114 arrested today, February 27.
In related news, Pussy Riot activist Maria Alyokhina has just been arrested in Moscow and is being charged with “disobeying the lawful demands of the police.”
27 февраля 2022 г. 20:43:01
Russia’s federal censor blocks Ukrainian government website set up to help Russian families identify killed and captured soldiers
Roskomnadzor added the website “Ishchi Svoikh” (“Look for your own”) to its list of banned sites on Sunday, on instructions from the Attorney General’s Office, reports Net Freedoms Project.
27 февраля 2022 г. 20:48:12
Washington is going to provide Ukraine with nearly $54 million in additional humanitarian assistance.
27 февраля 2022 г. 23:35:45
The latest numbers on Russian losses, according to the Ukrainian authorities
27 февраля 2022 г. 23:41:40
Updated Ukrainian casualties according to the country’s Health Ministry
28 февраля 2022 г. 00:07:03
Quick fire developments from the last few hours
Peace talks: The planned peace talks between Russia and Ukraine are set to begin tomorrow morning, sources told Ukrayinska Pravda and TASS. “This isn’t a postponement, the meeting will be in the morning, the reason [being] the Ukrainian delegation’s logistics,” the TASS source said.
UN special session: The United Nations Security Council has voted to convene an emergency session of the UN General Assembly tomorrow, to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Eleven of the 15 member states voted in favor — only Russia opposed, but China, India, and the United Arab Emirates abstained. Monday’s emergency session will be the first one the General Assembly has convened since 1997.
Klitschko’s comments: Vitaly Klitschko’s spokesperson has walked back a comment the Kyiv mayor made to AP News earlier today — apparently, Klitshcko misspoke and the Ukrainian capital is not encircled.
U.S. Embassy alert: The U.S. Embassy in Russia has recommended that American citizens consider departing Russia immediately due to the decreasing number of available commercial flights.
More repercussions for Moscow: FIFA has announced that no international soccer games will be played in Russia — the association has also banned the Russian flag and anthem during matches played abroad.
Putin sighting: The Russian president has made his first public appearance since announcing the invasion of Ukraine — on Sunday, Putin visited a construction site on the grounds of the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center in Moscow.
28 февраля 2022 г. 05:43:09
Latest developments, 6:45 a.m., Moscow time (10:45 p.m., New York time)
Ceasefire talks: Negotiations between delegations from Ukraine and Russia are expected to begin on Monday morning.
Dueling tallies: Russia’s Defense Ministry has acknowledged combat losses in Ukraine, but still offers no numbers. The Ukrainian military says it has killed roughly 4,500 Russian soldiers. The Ukrainian government says its civilian population has suffered at least 352 deaths and 1,684 injuries since the start of the invasion.
An EU milestone: The European Union has announced that it will supply the Ukrainian military with $450 million worth of lethal weaponry — the first provision of weapons to an active conflict zone in the EU’s history.
A financial tailspin: Russia’s Central Bank has ordered professional stock market participants to reject foreign clients’ bids to sell Russian securities. Financial markets in Russia are expected to open in free fall on Monday.
Peace marches: Police arrested more than 2,700 people at anti-war rallies across Russia on Sunday.
Soccer politics: Stopping short of expelling Russia from World Cup qualifying, FIFA says Russia must now compete using the “RFU” acronym for the country’s soccer federation. Russia’s flag and national anthem have also been banned from the field, and the team won’t be allowed any home games (all play must be on neutral sites without any fans in attendance).
28 февраля 2022 г. 06:29:54
Currency trading on the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) is set to begin at 10 a.m., local time (roughly 2.5 hours from now). Restrictions will be in place on money-market repo transactions (short-term borrowing). Russia’s Central Bank previously ordered professional stock market participants to reject foreign clients’ bids to sell Russian securities.
28 февраля 2022 г. 06:53:22
Update: trading on Moscow Exchange (MOEX) will begin no earlier than 3 p.m., local time
Russia’s Central Bank announced that a decision about the market’s exact opening time will be made by 1 p.m., Moscow time. It was previously reported that currency trading would open at 10 a.m.
28 февраля 2022 г. 08:23:54
Denis Pushilin, the head of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, has announced that his breakaway statelet is suspending its mobilization campaign. Local residents recently told Meduza that separatist security forces were raiding the streets for potential conscripts.
28 февраля 2022 г. 08:50:25
In emergency decision before markets reopen, Russia’s Central Bank raises key interest rate to 20 percent, more than doubling it
Simultaneously, effective immediately, Russia’s Finance Ministry is requiring exporters to sell 80 percent of all foreign exchange earnings under any foreign trade agreements. “That move appears designed to help prop up the ruble now that the Central Bank can’t sell reserves,” observed Financial Times journalist Max Seddon.
28 февраля 2022 г. 09:25:41
Russia’s Defense Ministry appeals to the residents of Kyiv, offering ‘safe exit corridor’
“All civilians in the city can freely leave Ukraine’s capital by way of the Kyiv-Vasylkiv Highway. This path is open and safe. […] I want to emphasize that the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are striking only military targets. The civilian population is not in danger,” spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said in a press briefing on Monday morning.
28 февраля 2022 г. 10:18:15
Latest major developments, 11:15 a.m., Moscow time (3:15 a.m., New York time)
Still waiting to talk: Ceasefire negotiations between Ukraine and Russia have been delayed from Monday morning to later in the day.
Regulators try to prevent a meltdown: Russia’s Central Bank hiked its key annual interest rate from 9.5 percent to 20 percent, and the Finance Ministry required exporters to sell 80 percent of all foreign exchange earnings. Despite these efforts, the ruble is still rapidly losing value. Also, Great Britain announced sanctions on Russia’s Central Bank, and previously announced EU sanctions against Russia’s Central Bank have entered force.
The DNR’s draft ends: The self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic has suspended its general mobilization. Sources who recently spoke to Meduza compared this initiative to mass abductions.
Kyiv under siege: Grocery stores and public transportation have reopened in Kyiv. Journalists in the city reported long lines.
By the numbers: While the Ukrainian military says it has killed more than 4,500 Russian soldiers, Moscow has not reported specific numbers of combat losses, though the Russian Defense Ministry has finally acknowledged that some of its soldiers have been killed or wounded in Ukraine. The government in Kyiv says Russia’s invasion, so far, has claimed the lives of at least 352 civilians and injured another 1,684 noncombatants.
Territorial claims: Kyiv and Moscow both claim control over the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. The Russian Defense Ministry says it now controls Ukraine’s entire airspace, a day after destroying one Ukrainian warplane in the air and four more still on the ground. Meduza was unable to verify these claims.
28 февраля 2022 г. 10:24:11
Russia’s Federal Security Service is threatening anyone caught “collecting and transmitting information for Ukraine’s intelligence community” with felony charges that could lead to 20 years in prison. The FSB also accuses Kyiv of trying to recruit ethnic Ukrainians in Russia.
Russia’s federal censor has blocked access inside the country to Current Time TV, a Russian-language television channel operating out of Prague, created by the media corporations Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty with participation of Voice of America. Via RFE/RL, the channel is funded through grants from the U.S. Congress through the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
In a message sent to Current Time, the Russian authorities accused the network of broadcasting “unverified publicly significant information about Russian soldiers allegedly killed and captured on the territory of Ukraine during a special military operation conducted by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.” The agency also charged Current Time with disseminating Russian citizens’ personal information and inciting a potential riot (“creating the threat of a mass violation of public order and public safety”).
Current Time says it refuses to remove the supposedly illegal content from its website. Roskomnadzor recently made similar demands of nearly a dozen other news outlets.
Update: Roskomnadzor has also blocked Krymr.com (another RFE/RL project that focuses on Crimea) and The New Times, as well as several Ukrainian news outlets, including Ukrainskaya Pravda and Gordon.
28 февраля 2022 г. 11:38:00
Russia’s war-time Internet censorship escalates again
Russia’s federal censor (Roskomnadzor) released yet another press statement, ordering Google to ban all contextual advertising that mentions Moscow’s combat losses in Ukraine (which the Defense Ministry has refused to enumerate and only recently acknowledged). Any website hosting such ads, says Roskomnadzor, will be blocked in Russia.
28 февраля 2022 г. 12:19:03
“Due to the emerging situation,” the Moscow Stock Exchange will not open today
Russia’s Central Bank says it will announce the market’s working hours for March 1 by 9 a.m., Moscow time, on March 1.
28 февраля 2022 г. 12:34:02
Aeroflot cancels all flights to the U.S., Mexico, Dominican Republic, and (wait for it) Cuba.
28 февраля 2022 г. 14:53:19
Snapshot: Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine get underway
Belarusian Foreign Affairs Ministry
Representatives from Kyiv and Moscow are currently holding talks in the Homel region of Belarus, on the border with Ukraine. The Ukrainian delegation includes Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov; Servant of the People party faction head Davyd Arakhamia; and advisor to the head of the President’s Office Myhailo Podoliak. The Russian delegation is led by presidential aide and former Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky.
28 февраля 2022 г. 15:47:57
Key updates from the last few hours
Russian losses: Ukraine’s Defense Ministry estimates that approximately 5,300 Russian troops have been killed as of Monday morning. Though the Russian Defense Ministry has acknowledged that some of its soldiers were killed and wounded in Ukraine, Moscow has yet to report a concrete number of combat losses. On Monday, Kalmykia’s Head Batu Khasikov reported that a contract service sergeant from the region had died “in the line of duty during a special operation to protect the Donbas.”
Kharkiv under fire: Massive rocket strikes hit Ukraine’s second largest city on Monday, Ukrainian Interior Ministry officials said. According to Interior Ministry advisor Anton Herashchenko, dozens of people have been killed and hundreds more were wounded. Ukrayinska Pravda reported that the shelling hit three micro-districts that are home to more than a million people. “It’s horrible, they hit residential buildings with artillery. It’s not yet possible to calculate the losses. Perhaps the offensive will go further,” said Roman Semenukha, the deputy head of the Kharkiv regional administration.
Zmiinyi Island survivors: The Ukrainian soldiers from Zmiinyi Island who were presumed dead are in fact alive and being held captive by Russia, according to Ukraine’s navy. Earlier, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry stated that all of the Ukrainian servicemen on the island were killed in a Russian attack. In turn, the Russian side reported that 82 people had been taken prisoner. The Ukrainian military clarified that they presumed the island’s defenders dead after they lost contact with them.
Cyber war: The websites of TASS, Izvestia, Forbes.ru, Fontanka, and other well-known Russian media outlets were hacked at around 2:00 p.m., Moscow time, on Monday. Attempts to reach the sites returned an anti-war message that urged Russian citizens to “stop the madness” and “not to send your sons and husbands to certain death.” The message was signed by the hacker group Anonymous, as well as “Concerned journalists of Russia.” Following the incident, TASS published a statement saying that their editorial office had “nothing to do” with the message.
Screenshot of the TASS website taken at 2:13 p.m., Moscow time, today
28 февраля 2022 г. 15:55:23
28 февраля 2022 г. 19:01:49
Extracts from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov’s press briefing today
TASS: How does the Kremlin assess the actions of the Central Bank?
Dmitry Peskov: So far, we have no reason to doubt the efficiency and reliability of our Central Bank. There’s no reason to doubt its efficiency, even now.
[...] The Russian Federation has made systematic preparations for possible sanctions for quite a long time, including the toughest sanctions that we are now facing. As such, there are response plans, they were prepared, developed, they are being implemented now as problems arise.”
TASS: Are you planning to make any decisions to support citizens and the economy, as was the case, for example during the pandemic?
Peskov: Just wait — but so far nothing has happened to you! [...] I repeat once again, [decisions will be made] as problems come up. As yet, nothing has happened to us.
Komsomolskaya Pravda: How does Vladimir Putin feel about the sanctions that are being imposed against him directly?
Peskov: He is rather indifferent. The sanctions contain rather absurd provisions about some assets and so on, but everyone knows that the president doesn’t have any assets, except for those declared every year [...]. Therefore, he is rather indifferent. And if we look at it from the point of view of resolving problems, then of course the very fact of imposing sanctions on the head of state is no less absurd, it’s very short-sighted.
28 февраля 2022 г. 19:05:56
28 февраля 2022 г. 19:27:47
Bits and bobs (news)
Media censorship: Russia’s federal censor has blocked the website of the student journal Doxa. Earlier, Roskomnadzor demanded that Doxa’s editors delete an article debunking myths about the war against Ukraine. The block came less than 24 hours after Doxa received the notice from Roskomnadzor.
New curriculum: Schools in several Russian regions have been instructed to give lessons about the war in Ukraine that chime with the Kremlin’s narratives about Russia’s involvement. Copies of instructions distributed to schools in the Tomsk region, Moscow region, and Kaluga region were obtained by journalists, including Meduza’s own reporters. The materials broadly repeat the justification for the invasion put forward by President Vladimir Putin — sometimes citing direct quotes from his speech, — as well as those broadcast by other Russian officials and in state media.
No to War: An anti-war petition launched by prominent Russian human rights activist Lev Ponomarev has gained more than one million signatures over the last four days.
Taekwon–don’t: World Taekwondo has condemned Russia’s attack on Ukraine and stripped Vladimir Putin of the honorary black belt awarded to him in November 2013. In addition, the federation announced that in solidarity with the International Olympic Committee, the flags and anthems of both Russia and Belarus won’t be displayed or played at World Taekwondo events. What’s more, World Taekwondo will no longer organize or recognize events hosted in Russia or Belarus.
“Today I signed an application for Ukraine’s membership in the European Union. I’m certain this is real.”
28 февраля 2022 г. 20:42:30
Delegations from Moscow and Kyiv finish first round peace talks
The first round of Ukraine-Russia negotiations in Belarus lasted around five hours, but ended inconclusively. According to Myhailo Podoliak, an advisor to Zelensky’s chief of staff and part of the Ukrainian delegation, the two parties outlined “priority topics” and “certain solutions,” and are now returning to their respective capitals for consultations on their implementation. The head of the Russian delegation, former Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky, said that the parties “found three points upon which it is possible to foresee common positions.” A second round of negotiations is set to take place on the Polish-Belarusian border “in the coming days.”
28 февраля 2022 г. 21:01:37
Putin tells Macron Russia’s conditions
In a phone call with France’s Emmanuel Macron earlier today, Vladimir Putin laid out conditions for ending the war in Ukraine. According to a statement from the Kremlin, Putin said that a settlement would be possible if there were “unconditional consideration of Russia’s legitimate security interests.” Among other things, Putin named the following conditions:
Recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea;
The demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine;
Ensuring Ukraine’s neutral status.
Putin also noted that the Russian side is open to negotiations with Ukraine’s representatives, adding that he expects this “will lead to the desired results.”
28 февраля 2022 г. 21:26:12
Economic updates from Russia
Currency controls: President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree imposing “special economic measures” in response to the “unfriendly actions” of the United States and its allies. From March 1, Russian residents and companies will be prohibited from transferring money to foreign accounts. However, as the Central Bank clarified, this does not apply to the repayment of foreign debt.
Moscow Exchange: Russia’s Central Bank has suspended morning and evening trading on the Moscow Exchange from March 1–5, 2022. Tomorrow, trading on the Moscow Exchange’s currency and money markets will be open from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Moscow time. “The Bank of Russia will assess the feasibility of opening trading on other markets based on the development of the situation,” the Central Bank said in a statement.
Closing the skies: Russia has closed its airspace to more than 30 countries, including all EU countries, the UK, and Canada.
Neutral no more: Switzerland has adopted the EU’s sanctions against Russia wholesale, reports The Guardian. In addition to imposing travel bans on five Putin-linked oligarchs, Switzerland is also freezing up to a billion dollars in assets and banning flights from Russia (with the exception of those carrying diplomats).
28 февраля 2022 г. 21:40:39
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry offers full amnesty and financial compensation to Russian soldiers
In a statement posted on social media, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry appealed to Russian soldiers to surrender, offering a full amnesty and monetary compensation.
“We offer Russian soldiers a choice: to die in an unjust war or a full amnesty and five million rubles [nearly $46,000] in compensation. If they lay down their arms and surrender voluntarily,” Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a Facebook post, written in Ukrainian, Russian, and English.
28 февраля 2022 г. 23:31:38
Video report: First days of a full-scale invasion, hour by hour, footage of how Russia’s attack unfolded
Before dawn on February 24, Vladimir Putin informed the Russian people that he was authorizing a “special military operation” in Ukraine with the goal of “defending the residents of the Donbas.” Airstrikes inside Ukraine began immediately. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the missiles’ targets were Ukrainian military airbases, but the bombs also fell on civilians and civilian infrastructure. Russian troops then entered Ukraine and advanced on Kyiv, the nation’s capital. Throughout the war, it has been impossible to verify all the reports coming in from both sides. Nevertheless, relying on open sources, Meduza tried to reconstruct the course of events between February 24 and 25, when the full-sale invasion began.
1 марта 2022 г. 06:34:35
Latest major developments, 7:30 a.m., Moscow time (11:30 p.m., New York time)
Sanctions, sanctions, sanctions: The European Union has imposed sanctions on Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, the billionaires Alisher Usmanov, Petr Aven, Mikhail Fridman, the alleged billionaire Sergey Roldugin, and others. Japan has imposed personal sanctions directly on Vladimir Putin, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu.
The age of Silver Screen heroes ends: The Walt Disney Company will stop selling its films to Russian movie theaters. Disney’s film production companies include Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, and Searchlight Pictures. Meanwhile, Warner Bros is pulling its new Batman film from distribution in Russia. “We hope for a speedy and peaceful resolution to this tragedy,” Warner Bros said in a statement about the war in Ukraine.
Sports fallout: FIFA and UEFA, two of the preeminent governing bodies in world soccer, announced that “all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams, shall be suspended from participation in both FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice.” The move comes just weeks before Russia was set to play in a FIFA World Cup qualifier playoff against Poland. Also, the International Ice Hockey Federation announced that Russia and Belarus are banned from its events “until further notice.”
Peace activism in Russia: Police arrested more than 400 people at anti-war protests on Monday. (This is fewer than in days over the weekend.)
Shutting down independent war coverage: Russia’s federal censor has blocked the independent news outlet Tayga.info, flagging its live coverage of the invasion of Ukraine. The website says it has complied with the takedown order, but it remains blocked in Russia. Shortly thereafter, Roskomnadzor blocked the Tomsk-based television network TV2 for its coverage of the war. The station unpublished the flagged report and was promptly unblocked.
More financial closures: Mastercard has blocked multiple financial institutions in Russia from its payment network. The company pledged $2 million to fund humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine. “The invasion by Russian military forces over the past week has been devastating for the people of Ukraine. Our thoughts continue to be with those impacted,” said CEO Michael Miebach.
1 марта 2022 г. 08:59:45
There’s been a large explosion reported in the center of Kharkiv. Ukrainian officials say the attack injured at least six people, including one child. The death toll remains unknown.
1 марта 2022 г. 10:30:35
Russian animators unite against the war in Ukraine
More than 100 Russian artists and animators, working together with musicians and sound designers, have created a series of short anti-war animations. Caution: some of the images might not be suitable for young children.
1 марта 2022 г. 10:38:17
YouTube blocks Russia Today and Sputnik in Europe
1 марта 2022 г. 13:51:39
Latest major developments, 2:45 p.m., Moscow time (6:45 a.m., New York time)
Avoiding a meltdown: Russia’s prime minister announced that the federal government is temporarily banning foreign investors from exiting Russian investments.
Civilian targets: An airstrike against Kharkiv’s central square caused major destruction and injured at least 20 people. In a national address, President Zelensky later called the attack a “war crime” and an act of “state terrorism” by Russia. Also, the investigative news outlet Bellingcat published research arguing that Russia is using cluster bombs (a type of weapon that deploys a large number of smaller sub-munitions over a target) in civilian areas, including around schools and hospitals. The Russian military denies these allegations.
RT’s social-media collapse: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Microsoft, and TikTok all banned the accounts of the Russian state-funded media outlets Russia Today and Sputnik across Europe. In Russia, meanwhile, Roskomnadzor announced that it is again throttling the speed of Twitter because of unverified information pertaining to Russia’s “special military operation” (war) in Ukraine.
Sports are over: The International Skating Union has banned competitors from Russia and Belarus from participating in its international events until further notice. Also, the International Volleyball Federation stripped Russia of hosting the Volleyball World Championships in August and September. In Moscow, the soccer team FC Dynamo terminated its contract with assistant coach Andriy Voronin, a Ukrainian national.
Killed in action: The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, confirmed the combat deaths of two soldiers from his republic. Ulyanovsk Governor Aleksey Russkikh also reported casualties: two paratroopers from his region who were killed in Ukraine.
More companies pull out of Russia: Harley-Davidson, Volvo, and General Motors have suspended all deliveries to Russia. Canada will become the first country in the world to ban the import of Russian crude oil. Netflix says it will not comply with a new law in Russia that requires it to carry content from 20 free-to-air Russian news, sports, and entertainment television channels, including state-run networks like Pervyi Kanal.
Not isolated! Russia’s military will host an “International Anti-Fascist Congress” in August. Defense Ministry Sergey Shoigu said the event is designed to “unite the efforts of the international community in the fight against the ideology of Nazism and neo-Nazism in any form in which it manifests in the modern world.”
Kremlin spin: Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said that rising prices and shortages of goods have provoked a “hyperemotional reaction” from consumers that will subside eventually. When asked about the 102 civilians killed and 300 noncombatants injured in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began (according to the United Nations), Peskov blamed “nationalist groups” for allegedly using civilians as human shields and firing at residential buildings. At the same time, Putin’s spokesman said that the Kremlin still considers Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be Ukraine’s “legitimate president.”
Russians speak out against the war: A group of Russian Orthodox Church priests has published an open letter calling for reconciliation and an immediate end to the war in Ukraine. The letter’s authors say they “mourn the ordeal” to which Ukraine was “undeservedly” subjected and argue that the Ukrainian people “should make their own choice independently, not at gunpoint, without pressure from the West or the East.” At the time of this writing, 26 clergy members had signed the letter, which also criticizes the recent arrests across Russia of hundreds of peaceful anti-war protesters. Also, hundreds of students and faculty at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (the institution that grooms Russia’s future diplomats) have signed an open letter protesting the war in Ukraine.
1 марта 2022 г. 14:41:28
Fighting words from Medvedev
Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev (Russia’s former president and prime minister) has threatened a “real war” in response to French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire saying in a radio interview, “We are going to deliver a total economic and financial war against Russia [over the invasion of Ukraine].”
1 марта 2022 г. 14:57:58
Russia’s censor confronts Google and TikTok
Russia’s federal censor has denounced decisions by Google and TikTok to block channels registered in Europe to the Russian state-run media outlets Russia Today and Sputnik. In its statement, however, Roskomnadzor stopped short of threatening to retaliate by blocking YouTube or TikTok in Russia.
1 марта 2022 г. 18:04:15
Just now: Russia strikes a TV tower in Kyiv
At least two explosions took place in the vicinity of a TV tower in Kyiv on Tuesday evening. According to the Ukrainian authorities, the shelling “hit the broadcaster’s control room,” causing broadcasting issues for some television channels. Earlier in the day on Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced plans to target a number of technical facilities in Kyiv that were allegedly responsible for conducting “information attacks” against Russia.
Carlos Barria / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
1 марта 2022 г. 18:22:20
Earlier today: UN Human Rights Council envoys walkout on speech by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
On Tuesday, UN Human Rights Council envoys staged a walk-out during a screening of a speech by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. According to Russian diplomats, Lavrov wasn’t able to attend the meeting in person due to personal sanctions imposed on him following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Another walk-out took place during a broadcast of Lavrov’s speech at a UN disarmament meeting.
Salvatore Di Nolfi / Keystone / AP / Scanpix / LETA
DW News UN Human Rights Council envoys walk out ahead Russian FM Lavrov speech | DW News
1 марта 2022 г. 19:12:53
Developments from the last few hours
More airstrikes: Russian “Grad” rocket strikes hit the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv today, the head of the regional administration Vyacheslav Chaus reported on Telegram.
Black Sea blockade: Russia has completely blocked Ukrainian forces’ access to the Sea of Azov, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday. The Ukrainian authorities have yet to confirm this information.
Airport closures: Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency is extending the ban on flights to airports in southern and central parts of Russia until March 8. This will affect the airports in the cities of Anapa, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Gelendzhik, Krasnodar, Kursk, Lipetsk, Rostov-on-Don, Simferopol, and Elista. Other Russian airports are operating as normal.
Impending credit card crisis: Russian banks that are now under sanctions are no longer able to issue new Visa and Mastercard cards, the National Payment Cards System (NPCS) told RIA Novosti on Tuesday. This means that Russians will not be able to obtain new Visa and Mastercard credit cards after their current ones expire.
More rallies in Russia: The Yabloko party has sought permission from the Moscow Mayor’s Office to hold a sanctioned anti-war march on March 12. The party expects up to 30,000 people to take part in the demonstration. Yabloko’s spokespeople also told Znak.com that if the Moscow authorities reject the application, the party intends to continue expressing their anti-war stance “by all lawful means.”
1 марта 2022 г. 20:04:16
Breaking: Russian Attorney General’s Office orders federal censor to block TV Rain and Ekho Moskvy websites
The Russian Attorney General’s Office demanded that the federal censor restrict access to the websites of Dozhd television (TV Rain) and the radio station Ekho Moskvy due to materials that allegedly promote “extremist activities.” The agency accused the two media outlets of “deliberately and systematically” publishing “false information about the actions of the Russian military within the scope of the special operation to protect the DNR and LNR.”
According to Global Check, these websites are already being blocked in Russia. Ekho Moskvy’s editor-in-chief Alexey Venediktov told Interfax that the radio station did not receive an official complaint from the Attorney General’s Office. Nevertheless, he remains confident that his news room did not break the law.
Update. Ekho Moskvy’s Alexey Venediktov wrote on Telegram that the radio station has already been taken off the air.
1 марта 2022 г. 21:07:56
Before today, the only time in history that state officials ever shut down the radio broadcast of Ekho Moskvy — a pillar of Russia’s independent mass media — was on August 19, 1991, at the start of an attempted coup d’état by Soviet Communist hard-liners trying to seize control of the country from Mikhail Gorbachev.
1 марта 2022 г. 21:12:04
Russia threatens to block Wikipedia
The federal censor says it will block the entire website — the largest and most-read reference work in history — because of the online encyclopedia’s entry for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (the Russian authorities have outlawed this very phrase as a description of the war).
Usually, [the federal censor] sends a letter with a request to take down this or that report. Afterward, you have a day to remove it. If you don’t then they block you. [This time,] we never got such a letter.
We’ve tried to comply [with the authorities’ demands not to call Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine an invasion or war], but our guests haven’t. Of course, the guests we invite onto our broadcasts speak in the way they believe is necessary. I’ll say this: it was honestly impossible to comply with the requirements here, but we tried our best.
1 марта 2022 г. 21:28:32
Capital flight controls imposed
President Putin has issued an executive order prohibiting Russians from removing foreign currency worth more than $10,000 from the country. Previously, Russians had only to declare such cash withdrawals.
1 марта 2022 г. 21:34:59
Russia moves to criminalize the spread of “unofficial” information about the invasion of Ukraine
On March 4, lawmakers in Russia’s State Duma will meet for a special session to discuss legislation that would make it a felony to disseminate “disinformation” about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s federal censor has previously tried to block any media coverage of the invasion that draws on information not coming from the Russian state and refers to the “special military operation” as either an invasion or war.
“Right now, there’s a large-scale digital smear campaign being waged against us,” deputy Sergey Boyarsky told journalists. “We will consider imposing felony liability on those who spread disinformation about the actions of our armed forces in any military operations because right now […] this is very important.”
1 марта 2022 г. 21:50:00
‘De-Nazification’ in action
Ukrainian President Zelensky says the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center and Kyiv TV tower were hit by a Russian missile, earlier today. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said five people were killed and another five injured in the attack.
1 марта 2022 г. 21:52:31
Anti-war activism in Moscow’s subway
Peace activists have started plastering Moscow’s subway trains with anti-war messages featuring the metro maps for Kyiv and Kharkiv, where the underground stations now serve as bomb shelters. Meduza’s readers shared these images.
1 марта 2022 г. 22:00:09
No more iPhones
Apple has suspended all sales through its official online store in Russia. For any purchases, the delivery date now shows “currently unavailable.”
1 марта 2022 г. 22:16:19
UN General Assembly Special Emergency Session on Ukraine is called to order.
1 марта 2022 г. 22:42:30
News you may have missed
Russian casualties: The Russian Defense Ministry still has yet to report a specific number of combat losses. However, the heads of Russian regions have confirmed the deaths of at least 14 soldiers over the past few days. By contrast, Ukrainian officials report that thousands of Russian soldiers have been killed already (this information can’t be independently confirmed). According to Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov, the families of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine will receive two million rubles (around $17,200) in compensation, allocated from the federal budget and the Defense Ministry.
Prisoner exchange: The head of Ukraine’s Sumy region has reported the first prisoner exchange between the Ukrainian and Russian sides. “We exchanged five of our men from the territorial defense for one Russian military officer,” governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyy wrote on Facebook on Tuesday. The Russian Defense Ministry has yet to confirm or deny this information.
NS2 goes bankrupt: The Swiss-based company behind the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline has filed for bankruptcy and dismissed all of its employees, reports the Swiss radio broadcaster SRF.
TV tower strike: The Russian airstrike that hit a TV tower in Kyiv earlier today killed at least five people and injured five others, reports the Ukrainian news outlet NV, citing the State Emergency Service. The attack knocked out a number of television channels, but according to The Kyiv Independent, eight of those channels have resumed broadcasting.
EU integration: The European Parliament has passed a resolution calling for the bloc’s institutions to work towards granting Ukraine EU candidate status. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky received a standing ovation after giving a live address to the European Parliament from Kyiv earlier today.
Popular Putin: Vladimir Putin’s trust rating has jumped to 71 percent, up from 60 percent last week, according to a poll conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM). In early February, polls by the independent Levada Center found that Putin’s approval rating was 69 percent, but his trust rating was 33 percent.
1 марта 2022 г. 22:44:55
Marcus Yam / LA Times / Scanpix / LETA The bodies of Russian soldiers killed in a battle on the outskirts of Irpin, 15 miles outside Kyiv.
1 марта 2022 г. 23:03:16
40,000 civilians without food or power in eastern Ukraine
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry says it is trying to organize evacuations in Volnovakha, Sartana, and Talalaivka, where active hostilities continue. The Russian miliary is reportedly refusing to respond to requests to open exit corridors for civilians in these areas. The situation is especially dire in the city of Bucha, just outside Kyiv, say Ukrainian officials. Meduza was not able to verify these reports independently.
1 марта 2022 г. 23:15:49
Injured soldiers hospitalized across the border back in Russia
Multiple hospitals in Belgorod, Russia, have closed to civilian patients, reports Novaya Gazeta. These facilities are being refitted to treat only Russian soldiers wounded in the invasion of Ukraine.
2 марта 2022 г. 07:20:30
The Institute for the Study of War’s Russia team provides the following estimate of Ukrainian territory now under Russian occupation:
2 марта 2022 г. 07:43:01
Newspapers in the Urals run anti-war messages
Several newspapers in the Urals that belong to the publisher VK-Media (not to be confused with Vkontakte) have placed anti-war messages above the fold on their latest editions. “This madness must be stopped!” it says. The messages also feature a QR code that leads readers to an anti-war petition that currently has almost 1.2 million signatures.
These newspapers are published in the towns of Krasnoturyinsk, Karpinsk, Severouralsk, and Serov, more than a thousand miles east of Russia’s capital.
2 марта 2022 г. 07:53:11
Sberbank leaves Europe
Russia’s biggest lender has announced that it is withdrawing from the European market. Hours earlier, the bank’s European arm was closed by order of the European Center Bank, which had warned it faced failure due to a run on deposits after Russia invaded Ukraine, according to Reuters.
2 марта 2022 г. 08:02:31
Women and children detained in Moscow
Police in Moscow detained a group of women and children who tried to place flowers outside the Ukrainian embassy. The children carried signs that read, “No to war!” Eyewitnesses claim that the officers took the parents’ phones and threatened to have their children seized by social services. When a lawyer arrived, the police released everyone after issuing formal paperwork.
2 марта 2022 г. 08:43:40
Municipal deputies in Moscow issue anti-war statement
The Council of Deputies for Moscow’s Gagarinsky Municipal District has issued a statement condemning the war in Ukraine and calling for Russia’s immediate troop withdrawal. (This is not an influential government body, but it is relatively uncommon for state officials at any level to criticize the Kremlin’s policies openly. The municipal deputies responsible for the statement belong to the liberal opposition party Yabloko.)
2 марта 2022 г. 09:05:07
From nuclear Armageddon odds to thoughts about the banality of evil
On February 24, Russia began a war with Ukraine. On that same day, protests broke out all over Russia. It is difficult to call them mass demonstrations in any real sense, although ultimately almost 6,500 people were arrested (in Russia, street gatherings of this type are practically forbidden, with the authorities persecuting even individuals who picket alone). Sociologist Grigory Yudin, too, was arrested and ended up hospitalized following an anti-war protest in Moscow.
Meduza special correspondent Svetlana Reiter discussed with Yudin why it doesn’t make sense to call protests in Russia “small” — and why he thinks scholars have to take a principled stand.
2 марта 2022 г. 09:21:28
Kherson reportedly falls to Russian troops
The Russian military says it is now in complete control of Kherson, a Ukrainian city (northwest of Crimea) with a pre-war population of nearly 300,000 people.
2 марта 2022 г. 10:33:26
Warning! Some photos below contain scenes of cruelty, violence, and death that will upset more impressionable readers.
2 марта 2022 г. 10:38:37
A swift crackdown in the Urals
Police have reportedly raided the offices of VK-Media, the publishing group that ran anti-war messages on the cover pages of several local newspapers on Wednesday. The officers are reportedly seizing all copies of the newspapers. The printed message appeared as follows (it reads, “This madness must be stopped” and there is a QR code leading readers to an online anti-war petition).
2 марта 2022 г. 13:24:58
Ekho Moskvy faces a bitter end
Today’s Russian-language phrase of the day is “закрывать лавочку” — “to close up shop.” This is what Ekho Moskvy editor-in-chief Alexey Venediktov says the radio station must do if it’s not allowed back on the air with its editorial independence intact. The station also faces pressure in Europe, where Google has blocked its account on YouTube, apparently because it is majority-owned by a subsidiary of the state-owned multinational energy corporation Gazprom.
On Tuesday, the federal censor removed both Ekho Moskvy and the independent television network Dozhd from Russia’s airwaves for violating the government’s prohibition on referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as either an invasion or war.
2 марта 2022 г. 16:39:32
Key updates from the last few hours
Humanitarian fallout: More than 2,000 civilians have been killed since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian authorities. In addition, the UN Refugee Agency reports that approximately 836,000 people have fled Ukraine.
Russian losses: Ukraine’s Defense Ministry estimates that 5,840 Russian soldiers have been killed in the past six days of hostilities. This information can’t be verified. The Russian Defense Ministry has yet to report a specific number of combat losses. However, the leaders of several Russian regions have confirmed the deaths of a handful of servicemen.
Peace talks: The Russian delegation is prepared to hold a second round of negotiations with the Ukrainian side as early as later today, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Wednesday. However, in a video posted on Facebook, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said it is unclear when the next round of negotiations will be held. “We are ready for negotiations, we are ready for diplomacy, but we are by no means ready to accept any Russian ultimatums,” Kuleba said, as quoted by Interfax Ukraine. The Ukrainian foreign minister added that the Russian side’s demands remain the same as the ones “Putin voiced in his address before [...] declaring war on [Ukraine].”
Enter Yanukovych?: Ukrainian intelligence sources told Ukrayinska Pravda that the Kremlin is allegedly hoping to install Viktor Yanukovych — the ex-Ukrainian leader who was most recently ousted during the 2013–2014 Revolution of Dignity — as Ukraine’s president. Allegedly, Yanukovych is currently being prepped in Minsk.
Navalny’s rallying cry: Jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny has called for daily anti-war protests in Russia, Belarus, and other countries. “Putin is not Russia. And if there’s anything in Russia right now that we can be most proud of, it’s those 6,835 people who were arrested because — without any encouragement — they took to the streets with ‘No to War’ posters,” reads a new post on Navalny’s Instagram account.
Financial fallout: The EU has announced a ban on the supply of euro banknotes to Russia, as well as the disconnection of seven Russian banks from SWIFT as of March 12. The affected banks include VTB Bank, Rossiya Bank, Bank Otkritie, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Sovkombank, and VEB.RF.
2 марта 2022 г. 17:49:14
Russia Education Ministry announces nationwide lesson on the war in Ukraine, explaining why “this liberation mission is a necessity”
The ministry’s broadcast is scheduled for March 3 at noon, Moscow time.
“Viewers will be informed about the background of today’s events: about the danger NATO presents to our country and why Russia rose to the defense of the civilian population of the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics [sic], and they’ll also learn how to distinguish truth from lies in the enormous stream of information, photographs, and videos that full the Internet today,” the minister said in a press release.
Before the broadcast was announced, the federal government distributed teaching guidelines to schools across the country explaining why Russia’s “operation” in eastern Ukraine “is not a war.” The training materials claim that “Russia’s armed forces are not conducting air or artillery strikes at Ukraine’s cities, and there is no threat to the civilian population.”
A source close to a teachers’ union in Russia told Meduza that instructors have been told to incorporate the new guidelines into their curriculum immediately and urgently.
According to materials shared with Meduza, the Education Ministry is asking schoolteachers to show President Putin’s speech announcing the invasion to students and ask them questions based on his statements, such as: “Formulate the main reason for the start of the special military operation to defend the Luhansk and Donetsk people’s republics.”
The Education Ministry is also distributing QR codes that redirect people to “trustworthy information resources.” These include the websites for the Kremlin, the Defense Ministry, and various state-run news agencies.
One of these teaching manuals was sent to a school in Poronaysk, in Russia’s Sakhalin region, according to content shared on Instagram.
2 марта 2022 г. 17:52:47
Internet freedom watchdog says Russia has started blocking YouTube
According to the Roskomsvoboda monitoring project, Russia’s federal censor is now blocking the domain YouTube uses to load pictures and other static content.
Roskomnadzor, Russia’s censor, has not announced any threats to block YouTube.
2 марта 2022 г. 18:07:00
Scenes from a maternity ward in Kyiv that’s been forced to relocate to the basement
For the first time since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry has specified its combat losses, stating that 498 Russian soldiers have died in the war.
Officials in Kyiv say this number is more than ten times greater (at least 5,840 killed Russian soldiers).
2 марта 2022 г. 19:57:12
Day seven of the anti-war protests in downtown St. Petersburg
2 марта 2022 г. 20:22:11
More key updates from the last few hours
Peace talks: The second round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are supposed to take place in Belarus on Thursday morning, according to the head of Moscow’s delegation, Vladimir Medinsky. As RBC reported, Medinsky also said that the second round of talks will include the discussion of a ceasefire, among other things.
Censorship: Russia’s federal censor has blocked the website of the publication The Village. However, Roskomnadzor has refuted reports that it’s in the process of blocking YouTube. “A decision to block YouTube video hosting on the territory of Russia has not been made,” the censorship agency told Interfax on Wednesday.
‘Fake news’ crackdown: A bill has been submitted to the Russian State Duma that would increase the punishment for spreading “fake news about the actions of the Russian military” to up to fifteen years in prison. The draft law is expected to be adopted at a parliamentary session in the next week (Russian lawmakers are scheduled to meet on March 4, 9, and 10).
Aeroflot to the rescue: Russia’s flag carrier Aeroflot has announced special flights to “evacuate” Russians from EU countries. This comes after the bloc closed its airspace to Russian airlines in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
UN condemnation: UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution demanding an immediate end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the withdrawal of all Russian troops. The resolution garnered 141 votes in favor — Russia voted against it, along with Belarus, North Korea, Syria, and Eritrea, and 35 countries abstained. In a tweet, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote that those who supported the resolution “have chosen the right side of history.”
2 марта 2022 г. 21:16:53
Mass arrests continue at anti-war protests across Russia
According to OVD-Info, at least 585 people were arrested at anti-war protests in 29 Russian cities today. In total, Russian authorities have detained at least 7,474 anti-war protesters since February 24.
Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow) dissolves radio and website
By majority vote, the radio station’s board of directors decided on Thursday to dissolve the station and its website, ending the central pillar of Russia’s remaining independent media. Earlier this week, the federal censor banned the station’s website and removed it from the airwaves in response to its coverage of the invasion of Ukraine.
In a message shared on Twitter, Ekho vowed to continue broadcasting on YouTube and publishing news content on Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, and Instagram.
3 марта 2022 г. 10:27:56
Latest major developments, 11:30 a.m., Moscow time (3:30 a.m., New York time)
Ending Russia’s free press: Roskomnadzor has ordered Google to remove from its app store the mobile apps for the radio station Ekho Moskvy and the television network Dozhd. Earlier on Thursday, Ekho announced that its board of directors has decided to shutter the news outlet’s radio station and website. Both independent news outlets were removed from the airwaves earlier this week in retaliation for reporting facts about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Google has reinstated Ekho Moskvy’s YouTube channel across Europe. The independent radio station’s account was briefly made inaccessible throughout Europe as part of the crackdown on Russian state media. (Ekho Moskvy’s majority shareholder is a Gazprom subsidiary, though the station enjoys a high degree of editorial independence.)
More Western companies withdraw from Russia: Spotify closes its offices in Russia “indefinitely,” removes all content from Kremlin-backed outlets Russia Today and Sputnik, and restricts “discoverability” of other Russian state-affiliated content. The streaming service will remain active within Russia, however. “We think it’s critically important to try to keep our service operational in Russia to allow for the global flow of information,” a Spotify representative told Variety. Additionally, Oracle, Mercedes-Benz, and H&M all announced that they are suspending sales in Russia.
Catastrophe in Ukraine: More than 1 million refugees have fled Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, according to the United Nations. Ukrainian officials are asking international organizations to help form humanitarian corridors to supply basic necessities and evacuation routes to cities now encircled by Russian troops. Mykhailo Podoliyak, an adviser to President Zelensky, warned that settlements occupied by the Russian military have collapsed into “looting, robbery, and murder.”
The government scrambles to hold it together: Russia’s federal government cabinet has submitted legislation to the State Duma outlining socioeconomic measures to support households and businesses as the economy reels from international sanctions. The emergency plan would suspend all inspections on small- and medium-sized businesses until the end of the year, simplify state procurement procedures, restrict pharmaceutical exports, control vital drug prices against changing exchange rates, conduct additional inflation adjustments for social security pensions, and adjust admission rules at state universities to accommodate students whose studies have been disrupted abroad.
Deuling death tolls: For the first time since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry issued a statement on Wednesday specifying its combat losses, claiming that 498 Russian soldiers have died in the war. Officials in Kyiv, meanwhile, say the real number is more than ten times greater (at least 5,840 killed Russian soldiers).
Old-media protest and politics: The politics of the invasion continue to play out in regional newspapers. In Yakutsk, a local paper ran a front-page cover with the words “NO TO WAR,” but the local distributor refused to sell it, worried that it could lead to trouble for violating the federal regulator’s ban on calling the invasion a “war.” A day earlier police raided another publisher’s offices in the same region after several of its newspapers ran above-the-fold anti-war messages. Meanwhile, the official newspaper of record in Russia’s Sverdlovsk region (capital city Yekaterinburg) added the Latin letter “Z” to its frontpage banner, embracing a meme that Russia Today and other Kremlin propagandists have tried to popularize. (The “Z,” or “Zorro,” graffiti has appeared painted on invading Russian armor in Ukraine.) Previously, the governor of Kemerovo ordered the “Z” to appear on his administration’s official paperwork.
Another open letter to Putin: More than 600 people living in Russia’s Sakhalin region have signed an open letter to Vladimir Putin “and his entourage” advocating an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine. The president’s war has become a national security threat itself, they say. “We don’t want to live in international isolation.”
3 марта 2022 г. 16:28:17
Top news from the last few hours
Russian losses: On Thursday morning, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry estimated the Russian side’s losses at 9,000 troops. Yesterday, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that around 500 Russian soldiers have died in the war, and nearly 1,600 have been injured. In addition, earlier today, the Russian Defense Ministry blamed “Ukrainian Nazis” for fuelling the developing humanitarian crises in Mariupol, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, and other Ukrainian settlements.
Peace talks: Delegations from Russia and Ukraine are supposed to hold a second round of negotiations beginning at 3:00 p.m., Moscow time, on Thursday, according to the Russian side. Mikhaylo Podolyak, a member of Kyiv’s delegation, also confirmed that they were en route to join the talks. “On our way to negotiations with the Russian Federation. Already in helicopters…,” he tweeted.
Money matters: The dollar and the euro reached record highs on the Moscow Exchange on Thursday, with the dollar hitting 114 rubles and the euro hitting 123 rubles.
The ongoing exodus of Western companies: IKEA has followed in the footsteps of H&M, Oracle, Mercedes-Benz, and other major Western companies and announced that it is suspending its operations in Russia. The Swedish furniture company will also pause its operations in Belarus. Also on Thursday, Volkswagen announced that it is halting production in Russia and will stop deliveries to the country immediately.
Martial law rumors: The Kremlin’s spokesman has dismissed talk of Russia’s alleged plans to introduce martial law in a number of regions. He also refuted rumors that men of military age will allegedly be prohibited from leaving the country after March 8. “This is all on social networks and so on — these are all pure ‘canards’,” Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday. “You must be very careful with all information and not become victims of ordinary rumors and deceptions.”
Russia on trial: The International Criminal Court (ICC) has begun investigating potential war crimes committed on Ukrainian territory. This comes after the court in The Hague received referrals from 39 countries. “These referrals enable my Office to proceed with opening an investigation into the Situation in Ukraine from 21 November 2013 onwards, thereby encompassing within its scope any past and present allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide committed on any part of the territory of Ukraine by any person,” ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said in a statement late Wednesday.
The independent television network’s CEO says the station is shutting down, at least for now, ahead of lawmakers’ looming decision to criminalize “false reporting” about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (which would make it a felony just to call the invasion “an invasion” or “war”). “We need strength and time to exhale and to understand how to continue working,” Sindeyeva said in a farewell broadcast.
Dozhd was the last major independent television network left in Russia.
3 марта 2022 г. 16:58:08
Second round of Russia-Ukraine negotiations get underway in Belarus
Lawmakers from the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) have submitted a draft law to the State Duma that would conscript into the military anyone prosecuted for participating in unsanctioned protests opposing the deployment of Russian troops abroad. What’s more, the bill suggests sending prosecuted protesters for military service on the territories of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” in eastern Ukraine.
An explanatory note to the legislation reads as follows:
“In our country, there are people who don’t agree with the military operation and are prepared to break the law in seeking to stop it. They spread knowingly false information about the course of the operation, they try in every way possible to discredit our Armed Forces and the political leadership of the country, they call for imposing sanctions against Russia, and they commit other illegal acts, that is, they actually oppose the establishment of peace and security on the territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk Republics. It seems that such persons should see with their own eyes what the Kyiv regime has turned the territories of these republics into.”
3 марта 2022 г. 17:48:51
Dozhd television has gone dark. The final images the network chose to broadcast were of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake — an unmistakable allusion to the looping footage that aired on Soviet TV during the August 1991 coup d’état attempt.
Speaking at a press briefing for foreign media on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky once again called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to sit down for talks.
“What do you want from us? Leave our land. If you don’t want to leave now, sit with me at the negotiating table, I’m free. Sit with me, only not 30 meters [apart] like with Macron, Scholz, and so on. I’m your neighbor, there’s no need to keep me 30 meters away. I don’t bite. I’m a normal man, sit down with me, talk, what are you afraid of?”
3 марта 2022 г. 19:19:40
Brief news updates
Prosecuting ‘extremism’: The Russian Attorney General’s Office warned today that participation in “allegedly peaceful ‘anti-war’ rallies” may constitute illegal involvement in the “activities of an extremist organization” (a felony punishable by up to six years in prison). “It must be taken into account that the source of many such appeals are associations prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation by a court ruling, in connection with them carrying out extremist activities,” the Attorney General’s Office said in a statement. Presumably, this comes after jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny called for daily anti-war protests.
Sanctions fallout: S7 Airlines has canceled all of its international flights, including ones to CIS countries, after one of its planes was seized in Armenia today. In addition, France has seized the Amore Vero, a yacht belonging to Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, who came under EU sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Accelerated EU aspirations: Both Georgia and Moldova have followed in Ukraine’s footsteps and formally applied for EU membership. “The time is now,” Moldova’s President Maia Sandu wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
3 марта 2022 г. 19:37:00
Russia’s censorship agency sends notice to Telegram over information about killed and captured Russian soldiers
“Roskomnadzor is identifying Internet resources, including Telegram bots, offering to obtain information about Russian Armed Forces servicemen who are allegedly on the lists of those [taken] prisoner or killed during the special operation in Ukraine [...] Roskomnadzor sent a request to Telegram to remove the identified Internet resources. In addition, [this] information was sent to investigative agencies to bring the perpetrators to justice,” the censorship agency stated on Thursday.
3 марта 2022 г. 19:59:21
Putin speaks during another Security Council broadcast
In a broadcast address to Russia’s Security Council on Thursday, Vladimir Putin accused “nationalists and foreign mercenaries” in Ukraine of using civilians as “human shields.” He also claimed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the “nationalists” are holding Chinese and Indian students “hostage.”
In addition, Putin announced that the families of Russian servicemen killed in Ukraine will receive 7.4 million rubles in compensation (nearly $70,000 by today’s exchange rate), as stipulated by law, as well as a one-time payment of 5 million rubles ($47,000).
“The special operation is going according to plan, strictly according to schedule. All challenges are being met successfully,” Putin assured.
Putin ended his speech with a moment of silence for those killed in Ukraine — the broadcast stopped immediately after; the Security Council meeting continued behind closed doors.
3 марта 2022 г. 20:18:53
Russia and Ukraine wrap second round of talks in Belarus
Following a second round of negotiations in Belarus, the Russian and Ukrainian delegations have agreed to set up humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians and deliver food and medicines to the areas of Ukraine with the most intense fighting. This includes the possibility of a temporary ceasefire when and where evacuations are being carried out.
According to Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak, however, the second round of talks didn’t achieve the results Kyiv hoped for. Nevertheless, the delegations plan to meet for a third round of talks in the near future.
“There’s no specific date. We want to reach serious agreements on a ceasefire and peace as soon as possible,” Podolyak said in a comment to Meduza.
Many Internet users in Russia are currently unable to access Meduza’s website. Our newsroom was first informed of this by our readers on the evening of Thursday, March 3.
At the time of this writing, Meduza is not included on the list of banned websites maintained by Russia’s censorship agency, Roskomnadzor. We have not received official confirmation that our website has been blocked in Russia.
4 марта 2022 г. 01:33:53
More war time censorship
On Thursday evening, Facebook users in Russia began to report difficulties accessing the social network, reports Downdetector and Globalcheck.
In addition, access to the BBC’s website is also mostly restricted, and Deutsche Welle’s website can’t be reached at all. Readers in some Russian regions also reported problems accessing the website of RFE/RL’s Russian service, Radio Svoboda. Globalcheck also reports that the App Store and Google Play are being blocked in Russia, as well.
Federal lawmakers in Russia’s State Duma have adopted legislation that makes it a felony to disseminate “fake” information about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, information that “discredits” Russia’s armed forces, and information that incites foreign economic sanctions. If entered into law, this offense would be punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Speaker Volodin said the law could come into force as soon as tomorrow.
Znak.com was one of Russia’s biggest free press outlets outside Moscow and St. Petersburg. The website says it is closing because there are now too many restrictions on journalism in Russia.
Update: Another independent publication, The Village, says it has closed its Moscow office and relocated to Warsaw.
4 марта 2022 г. 11:34:53
Russia blames Ukrainian special forces for the attack on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station
Here’s the Russian Defense Ministry’s version of events:
“The Kyiv regime attempted to carry out a monstrous provocation.”
A Ukrainian sabotage group attacked a National Guard patrol.
When retreating after the attack, the Ukrainian combatants set fire to the power station’s building.
Russian troops have controlled the nuclear power station since February 28. Background radiation at the station is within norms and the station is operating normally.
Caution: Given the current conditions in Ukraine, Meduza is unable to verify information from the war zone, including official reports from Moscow or Kyiv.
The International Atomic Energy Agency says it is aware of reports of artillery strikes against the nuclear power plant and is “in contact with Ukrainian authorities about the situation.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky previously shared an emotional message on social media warning that an attack by Russian troops against the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station threatened Europe’s continental security. Zelensky called the incident “Russia’s nuclear terrorism.”
4 марта 2022 г. 16:39:07
Quick fire news from the last few hours
Wartime censorship: Russia’s federal censor, Roskomnadzor, has blocked Meduza’s website, along with the BBC, RFE/RL’s Radio Svoboda, Deutsche Welle, and Voice of America. In addition, after being driven off the air, the radio station Ekho Moskvy is now being forced to take down its website and delete all of its social media accounts. Although the Ekho Moskvy had promised to keep broadcasting on YouTube, its channel is no longer available.
Canceled flights: The Russian airline S7 is canceling all of its international flights as of Saturday, March 5. The Russian low-cost airline Smartavia has also announced the cancellation of all of its international flights as of today.
Economic measures: The Russian State Duma has adopted a government bill containing measures to support the economy and the population in the face of foreign sanctions. The bill allows the Cabinet of Ministers to further index pensions in 2022, and to change the minimum wage and subsistence minimum. The bill also allows for a possible moratorium on scheduled audits of small- and medium-sized businesses in 2022, and of accredited IT organizations until the end of 2024.
No to protests: The Moscow Mayor’s Office has rejected the Yabloko party’s application to hold an anti-war rally on March 12, citing “epidemiological restrictions.” “In order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the city of Moscow […] there is a ban on holding public events,” the Mayor’s Office recalled.
Michelin Guide puts itself on ice: The Michelin Guide is suspending all restaurant recommendation activities in Russia in light of the war against Ukraine. “In no way do these decisions call into question the talent of the teams and chefs of the 69 restaurants honored last October,” the Michelin Guide said in a press release on Friday.
“We understand the desperation but we also believe that if we did that [a no-fly zone] we would end up with something that could lead to a full-fledged war in Europe involving much more countries and much more suffering,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at a press briefing on Friday, as quoted by Reuters.
“Like the rest of the world, we are horrified, angered and saddened by the images and news coming from the war in Ukraine and condemn this unjustified, unprovoked and unlawful invasion by Russia. […] We are announcing today that we will suspend all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia.”
4 марта 2022 г. 17:01:29
Snapshots from Ukraine today
UNIAN A school in Zhytomyr destroyed by shellingUkrainian Defense Ministry A Russian plane shot down over VolnovakhaChine Nouvelle / SIPA / Scanpix / LETA A local resident and a destroyed home in DonetskAlexander Ryumin / TASS Local residents hiding in a bomb shelter in DonetskAris Messinis / AFP / Scanpix / LETA Kyiv resident Evgeny Zbomirsky stands in front of his home, which was hit by a missile strikeValentyn Ogirenko / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA The wreckage of a missile at a bus stop in Kyiv
4 марта 2022 г. 17:16:10
Team Navalny calls on Russians at home and abroad to join anti-war protests on March 6
“Right now we are all responsible for the future of Russia. Go to rallies against the war! Weekdays at 19:00 and this Sunday, March 6, at 14:00.
Moscow — Manezhnaya Square
St. Petersburg — Palace Square
Novosibirsk — the square near the opera house
Ekaterinburg — Truda Square
Other cities of Russia and the world — on central squares.”
“Military censorship in Russia has quickly moved into a new phase: […] to the threat of criminal prosecution for both journalists and citizens who disseminate information about combat operations that differ from the Defense Ministry’s press releases.
There is no doubt that this threat will be realized. We have no right to risk the freedom of our comrades. But we also can’t ignore the position of you, our readers, who unambiguously spoke out in favor of continuing our work under the conditions of military censorship. So, we are deleting materials on this topic from our website and social media [accounts].”
The newspaper added that it will continue to cover the “consequences that Russia has faced” including the economic fallout from the war, and “the persecution of dissidents, including for anti-war statements.”
4 марта 2022 г. 18:34:47
BBC News temporarily suspends work in Russia
4 марта 2022 г. 20:21:36
Roskomnadzor officially begins blocking Facebook in Russia
According to the censorship agency’s press release, Roskomnadzor is blocking Facebook in response to “26 incidents of discrimination against Russian media outlets” such as Russia Today, Sputnik, and RIA Novosti, among others.
4 марта 2022 г. 21:45:58
Russia’s censorship agency blocks Twitter
Roskomnadzor has blocked Twitter in Russia in accordance with an order handed down by the Attorney General’s Office on February 24.
The censorship agency started blocking Twitter on Friday evening. This was first reported by Mediazona, citing Global Check.
The Washington Post takes extraordinary measures to protect its reporters in Russia
5 марта 2022 г. 06:37:45
It’s now 7:30 a.m., Moscow time (11:30 p.m., New York time), and Meduza tracked no reports of artillery fire at Ukrainian cities overnight.
5 марта 2022 г. 07:50:53
In the past few days, Russia’s federal government has blocked or forced offline and off the airwaves virtually every remaining independent news outlet in the country. This crackdown has reduced Russia’s free press to less than it was even in the late Soviet period. Here’s the current list of targeted media outlets, though the censor is still busy at work.
5 марта 2022 г. 08:22:08
Russia seized control of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on February 24. The crew members haven’t left the plant since then.
“No one can replace them, and they’ve been working 10 days in a row, divided into two groups, working in shifts,” says Yury Fomychev, the mayor of Slavutych, a town about 25 miles outside the plant. “Their food supply is limited, their medicine supply is limited, and it’s all very difficult for them. Their loved ones here in Slavutych are also worried and don’t know what to do.”
The Russian military took control of the nuclear plant on the first day of the invasion.
Caution: Given the current conditions in Ukraine, Meduza is unable to verify information from the war zone, including official reports from Moscow or Kyiv.
5 марта 2022 г. 13:08:15
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency “advises” airlines with foreign-made planes to suspend all international flights
The agency is advising Russian airlines to suspend all cargo and passenger international flights amid the mass seizure of Russian aircraft abroad, according to a report by the news agency Interfax.
The recommendations are addressed to carriers that use aircraft registered in foreign states under leasing agreements. Starting at midnight on March 6, the agency advises Russian airlines with such planes to suspend all flights with destinations abroad. Starting at midnight on March 8, airlines are advised to suspend all flights returning from abroad.
The recommendations are not addressed to Russian airlines with fleets that are not at risk of seizure or detainment abroad, or to the foreign airlines of countries that have not restricted their air traffic with Russia.
Update: Aeroflot announces suspension of all international flights, beginning March 8.
5 марта 2022 г. 14:48:03
Latest major developments, 3:45 p.m., Moscow time (7:45 a.m. EST)
Venediktov is out, and Echo of Moscow is dead: The radio station’s board of directors has terminated the employment of longtime editor-in-chief Alexey Venediktov. The radio station itself is now closed, its staff have ceased all operations, and all its accounts on social media, where it had millions of followers, are deleted.
Mariupol’s evacuation collapsed: The Ukrainian city of Mariupol canceled a planned evacuation after local officials determined that the encircling Russian troops were not observing the ceasefire agreement. In turn, Moscow accused the city’s officials of refusing to allow civilians to exit through the corridor purportedly opened for them. In the occupied city of Kherson, local residents assembled for a large protest and demanded the Russians soldiers’ withdrawal.
Russian aviation backs away from international travel: To avoid planes being seized abroad, Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency is advising domestic airlines with leased foreign-made aircraft to suspend international flights. Aeroflot quickly responded by suspending all international flights, effective March 8.
Rationing at grocery stores: In response to spiking demand for products like sugar, buckwheat, and sunflower oil, X5 Retail Group (which owns the grocery store chains Pyaterochka, Perekrestok, and Karusel) is limiting the volume of goods customers are allowed to purchase. The business says it has sufficient supplies of these products but not enough time to restock shelves. The retailer Auchan recently announced a similar policy.
One of Kyiv’s negotiators is reportedly killed: Local media outlets report that Ukraine’s Security Service killed Denis Kireev while trying to arrest him. Kireev was a member of the negotiating team that represented Kyiv in the first round of ceasefire talks with Russia. Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksandr Dubinsky also reported Kireev’s death, claiming that the negotiator was wanted on treason charges when the authorities tried to arrest him. Sources told the news outlet Ukrayinska Pravda that officials developed suspicions about Kireev after wiretapping his phone.
5 марта 2022 г. 15:34:35
While meeting with women pilots and flight attendants on Saturday, Putin spoke publicly about the war in Ukraine and Russia’s financial instability
The gist of the president’s remarks:
There are no plans to introduce martial law, insofar as martial law is introduced in response to external aggression, and no area of Russia is currently experiencing this situation.
Russia’s Armed Forces have destroyed almost all of Ukraine’s military infrastructure.
Russia hasn’t sent a single conscript into battle. All troops involved in combat are professional contract soldiers. There are no plans to deploy either draftees or reservists in battle.
Moscow will view any attempt by other countries to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine as active participation in hostilities.
The Ukrainian authorities are now “executing without trial or investigation” anyone who opposes the “military operations” against Russia.
There are neo-Nazis in Russia, as well (“morons running around with swastikas”), but they’re not supported at the state level.
The decision to launch the “special military operation” (the invasion of Ukraine) was difficult.
The Russian economy needs “maximum economic freedom for businesses.”
Putin supports the idea of suspending felony prosecution for economic crimes, especially if the damages are compensated.
All pensions and social benefits should be indexed according to plan.
6 марта 2022 г. 07:39:51
Latest major developments, 8:30 a.m., Moscow time (12:30 a.m., EST)
Russia’s news agencies promote allegations of a Ukrainian “dirty bomb” program: At roughly 8 a.m., Moscow time, Russia’s three main news agencies — RIA Novosti, Interfax, and TASS — all almost simultaneously reported, all citing what appears to be the same anonymous source, that Ukraine was allegedly developing nuclear weapons before Russia’s invasion. In their stories, RIA and Interfax published identical quotes from their source: “It’s worth noting that they were using the Chernobyl nuclear power plant zone as a site to develop nuclear weapons. It was there, judging by the available information, that they were working on manufacturing a ‘dirty bomb’ and plutonium separation. The Chernobyl zone’s increased background radiation concealed that this work was underway.” (Meduza was unable to verify these claims.)
Get in the zone: Russia only has enough automobile parts to keep up maintenance and repairs for another two months, at the most, car dealers told the state news agency RIA Novosti. So far, automotive service (even on vehicles from manufacturers who have left Russia) remains normal.
Some things money can’t buy: Visa and MasterCard are suspending operations in Russia, though Russia’s Central Bank assures the public that any payment cards issued by international systems will fail only when used abroad. These cards will still work inside Russia, officials said. The policy could create serious problems for Russians who recently managed to flee abroad, noted independent journalist Farida Rustamova. “By suspending all Russia operations, now you punish people who fled the country because of the threat of political prosecution by Putin’s regime,” she tweeted.
Zelensky’s busy telephone: Ukrainian President Zelensky spoke on the phone and over video chat with the U.S. president (“Biden reiterated his concern about the recent Russian attack on a Ukrainian nuclear power plant,” says the White House; “the agenda included the issues of security, financial support for Ukraine, and the continuation of sanctions,” says Zelensky), Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (“we continue dialogue,” says Zelensky), and billionaire Elon Musk (“next week we will receive another batch of Starlink systems for destroyed cities,” says Zelensky; “Starlink has been told by some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources. We will not do so unless at gunpoint. Sorry to be a free speech absolutist,” says Musk).
A mysterious killing in Kyiv: Denis Kireev, one of the negotiators representing Ukraine in talks with Russia, died in Kyiv on Saturday. The nation’s military intelligence agency announced that he was killed while “performing a special operation.” According to multiple news reports, however, Ukraine’s security forces suspected him of treason and killed him while trying to arrest him.
Russia’s lonely skies: Following recommendations from Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, the airlines Aeroflot, Pobeda, and Nordwind Airlines will suspend all international flights next week. Russian officials warn that any leased foreign planes could be seized at airports abroad.
RFE/RL pulls out of Russia: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has suspended operations in Russia, citing (1) bankruptcy proceedings initiated by tax officials in response to RFE/RL’s refusal to pay fines for its noncompliance with Russia’s “foreign agent” designation regulations, and (2) the general intensification of police pressure throughout the country on journalists. This ends the news organization’s physical presence in Russia, which it’s maintained since 1991.
Russia’s next rumored big target: Ukraine’s military says Russia plans to seize control of another crucial piece of the nation’s infrastructure: the Kaniv Hydroelectric Power Plant’s dam. Since day one of its full-scale invasion, Moscow has held the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. More recently, it has also competed with Ukrainian forces for control of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station.
6 марта 2022 г. 14:45:08
Latest major news, 3:45 p.m., Moscow time (7:45 a.m., EST)
Destroyed by missiles: In an urgent message shared on social media, President Zelensky accused Russia of firing eight cruise missiles at Vinnytsia International Airport and destroying the airport completely. In the announcement, the Ukrainian president again called on the West to establish no-fly zones over Ukraine (which Russia has said it would interpret as direct participation in armed conflict against its forces).
Peace marches across Russia: In dozens of cities across Russia, anti-war protesters braved government bans and marched for peace. Police arrested more than 1,500 demonstrators. (Arrests continue at the time of this writing.)
Desperation in Mariupol: Another effort will be made to evacuate the encircled city of Mariupol.
RIP, common contactless payments: Apple Pay and Google Pay will soon become unavailable on Visa and MasterCard cards, following those two companies exit from Russia, says the country’s Central Bank.
New money transfer limits: Russia’s Central Bank has limited the amount of money citizens can transfer abroad in a month to the equivalent of $5,000. The restrictions apply to money sent to relatives, as well.
More censorship: Russia’s federal censor started blocking the independent media outlets Mediazona, 7x7, Republic, and several other websites, all in retaliation for reporting “unofficial” facts about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Latest major developments, 4:30 p.m., Moscow time (8:30 a.m., EST)
Peace talks: The Russian and Ukrainian delegations are set to hold a third round of negotiations in Belarus at 5:00 p.m., Moscow time, today. In addition, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba are scheduled to hold talks in Turkey on March 10. This planned meeting was first announced by Turkey’s foreign minister and was later confirmed by the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. Apparently, the agreement on the talks was reached during a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The Ukrainian side has yet to confirm its participation.
Green corridor controversy: On Monday, Russia announced the opening of “humanitarian corridors” out of Kyiv, Mariupol, Kharkiv, and Sumy, to evacuate Ukrainian civilians — albeit to Russia and Belarus. The Ukrainian authorities decried the suggestion and called for opening “real” humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians to safer parts of Ukraine.
Cutting ties: Boeing has suspended buying titanium from Russia. Beauty giant Sephora is also halting online sales in Russia and shutting down its stores in the country. On the tech front, Netflix has halted its service in Russia and Spotify has suspended its Premium subscription service due to restrictions on payment providers. Yesterday, TikTok limited service in response to Russia’s new law that prohibits spreading “fake news” about the army.
Energy prices spike: The price of gas in Europe now exceeds $3,800 per thousand cubic meters. The price of Brent crude has surged above $130 per barrel, a high not seen since 2012. Meanwhile, the United States and its European allies are weighing the possibility of banning Russian oil imports.
Anti-war protests: More than 5,000 people were arrested at anti-war demonstrations in 72 Russian cities on March 6, according to OVD-Info. Several dozen people reported that law enforcement officers beat them while carrying our arrests or when they were in custody at police stations. In addition, at least 60 people in 16 cities have been detained under the new law that bans “discrediting” the Russian armed forces, according to the Net Freedoms Project.
“Unfriendly” countries: The Russian government has drawn up a list of countries and territories responsible for “unfriendly actions” against Russia, Russian companies, and citizens. The countries included on the list are those that imposed or joined sanctions against Russia following the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The list was created in accordance with a presidential decree that allows Russian citizens, companies, and even the state itself to pay foreign creditors from “unfriendly” states in rubles. The list of “unfriendly” countries includes the United States, the UK, Ukraine, and EU states, among many others.
8 марта 2022 г. 06:18:07
Latest major developments, 7:15 a.m., Moscow time (11:15 p.m., EST)
Still doing business: Researchers at the Yale School of Management counted 230 companies that have announced their withdrawal from Russia in protest against the invasion of Ukraine. Businesses that have left Russia include major enterprises like Adobe, Apple, Boeing, Disney, Intel, Microsoft, Netflix, Shell, Sony, Volkswagen, and many more. “Nevertheless,” the researchers write, “some Western companies have continued to operate in Russia undeterred; we identified 30 companies with particularly significant exposure to Russian markets[Meduza’s emphasis].” This latter list includes the hotel chains Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott, as well as other multinational corporations like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, McDonald’s, Nestle, Philip Morris, and Starbucks.
It worked for the Bolsheviks, right? United Russia General Council Secretary Andrey Turchak now advocates nationalizing the production of any companies that withdraw from or close down in Russia during the war in Ukraine. “It’s an extreme measure, but we won’t tolerate being stabbed in the back,” said Turchak on Monday.
A landmark threatened in Ukraine: Kyiv’s beloved St. Sophia Cathedral is at risk from Russian airstrikes, art historian Konstantin Akynsha warned Deutsche Welle in an interview on Monday. The cathedral-turned-museum is just a few yards from the Ukrainian National Security Service’s headquarters, he explained, and Moscow has vowed to destroy any buildings associated with the government agency’s activities. An architectural monument of Kyivan Rus, St. Sophia Cathedral is one of the city’s best-known landmarks and the first heritage site in Ukraine to be inscribed on the World Heritage List.
You’re free to go … to Russia: The Russian military has announced a temporary ceasefire beginning at 10 a.m., Moscow time, on March 8 to allow for humanitarian goods to enter and civilians to exit the encircled cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, and Mariupol. Ukrainian officials and refugees have complained that the only escape routes Moscow has agreed to open all lead into either Belarus or Russia itself (forcing refugees to flee into the direction of invading troops).
Oh, but this is a “war”? Pro-Kremlin pundit and state media host Vladimir Solovyov has accused Google of “declaring war” against his talk show, following YouTube’s decision to terminate his account. On his Telegram channel, Solovyov has also reposted multiple messages demanding an apology from YouTube “or it should be shut down in Russia.” Over the weekend, the Italian police reportedly seized Solovyov’s private villa on Lake Como — a luxurious piece of real estate originally discovered in September 2017 by investigators working with Alexey Navalny.
Entering Russia’s latest law into force: In the aftermath of nationwide antiwar protests on March 6 that resulted in an estimated 5,232 arrests, police in cities across Russia have charged several dozen demonstrators with a new offense signed into law just days earlier that prohibits “discrediting Russia’s Armed Forces.” In some cases, perpetrators did nothing more than picket with signs that read, “No to war!” In this barrage of prosecutions, one of the first suspects was a priest in Russia’s Kostroma region who gave a sermon with antiwar overtones. If he or any of the other suspects are convicted of this offense, a repeat violation would be punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Bringing the boys home: President Volodymyr Zelensky issued an executive order recalling Ukrainian troops from peacekeeping operations in Kosovo, Congo, and Côte d’Ivoire.
Hundreds of civilians killed: According to estimates by the United Nations, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has now killed more than 406 civilians and injured at least another 801 civilians. “Actual figures [are] much higher,” warned the organization.
Oil and gas geopolitics: Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak warned that European politicians “with their statements and accusations against Russia” are “pushing” Moscow toward imposing countersanctions that would prohibit pumping more gas to Germany through Nord Stream 1 (a 759-mile system of offshore natural gas pipelines that runs under the Baltic Sea). “But, for now, we aren’t making this decision. No one will benefit from this,” Novak explained. He also warned that boycotting Russian oil will collapse the world economy by raising the price of a barrel of oil to more than $300 — more than double its current value of $130 per barrel. (Oil’s all-time highest price in history was $147 per barrel in July 2008.) In Washington, U.S. lawmakers are moving forward with legislation to ban the import of Russian oil. Canada has already done so.
Journalists on the run: Investigative reporters at the news outlet Agentstvo say at least 150 journalists have fled Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This reportedly includes staff at Russian news outlets like Meduza, Dozhd, Novaya Gazeta, Ekho Moskvy, and foreign publications like Bloomberg, Radio Liberty, and the BBC. Nataliya Vasilyeva, the Moscow correspondent for The Telegraph, wrote on Twitter that she believes the true number “could be three times as many.”
Russia’s looming collapse: The investment banking company Morgan Stanley says Russia will likely experience a “Venezuela-style” default, as “the odds of Russia making its foreign debt payments are diminishing as bond prices fall, recession in the nation looms, and various payment restrictions pile up after the invasion of Ukraine,” reports Bloomberg. The default could come as soon as April 15.
8 марта 2022 г. 22:14:27
Latest major developments, 11:00 p.m., Moscow time (3:00 p.m., EST)
Energy exodus: President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that the U.S. is to ban oil and natural gas imports from Russia. The UK has also pledged to phase out Russian oil imports by the end of this year. In turn, the EU plans to cut Russian gas imports by two-thirds in 2022, but will maintain some energy ties with Moscow (while aiming to fully divest from fossil fuels “well before” 2030). Earlier in the day on Tuesday, Shell and BP announced that they will no longer be purchasing oil and gas from Russia.
Humanitarian crisis in Ukraine: Tuesday saw the start of evacuations from the Ukrainian city of Sumy, where at least 21 civilians were killed as the result of shelling overnight. According to regional authorities, around 3,500 people have been evacuated from the city so far. Attempts to evacuate civilians from other cities have been unsuccessful. In Mariupol, for example, a humanitarian corridor came under fire. On Twitter, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia of holding the city’s 300,000 residents “hostage.” In turn, the authorities in Mariupol claimed that Russian troops were trying to use the humanitarian corridor to breach the city. The Russian Defense Ministry continues to blame the Ukrainian side for disrupting evacuation efforts. In related news, at least 2 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia began its full-scale invasion, according to the United Nations.
Not lovin’ it: McDonald’s is temporarily shutting down its 850 restaurants in Russia. However, the fast food chain has emphasized that it will continue to pay the salaries of its 62,000 employees in the country. Also on Tuesday, Yum! Brands, the parent company behind KFC and Pizza Hut, announced that it is pausing development in Russia. Beauty giants L’Oreal and the Estée Lauder Companies are also set to suspend all commercial activity, including closing stores and e-commerce sites in Russia. Food and consumer goods giant Unilever is also set to halt imports and exports out of the country.
On the outs with CERN: The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has suspended new collaborations with Russia and Russian institutions “until further notice.”
Media updates: The New York Times has become the latest major publication to pull its journalists out of Russia, fearing prosecution under the country’s new law banning the spread of “fake news” about the Russian military. In related news, as of March 9, the radio frequency that once hosted Ekho Moskvy will begin broadcasting the state-controlled channel Sputnik, RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan announced on Tuesday.
The cyber front: Hackers reportedly took control of several Russian federal government websites on Tuesday, and posted anti-war images on their homepages. The apparent cyber attack targeted the websites of Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service, Culture Ministry, Energy Ministry, and State Statistics Service (Rosstat), among others.
9 марта 2022 г. 06:01:24
Latest major developments, 7:00 a.m., Moscow time (11:00 p.m., EST)
Corporate retreat:Coca-Cola, Starbucks, PepsiCo, and Universal Music have suspended most of their operations in Russia, joining the growing list of companies expressing their disapproval of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Several of the companies had faced criticism in recent days for being relative latecomers to the movement of Western companies out of the Russian market. “As a food and beverage company, now more than ever we must stay true to the humanitarian aspect of our business,” Pepsi CEO Ramon Laguarta said in a memo.
Financial troubles: The American credit rating company Fitch has downgraded Russia’s Long-Term Foreign Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) from a ‘B’ to a ‘C’ — a six-notch reduction — citing the country’s likely unwillingness to make future debt payments in the face of Western sanctions. This brings Fitch’s rating in line with Russia’s current Moody's score: both agencies rank Russia at one step away from default. We’ll see what happens on April 15, when Russia’s next debt payment is due.
Dubious promises: Russia has once again announced plans to open “humanitarian corridors” in Ukraine, this time in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Mariupol, on Wednesday, March 9. While the Russian authorities claim this is an effort to help evacuate civilians to safety, other attempts to establish humanitarian corridors in recent days have led to civilian deaths. On March 8, for example, Ukrainian authorities claim Russian forces fired on civilians as they tried to flee a Russian-initiated humanitarian corridor out of Mariupol. That same day, Russian troops allegedly fired at a humanitarian convoy bringing aid to Mariupol. The city has no water or heat, and has been the target of Russian shelling for days. The Russian side has denied targeting civilians.
Desperate measures: Russia’s Central Bank has imposed a $10,000 limit on the amount of U.S. dollars citizens can withdraw in cash from Russian banks. Anything above that limit will have to be withdrawn in rubles. The measure, which will stay in effect until September 9, is intended to prevent a run on the banks, as Russians generally see dollars as their best means of protection against growing inflation. The value of the ruble has dropped at record speeds in the wake of sanctions against Russia from around the world.
Europe’s largest nuclear plant in Russian hands: The Russian National Guard reported that it is in complete control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which was shelled and caught on fire on March 4. According to them, the Ukrainian soldiers who had been guarding the facility dropped their weapons and signed documents pledging not to participate in any more combat, and were subsequently transported away from the facility and allowed to return home. Ukrainian Energy Ministry head Herman Halushchenko has previously reported that Russian soldiers forced the facility’s leadership to sign a statement “that they plan to use for propaganda purposes.”
9 марта 2022 г. 10:03:40
Latest major developments, 11:00 a.m., Moscow time (3:00 a.m., EST)
A fine line: The U.S. has agreed to send two Patriot missile defense systems to Poland to help ensure the protection of NATO countries and their allies. Meanwhile, the Pentagon rejected Poland’s offer to send a fleet of fighter jets to Ukraine by means of an American airbase located in Germany; a spokesperson called the offer “untenable,” citing the risk the prospect of military jets flying from an American base into airspace contested by Russia would bring. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stressed the importance of air support in his pleas to Western lawmakers in recent days, but many believe even the appearance of American interference in Ukrainian skies would be too dangerous.
Speaking of planes: The UK has announced new sweeping sanctions against the Russian aviation industry. Once the new legislation is passed, the British government will be able to detain any Russian aircraft that enters British airspace, and all air- or space-related exports to Russia will be banned. “We will always work to deny Putin and his cronies the right to continue as normal while innocent Ukrainians suffer,” said British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.
The chilling effect continues: Condé Nast, the publisher behind magazines like The New Yorker, Vogue, and Vanity Fair, announced it will join the long list of media companies suspending operations in Russia due to concerns for journalists’ safety. “With journalists and editorial teams around the world, it is paramount that we are able to produce our content without risk to our staff’s security and safety,” said CEO Roger Lynch. “Recently, the Russian government passed new censorship laws that now make it impossible for us to do so.” Conde Nast’s Russian arm has been operating in Russia since 1998.
High risk, high reward: The Ukrainian government is offering Ukrainian citizenship to foreigners who help the country defend itself against Russia. This is the latest of a series of appeals the country has made to foreigners as it fights to hold Russia back; last week, visa requirements were lifted for anyone willing to come join the war. Many foreigners have answered the call.
New ways out: Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk announced a number of new humanitarian corridors through which Ukrainian civilians will theoretically be able to escape from dangerous and isolated areas. Previous attempts to use humanitarian corridors have been marred by deadly attacks on civilians as they try to exit, though several groups of civilians have been successfully evacuated from Sumy over the last two days.
More civilian deaths Chernobayevka residents reported that intoxicated Russian soldiers fired at civilians. They told RFE/RL that the shooting began after the soldiers looted a local store. After drinking liquor they found in the store, the Russians started shooting at people’s homes. The residents claim the soldiers killed a man who got into an argument with them, but the total number of deaths from the incident is unknown.
9 марта 2022 г. 14:39:08
Latest major developments, 3:40 p.m., Moscow time (7:40 a.m., EST)
The exodus continues: More companies have announced their departures from the Russian market. Yum! Brands announced it’s closing all 70 KFC franchises in Russia; Amazon will stop delivering items to Russia and Belarus and will revoke customers’ access to Amazon Prime Video in those countries; the tobacco company Imperial Brands (owner of brands like Winston, West, Golden Virginia, and Drum) will stop selling its products in Russia; Intel and AMD will stop supplying their products to Russia; and Heineken will stop producing and selling beer in Russia.
A delicate balance: The Chinese Red Cross will donate 5 million yuan ($791,540) worth of humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The package will consist of “daily necessities,” according to Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian. The Chinese government, which has so far refused to refer to Russia’s actions in Ukraine as an invasion, said on March 7 that the friendship between Russia and Chinese is “rock solid.”
Not giving up: Ukrainians in Kherson, currently the largest Ukrainian city under Russian control, have been “fiercely resisting.” The Russian occupants have tried to deal with this by bringing in Russian national guard units and introducing an “administrative-police regime.” According to the Ukrainian military, the Russians have unlawfully detained more than 400 Ukrainian citizens.
'That never happened': Russia’s Interior Ministry has denied claims that police officers have been reading people’s personal phone messages on Russian streets. “Reports of police officers stopping citizens in the streets and in the metro and checking the content of conversations in messenger apps do not reflect reality,” Interior Ministry representative Irina Volk told Interfax. Previous claims of this kind of privacy violation came from Moscow residents.
Out of the club: Russia’s Constitutional Court is no longer a member of the Conference of European Constitutional Courts, which unites representatives of 40 European constitutional courts or equivalent bodies. The decision was made after the Conference participants were invited to vote for the termination or suspension of the Russian and Belarusian Constitutional Courts’ memberships. The majority concluded that the Russian Constitutional Court is “one of the state institutions that have not expressed clear disapproval of the Russian Federation’s actions in Ukraine.”
The price of speaking out: St. Petersburg State University has prepared orders to expel students who were detained at unauthorized anti-war rallies. The university’s Student Council has already received 13 draft expulsion orders, according to Kommersant. The list includes Veronika Samusik, a journalist for Sota.Vision. The number of students eligible for expulsion may grow as anti-war protests continue.
9 марта 2022 г. 17:43:48
Latest major developments, 6:45 p.m., Moscow time (10:45 a.m., EST)
Trouble in Chernobyl: The Chernobyl nuclear power plant has lost power, according to Ukraine’s State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate. Because the plant is currently under Russian control, employees from Ukraine’s energy operator, Ukrenergo, are unable to access the plant and restore power. Backup generators are currently functioning, powering the facility’s cooling system as it cools nuclear waste and prevents it from spreading, but, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, the generators only have enough diesel to power the plant for 48 hours, at which point a leak will become “imminent.”
The list keeps on growing: The EU will expand its next round of sanctions against Russia to include more oligarchs and officials close to Putin, according to a series of tweets from the French Presidency of the European Council. 160 people will be added to the list of sanctioned individuals, including 146 members of Russia’s federation council, bringing the total number of EU sanctions targets to 862 people and 53 entities. The EU also clarified that the sanctions apply to cryptocurrency as well as traditional currency, addressing a loophole that had concerned some.
The truth comes out: Russia’s Defense Ministry officially acknowledged that conscripts had been sent to Ukraine, despite earlier denials from Vladimir Putin. “Unfortunately, it has come to light that conscripts were present in the units of the Russian Armed Forces participating in the special military operation on Ukrainian territory. Almost all of these servicemen have already been withdrawn to Russian territory,” the Ministry said in a statement. They also claimed one Russian unit had been attacked by a Ukrainian territorial defense unit and taken hostage, including several conscripts.
Finders, keepers: The Russian authorities have recommended receivership as a way to deal with all the foreign companies leaving Russia and ceasing operations there. Alexander Zhukov, the deputy speaker of the Russian parliament’s lower house, announced the bill’s introduction in the State Duma on Wednesday. If the bill passes, companies that are at least 25% owned by citizens of “unfriendly” states would be taken over by a third party. The new management would then have five days to either resume operations or sell their shares. United Russia called this process “the first step to the nationalization” of the property left behind by foreign companies who leave Russia.
10 марта 2022 г. 11:15:00
Latest major developments, 12:15 p.m., Moscow time (4:15 a.m., EST)
No more YouTube monetization: YouTube has suspended monetization for all creators based in Russia, including revenue streams linked to YouTube Premium and YouTube Music subscriptions, sponsorship, “Super Chat,” “Super Stickers,” and merch sales. The service previously disabled showing ads to users in Russia. YouTube has served as a major platform for independent content in Russia, with vloggers like Yury Dud gaining tens of millions of views per video. Google also informed Android users that paid apps and games will soon become unavailable in Russia on the Google Play store due to problems with the existing payment system.
The president cannot be deplatformed: Russia’s federal media regulator has ordered TikTok to unblock a video address from Vladimir Putin. (The agency has not specified publicly which video it means.) Roskomnadzor says TikTok has restricted access to “the video” for foreign users.
European Council no more: Russia’s Foreign Ministry says Moscow will no longer participate in the European Council, bemoaning “the transformation by NATO members and the obedient EU of Europe’s oldest organization into yet another platform for incantations about the West’s superiority and narcissism. Let them enjoy talking to each other without Russia.” The withdrawal from the Council of Europe would mean the simultaneous rejection of both the organization’s charter and the European Convention on Human Rights, says Senator Konstantin Kosachev, who chairs the Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee. (Kosachev soon clarified that this would not mean the reinstatement of the death penalty in Russia.) Human rights lawyer Pavel Chikov says procedures make it impossible for Russia to leave the European Council any sooner than 2023, and even then, the European Court of Human Rights will still be able to review complaints received previously from Russian nationals.
Top secret bat experiments: Russia’s Defense Ministry has accused Ukraine of accepting U.S. funding to create and develop biolabs that it then used to conduct experiments on coronavirus samples from bats. On behalf of the Pentagon, Ukrainian scientists were studying mechanisms for the covert spread of deadly pathogens, claims Moscow, vowing to present “documents” to prove its outlandish allegations. White House spokesperson Jen Psaki has warned that Russian allegations about supposed U.S. biological weapons labs in Ukraine mean “we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them.”
Et tu, Brute? Chinese smartphone manufacturers Xiaomi, Oppo, and Huawei have cut shipments to Russia by at least half, due to international sanctions and the ruble’s devaluation. Their products currently make up about 60 percent of Russia’s smartphone market.
How to seize an industry: Following through on legislators’ calls for the nationalization of property owned by foreign companies leaving Russia due to the war in Ukraine, the Economic Development Ministry has drafted a bill that would entrust management of these seized assets to the VEB.RF state development corporation and to Russia’s Deposit Insurance Agency. It would be these organizations’ job to “repackage” seized businesses into new entities and then sell them at public auction. If no suitable buyer can be found, the state itself would act as the buyer. Separately, a consumer rights group has petitioned the federal government cabinet and the Attorney General’s Office with a list of roughly 60 foreign companies whose property in Russia should be nationalized, the group says. The list includes corporate giants like Apple, IKEA, Microsoft, IBM, Shell, McDonald’s, Porsche, Toyota, and more.
The hospital attack in Mariupol: United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres denounced an airstrike against a hospital in Mariupol, including its maternity and children’s wards. “Civilians are paying the highest price for a war that has nothing to do with them,” he tweeted. Ukrainian officials later reported that a Russian attack on the hospital in Mariupol killed three people, including one child.
10 марта 2022 г. 12:44:19
What the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Russia said after their meeting on Thursday in Turkey
Russia did not attack Ukraine and it doesn’t plan to attack any other countries, either.
Ukraine was planning to launch imminent military offensives against the self-declared separatist republics in the Donbas.
The maternity ward bombed in Mariupol was being used as a military base by soldiers in the Azov Battalion.
Russia will manage its economic problems on its own.
11 марта 2022 г. 08:02:51
Latest major developments, 9:00 a.m., Moscow time (1:00 a.m., EST)
It couldn’t last forever: VKontakte, Russia’s most popular social media platform, has blocked Meduza after Russia’s Prosecutor General accused Meduza of “knowingly spreading false, publicly significant information.” According to VKontakte’s official statement, failing to block Meduza could result in the blockage of the entire social network.
Facebook says go for it: Meta has temporarily changed its terms of service to allow posts calling for violence against Russian soldiers in some cases. According to a company spokesperson, phrases like “death to the Russian invaders,” which would ordinarily constitute hate speech and incitement, will be permitted in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine. Russia’s embassy in the U.S. referred to the policy change as “extremist.”
Goodbye, candy and kibble: Mars, Incorporated will stop importing products into Russia — including brands like Mars, Snickers, Twix, and Orbit gum, as well as pet food brands such as Whiskas, Pedigree, and Royal Canin.
Disney goes further: Disney will suspend all business activities in Russia, though its employees in Russia will remain employed. The company had previously announced that it will stop releasing films in Russia.
Difficult to trust: Russia announced the opening of humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to escape five cities on Friday, including Mariupol, where residents have faced food, water, and power shortages in recent days, in addition to unrelenting Russian attacks. According to the Russian government, anyone who enters the corridors will be required to provide their name and vehicle registration number. Other attempts to facilitate humanitarian corridors for Ukrainian civilians have had limited success, with Ukraine and Russia each blaming the other’s military for civilian casualties. The Ukrainian authorities have not officially signed on to Friday’s plans.
It’s ours now: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a law allowing the Ukrainian government to confiscate Russian property without giving any compensation. “We will find all the property of propagandists and people associated with them, and do everything so that it is confiscated, wherever it might be,” said Zelensky.
Stuck with rubles: Russia’s Central Bank has restricted the amount of cash that legal entities and sole proprietors can withdraw in dollars, yen, pounds, and euros. They will not be allowed to withdraw more than five thousand dollars until at least September 10.
11 марта 2022 г. 11:58:00
Oleksandr Lapshyn / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA A street in Kharkiv after artillery strikes on March 8, 2022.
11 марта 2022 г. 13:50:49
Latest major developments, 2:50 p.m., Moscow time (6:50 a.m., EST)
At least they have each other: Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (Alyaksandr Lukashenka) are currently meeting in Moscow to discuss the events in Ukraine. Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov previously reported that the two intend to discuss their countries’ further integration, as well as the problem of sanctions.
Another city down: The Russian Defense Ministry has reportedly captured Volnovakha, a small city in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. This could lead to a tightening of the blockade against Mariupol.
Navalny calls for action:Alexey Navalny addressed Russian citizens from prison, calling for anti-war protests this coming Sunday — and every weekend after that. “You need to go to anti-war rallies every weekend, even if it seems that everyone has either left or gotten scared...You are the backbone of the movement against war and death,” he said on Instagram.
Bring in reinforcements: At a meeting between Vladimir Putin and the Russian Security Council, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu announced that 16,000 residents of Middle Eastern countries are prepared to support the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” in combat. Putin was reportedly not opposed, nor was he opposed to the transfer of American weapons seized in Ukraine to the “people’s republics” — including Javelin anti-tank systems and a Stinger portable anti-aircraft missile systems. Zvezda, a television network owned by the Russian Defense Ministry, showed video of Syrian soldiers chanting Russian military slogans on Friday.
From the ashes: The people behind Ekho Moskvy, the independent radio station that was recently shut down by the Russian authorities for its violation of new censorship rules, are launching a new YouTube channel.
More refugees than expected:2.5 million people have now fled Ukraine, according to the UN, while another 2 million have left their homes and are now displaced internally. A spokesperson for the UN refugee agency said that while the agency’s original prediction for the total number of refugees that would result from the war was 4 million, they may have to raise that number.
11 марта 2022 г. 18:04:28
Latest major developments, 7:05 p.m., Moscow time (11:05 a.m., EST)
Goodbye, Instagram: Roskomnadzor has announced that Instagram will soon be blocked in Russia. This comes after Meta, which is Instagram and Facebook’s parent company, announced it would adjust its terms of service to allow users to post certain calls to violence — such as “death to the Russian invaders” — in some countries. Facebook is already blocked in Russia, though WhatsApp, which is also owned by Meta, will not be blocked, according to State Duma Deputy Alexander Khinshtein.
Everybody’s welcome: The Wagner private military company (PMC) has begun aggressively recruiting mercenaries to join the war against Ukraine. A former Wagner Group fighter showed BBC News Russian a profanity-laden message from a group chat for Wagner veterans, which said that even “those who have had trouble with employment” and “those who were fired for whatever reason” are encouraged to join the war.
Looking for a pretense: The Ukrainian Air Force Command announced that Russian aircraft took off from the Dubrovitsa airfield in Belarus, turned around over Ukraine, and conducted airstrikes on three Belarusian towns. “This is a provocation. The goal is to draw the Belarusian armed forces into war with Ukraine,” wrote a Ukrainian official.
The search begins: Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of RT, has been arrested in absentia in Ukraine for supporting the war, according to Ukraine’s Attorney General. Simonyan has been added to an international wanted list.
Seems short-sighted: Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency has claimed that Vladimir Putin has “ordered the preparation of a terrorist attack” on the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The facility is currently under Russian control and its cooling system has lost its main power source. Ukrainian officials say the Russian military is not allowing Ukrainian repairmen to enter the plant and restore power. Since Wednesday, the plant has been relying on an emergency diesel generator, which, according to Ukrainian officials, only has enough fuel to power the cooling system for 48 hours.
12 марта 2022 г. 09:39:25
Latest major developments, 10:30 a.m., Moscow time (2:30 a.m., EST)
Targeting more elites: The United States imposed new sanctions on the wives and adult children of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Communist Party General Secretary Gennady Zyuganov, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, and board members of VTB Bank.
Two more days of Instagram: Russia’s federal censor announced that it will wait an additional 48 hours to enforce a ban on Instagram, so users can download their photos and migrate to one of the dwindling few other platforms still available in the country. Federal officials say they will seek to outlaw all Meta services as “extremist,” which would make it a felony even to have the app installed on a device.
Final days for YouTube? YouTube blocked all channels associated with Russia’s state media. The new policy is global. Russian lawmakers are calling for the service — one of the most popular broadcasting platforms in Russia — to be banned for discriminating against Russia.
Pay attention, class! Schoolteachers in Moscow were “invited” to attend a video conference on Friday and hear lectures by Russia Today editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. Simonyan reportedly told the educators that it is their job to “defend the state’s interests,” regardless of their personal views on Vladimir Putin or Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Let’s do a Holocaust analogy! Leningrad front man Sergey Shnurov has released a new music video, titled “No Entry,” where he compares Europe’s modern-day treatment of Russians to the Nazis’ persecution of the Jews. “Russian is a new Jude for you; you’d burn us all in a furnace,” sings Shnurov, flanked by two men wearing traditional kosovorotka shirts emblazoned with the Star of David. Earlier this week, Shnurov “temporarily terminated” his role as the television network RTVI’s general producer, stating that his views “in the context of current events” “may not coincide with the network’s editorial policies.”
Deaths in Mariupol: Local officials in the encircled city of Mariupol say Russian attacks have killed at least 1,582 civilians. (This is almost three times the total civilian death toll reported by the United Nations.) The Ukrainian authorities say Russian forces have shelled the “humanitarian corridors” meant to allow out noncombatants and allow in first aid and essential goods. Petr Andryushchenko, an adviser to the city’s mayor, meanwhile, told The Globe and Mail that officials unofficially estimate that as many as 10,000 people have died, so far, in the Russian siege. (Meduza is unable to verify these claims.)
13 марта 2022 г. 07:46:35
Latest major developments, 8:45 a.m., Moscow time (12:45 a.m., EST)
Under new management: In the occupied Ukrainian city of Melitopol, the Russian military installed as “mayor” Galina Danilchenko, a former city council member and member of the pro-Russian and Eurosceptic political party Opposition Platform — For Life. In a video address to the public, she said her main task is to help the city adjust to “the new reality.” A day earlier, on Friday, Russian soldiers abducted Melitopol’s elected mayor, Ivan Fyodorov, and dragged him from his office with a bag over his head to an undisclosed location. The Russian media reports that Fyodorov will face charges for allegedly “funding and assisting the terrorist organization Pravyi Sektor.”
Ukraine’s fallen soldiers: On Saturday, President Zelensky stated that roughly 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers have died since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Squeezed from what’s left: Obeying orders from Russia’s Attorney General, the website Vkontakte — Russia’s most popular social network — blocked the pages for the independent media outlets 7x7, The Village, and Republic. Vkontakte previously blocked Meduza’s page, as well. The personal recommendations service Yandex Zen also blocked pages belonging to The Village and Mediazona.
People’s republics galore: The local authorities in the occupied city of Kherson say Russian troops plan transform the region into another “people’s republic,” like those already created in the Donbas. Moscow is allegedly organizing a referendum to formalize the status and contacting city officials to find out if they will collaborate.
Out to lunch: Russia’s Central Bank extended the shutdown of the Moscow Exchange equity market to at least March 18, hoping to shield domestic investors from the impact of international sanctions. Just more than two weeks into the war, more than $30 billion has been erased from Russia’s annual gross domestic product, reported Bloomberg. This rivals all the setbacks of two years of pandemic restrictions and economic contraction.
The fight for history’s first draft: Anonymous Telegram channels have started leaking the personal data of Wikipedians in Russia and Belarus, targeting volunteers who moderate the website’s entries for issues and incidents connected to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Wikipedia’s Russian branch has urged all moderators in Russia and Belarus to take extra steps to mask their identities when accessing Wikipedia.
Think of the children: Russia’s federal censor distributed a message to individuals on Saturday, arguing that the government’s decision to block Instagram is a necessary response to the network’s advocacy of “anti-Russian genocide” (referring to but not explaining Meta’s recent policy to allow some incitements to violence against Russian invasion forces in Ukraine). The censor emphasized that Instagram threatens the security of Russia’s children and teenagers. Addressing Russia’s many “creators” and “influencers,” Roskomnadzor insisted that Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki (two domestic social networks, both in compliance with Russian state censorship) can also support lucrative online businesses.
The biolabs fight: Arms control officials in the Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow might need to “resort to tougher actions” against supposed “military biological activities by the United States in Ukraine” because Washington is unlikely to agree to act “through traditional international legal agreements.” A few days prior, the Russian military accused the Pentagon of conspiring with Ukrainian scientists to develop germ warfare technologies that could be used against Russia, including pseudoscientific conspiracies such as “gene bombs.”
14 марта 2022 г. 05:16:56
Latest major developments, 6:20 a.m., Moscow time (11:20 p.m., EST)
Making some headway: Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak gave a notably optimistic assessment of Sunday’s negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. “We will not concede in principle on any positions. Russia now understands this. Russia is already beginning to talk constructively,” he said in a video. Talks will resume by video call on Monday.
That’s ours now: The Wall Street Journal reported that Russia’s Attorney General’s Office threatened to arrest local leaders of Western companies for criticizing the Russian authorities. The agency also threatened to seize all assets of companies that decided to withdraw from the Russian market, according to anonymous sources who spoke to the Journal. Russia’s Economic Development Ministry has already drafted a bill that would provide a pathway to nationalize for seized foreign property.
Kadyrov takes a trip: Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov claimed to have traveled to Ukraine to meet with Chechen troops. A video published on Telegram by the Chechen state television channel Grozny shows Kadyrov meeting with Chechen troops, though whether the video was actually filmed in Ukraine is unclear. It is known, however, that Chechen forces are in Ukraine; residents of villages near Kyiv have reported being forced out of their homes by Chechen soldiers.
They keep on coming: More than 850 people were arrested for participating in anti-war protests throughout Russia on Sunday. According to the independent monitoring group OVD-Info, many of the protesters’ phones were confiscated, while police forced a number of bystanders to show their messages and saved photos — presumably to prove they hadn’t filmed the arrests.
No relief: A humanitarian aid convoy intended for Mariupol residents failed to reach the city on Sunday. The convoy is reportedly stuck in Berdyansk, a town about 50 miles away. According to the city administration, over 2,000 Mariupol residents have died since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Those who survive face a lack of water, food, medicine, and electricity, as well as constant Russian shelling.
That was a close one: The power is back on at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said on Sunday. The plant had been relying on an emergency diesel generator since last Wednesday, when Russian troops took control of the facility and it lost access to its main power source. According to Halushchenko, “heroes” from Ukraine’s national power grid company were responsible for restoring the connection. The plant operators, who usually rotate in and out of the plant frequently for safety reasons, have been working on site under Russian control for over three weeks.
14 марта 2022 г. 05:37:11
Russians take selfies in front of the McDonald’s on Moscow’s Pushkin Square — minutes before it closes for good. It’s this same restaurant that made history in 1990, when it became the first McDonald’s to open in the USSR, ushering in a new era of Western dining options.
14 марта 2022 г. 11:23:09
Latest major developments, 12:25 p.m., Moscow time (5:25 a.m., EST)
Two if by sea: Russian naval forces have blockaded Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, cutting the country off from international maritime trade, according to the UK’s Defense Ministry. “Russian naval forces are also continuing to conduct missile strikes against targets throughout Ukraine,” said the statement.
Mother and baby killed by Russian shelling: A pregnant woman who was injured in the bombing of a Mariupol maternity ward has died. Images of the woman being carried on a stretcher quickly spread around the world after the bombing on March 9. The woman’s death was preceded by that of her baby. A different woman, Mariana Vishegirskaya, whom the Russian authorities accused of colluding with Ukrainian “Nazis” to fake images and footage of the bombing, was also in the hospital’s maternity ward when it was bombed, but has survived and given birth to her baby.
A glimmer of hope for some: The Ukrainian authorities announced that they managed to come to an agreement with Russia to establish humanitarian corridors and allow civilians to evacuate on March 14. The plan is to create six corridors in the Kyiv region and three in the Luhansk region. Ukraine also announced they expect an humanitarian assistance convoy containing 100 tons of cargo for civilians to reach Mariupol today. Encircled by Russian troops, Mariupol residents currently lack water, food, medicine, and electricity.
Instagram blocked: According to the blockage monitoring service GlobalCheck, Instagram’s accessibility on Russian territory is 0% as of March 14. Roskomnadzor, Russia’s censorship agency, began blocking the platform on March 13, despite previously promising to give users access until midnight on March 14 to allow them to transfer their content. The agency claimed the blockage is a necessary response to the network’s advocacy of “anti-Russian genocide” (referring to but not explaining Meta’s recent policy to allow some incitements to violence against Russian invasion forces in Ukraine).
Sanctions from Down Under: The Australian government has announced new sanctions against 33 Russian business owners and their families. The list includes Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich, Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller, Rossiya Chairman Dmitry Lebedev, Rostec Chair Sergey Chemezov, Transneft CEO Nikolai Tokarev, VEB.RF Chairman Igor Shuvalov, and RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev.
14 марта 2022 г. 15:16:50
Latest major developments, 4:15 p.m., Moscow time (9:15 a.m., EST)
Rewriting last month: Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov claimed that at the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin “instructed the Defense Ministry to refrain from immediately storming large cities, including Kyiv.” According to Peskov, this was because “armed nationalist formations were setting up firing points and placing heavy military equipment right in residential areas.” Now, however, “the Defense Ministry, while maintaining maximum security for the civilian population, is not ruling out the possibility of taking full control of large population centers, which already are practically completely surrounded, with the exception of humanitarian evacuation zones.”
We’ll take those, too: Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law allowing foreign planes leased to Russia-based airlines to be registered as the airlines’ property. The law also allows Russian airworthiness certificates to be issued to foreign aircraft. Russia’s need for this law arose after the EU banned leasing aircraft to Russian airlines; European planes that were leased to Russian companies were arrested abroad, leading to the almost complete cessation of flights from Russian Airlines outside of Russia’s borders. However, almost half of commercial planes leased to Russia were registered in Bermuda. Since March 13, when the Bermuda authorities suspended these planes’ airworthiness certificates, the companies have been flying them illegally.
Mariupol’s death toll continues to climb: According to the Ukrainian authorities, more than 2,500 people have died in Mariupol, which has been under siege by the Russian army for over two weeks. Oleksiy Arestovych, a Ukrainian presidential, said that “the Russians are wiping out the city” with artillery. Civilians there have run out of food, water, and power, and a convoy of humanitarian aid that was set to reach the city on Sunday has still not arrived.
Let him go:Calls are growing for Russian troops to release Ukrainian journalist Oleg Baturin, who disappeared in the Kherson region on Saturday evening. He is believed to have gone to meet a friend at a bus station near his house in Kakhova, but was not seen again. Russian soldiers were spotted near the bus station soon after Baturin’s planned meeting time. Khakova is currently not occupied by Russian forces, but the neighboring town of Nova Kakhovka is.
Here’s hoping this goes somewhere:Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are currently underway. The Ukrainian side reported progress this weekend, although Russia’s shelling of an apartment building in Kyiv on Monday morning could put a wrench in things. A ceasefire is one of the main goals of today’s talks; past negotiations have focused on the establishment of humanitarian aid and evacuation routes, with limited success.
Pfizer steps back: Pfizer announced its divestment from the Russian market. According to a statement from the company, it will continue providing medications to Russian citizens, but will donate all profits to “causes that provide direct humanitarian support to the people of Ukraine.” The company will also stop conducting clinical trials in Russia.
15 марта 2022 г. 05:37:21
Major developments on March 14, the 19th day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine
The woman who dared: During a live broadcast of the Monday evening news on the state television network Pervyi Kanal, a woman ran on stage carrying an anti-war sign, shouting, “No to war! Stop the war!” She was later identified as Marina Ovsyannikova, an employee at the station. Police promptly arrested her and escorted her to an undisclosed location. Defense attorneys seeking to offer their legal counsel were unable to find her all night. According to unofficial reports, Ovsyannikova will face misdemeanor charges for her protest. She also pre-recorded a video statement wherein she denounced the “criminal” war against Ukraine and blamed Vladimir Putin for its “fratricidal” bloodshed. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later thanked Ovsyannikova directly in a video shared on social media for her stand against disinformation.
A deadly explosion in Donetsk: A rocket exploded in central Donetsk killing 20 people and injuring another 28, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry, which identified the weapon as an OTR-21 Tochka tactical ballistic missile, allegedly fired from territory under the Ukrainian state’s control. Officials in Kyiv, however, say, “This was definitely a Russian missile or some other ammunition.”
Trouble leaving Mariupol: Roughly 150 vehicles carrying civilians departed Mariupol on Monday. BBC Russia reported that this was the first time since the city’s encirclement that residents managed to use “humanitarian corridors” to escape. Mariupol’s mayor later reported, however, that the evacuees got no farther than the Russian-occupied city of Berdiansk (about 50 miles southwest).
Going after the oil, sorta: The European Union approved a fourth package of “restrictive measures” against Russia in response to Moscow’s attacks against schools, apartment buildings, and hospitals in Ukraine. Reuters reported that EU states will also adopt new sanctions against the oil majors Rosneft, Transneft, and Gazprom Neft, but European purchases of Russian oil will continue.
Another high-profile official speaks out: Arkady Dvorkovich, the president of the World Chess Federation and a former Russian deputy prime minister, publicly criticized the invasion of Ukraine, calling the war “the worst thing you can face in life” and saying that he keeps Ukraine’s civilians in his thoughts.
Disloyal businesses: Lawmakers from the nation’s ruling political party have proposed legislation that would make it a felony to enforce Western sanctions inside Russia. The law would penalize Russian companies that refuse to work with sanctioned banks and other businesses under the pretext that they would risk becoming sanctioned themselves. “Obeying foreign sanctions within [Russia] constitutes indirect support [of the sanctions]. There’s no other word for this but betrayal,” said Andrey Turchak, a senior member of United Russia.
The politics of live music: Police departments in Russia have issued instructions to concert promoters and venue hosts not to invite certain Ukrainian musicians or artists with known anti-war views, according to the investigative news outlet Agentstvo. Other musicians have reportedly been pressured to sign contracts promising not to discuss Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine while on stage. Separately, economic sanctions and corporate withdrawals have created copyright issues with new releases from Western artists that will make most of this music unavailable to Russia’s two streaming giants, Yandex Music and VK Music.
Good times for VK: Following Russia’s decision to block Meta services like Facebook and Instagram, the Russian social network Vkontakte reported its highest ever daily traffic, with a record 50 million users visiting the website in a single day. Headquartered in Russia, Vkontakte operates in compliance with Russian Internet controls and has already blocked the pages of several independent news outlets, including Meduza’s page. On Monday, Russia’s federal censor blocked the popular news and memes website TJournal.
15 марта 2022 г. 17:57:16
Russia officially withdraws from the Council of Europe
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sent a letter to the organization’s general secretary formally announcing Russia’s exit from the group.
15 марта 2022 г. 18:06:50
Ovsyannikova is fined
A judge in Moscow has fined Marina Ovsyannikova 30,000 rubles (about $280) for inciting protests against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in a prerecorded message released after she ran onto the stage of a live TV broadcast with an anti-war sign.
16 марта 2022 г. 05:11:45
Major developments on March 15, the 20th day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine
The price of protest: Marina Ovsyannikova, the state television network employee who made global headlines on Monday when she ran onstage during an evening news program with an anti-war sign, reported being interrogated by law enforcement for 14 hours and denied legal counsel. A judge in Moscow charged Ovsyannikova with a misdemeanor and fined her 30,000 rubles (about $280) for a prerecorded video message released after her on-air protest, though no criminal case has been opened in response to the protest itself. A number of other state media employees have reportedly left their jobs since Ovsyannikova’s protest on Monday.
Walking the walk: Three European prime ministers traveled to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and show their support for Ukraine as Russian forces close in on the city. After the meeting, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called for a “peace mission” on Ukrainian territory led by NATO or a “wider international structure.”
The official death toll: The UN reported that there have been 691 confirmed civilian deaths, including 48 children, since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, while at least 1,143 civilians have been injured. The agency acknowledged that the true numbers are likely much higher; Ukrainian authorities have reported at least 2,400 civilian deaths in Mariupol alone.
No more Russian vacations for Biden: Russia passed sanctions against a number of high-ranking US officials, including President Joe Biden. Meanwhile, the EU passed its fourth round of sanctions against Russia. The latest package from Europe targets Russia's energy sectors, including the companies Rosneft, Transneft, and Gazprom Neft, as well as business leaders like oligarch Roman Abramovich and Pervyi Kanal head Konstantin Ernst.
More civilians escape Mariupol: An estimated 20,000 civilians managed to flee Mariupol through humanitarian corridors on Tuesday, the city’s largest one-day evacuation yet. Meanwhile, Russian troops reportedly continued firing on civilian targets in the city, in addition to taking about 400 civilians hostage in the city’s largest hospital to prevent Ukrainian forces from targeting the building.
You can’t fire me — because I quit: Russia officially exited the Council of Europe, likely in anticipation of being expelled in the coming days for its invasion of Ukraine. The move opens the door for Moscow to remove the moratorium on the death penalty — a requirement for membership in the Council — that it has observed since 1996 despite capital punishment’s inclusion in Russia law. Russian citizens will no longer be able to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights against the Russian government.
Time to pay up: Wednesday is the deadline for the Russian government to pay about $117 million in U.S. dollars to creditors, putting Moscow in a pickle as many of its international currency reserves are currently inaccessible due to sanctions. The government has insisted the debts will be paid in full — though possibly in rubles instead of dollars — but experts say Russia is still hurtling towards default.
16 марта 2022 г. 18:21:25
Latest major developments, 7:20 p.m., Moscow time (12:20 p.m., EST)
Back in business: The Ukrainian and Moldovan electricity grids have been linked to the EU grid. While this process would ordinarily have taken a year, according to EU energy commissioner Kadri Simson, it was achieved in just two weeks. The two countries’ grids were previously connected to the Russian grid and had been since the Soviet Union, although Ukraine had long planned to link its grid to the EU’s in 2023.
Protect our skies: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the U.S. Congress by video call on Wednesday. In an emotional plea for NATO and the U.S. to implement a no-fly zone over Ukraine, Zelensky invoked both the 9/11 attacks and the attack on Pearl Harbor, as well as showing graphic images of the effects of Russia’s invasion. Though NATO and the U.S. have repeatedly stated that a no-fly zone is not feasible, Zelensky was adamant: “Russia has turned the Ukrainian sky into a source of death for thousands of people.”
Another site down: The BBC website has been blocked in Russia. According to a foreign ministry spokesperson, the move is "just the beginning of response actions to an information war unleashed by the West.”
Negotiations continue: Both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke optimistically about the prospect of reaching an agreement after talks on Wednesday. Russia is reportedly seeking for Ukraine to agree to a geopolitically “neutral status,” like that of Austria or Sweden, while Ukraine is still demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops.
In his own world: Vladimir Putin gave a falsehood-laden televised speech on Wednesday in which he claimed that Russia's “special military operation” was “going according to plan.” He acknowledged Western sanctions’ negative effects on the Russian economy more than he has in the past, but assured listeners that the country has the tools to withstand them. He also claimed that invading Ukraine was necessary because “the pro-Nazi regime in Kyiv” was close to obtaining weapons of mass destruction.
16 марта 2022 г. 19:52:06
A Russian airstrike has destroyed the Donetsk Regional Theater of Drama in Mariupol. Local officials say more than 1,000 civilians were sheltering in the building’s basement at the time of the attack. The number of casualties is still unknown at this moment.
Update: The Russian military denies any strikes against ground targets in Mariupol during the daytime on March 16. Moscow has accused the Ukrainian Azov Battalion of bombing the theater — an allegation the Ukrainian government dismisses as nonsense.
16 марта 2022 г. 19:59:40
The European Court of Human Rights has suspended its review of all complaints against the Russian Federation.
17 марта 2022 г. 04:58:51
Major developments on March 16, the 21st day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine
Mr. Zelensky goes to Washington: President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the U.S. Congress, making another plea for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, though he also petitioned Washington for additional air defense and aviation weaponry. In his speech, Zelensky reminded his American counterparts about the bombings of Pearl Harbor and 9/11, before screening a brief video that depicted Ukrainian civilians injured and killed by Russian airstrikes. President Biden still refuses to pursue a no-fly zone in Ukraine, warning that it would lead to a catastrophic war directly with Russia, but his administration has endorsed sending Kyiv another 800 anti-aircraft systems, 9,000 anti-armor systems, and 7,000 small arms like shotguns and grenade launchers, as well as drones and other military equipment. Biden later told reporters that he considers Putin to be a “war criminal” (the Kremlin has since called this remark “unacceptable and unforgivable”).
Civilians in the crosshairs: Officials in the besieged city of Mariupol say the Russian military bombed a theater where more than 1,000 civilians were sheltering. Moscow has denied any daytime airstrikes in the area, claiming that the Azov Battalion carried out the attack (the Russian military similarly blamed the Azov Battalion for hijacking a maternity ward that Moscow destroyed earlier in the siege). Less than a week before the attack against the theater, members of the Azov group published a video from the theater in Mariupol showing civilians in the building’s basement. Additionally, satellite footage from before the bombing showed the word “children” painted on the ground outside the building — a warning to Russian aircraft that was apparently ignored.
Putin declares war on ‘fifth-columnists’: At a virtual cabinet meeting to discuss economic support to regions across Russia, Vladimir Putin made a nationally broadcast speech where he repeated dubious claims about Moscow’s pretexts for invading Ukraine, including Kyiv’s alleged “genocide” against ethnic Russians living in the Donbas and a supposed American-led bioweapons program developed in cities near the Russian border. The president also condemned his domestic political critics as “scum and traitors,” arguing that they should be removed from society in an act of “natural and necessary self-purification.”
Russia’s thought police: A court in Tomsk convicted a man of “discrediting” Russia’s armed forces by “silently expressing support” while watching several activists picket against the war in Ukraine. The judge decided that the defendant was with the activists and fined him 45,000 rubles ($465).
No more EHCR litigation: Russia formally withdrew from the Council of Europe on Wednesday, and the European Court of Human Rights promptly suspended its review of all complaints filed against the Russian government. Politicians like former President Dmitry Medvedev and members of the right-wing political party LDPR have argued previously that Russia should reinstate the death penalty.
The real honor roll: The Plekhanov Russian University of Economics expelled two students, Antonina Begacheva and Polina Lysenko, for sharing antiwar stories on Instagram. “You’ve got to be more careful on social media,” said the dean’s office. Separately, St. Petersburg State University threatened to expel journalist Nika Samsusik after police officers unlawfully arrested her while she was reporting from an anti-war protest.
17 марта 2022 г. 14:52:55
Read more from Meduza
17 марта 2022 г. 16:17:18
Thomas Peter / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA A man in Kyiv mourns his mother, weeping over her body. March 17, 2022.
18 марта 2022 г. 05:08:04
Major developments on March 17, the 22nd day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine
Good news from the ruins: Many of the civilians who were hiding in the basement of a Mariupol theater that was bombed by Russia have survived, according to local officials. Before the bombing, Ukrainians had painted the word “children” in large letters next to the building to warn Russian planes to spare it, apparently to no avail; luckily, the theater's basement stayed intact. Hundreds of people had been hiding in the theater for days, with little food and no heat aside from fires they made by burning the wood from auditorium seats. It is unclear how many people were killed by the bombing, and the Ukrainian authorities have reported that the lack of remaining social services in the city due to Russia’s continuous shelling is making rescue efforts difficult.
Default averted — or at least deferred: Russia made at least some of its debt payments that were due on Wednesday, indicating it might have avoided default for now. The Russian authorities previously said they may be forced to pay the debts in rubles rather than dollars, the currency in which the debts were issued, but evidently they found enough dollars in time for the payment.
A dangerous time to be Ukrainian: Russian law enforcement officers have been ordered to thoroughly investigate all Ukrainian citizens in Moscow, according to the independent monitoring group OVD-Info. According to one source the group spoke with, he and several other Ukrainian citizens were arrested in Moscow after trying to use their passports to board a bus to Riga. The following morning, they were charged with disorderly conduct and sentenced to 5-10 days in administrative detention.
Reaching the limit: The Czech authorities have warned that the country is unable to accept any more Ukrainian refugees. “We need to understand that we’re reaching the limit of what we can take in without major problems,” said Prime Minister Petr Fiala. According to him, the Czech Republic has taken in more than 270 thousand Ukrainians who were forced to flee their homes due to the war. According to the UN, more than 3 million people have now left Ukraine as refugees.
The Terminator weighs in: In a new, emotional nine-minute video (that, at the time of this writing, has 15.5 million views on Twitter and more than half a million views on Telegram), Arnold Schwarzeneggar describes his “love for the Russian people” and argues that the Kremlin is lying to the public about its war of aggression in Ukraine.
Criminal Code 207.3 enforcement begins: Officials in Tomsk continue to charge local bloggers with the new felony offense of “spreading disinformation about Russia’s armed forces.” The authorities have even opened a criminal case against Marina Novikova, a 63-year-old woman in the city of Seversk who has been sharing antiwar views on her Telegram channel, which had just 170 subscribers when the police decided to intervene. If convicted, she could go to prison for up to three years
Russia’s accomplice: The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers has suspended relations with Belarus in response to the country’s “active participation in Russia’s aggression against Ukraine,” according to Iceland’s permanent representative in the Council. This comes just days after Russia was formally excluded from the Council.
Not going anywhere: Marina Ovsyannikova, the state television network employee who made global headlines on Monday when she ran onstage during an evening news program with an anti-war sign, has officially quit her job at the network. Nonetheless, she rejected a French asylum offer, calling herself a “patriot,” and her 17-year-old son an even bigger patriot. Ovsyannikova said her son has reproached her for “destroying the lives of everyone in the family,” but she maintained that she does not regret “calling the war a war.”
18 марта 2022 г. 05:24:29
Kharkiv's Barabashova Market, the largest market in Ukraine, burning on Thursday
18 марта 2022 г. 05:46:50
On March 13, reports appeared on Telegram that Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov had traveled to Kyiv to support the Chechen troops fighting there. Kadyrov himself corroborated the claim. Reporters from Ukrayinska Pravda (Ukrainian Truth) wanted to find out whether it was true.
Sources from Ukraine’s intelligence services told the journalists that Kadyrov has two phone numbers, and that neither device had been connected to Ukrainian cell towers for at least a week.
The journalists also wrote directly to Kadyrov on Telegram: they pretended to be correspondents from RIA Novosti and asked Kadyrov to click on a link to see a draft of an article they planned to publish about his “heroic victory.”
The link they sent was generated “using a public online service” that reveals the whereabouts of any device that opens it. It confirmed Kadyrov’s location: Grozny, the Chechen capital.
Latest major developments, 2:50 p.m., Moscow time (7:50 a.m., EST)
Very normal country: Rallies and events are being held throughout Russia today to celebrate the anniversary of the “reunification” of Crimea. The government is sponsoring a show in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, which can hold over 80,000 people. In Sevastopol, the day began with a ride by the Night Wolves, a motorcycle gang that has actively supported Putin and participated in his events for years.
An awkward week for Germany: In a conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday, Vladimir Putin complained that Ukrainian representatives have been making “unrealistic proposals” and trying to “draw out the negotiation process,” while Russia is “ready to work faster” to come to an agreement. This was despite reports earlier in the week that significant progress was being reached between the two countries. For his part, Scholz told Putin a ceasefire is necessary and that the humanitarian situation needs to be improved. In a speech to Germany’s parliament earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the country of helping Russia “build a new wall” by purchasing Russian petroleum while simultaneously declining Ukraine’s request to join the EU.
How low can they go: State Duma deputies from Russia’s ruling party, United Russia, have drafted amendments to the Russian Criminal Code and Code of Administrative Offenses that would further limit what information can be spread about Russia’s activities abroad. “We’re proposing criminal charges for the spread of fake news (public dissemination of information known to be false) not only about the army, but also about any other state agencies working abroad,” said Deputy Alexander Khinshtein. The amendment may be considered by the State Duma’s information policy committee as early as next week.
Not out of the woods: According to Ukrainian human rights officer Lyudmila Denisova, 130 people have been rescued from the bomb shelter under the Mariupol theater that was bombed by Russian forces on Wednesday, but over 1300 are still stuck below the wreckage. Ukrainian authorities have reported that the lack of remaining social services in the city due to Russia’s continuous shelling is hindering rescue efforts.
The fight against inflation: Russia’s Central Bank kept its interest rate at 20% on Friday, saying the high rate had “helped sustain financial stability.” The rate was at 9.5% until late Friday, when the bank raised it to record levels to protect the economy from inflation triggered by international sanctions. According to a statement, the bank is aiming for an inflation rate of 4% by 2024.
Death in the capital: 222 people have died in [Kyiv](https://www.reuters.com/world/kyiv-says-222-killed-capital-since-start-war-including-60-civilians-2022-03-18/#:~:text=LVIV%2C%20Ukraine%20March%2018%20(Reuters,administration%20said%20in%20a%20statement.) since the war in Ukraine began, according to the authorities there. In addition, 889 people have been injured, 241 of whom were civilians, including 18 children, three ambulance drivers, and one EMT. 55 buildings have been damaged, including 36 residential buildings, six schools, and four kindergartens.
18 марта 2022 г. 16:36:43
Vladimir Astapkovich / Pool / TASS
The official broadcast of the concert marking the anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Ukraine at Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium was interrupted during Vladimir Putin’s speech.
Putin was in the middle of a sentence about the birthday of one of Russia’s military leaders when the broadcast cut off. When it returned, the screen showed earlier footage of a singer performing a patriotic song.
Before being interrupted, Putin said that Russia had “done quite a lot to improve Crimea and Sevastopol,” and that Russia had had to pull them out of the sorry state Ukraine had left them in. He also said that the goal of the “special military operation” in Ukraine is to “rid people of genocide,” quoting the Gospel of John: “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
According to a correspondent from Kommersant who was there, the event ended after Putin finished his speech.
Several minutes after the interruption, Putin’s speech was broadcast again, this time in its entirety.
Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the interruption was due to a “technical error on the server.”
19 марта 2022 г. 09:27:22
Major developments on Friday, March 18, 2022
Putin appears unto the people: Roughly 200,000 specially invited guests (mostly state employees, according to reports) attended a concert at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow to celebrate the eighth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea. The highlight of the event was a speech by Vladimir Putin. Television viewers didn’t see the end of the president’s remarks, however, as the transmission abruptly cut away to prerecorded footage of a performance by singer Oleg Gazmanov. The Kremlin attributed the incident to a technical error. In his speech, Putin repeated unfounded allegations that the Ukrainian government committed “genocide” against ethnic Russians. Describing Russians soldiers dying for each other on the battlefield, he said, “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen such unity.” Journalists at The Moscow Times reported that Putin made this speech while wearing a jacket made by the Italian clothing company Loro Piana that retails for almost $15,000.
Don’t be like her dad: The pro-invasion rally at Luzhniki Stadium also featured a speech by the actor Vladimir Mashkov, who accused Russian liberals of being “backstabbers” beholden to Europe and the United States. In an Instagram post, Mashkov’s daughter Maria mocked her father’s remarks, calling herself a “politically correct minion of the West” and comparing him to Arnold Schwarzeneggar’s father, who fought for the Nazis. “I don’t want you to be broken like my father,” the film star and former governor recently told Russians in an impassioned video shared online.
The war’s devastation, by the numbers: Artillery strikes on Friday against neighborhoods in Kyiv killed at least one person and injured another 19, including four children. Throughout the war, 109 children are known to have been killed and more than 130 have been injured, according to Ukrainian officials. So far, the United Nations has confirmed 816 civilian deaths and 1,333 injured civilians. The local authorities in the besieged city of Mariupol, however, say that Russian attacks have killed 2,358 noncombatants in their city alone. The UN says there are now 6.5 million internally displaced persons in Ukraine, 3.2 million Ukrainians have fled the country, and more than 12 million people are “stranded in affected areas or unable to leave due to heightened security risks.” Ukraine’s pre-war population was 44 million people.
The FSB grabs a Ukrainian journalist: Russian soldiers have abducted reporter Victoria Roshchyna, who was working in conflict zones in eastern and southern Ukraine. Her news organization, Hromadske, says she was likely taken into custody on March 15, and her current whereabouts remain unknown.
No more cooking shows. No more game shows: Two of Russia’s biggest state television networks, Channel One and Rossiya 1, have dropped all entertainment programming between 5 a.m. and midnight and devoted their entire broadcasting lineup to talk-show propaganda in support of the invasion of Ukraine.
The Kremlin’s woman in robes: Vladimir Putin issued an executive decree promoting Judge Margarita Kotova to the Moscow City Court. Kotova is currently presiding over the latest trial against opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who faces dubious new charges that will likely add 13 years to his prison sentence, once Kotova issues her verdict. Researchers working with Navalny’s investigative team in exile recently obtained Kotova’s telephone call records and learned that she has been in constant communication with members of the Putin administration throughout Navalny’s trial.
Already expanding the speech restrictions only just adopted: Lawmakers in the State Duma are moving forward with amendments to Russia’s recent “criminalization of fake news” about the military, planning to expand this censorship to “disinformation” about any Russian state entity that engages in “defending Russians’ interests abroad” (such as the Foreign Ministry and its embassies, the National Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and so on).
Time is running out for YouTube: Russia is likely days or even hours away from blocking YouTube. The federal censor has issued multiple complaints about restrictions and suspensions imposed on Russian state-run and Kremlin-loyal channels, and the authorities have even accused Google of “terrorist” actions. The nation’s vloggers are reportedly hurrying to move their content to Telegram, Vkontakte, and RuTube. The latter service practices “pre-moderation,” reviewing all videos before they can be shared online. Independent journalists discovered last year that it is virtually impossible to post videos like Alexey Navalny’s investigation into President Putin’s seaside “palace” in Gelendzhik.
21 марта 2022 г. 05:46:01
Latest major developments, 6:45 a.m., Moscow time (11:45 p.m., EST)
No Russian parties (for now): Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council has decided to ban several political parties with links to Russia while martial law is in effect. The banned parties include the Opposition Platform — For Life, led by close Putin ally Viktor Medvedchuk, and Nashi (Ours), led by Yevhen Murayev. The British authorities reported in January that the Russian government was considering installing Murayev as Ukraine’s new leader.
Paper problems: School administrators in St. Petersburg have proposed postponing upcoming standardized tests due to a paper shortage. On March 1, Finnish chemical company Kemire stopped providing sodium chlorate, used to turn paper white, to Russia and Belarus. The following day, Russian paper manufacturer SvetoCopy stopped producing A4 paper. As a result, the price of paper has skyrocketed in Russia in recent weeks.
Truth tellers: Since February 24, more than 15 thousand people have been arrested in Russia for protesting against the war in Ukraine, according to the independent monitoring group OVD-Info. Some have gotten off with a warning, others have received fines, while others have served time behind bars. A number of protesters, like 77-year-old Yelena Osipova, have been arrested multiple times.
VK gets personal: The Russian social media platform VKontakte has started blocking users’ personal pages. A number of users received a message that cited the Russia Attorney General’s order requiring pages that knowingly spread “false publicly significant information that threatens to harm citizens’ lives or health, or threatens to massively disrupt the public order and (or) public security” to be blocked. Multiple independent news outlets’ accounts on the social network have been blocked based on the same order.
Eight days in captivity: Ukrainian journalist Oleg Baturin has been released by his Russian kidnappers. Baturin’s sister told Hromadske that he was in captivity for almost eight days. “They humiliated him,” she said. “Threatened him. Told them they would kill him. For almost eight days. Held hostage for 187 hours. Practically no food. Several days with almost no water. No soap, no change of clothes. [...] They wanted to break him, to trample on him. To show what will happen to all journalists.” Another Ukrainian journalist, Viktoria Roshchina, is reportedly still being held captive by Russian forces. None of her colleagues have heard from her since March 12.
The 600-hour workday: After effectively being held prisoner since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, 64 Chernobyl employees were allowed to leave the defunct nuclear plant on Sunday. Over the course of their 600 hours of work, the employees worked to keep the facility’s nuclear waste facilities functioning, including after a power outage that resulted from Russian shelling and carried the risk of radiation leaks. The 64 workers were replaced by 46 “employee-volunteers.”
Hope it was worth it: The International Gymnastics Federation has demanded the disqualification of Russian gymnast Ivan Kulyak, who wore the letter Z on his uniform at a March 6 competition in Qatar where he competed against gymnasts from Ukraine and Kazakhstan. The letter has become a symbol of Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.
21 марта 2022 г. 13:59:00
On defections from Channel One
21 марта 2022 г. 14:31:33
New podcast episode 🎧
21 марта 2022 г. 15:49:33
Latest major developments, 4:45 p.m. Moscow time (9:45 a.m., EST)
Another curfew in Kyiv: Beginning this evening, Kyiv will be under an intensified curfew for at least a day and a half. The curfew will begin at 8:00 p.m., local time, on March 21, and remain in place until 7:00 a.m. on March 23, Mayor Vitaly Klitschko announced on Telegram. All shops will be closed during the curfew and residents are urged to stay at home unless prompted by air raid sirens to move to bomb shelters. On Monday, Ukrainian officials reported that at least eight people had been killed in Kyiv after Russian shelling destroyed the Retroville shopping mall.
No surrender in Mariupol: The Ukrainian authorities have rejected a proposal from Russia that their forces surrender Mariupol and lay down their arms, in exchange for safe passage out of the city. The Ukrainian side responded by demanding that Russia immediately open a humanitarian corridor for civilian evacuations.
‘Insignificant’ ammonia leak in Sumy: Early on Monday morning, authorities in Sumy reported that Russian shelling had caused an ammonia leak at a local chemical plant. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service later assured that the leak was “insignificant” and didn’t pose a threat to local residents. In turn, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that “Ukrainian nationalists” had carried out a “planned provocation” in Sumy.
Putin’s ‘Plan B’?: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is now shifting to “plan B,” senior officials in the Biden administration told the Wall Street Journal on Monday. These officials believe that Putin now intends “to compel Kyiv to accept Russian claims to Ukraine’s southern and eastern territories.” This could mean “weeks [or] possibly months” of continued attacks, officials warned, though they added an assault on Kyiv remains an “open question.” The British Defense Ministry maintains that seizing Ukraine’s capital is still Moscow’s primary military objective, and predicts that the Russian military will likely continue its attempts to encircle the city.
Slovenian solidarity: Slovenia intends to send its diplomats back to Kyiv in the near future, Prime Minister Janez Jansa announced on Sunday, March 20. Jansa is also urging other EU countries to follow suit, as a show of support for Ukraine.
21 марта 2022 г. 15:51:11
A court in Moscow has banned Meta as an “extremist” organization. The ruling takes effect “immediately.”
Russian officials charged the U.S. company with extremism after Meta allowed users inside Ukraine to post death threats against Russian troops now invading the country. Police officials and prosecutors have said the designation will only outlaw Facebook and Instagram, not WhatsApp, and Russians who still have accounts with these services will supposedly not face legal liability, though human rights lawyers warn that these promises are not reliable guarantees.
22 марта 2022 г. 07:46:52
Latest major developments in Russia and Ukraine
A servant of the people: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says any compromise with Russia on the status of Crimea and the Donbas would depend ultimately on the results of a nationwide referendum. Zelensky also argued that NATO refuses to admit Ukraine because its members fear Russia, and this means Kyiv must seek alternative security guarantees.
Counting Ukraine’s dead: The latest estimates by the United Nations confirm the deaths of 975 civilians in Ukraine, including 75 children. Thousands more are reportedly dead in the besieged city of Mariupol.
Russia bans Facebook and Instagram: After a court in Moscow granted prosecutors’ request to designate Meta as an “extremist” organization, Russia’s federal censor ordered news media organizations to stop displaying the logos of Meta, Facebook, and Instagram. Journalists in compliance with Russian state censorship must now indicate in news coverage that Meta has been banned in Russia as an “extremist” group. (Separately, Roskomnadzor also blocked the television network Euronews.)
The disappearing casualty tally: An article published online by Komsomolskaya Pravda claimed briefly that Russia’s Defense Ministry admitted to nearly 10,000 Russian soldiers dying in Ukraine. The report’s original text did not include this information and the edited version remained live for several hours before the information was removed (along with two paragraphs from the original text about the death of Russian naval captain Andrey Paliy and the destruction of two “mercenary” camps outside Zhytomyr in Ukraine). The tabloid later said its website was hacked.
At the brink: Russia’s Foreign Ministry summoned U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan to warn that President Biden’s recent comments about Putin being a “pure thug” and “murderous dictator” have brought Washington and Moscow to the brink of a full break in diplomatic relations.
Don’t call it a purge: Members of the Just Russia — For Truth political party launched an online project to petition Federal Investigative Committee head Alexander Bastrykin about fellow Russian citizens suspected of anti-state activities. The party says it’s already requested inquiries into how Channel One hired Marina Ovsyannikova (the woman who protested the war in Ukraine by interrupting a live news broadcast), how Russian Railways selected a Spanish company to service its Strizh train line, and more. “The time has come to build the state’s personnel policy on a wave of patriotism. This isn’t about purges; it’s about love for the country,” says the website. (In a related event, Channel One deputy general director Kirill Kleimyonov denounced his former colleague Ovsyannikova in a televised statement, accusing her of communicating with British diplomats before her protest.)
A treason case long in the making begins: Proceedings in the treason case against journalist Ivan Safronov have begun in Moscow. The trial is closed to the public, and journalists’ access to information about the case is limited to what they can learn from defense attorneys, who are bound by non-disclosure requirements. Safronov reportedly stands accused of passing classified information to Czech intelligence agencies working with the United States. Police arrested Safronov back in July 2020 and he has been imprisoned ever since.
23 марта 2022 г. 05:21:29
Latest major developments in Russia and Ukraine
Muratov donates his Nobel: Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muratov, who received a Nobel Peace Prize last year for his “efforts to safeguard freedom of expression” in Russia, will auction the medal and donate the proceeds to an NGO that supports Ukrainian refugees. In a statement, the paper called for the Kremlin to do five things immediately: “Stop combat fire, exchange prisoners, release the bodies of the dead, provide humanitarian corridors and assistance, and support refugees.”
Navalny... 2036?: Moscow's Lefortovo Court sentenced Alexey Navalny to nine years in a high-security penal colony and fined 1.2 million rubles (about $11,500) for fraud and contempt of court. He stood trial remotely from the penal colony in Vladimir Region, where he is serving his sentence from previous charges. After the sentencing hearing, Navalny released a statement on social media calling for his followers to keep working: “The numbers don’t mean anything. They’re just a sign above the bunks, that’s all they are. And neither I nor my comrades are going to sit around and wait.”
First rape charges of the war: The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office announced a criminal case against an unnamed Russian serviceman for violating the law and customs of war. The suspect and his fellow soldier allegedly broke into a home in Kyiv’s Brovary district while intoxicated, killed the homeowner, and raped the man’s wife multiple times, threatening her and her child. The woman and her child are now safe, and the subject has been put on the wanted list. According to Ukrainian parliament member Inna Sovsun, this marks the first time since the war began that a civilian has officially accused Russian soldiers of rape, though there have been rumors.
A lot even after inflation: Russian citizens withdrew 1.2 trillion rubles (about $11.3 billion) from banks in February — a 14-year record.
New ‘fake news’ law moves forward: The Russian State Duma approved a bill that would further crack down on “fake news” about Russian governmental activities abroad. Under the new legislation, which will go to the Federation Council for approval, anybody who spreads news about the Russian army, the National Guard, Russian embassies, or other state agencies’ operations outside of Russia could face a fine of up to 1.5 million rubles (about $14,000) and up to 15 years in prison.
Have some more sanctions: The U.S. announced new sanctions against Russia. The measures would target 300 members of the Russian State Duma and would be passed in tandem with sanctions from the E.U.
Any day now: Google is preparing for further crackdowns in Russia, including a possible ban on YouTube, Bloomberg reported. The company has assisted its Russia-based staff who wanted to relocate in recent weeks, and its advertising business has already been suspended, depriving Russian YouTubers of consumer revenue. Google also temporarily suspended the Russian military’s account after it referred to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “liberation mission.” There are currently no signs that the Russian government plans to block Google’s search function.
23 марта 2022 г. 10:09:50
A satellite image of Mariupol, a city that's been under Russian fire for 27 days.
Maxar Technologies / AP / Scanpix / LETA
23 марта 2022 г. 18:02:07
Latest major developments in Russia and Ukraine
Top Kremlin official resigns: Anatoly Chubais, Vladimir Putin’s Special Envoy for Relations with International Organizations, has resigned from his post and left the country. An associate of Putin’s since the 1990s, Chubais was largely responsible for Russia’s post-Soviet privatization drive. He has held top posts in both the private sector and the Russian government for all of Putin’s presidency, and is the highest-ranking official thus far to resign in protest of the war.
Embassy spies: According to the Polish government, the EU has “expelled 45 Russian spies pretending to be diplomats” from Poland. While specific allegations have not been made publicly, a Polish Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that the “illegal activities” of the expelled Russian officials “pose a threat to those people who left their country to flee the war and found protection in our country.” The diplomats were given five days to leave the country, with the exception of one person who was given only 48 hours. The Russian government denied the accusations.
It's not called G19: Russia’s ambassador to Indonesia reported that Vladimir Putin intends to attend October’s G20 summit, despite recent discussions among other members about excluding him from the group of the world’s largest economies. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson supported continued Russian membership, calling for “multilateralism, unity, and cooperation,” and saying Russia is an “important member.”
Russia can’t swim: Russian and Belarusian athletes have been suspended from participating in the FINA World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, which will be held in June and July 2022. In response, the All-Russian Swimming Federation announced that it will remove its athletes from all tournaments for the rest of the year.
Putin and Scholz: Vladimir Putin spoke directly with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday. While details from the Kremlin were sparse, Die Zeit reports that Scholz warned Putin that the use of biological or chemical weapons in Ukraine would be “unacceptable and unforgivable.” The topic was the result of recent Russian claims that the Ukrainian or American governments might use such weapons in the near future, which seemed to Scholz “like an implicit threat that Putin himself is considering using such weapons.”
Belarusian-Ukrainian relations get worse: Belarus expelled almost all Ukrainian diplomats on Wednesday; only the ambassador and four diplomats will be allowed to stay and work in the country. As a result, the Ukrainian Consulate General in Brest will be closed. Belarus has maintained close relations with Russia since the beginning of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
On March 23, an air strike in Kyiv killed two civilians, one of whom was Oksana Baulina, a Russian investigative journalist and former activist at Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation. News of Baulina’s death shocked her friends and colleagues in Russia’s news media and human rights community. On social media, people described their last interactions with her, often sharing screenshots of what proved to be their final correspondence.
Olga Shakina, a friend who now works for the media wing of the human rights group Department One, remembered Baulina in a message shared on the organization’s Telegram channel. Meduza translates that text below.
Oksana and I met literally under the splashes of champagne. She had a wonderful, sparkling Moscow career — top positions at glossy magazines, parties, press tours of five-star hotels on tropical islands. In 2014, she took over at CN [Condé Nast] Traveler — the Russian version of the most luxurious travel magazine on the planet. But it only lasted a few months because — the moment the magazine went against her wishes and ran a paid puff piece on the pleasures of vacationing in Crimea — Baulina immediately turned down the large salary, the fat insurance package, and the life of perpetual extravagance.
As I recall, she was the only journalist in the entertainment industry who did anything like that, all while everyone else mumbled that “glossy magazines are outside politics” and kept spinning in their whirlwind of enchanting parties and marvelous travels — whether for a fashion show in Grozny staged by [Chechen ruler Ramzan] Kadyrov’s daughter or a celebration in Tashkent for [former Uzbekistani President Islam] Karimov’s daughter.
Oksana went on to help make [the YouTube channel] Navalny LIVE and then left for Warsaw to work at Belsat and The Insider, and from there, from Warsaw, she moved to Lviv and Kyiv when the war began.
She never could sit on the sidelines. She was always principled and ferociously unbending. It was even a bit exhausting at times.
Ten years ago, when we stood there holding our bubbling glasses at that grand opening of whatever glittering Moscow thing, if I’d been told what would happen today, I… I don’t actually know how I would have reacted. I don’t know how to react now. How many more good people have to die before this war stalls and ends altogether? I offer my condolences to Oksana’s family and friends. For the Russian authorities, I have only hatred. No to war!
24 марта 2022 г. 16:49:51
Latest major developments in Russia and Ukraine
On the ground in Ukraine
Russian warship destroyed: Ukrainian officials reported on Thursday that the military had destroyed a Russian landing ship, the Orsk, in the occupied port city of Berdyansk. The Ukrainian military also posted footage on social media that purportedly shows the Russian ship on fire. The Russian Defense Ministry has yet to comment on this information.
The battle for Izyum: The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Thursday morning that its forces had taken control of Izyum — a city in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. In turn, Ukrainian officials told CNN that the battle for Izyum is “still going on.”
Displacement crisis continues: Russia’s war in Ukraine has displaced 4.3 million children — more than half of the country’s estimated child population, according to UNICEF. This includes more than 1.8 million children who have fled abroad as refugees and 2.5 million children who are displaced inside Ukraine. The UN Human Rights Office reports that 78 children have been killed and 105 have been injured in Ukraine since Russia invaded on February 24. The actual toll is believed to be much higher. The Ukrainian authorities have reported 178 children killed and more than 172 wounded.
The Russian economy
Trading is back: The Moscow Stock Exchange partially resumed trading on Thursday, for the first time since February 28. Russia’s MOEX stock index rebounded over the course of the day, making early gains of more than 11 percent and closing at 4.4 percent.
More UK sanctions: The UK announced 65 new sanctions on Thursday, targeting key Russian industries, banks, and business elites. Restrictions were imposed on Russian Railways, the Wagner Group, and multiple defense companies, including Kronshtadt, the main producer of Russian drones. The sanctions also targeted six more banks, including Alfa Bank. Among the individuals sanctioned are Tinkoff bank founder Oleg Tinkov, Sberbank CEO German Gref, and Polina Kovaleva — the step daughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. In addition, the UK sanctioned Galina Danilchenko, the Russian-installed puppet “mayor” of Melitopol, making her the first individual sanctioned for collaborating with Russian forces in Ukraine.
More U.S. sanctions: Washington also imposed new sanctions on Thursday over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. All 328 of Russia’s State Duma lawmakers have been added to the U.S. sanctions list, along with 48 Russian defense companies, and Sberbank CEO German Gref.
Anonymous strikes again: The Russian Central Bank was hacked on Thursday, according to a Twitter account linked to the hacker group Anonymous. The tweet also says that the group plans to leak some 35,000 files within 48 hours. Spokespeople for the Russian Central Bank told TASS that reports about the hack aren’t true.
Other news from Russia
The return of Shoigu: On the heels of journalists pointing out that Sergey Shoigu hasn’t been seen in public since March 11, Russian state media has published a video of the defense minister attending a National Security Council meeting with President Vladimir Putin (albeit via video link). Also on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refuted media reports that Shoigu is suffering from health problems.
Google green-lights ‘non-news’: YouTube has unblocked two state-funded Russian media channels belonging to the Gosteleradiofond (the State Fund for Television and Radio Programs). In a comment quoted by RBC, YouTube’s parent company, Google, said that it has no intention of restricting access to Russian state media content that isn’t news.
Roskomnadzor red-lights Google News: Russia’s censorship agency blocked Google News on Wednesday, for providing access to “fake news” about Russia’s “special military operation” — the Kremlin’s euphemism for war — in Ukraine. This came at the request of the Russian Attorney General’s Office.
Fifth time’s a charm: Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency has extended the ban on flights to 11 airports in central and southern parts of the country until April 1. The ban affects the Anapa, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Gelendzhik, Krasnodar, Kursk, Lipetsk, Rostov-on-Don, Simferopol, and Elista airports. The flight ban has now been extended five times since it was first imposed on February 24.
25 марта 2022 г. 05:01:08
Latest major developments in Russia and Ukraine
America steps up: U.S. President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. would accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees to ease the burden on Ukraine’s neighbors, calling the crisis “an international responsibility.” About 3.6 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion, causing some to criticize Biden’s offer as too small. The U.S. will also donate $1 billion in security assistance to Ukraine.
Wrong building: Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov announced that the Mariupol city administration building had been taken over by Chechen troops. He posted a video on Telegram that showed Chechen fighters surrounding a building, including one flying the Chechen flag from the building’s roof. The video quickly spread through pro-Russian media outlets; the building shown, however, was the Levoberezhny District Prosecutor’s Office, not the Mariupol city administration building.
Serious about sanctions: The G7 countries announced their commitment to reducing dependence on Russian energy companies. The leaders called on countries that produce oil and gas to “act responsibility and increase supplies to international markets,” adding that OPEC “must play a key role.” The group also reiterated its commitment to making sure the sanctions already imposed on Russia are carried out fully, including by working with other countries to prevent “evasion, circumvention and backfilling that seek to undercut or mitigate the effects of our sanctions.”
First official prisoner exchange: Ukraine and Russia conducted their first official prisoner exchange since the war began. According to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine traded 10 soldiers for 10 Russian soldiers. Russia also returned 19 Ukrainian civilian sailors, who were captured as they tried to escape from Snake Island in the early days of the war, in exchange for 11 Russian sailors who were saved from a sinking ship by Ukrainian forces.
Still not convinced: The Russian Defense Ministry reported that Sergey Shoigu spoke with his Armenian counterpart Suren Papikyan by phone today. Shoigu’s whereabouts and health status recently came into question after journalists noticed the minister had not been seen in public since March 11. On Thursday, Russian state media published a video that showed Shoigu attending a video meeting of the National Security Council, but journalists from the Moscow Times and Mediazona reported that the video appears to be spliced together from old footage of Shoigu.
Russia tries to supplant the hryvnia: Russia has begun trying to put Russian rubles into circulation in the Melitopol, the Zaporizhzhia, and the Kherson region in Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation. UNIAN reported that Russian forces are attempting to limit imports of hryvnias, transition retail sales to rubles, and gather personal data from pensioners and social benefit recipients in order to pay them in rubles.
Biden warns Putin: Joe Biden announced that if Russia uses chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, the U.S. will respond. “The nature of the response would depend on the nature of the use,” said Biden, who traveled to Brussels on Thursday to meet with NATO and EU leaders. Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of possessing the banned weapons with increasing frequency in recent weeks, leading many to suspect he plans to use them himself.
New Canadian sanctions: Canada imposed new sanctions against 160 members of Russia’s Federation Council for “having facilitated and enabled violations of Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity.” The country will ban the export of certain goods and technologies to Russia in the coming days “with the aim of undermining and eroding the capabilities of the Russian military.”
Zelensky addresses G7: Volodymyr Zelensky addressed G7 leaders in a video call, warning them that Russia will “will not" stop at Ukraine if they succeed in the current war and criticizing NATO for not instituting a no-fly zone over Ukraine, something NATO leaders have repeatedly said is a non-starter. “Better to give Ukraine the weapons we need now than to search for weapons for other countries later — Georgia, Moldova, the Baltic states, Poland, and Central Asia countries,” Zelensky said.
25 марта 2022 г. 16:59:15
For technical reasons, Meduza is ending this live blog and moving to coverage here.
Russia’s war against Ukraine • Медуза • RIMA — архив российских независимых медиа
