Bulgarian police found a truck with the bodies of 18 people near Sofia. This was reported by the local news agency BTA with reference to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the department, all the dead are citizens of Afghanistan. One of the victims is a 6-7 year old boy. In total, more than 50 people were transported in a truck hidden in a secret compartment under a load of wood, the report said. The cause of death of some of these people was suffocation, told reporters.

Idris Arsamikov, a Chechen man who fled Russia due to persecution over his homosexuality and who was detained on 16 February in Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, has published a video address on his VK, Russian social media platform, page. “I am now in Chechnya, in my home. I am alive and well. <…> I wasn’t even touched with a finger <…> I ask you, LGBT-ers, to leave me alone with your attempts to protect my rights. Chechnya values my rights and respects me as a human being.

Pussy Riot member Rita Flores (Margarita Konovalova) has vanished after her Moscow apartment was searched, another Pussy Riot Olga Borisova told Novaya Gazeta Europe. According to Borisova, Flores told her lawyer Daniil Bergman in the morning that her Moscow flat was searched, she was detained and was taken to a police station. Moreover, her phone was being taken away. It is not clear what prompted the detention.

Chechen Idris Arsamikov, who fled Russia from persecution because of his homosexuality, who was abducted from Domodedovo airport the day before, published a video message on his VK page. “I am now in Chechnya, at home. Alive, healthy. <…> They didn’t even touch me with a finger <…>. I ask you, LGBT people, to leave me alone with your attempts to protect my rights. In Chechnya, my rights are valued and respected as a person.

BBC News Russian and Mediazona have identified 14,709 Russian service members killed in the Ukraine war. In the past two weeks, the journalists and a team of volunteers found the names of 1,679 dead military personnel which is five times higher than the average numbers for the same period of time. This fact can be a consequence of Russia’s most recent Donbas offensive, the BBC notes. According to the media, this is the highest increase in Russian casualties since the war began.

Pussy Riot Pussy Rita Flores (Margarita Konovalova) disappeared after a search in her apartment in Moscow. This was reported by the Pussy Riot participant Olga Borisova. Photo: Rita Flores / Instagram Updated at 23:10 Moscow time Rita Flores was found at home, reports OVD-info with reference to Berman's lawyer.

The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation included the journalist Andrey Loshak, the historian Andrey Zubov and the Vozrozhdeniye school of free social thought in the register of "foreign agents". This was reported on the website of the department. According to the Ministry of Justice, Zubov teaches at a foreign university, "participated in the creation and dissemination of materials by foreign agents, and also disseminated false information" about the authorities.

A video has surfaced online showing men in military uniforms apologizing on the parade ground for complaining about the lack of uniforms. It is alleged that these are mobilized from Samara. The video was published by the telegram channel “We can explain”. The editors of the channel said that they received a video from a friend of one of the mobilized. On it you can see that the soldiers were brought to the parade ground under escort and in a car equipped with an iron chamber.

Since the beginning of the Russian war in Ukraine, journalists from the BBC Russian Service and Mediazona have identified 14,709 dead Russian servicemen. Over the past two weeks, journalists, along with a team of volunteers, have counted the names of 1,679 dead, five times the usual weekly number. This may be a consequence of the offensive that Russia launched in the Donbass, the BBC notes.

Former guard of the British Embassy in Germany David Smith has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for espionage for Russia, Reuters reports . The man, 58, has been found guilty of handing over information about embassy staffers and additional data on activities of British diplomats to Russian officials and secret services. The BBC reports that judge Mark Wall said that he would not decide where Smith would serve his sentence. The location will determine the minimal prison term.

The qualification commission of the Law Chamber of the Krasnodar Territory deprived the lawyer's status of human rights activist Mikhail Benyash at the request of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. Benyash reported this in his telegram channel. Photo: m_benyash / twitter The human rights activist told Lawyer Street that he plans to challenge this decision. “I said [in the post] that servile conjuncture are sitting in the councils of [lawyer's chambers].

The Dzhankoy District Court of Crimea sentenced Aleksey Kiselyov, the former captain of the Ukrainian ship Slavutich, to eight years and six months in a strict regime colony. This was reported by the correspondent of "Grati" from the courtroom. According to the card, Kiselyov was found guilty of participation in an armed formation not provided for by federal law (part 2 of article 208 of the Criminal Code).

Police officers are not disclosing the whereabouts of Idris Arsamikov, gay Chechen man who faced persecution over his homosexuality, to his lawyers after the man was detained and kidnapped from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport. The lawyers are not allowed to enter the Chechnya police station where he could have been taken to, SK SOS crisis group told Novaya Gazeta Europe. The human rights activists note that no news has come out about Arsamikov for more than 24 hours.

A 35-year-old English teacher from Kansk in the Krasnoyarsk Territory spoke of being tortured after being detained. This is reported by the portal "Prospect Mira" with reference to the man's mother and lawyer. On the evening of October 16, 2022, a man shot at the banner “Contract service is your choice” in the center of Kansk with a hunting rifle registered to him. The next day he was arrested. According to lawyer Vladimir Ilkov, he surrendered to the National Guard on his own.

A court in Ukraine has sentenced Anton Krasovsky, a TV presenter and broadcast director of the RT channel, to five years in prison with confiscation of property. This was reported by the Security Service of Ukraine. Krasovsky was found guilty under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - Part 3 of Art. 109 (public calls for the violent overthrow of the constitutional order) and Part 2 of Art. 442 (public calls for genocide).