In recent months, the resignation of the head of the company, Vladimir Kiriyenko, the son of the first deputy head of the presidential administration, Sergei Kiriyenko, has been “actively discussed,” The Bell writes , citing four sources. One of the publication’s interlocutors cites strained relations between Kiriyenko and Stepan Kovalchuk, who heads the VK group of content projects, as a possible reason for the resignation.

Former First Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Moscow Region Svetlana Strigunkova was detained in Moscow. She is suspected of receiving a bribe, TASS writes , citing law enforcement agencies. The agency's source said that the amount of the bribe, as well as the bribe-giver, are being established.

One of the founders of the Olimpsitistroy company, a construction contractor for the Russian Ministry of Defense, testified against Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, who was arrested in a bribery case, TASS reports , citing investigation materials. The name of the businessman who is a witness in the case has not been released. TASS's interlocutor claims that he was the beneficiary of several companies from which Ivanov and the second defendant in the case, Sergei Borodin, received bribes.

Vladimir Zelensky said that he has “accurate information” from Ukrainian intelligence about Russia’s plans to disrupt the “peace summit” planned to be held in Switzerland in mid-June.

In 2023, on the eve of Russia’s patriotic Victory Day celebration, red Xs began appearing on streets in Moscow. Rumors that their purpose was to help attackers aim missiles at the city started spreading on Telegram almost immediately. The following day, a 25-year-old electrician named Konstantin Kochanov was arrested for drawing the marks. He’d been instructed to do so by an anonymous Telegram account that contacted him after he reached out to Ukraine’s “I Want to Live” program .

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said that the messenger received official letters from Apple, which indicate the inevitability of “certain changes” for users with Ukrainian SIM cards. Letters from Apple, according to Durov, concern general news and propaganda channels. “As I explained in my interview, in order to remain accessible to its users, Telegram must take into account requests coming from application stores,” Durov wrote.

The United States secretly sent long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine, including them in a $300 million military aid package that Joe Biden approved on March 12, Reuters writes , citing a US official. According to him, Ukraine first used missiles with a range of up to 300 kilometers on April 17, striking a military airfield in Crimea. The consequences of the strike are not reported. Politico writes that long-range missiles have already been used twice.

Fearing mobilization, some Ukrainians are risking a treacherous swim to Romania. Scammers are cashing in. VargaA / Wikimedia Commons The Tysa River and the Velykyi Bychkiv settlement Fearing they’ll be drafted and sent to the front, thousands of Ukrainian men have fled across the Tysa River into Romania. Smugglers exploit their desperation, often charging thousands of dollars to ferry people across before offering just a life jacket or a flimsy rubber boat at the river’s edge.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Court has sentenced popular rapper Toumaj Salehi, 33, to death for supporting anti-government protests in the country, Reuters reports. The musician was arrested in October 2022 after he publicly spoke out in support of the protesters, including recording songs about it. Salehi was accused of "spreading corruption on Earth," a crime punishable by death. In 2023, the rapper was sentenced to six years and three months in prison.

The Syktyvkar City Court arrested Russian chess player Garry Kasparov and former State Duma deputy Gennady Gudkov in absentia on charges of creating a “terrorist community,” financing “terrorist activities,” and public calls for terrorism. Along with them, activist Evgenia Chirikova and former executive director of the Russian Solidarity movement Ivan Tyutrin were also charged in absentia. All four are charged with articles 205.1, 205.2 and 205.4.

US President Joe Biden signed a national security law providing for the allocation of military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of $61 billion, he said at a briefing at the White House. "It's a good day for America, it's a good day for Europeans, it's a good day for the world - and that matters," Biden said. According to him, signing the law will improve security not only for America, but also for the entire world, and will provide U.S.

At a meeting on eliminating the consequences of floods in the regions, Vladimir Putin asked the acting head of Kurgan, Anastasia Argysheva, where the mayor of the city was. Upon learning that she had resigned, the president proposed organizing elections. “Anastasia Nikolaevna, where is the head of Kurgan?” Putin asked. He was told that the head of Kurgan had resigned in January. “Well, then we need to take appropriate measures and organize elections normally,” Putin responded.

Reactions to this film (second series of reactions) Aleksei Navalny’s associates have released the second series of the documentary project “Traitors,” which is dedicated to the history of Russia in the 1990s and the reign of the first president Boris Yeltsin, after which Vladimir Putin came to power in the country. The new series focuses on loan-for-shares auctions and the 1996 presidential election. The FBK film can be viewed here , and a brief retelling of it can be read here .

The national Ukrainian telethon, launched at the start of Russia's full-scale invasion and covering major developments on the front daily, has given Ukrainian authorities "an unprecedented level of control" over prime-time television news. That's the conclusion reached by the US State Department in its report on human rights violations.

Your Browser Does Not Support the Audio Element. The Russian authorities are doing everything to ban books of objectionable authors - but it turns out badly. The main reason: they themselves do not understand who is objectionable to them On April 23, it became known about the creation of a book in Russia in Russia. This center determines whether the published books correspond to Russian norms, and gives recommendations for their seizure in case of violations.