Photo: Dmitry Kostennikov A monument to Felix Dzerzhinsky, the head of the Cheka, the first Soviet secret police organisation, has been erected in the Chernoistochinsk village near the city of Nizhny Tagil in the Russian Urals, local media outlets reported this week. Nizhny Tagil politician Dmitry Kostennikov, the man responsible for the monument’s installation, explained to independent outlet Podyom that those who criticise the decision “simply don’t know history”.

Photo: Sergey Dolzhenko / EPA Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky published an open letter to Vladimir Putin on Thursday proposing the two leaders meet in person and negotiate a peace agreement. Zelensky said such a meeting could be held in one of the “countries that have traditionally hosted leaders to resolve issues of war and peace”, such as Switzerland, Türkiye, or an Arab country. He added that the U.S. and European countries could be a part of the process.

Church of the Holy Mother of God Katoghike, Yerevan, Armenia, May 2, 2026. Photo: Karen Minasyan / AFP / Scanpix / LETA Russia's main intelligence service demands that Yerevan sever spiritual ties with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Photo: Russian Justice Ministry Only 4% of Russians declared “foreign agents” last year were found to have received funding from abroad, according to Russia’s Deputy Justice Minister Oleg Sviridenko. Speaking in the Russian parliament’s Federation Council on Thursday, Sviridenko noted that prior to 2022, proof of foreign financing was a prerequisite for receiving a “foreign agent” designation under Russian law.

Marjane Satrapi, 2024. Photo: Christophe Petit Tesson/EPA Marjane Satrapi, the creator of Persepolis, which opened the world's eyes to everyday life in Iran, has died. Remembering her as an artist, director and activist In one interview, Marjane Satrapi joked that she didn’t like the term “graphic novel” in English. “When you say graphic novel, I immediately think of Lady Chatterley's Lover or something like that. I prefer to say comics” (in English, graphic can mean both “drawn” and “candid”).

Photo: EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT Nearly a dozen European countries have signed a joint letter to EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Kaja Kallas calling for harsher rules in issuing Schengen visas to Russian tourists, RFE/RL reported on Thursday.

Experts note that this way the company can strengthen its position Anthropic, the developer of the Claude bot and one of the market leaders, called for slowing down the development of artificial intelligence due to the high risks posed by the technology. This is stated on the company's website. In her opinion, AI is developing too quickly and will soon be able to improve without human intervention, which could cause a loss of control over the technology.

Errol Musk. Photo: Yury Kochetkov / Sputnik / Imago Images / Scanpix / LETA How Elon Musk’s father charmed the Kremlin and outraged Russian farmers Errol Musk is best known as the father of the richest man in the world, Elon Musk.

Illustration: Rina Lu / “Novaya Gazeta Europe” How Western psychiatry, after decades of scientific debate, refused to consider homosexuality a disorder The head physician of the Phoenix treatment and rehabilitation scientific center, Olga Bukhanovskaya, said at the XVIII Congress of Russian Psychiatrists that homosexuality is a mental illness, and spoke about the “transgender epidemic” in Russia, which was fueled by “financial injections and grants.” Bukhanovskaya claims that transgender people

Photo: social networks As a result of a drone attack on cargo ships in the Taganrog Bay of the Sea of ​​Azov, five Azerbaijani citizens were killed and three more were injured. This was reported to the Republic's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Details. According to the department, on the night of June 5, the Natra and Zircon cargo ships, carrying 25 Azerbaijani citizens, were attacked. The victims were taken to Yeisk hospitals.

Photo: social networks Almost 800 cars are stuck in a traffic jam in front of the Crimean Bridge from the side of annexed Kerch. This was reported in the telegram channel, which publishes operational information about the situation on the bridge. The wait time is about three hours, the report said. The traffic jam from the Crimea side has been observed since at least 9 am. By 16:00 there are 798 cars in the queue. Lack of gasoline in Crimea.

Chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Russian Federation Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gainutdin arrives to speak during the holiday prayer on the occasion of Eid al-Adha at the Cathedral Mosque in Moscow, May 27, 2026. Photo: Yuri Kochetkov / Sputnik / Imago Images / Scanpix / LETA In Russia there is a series of cases against members of the official Spiritual Administration of Muslims.

View of the Russian flag flying on the Ivangorod Fortress, from the Estonian side in Narva, July 24, 2024. Photo: Jaap Arriens / Sipa USA / Vida Press Invasion of Latvia, capture of Estonia and NATO’s symmetrical response: Novaya Gazeta Europe discussed possible scenarios with experts Increasingly, drones are flying into the airspace of NATO countries. Drones have already crashed into residential buildings and infrastructure. In addition, the Russian military staged provocations at the borders.