Man behind Banksy mural theft in Ukraine could face 12 years in prison Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP / Scanpix / LETA The wall in Hostomel from which Banksy’s graffiti was cut. December 3, 2022 In November, after much speculation, the British street artist Banksy confirmed that he had painted seven murals in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale war, including in war-torn locations such as the village of Borodyanka and the city of Irpin.

The Soviet and Russian politician, the last chairman of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR Ruslan Khasbulatov died on January 3 at the age of 80. This was announced by human rights activist Alexander Cherkasov. The death of Khasbulatov was also confirmed by Kommersant by his relatives. Gennady Khamelyanin / TASS Ruslan Khasbulatov at a rally in Urus-Martan, August 18, 1994 Ruslan Khasbulatov was born in 1942 in Grozny.

Soviet dissident Victor Finberg died on January 2 at the 92nd year of life, his family said . The funeral will take place on January 5 in Israel. Aubrey Hart / Evening Standard / Hulton Archive / Getty Images Victor Fainberg with his wife Marina in the UK, November 1975 Victor Fainberg was born in Kharkov in 1931. He studied philology at the University of Leningrad. In the winter of 1968, he joined the Soviet movement of dissidents.

Russian officials call to revoke singer Valery Meladze's citizenship after video shows him repeating Ukrainian slogan A video that emerged on social media this weekend appears to show Russian singer Valery Meladze responding to the words “Glory to Ukraine” at a New Year’s Eve party in Dubai. In the clip, the person behind the camera calls out the slogan to Meladze while the singer is giving a speech.

He faces up to 12 years in prison Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP / Scanpix / Leta the wall of the house in GOSTEL, with which Graffiti Banksy was cut. December 3, 2022 The police of the Kiev region charged the organizer of the abduction of one of the seven graffiti, drawn by the British street artist Banksy in Ukraine - a woman’s drawing in a gas mask on the wall of a destroyed house in Gostol.

President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian Ministry of Culture to organize screenings of “patriotic” documentaries across the nation’s cinemas. Films about the war against Ukraine (which Russian officials continue to call a “special military operation”), about Russia’s “struggle against the spread of Neo-Nazi and Neo-fascist ideologies,” and other “patriotic” subjects are to be screened in theaters nationwide, following the president’s order.

Vladimir Putin has instructed the Ministry of Culture to ensure that documentary films dedicated to the "special military operation" and "the fight against the spread of neo-Nazi and neo-fascist ideology" are shown in Russian cinemas. The department is also obliged to organize a festival of patriotic documentary films. The head of the Ministry of Culture Olga Lyubimova must prepare proposals for this by February 1, 2023.

The Russian chess grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk will join the Swiss women’s national chess team as of January 1, 2024. Kosteniuk, the 2008 women’s chess world champion, ranks ninth among the world’s female chess players. Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she has played under the flag of the World Chess Federation (FIDE), in protest of the war. Kosteniuk became a Swiss national through marriage, at 18.

Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets plans to meet with his Russian counterpart, Tatyana Moskalkova, sometime in January, he said on Monday. According to Lubinets, one of the main items on the meeting's agenda will be the release of Ukrainian civilians from Russian captivity. As of now, he reported, a total of 1,596 Ukrainian citizens have been released from Russian captivity.

Now Russian officials want to deprive him of citizenship and declare him a "foreign agent" A video appeared on social networks from Valery Meladze's speech at a New Year's corporate party in Dubai, filmed by one of the spectators. In it, the author of the video, addressing the singer, says "Glory to Ukraine!" In response, Meladze, removing the microphone from his mouth, presumably says “Glory to the Heroes” and winks. After that, the viewer shouts approvingly: “Oh, handsome!

On December 31, the Ukrainian military launched a strike on Russian forces in Chulakivka, a Russian-occupied village in the country’s Kherson region, the Ukrainian General Staff reported on Tuesday. Approximately 500 Russian soldiers were reportedly killed or injured as a result of the attack. In addition, the agency reported, Ukraine launched a strike on Russian troops in Fedorivka, another village in the Kherson region, on January 1.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has acknowledged the missile strike on Druzhkivka, a city in the Russian-annexed Donetsk region of Ukraine. In a January 3 press briefing, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that two HIMARS rocket launchers, four RM-70 Vampire rocket launchers, over 800 rockets for them, and six vehicles were destroyed, as a result of missile and air strikes on the alleged “accumulation of military equipment” near the Druzhkivka railway station.

The Security Service of Ukraine has announced that it has collected extensive evidence of two high-ranking Russian military officials’ criminal involvement in the air raids and missile strikes on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Felony charges are pressed against Colonel General Sergey Kobylash, commander of the long-range aviation of the Russian Space Forces, and Admiral Igor Osipov, the former commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

The director’s father was first fired from the post of director of the theater, and now they were detained Theater "Red Torch" / Wikimedia Commons The Novosibirsk State Theater "Red Torch" in December fired from the post of director Alexander Kulyabin, the father of director Timofei Kulyabin, who opposed the war in Ukraine. On January 24, the Novosibirsk Prosecutor's Office said that Kulyabin Sr.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation confirmed that it struck the city of Druzhkovka in the Donetsk region. The representative of the department, Igor Konashenkov, at a briefing on January 3, stated that as a result of missile and aviation attacks on the accumulation of military equipment in the area of ​​the Druzhkovka railway station, two launchers of the HIMARS RSOs, four RMO-70 Vampire RSOs, more than 800 jet equipment for them and six cars were destroyed.