Vyacheslav Prokofyev / TASS One of the most iconic images ofStalin’s terror is a photograph of Vsevolod Meyerkhold, one ofRussia’s 20th century most famous theater directors, moments afterhe was arrested in 1939. Many assumed it would be the last time aMoscow theater director was led into a car by masked men and drivenaway for interrogation. On Tuesday, May 23, however, ithappened again. This time, the man being led away was KirillSerebrennikov, Russia’s award-winning theater and film director.

Rodrigo Abd /AP A good crisis should never go to waste. It’s a political cliche, but even so, Moscow’s eager appropriation of the Manchester bomb attack to restart calls for counter-terrorism cooperation stands out for its tastelessness. The irony is that while the Kremlin is wrong on almost every one of its talking points, it may be in the West’s advantage at least to see what Moscow is offering. For a country that – rightly – felt its own terrorist tragedy in St.

Russian theater director AlexanderBurdonsky, the grandson of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, has died inMoscow. Burdonsky passed away on Tuesdayevening at the age of 76, Russia's Interfax news agency reported. A spokesperson for Moscow's Red ArmyTheater confirmed that Burdonsky had recently been hospitalized with heart problems. Burdonsky, one of Stalin's 12 official grandchildren, had worked at the theater for morethan 40 years.

Vladimir Putin (R) meets with FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the FC Krasnodar Stadium, May 23, 2017. Alexei Druzhinin / Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP The Kremlin has denied reports that Russia could soon clampdown on foreign football players joining the country's top teams. Officials discussed the possibility of barring foreign players from Russia's Premier League during a meeting of the Presidential Sports Council on Tuesday, the Interfax news agency reported.

A new bill banning anonymous users from using online messengerapps has been submitted to the Russian parliament. The plans would require users of appssuch as WhatsApp and Telegram to identify themselves with their cellphone number. The companies behind the apps wouldalso be forced to pass on information to government bodies andagencies, Russia's gazeta.ru reported. If the bill is passed, messenger apps which fail to comply could be charged up to 1 million rubles ($17,800) or blocked in Russia.

A subsidiary of Russian oil giantRosneft has canceled an order for luxury tableware amid a public row withRussian anti-corruption campaigner and politician Alexei Navalny. RN-Aerokraft, a private company which operates aircraftfor Rosneft, had planned to buy dishes, cutlery and tablecloths worth $88,867 to furnish an executive jet.