As a result of the negotiation process, Moscow and Kyiv each transferred 103 prisoners of war to each other. This was reported by the press service of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Currently, all Russian military personnel, including those captured by the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the fighting in the Kursk region, are on the territory of Belarus, where they are provided with the necessary psychological and medical assistance, the department writes.

Russian serviceman Svyatoslav Golikov believes the shift to the southern flank of the Pokrovsk direction is aimed at securing the flank for a future advance on the city of Pokrovsk , in order to prevent a Ukrainian counterattack — however, in his view, this counterattack could have been avoided using recon-fire complexes to detect and target concentrations of Ukrainian troops and equipment preparing for counterattacks.

Soldiers who served in the Kursk region, were captured and returned as part of an exchange, are again sent to military units, including those near the borders with Ukraine. “Vestka” writes about this with reference to the mother of one of the conscripts, Ekaterina.

During the week, the Ukrainian Air Force Command reported on the interception of the following Russian nightly missile and drone attacks: On the night of Sept. 7 , 58 out of 67 Iranian-designed Shahed drones were shot down, with six leaving Ukrainian airspace and three disappearing from radar, likely crashing due to electronic warfare.

In Russian cities, new busts, monuments and bas-reliefs of Joseph Stalin are being restored and erected. Another profile appeared on the facade of the Volgograd Medical University in the city center. The profile of the “leader of the people” was returned during the restoration of the historical appearance of the building - the former Regional Higher Party School, built a year after Stalin’s death.

Political prisoner RusNews journalist Maria Ponomarenko was again sent to a punishment cell until September 22, the publication reported . This became known from a letter she sent to a friend. However, Ponomarenko was forbidden to tell what was the reason this time. As RusNews reports, Maria is prohibited from writing about politics, expressing her thoughts about what is happening in Russia, touching on any sensitive modern topics and reporting on what is currently happening directly to her.

Since the beginning of 2024, at least 55 people have been detained after returning to Belarus, and criminal cases have been filed against 17 people. This was reported by the human rights center “Viasna”. At the border, both Belarusians and citizens of other countries, most of whom are Ukrainians, come under special surveillance.

The Sota publication, financed by businessman Leonid Nevzlin (which was confirmed by the editors themselves), published his statement to the Lithuanian Criminal Police, also signed by the second applicant, Nevzlin’s assistant Roman Zhelyazko. The statement concerns investigations by FBK and The Insider that Nevzlin ordered attacks on Leonid Volkov, Ivan Zhdanov and the wife of economist Maxim Mironov, Alexandra Petrachkova.

On January 16, 2024, in Bishkek, the police conducted searches in the offices of the editorial offices of Ait Ait Dese and Temirov Live, and also interrogated employees of these media. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, security forces found “information calling for mass unrest” on the pages of publications on social networks. A forensic linguistic examination confirmed that the published materials contained signs of calls for protests.

Rating agencies Moody's, Fitch and Standard & Poor's have begun reviewing the credit rating of aircraft manufacturer Boeing; it may be downgraded to speculative (“junk”) in the near future. Bloomberg writes about this. The reasons are a high debt burden, problems with production and a large-scale strike (33 thousand workers took part in it on September 13, writes the Financial Times). After the strike was announced, the company's shares fell by 3%.

Russian soldier Svyatoslav Golikov believes that the shift in actions to the southern flank of the Pokrovsk direction is explained by the need to secure a flank for a further attack on Pokrovsk in order to avoid a Ukrainian counterattack - although, in his opinion, the latter could be avoided with the help of reconnaissance and fire contours, timely identifying and hitting concentrations of manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces preparing for counterattacks.

The Appeals Chamber of the Ethics Commission of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) overturned the earlier decision to deprive the Russian Chess Federation (RFC) of membership and replaced it with a fine of €45 thousand. The decision to reprimand FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich was also cancelled. As the executive director of the FCR, Alexander Tkachev, told the TASS agency, the organization received the decision of the appellate court and is now being studied by lawyers.