Russia’s Foreign Ministry endorses conspiracy-theorist initiative that attributes Alexey Navalny’s near-fatal illness to psychiatric drugs, not a chemical weapon Alexey Malgavko / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA Alexey Navalny is loaded onto an ambulance aircraft in Omsk before being rushed to Germany for emergency medical attention, following exposure to a deadly poison. August 22, 2020.

Journalists from the TV channels 112 Ukraine, NewsOne and ZIK, which were blocked in early February due to sanctions against their owner, announced on the evening of February 26 the creation of a new TV channel, Pershiy Nezalezhniy . The statement on the 112 Ukraine website reported that the new TV channel would broadcast via satellite and would appear on the largest cable networks Volya, Triolan and other operators.

The US State Department has banned entry into the US of 76 Saudi Arabian officials who have threatened dissidents abroad, were involved in the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and other crimes, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement . At the same time, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act against the Saudi Arabian Rapid Response Force and General Ahmad Asiri, a close aide to the Saudi Crown Prince.

Investigators detained two current employees of the Yaroslavl colony No. 1 after Novaya Gazeta published videos of two prisoners being tortured. This was reported on the Telegram channel by the Public Verdict Foundation . Director of the Public Verdict Foundation Natalia Taubina told MBKh Media that the detainees are most likely charged with abuse of power with the use of violence. On February 27, the Zavolzhsky Court of Yaroslavl will choose a measure of restraint for the FSIN employees.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin proposed leaving Lubyanka Square unchanged and stopping the vote on the issue of installing a monument on the square. He reported this on his blog. After two days of voting, supporters of Alexander Nevsky were winning by a small margin, but it was still clear that public opinion was split roughly in half. And the voting itself was increasingly turning into a confrontation between people with different views. And this is not very good.

How the "Russian doctor from Switzerland" became an instrument of Russian foreign policy - and who is he. The EU introduces COVID-19 passports. How the crisis will develop in Armenia Good evening, This is Meduza's daily newsletter about the most important news of the day. Well, here we are at the end of the week! Although it wasn't that hard. Here, Russian diplomats who were returning home from the DPRK had to cross the bridge over the Tumannaya River on a railcar .

“Once Upon a Time in Russia” is a parody show that airs on TNT and in the Premier online cinema. The creators emphasize that there is no censorship: they joke about TV propagandists and film sketches about Alexei Navalny. On February 21, the 17th episode of the seventh season of the show was released, in which comedian Azamat Musagaliev parodies Vladimir Solovyov; the sketch also includes parodies of Dmitry Kiselev, Olga Skabeeva, and Artem Sheinin.

The co-chairman of the World Congress of the Ingush People, the former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ingushetia, Akhmed Pogorov, was detained in Nazran on a case of violence against government officials at unsanctioned rallies held in Ingushetia in 2019. This was reported by the Investigative Committee of Russia. Pogorov was detained at his home in Nazran, said earlier on February 26.

Labour MP Chris Bryant has announced his resignation from the international human rights organisation Amnesty International, where he has been a member since 1986. Bryant told The Daily Telegraph that he made the decision after a human rights group stripped Russian politician Alexei Navalny of his prisoner of conscience status. Everyone has the right to a fair trial, no one should be tortured, and no one should be imprisoned for their political views.

Armed criminals have kidnapped 317 girls from a boarding school in Nigeria's Zamfara state, the Associated Press reported, citing state government spokesman Mohammed Shehu. At 1:45 am on February 26, the criminals arrived on 20 motorcycles at a public school located in the city of Dzhangebe. They broke into the dormitories where the schoolgirls lived, spent about three hours on the school grounds, after which they took the girls into the forest, CNN reports , citing unnamed Nigerian officials.

In the Chelyabinsk region, a tram equipped with special brushes was launched to remove snow from the rails. From the outside, it looked like footage from the movie (or TV series) "Snowpiercer", in which an armored train rushes through the frozen Earth. Passers-by and drivers filmed the tram. It's not that such trams or snowbrushes are rare (quite the contrary!), but track cleaning doesn't turn into a Hollywood blockbuster everywhere.

The Telegram group of companies is suffering losses; its assets do not cover its liabilities. Without issuing bonds, which Kommersant previously reported , the group will not be able to pay urgent debts. This is reported by VTimes, which reviewed Telegram’s financial statements for 2018-2020 (the company sent them out to potential bond buyers). Telegram's loss in 2018 amounted to $172.7 million, in 2019 - 150.9 million.

Your Browser Does Not Support the Audio Element. Due to the defeat in Karabakh, Armenia is experiencing the deepest political crisis. Will the first military coup in the former USSR really be about there? On February 25, the General Staff of Armenia demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Nikola Pashinyan. Paradoxically, the conflict happened due to the fact that the Prime Minister of Armenia in an interview did not respond well to the Iskander Russian missiles in service.

US President Joe Biden said that the US authorities will never recognize the annexation of Crimea to Russia. a corresponding statement He issued on the occasion of the Day of Resistance to the Occupation of Crimea and Sevastopol, which is celebrated on February 26 in Ukraine. Today, the United States, as it has since the beginning of this conflict [in Ukraine], continues to support Ukraine and its allies and partners. On this grim anniversary, we reaffirm the simple truth: Crimea is Ukraine.

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation again proposed to forgive some crimes and consider them criminal offenses. The corresponding bill was submitted to the State Duma. If the bill is passed, those who have committed criminal offenses will be released from criminal liability. This is the second attempt by the Supreme Court to pass such a law. The first failed after negative feedback from the Russian government. Now the government has formally supported the bill.