Austria declared two Russian embassy diplomats persona non grata due to actions “incompatible with their diplomatic status” and ordered them to leave the country by March 19, the Austrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The ministry did not provide details. The number of Russian diplomats expelled by Austria since 2020 has reached 11. Some previous expulsions, as Reuters writes, citing officials, were related to suspicions of espionage, but in these cases the details are unknown.

Ambassadors of 27 EU countries have agreed on a reform of the European Peace Fund, which will allow Ukraine to allocate an additional five billion euros in military assistance in 2024, the reported . Belgian Presidency of the EU Council The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, also confirmed that the ambassadors had agreed on reform. “The fund will allow us to increase military support to Ukraine by another five billion euros.

The head of Boris Nadezhdin's election headquarters in Kaluga, Konstantin Larionov, said that he was beaten on his way home from work. The message, which was published on Larionov’s telegram channel, states that there were three attackers. They approached Larionov not far from Suvorov Street, surrounded him, threw him to the ground and began beating him with their hands and feet.

Spartak Moscow football player Quincy Promes was arrested in Dubai at the request of the Dutch prosecutor's office, De Telegraaf reports , citing a representative of the prosecutor's office. The arrest is related to the Netherlands' request for extradition, the publication clarifies. Until today, Promes was under house arrest, but is now in custody, writes De Telegraaf.

Moscow pediatrician and author of the blog “Notes of a Children's Doctor” Sergei Butriy announced that he left Russia. Butry said that on February 22 he was detained on his way to work “for a number of phrases from an interview with [journalist Katerina] Gordeeva,” interrogated and sentenced to 10 days of arrest. “During the process of serving [the arrest], they clearly hinted that this would not be the end of it.

Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova said that she would appeal to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in connection with Latvia’s intention to limit Russians’ access to the Russian Embassy to vote in the presidential elections.

The prosecutor's office of the North-Western District of Moscow issued a warning to the activist of the "Way Home" movement, Maria Andreeva, about the inadmissibility of violating the law in connection with her plans to take part in "uncoordinated public events" on March 17 at 12:00. The document received from the prosecutor’s office was published by Andreeva herself.

Vladimir Putin talks NATO, nukes, and negotiations in pre-election interview With just two days left before his fifth run for Russia’s presidency, Vladimir Putin sat down with state TV presenter Dmitry Kiselyov for an expansive interview on Wednesday. The 1.5-hour conversation touched on topics ranging from Finland’s NATO accession to Poland’s alleged ulterior motives in helping Ukraine to Wagner Group’s activities in Africa. Meduza summarizes the main points.

A Russian prisoner-turned-soldier, convicted of murder and accused of raping minors, teaches children about patriotism @aunt_owl After returning from the war in Ukraine, many Russian soldiers are invited to speak about their experiences at schools and patriotic events for children. Among them is Nikita Semyanov, a 35-year-old from Novosibirsk, who was recruited to fight in the war while serving a nine-year prison sentence for murder.

Russian President Vladimir Putin canceled the transfer of shares of the French company Danone to the temporary management of the Federal Property Management Agency (that is, actual nationalization). The presidential decree, published on the official portal, declares the subparagraph of the decree of July 16, 2023, which nationalized Danone, to be no longer in force. The reasons for the cancellation were not specified.

Vice President of Lukoil Vitaly Robertus died at the age of 53, according to a company press release. The reasons for his death are not stated. The obituary states that Robertus's work history was related “exclusively” to Lukoil, where he worked for 30 years. He got a job at the company immediately after graduating from college as an economist. The press release also notes that Robertus was awarded state and departmental awards.

The US House of Representatives has approved a bill that would ban the use of the TikTok social network in the country unless it is spun off from the Chinese company ByteDance that owns it, CNN reports . The bill would give ByteDance about five months to sell TikTok. If this is not done, then app stores will have to remove TikTok from their downloads. However, those who have the application installed will be able to continue to use it, but it will not be updated, the BBC notes .

The Komsomolsk group will not hold three previously announced concerts - in Yekaterinburg, Perm and Ufa. The group itself reported this on social networks, and the Yekaterinburg publication Itʼs My City drew attention to this. Concerts that were due to take place in March and April have been postponed due to "logistical difficulties", the band said. For now, the musicians hope that the performances will take place in October, and say that all tickets already sold will be valid.

Your Browser Does Not Support the Audio Element. Dream Twentieth: Wooden Russia. We say goodbye to abandoned huts, rural clubs, carved facades - and the podcast of Atlantis In the final of the second season, the leading Andrei Peresov and Andrei Pershin say goodbye to wooden Russia: huts, apartment buildings, churches and even wooden mosques. What attracted us to such architecture? How did it live in it? And why is it getting less and less?

The attack on Alexei Navalny's associate Leonid Volkov in Vilnius was likely an operation organized and carried out by Russia to stop opposition projects related to the Russian presidential election. This, as the Lithuanian portal 15min writes , was stated by the Department of State Security of Lithuania (DSS). The department noted that various operations by Kremlin structures against the Baltic countries have been carried out for the past year.