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In an exchange of social media posts on Wednesday, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky butted heads over the status of Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2024. The U.S. president accused his Ukrainian counterpart of “harming peace negotiations with Russia” by refusing to recognize Russian sovereignty over Crimea. Trump argued that “Crimea was lost years ago […] and is not even a point of discussion” today. He also stated that “nobody is asking Zelensky to recognize Crimea as Russian territory.” In response , Zelensky acknowledged that “emotions have run high today” and expressed hope that “the USA will act in line with its strong decisions,” sharing a screenshot of a press statement by Trump’s secretary of state in July 2018, Michael Pompeo, that called on Russia to end its occupation of Crimea and stated Washington’s refusal to recognize Moscow’s claims on the territory. Emotions have run high today. But it is good that 5 countries met to bring peace closer. Ukraine, the USA, the UK, France and Germany. The sides expressed their views and respectfully received each other’s positions. It’s important that each side was not just a participant but… pic.twitter.com/lDFV5WK8tw — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 23, 2025 This latest blowout between the U.S. and Ukrainian presidents follows reporting by The Washington Post that American negotiators planned to present Ukrainian and European delegations in London with a proposal to recognize Crimea as Russian territory and freeze the war’s current front lines, leading Zelensky to reiterate publicly that his administration will never accept Russian soverignty over Crimea. The London talks ultimately collapsed when U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House envoy Steve Witkoff, as well as the foreign ministers of several European countries who were expected to attend, failed to appear. Nevertheless, the Ukrainian delegation did travel to London and met with another special envoy from Trump’s administration, Keith Kellogg. Further reading ‘You’re gambling with World War III!’ Trump and Vance ambush Zelensky in shouting Oval Office meeting…

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Russian regulators ban Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences from enrolling new students for one year

11 hours ago

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Russian federal regulators have imposed a one-year ban on new student admissions at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences (better known as “Shaninka”), citing the school’s failure to comply with an official order to correct previously identified violations. The institution now has until July 11 to resolve the issue; otherwise, it may face additional penalties. Last November, inspectors from the Federal Service for Supervision in Education and Science (Rosobrnadzor) flagged several violations that included “noncompliance with licensing requirements for educational activities,” “failure to meet accreditation criteria,” “failure to provide required information on its official website,” and “noncompliance with federal state educational standards and regulations for providing paid educational services.” In 2021, police arrested Sergey Zuev, then the president of Shaninka, and charged him with embezzling roughly 50 million rubles (more than $678,000 at the time) from Russia’s Education Ministry. He ultimately received a suspended sentence.…

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Russia drafts law that would ban ads for witches, astrologers, and even nutritionists

12 hours ago

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Russian lawmakers have drafted legislation that would ban advertising for “mystic practices, energy healing, and spiritual counseling.” A bill co-authored by Communist Party deputy Nina Ostanina, chair of the Duma’s Committee on Family, Fatherhood, Motherhood, and Childhood Affairs, would prohibit promoting and disseminating information about such new-age services. Ostanina and her colleagues compiled a list of 37 professions that would be subject to the ban. Among them: alchemists, astrologers, witches, spiritual mentors, magicians, tantra specialists, feng shui consultants, tarot readers, “healers,” palm readers, chakra specialists, and even nutritionists. Notably, psychics are not mentioned in the list. In their explanatory note, lawmakers provided definitions for each of the listed professions. For example, they define a witch as “a person claiming to influence events, people, or objects through practices described as ‘magical’ and/or ‘sorcerous.’” A nutritionist is defined as “a person without a higher medical education who claims to be able to determine strategies for rational human nutrition for therapeutic purposes.” The bill’s sponsors say the prohibitions are needed to protect the public against services that “lack a scientific basis” and are widely viewed to be “misleading and indicative of fraud.” By banning such ads, the state would safeguard Russians “from disinformation, manipulation, and the negative impact on their physical and mental health,” deputies argue. Shortly before the bill was introduced, a group of Russian nutritionists appealed to the Russian government, the State Duma, and the Public Chamber to exclude their profession from any list of “new-age services,” arguing that it had been included in Ostanina’s bill by mistake.…

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Despite Putin’s denials, Russia’s military has welcomed foreign mercenaries from at least 48 nations — iStories

12 hours ago

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Moscow’s military recruitment center at 5 Yablochkova Street, Building 1. November 15, 2023. More than a year into the invasion of Ukraine, in September 2023, Vladimir Putin declared that Russia had no need for foreign mercenaries. The nation’s homegrown supply of fighting men was more than enough, he explained. However, according to a new investigation by the news outlet iStories, mercenaries from at least 48 countries have joined the Russian military throughout the war. Journalists studied a leaked copy of Russia’s Unified Medical Information and Analytical System database and calculated that army recruiters in Moscow alone enlisted more than 1,500 foreign nationals between April 2023 and May 2024. All these recruits listed the same address as their place of residence: a single army enlistment center at 5 Yablochkova Street, Building 1. Meduza summarizes what iStories discovered. The leaked medical records show that the largest number of foreign fighters — 771 people — came from South and East Asian countries. Former Soviet states ranked second (523), followed by African nations (72). When it comes to single countries, the highest number of recruits came from Nepal: iStories found that at least 603 Nepalese nationals passed through the enlistment center on Yablochkova Street. The discovery provides new context to a request from Nepal’s government to the Kremlin in November 2023, seeking to halt the recruitment of Nepalese citizens. The leaked database reveals that this recruitment nevertheless continued. iStories also reviewed records showing that the military has welcomed into its ranks several foreign combatants from countries that Moscow has formally blacklisted as “unfriendly” to Russia, including at least 2 U.S. citizens, 2 Latvians, 2 Italians, and other Europeans. Serbia has supplied the most men among the nations Russia considers “friendly,” with eight mercenaries. Elsewhere around the world, another 71 mercenaries came from the Middle East, including Egypt (31), Iran (7), Algeria (7), Iraq (2), Syria (1), and Turkey (1). Seventy-two people were recruited from African nations with high unemployment and poverty rates. The top three African countries in terms of recruits were Ghana (26), Cameroon (10), and Senegal (8). iStories confirmed through open sources that dozens of the foreigners enlisted at the Yablochkova address have participated directly in combat in Ukraine. Some have been killed or captured, while others completed their service contracts and were discharged from the Russian army. However, not every foreigner enlisted at the Moscow recruitment center ultimately served in the Russian military: iStories identified at least 13 foreigners who signed up but left the country within a few days.…

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From showroom to warlord. How a Tesla Cybertruck made its way from the U.S. to Ramzan Kadyrov’s driveway

13 hours ago

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After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, American luxury cars were supposed to be off-limits to sanctioned individuals like Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Western restrictions ban the import of vehicles worth more than $50,000. And yet, in August 2024, Kadyrov appeared in Grozny behind the wheel of a brand-new Tesla Cybertruck — decked out with a mounted machine gun on the roof. Novaya Gazeta Europe traced the truck’s journey from Tesla’s headquarters in Palo Alto, California, to the streets of Chechnya — by way of the U.S. state of Georgia and Kazakhstan. Meduza shares an English-language version of the outlet’s reporting. 📍 Chechnya, Russia In August 2024, Ramzan Kadyrov posted a video on his Telegram channel featuring a Tesla Cybertruck outfitted with a mounted machine gun. Kadyrov himself is at the wheel, driving through the empty streets of Grozny as triumphant music plays in the background. “It’s a good car,” says the head of Chechnya. “The guys will be happy.” The video then shows him, draped in a cartridge belt, climbing onto the back of the vehicle, gripping the machine gun mount, and declaring that the truck will soon be heading to the front line in Ukraine. In the caption, Kadyrov claims the Cybertruck was a personal gift from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and he thanks him directly. Customs data available through Russian brokers show no record of any Tesla Cybertruck officially imported into Russia. However, Novaya Gazeta Europe obtained access to the the database of Rosstandart, Russia’s technical standards and certification agency. Any foreign-made car entering Russia must receive a Vehicle Structural Safety Certificate (SBKTS). The database includes the vehicle’s VIN number, technical specifications, the name of the certificate holder, and their registered address. According to Rosstandart, at least 21 Tesla Cybertrucks have been certified in Russia since 2022 — and only one is registered to a resident of Chechnya. That vehicle is registered to one Shamil Amiyev, whose official address is in a small village in the Gudermessky district. His WhatsApp profile photo shows Kadyrov presenting an award to the republic’s health minister, Adam Alkhanov — who happens to be Kadyrov’s son-in-law. A check through GetContact — an app that shows how a person’s number is saved in other users’ phones — reveals several saved names for Amiyev’s number: “Shamil assistant,” “Shamil Alkhanov’s assistant,” “Shamil Adam Alkhanov,” and even “Shamil Kadyrov.” The VIN number of the Tesla registered to Amiyev allows the vehicle’s journey from the United States to Chechnya to be traced — beginning in Marietta, a city just outside Atlanta, Georgia. All in the family BTS for me, but not for thee Kadyrov’s daughter owns a K-pop-themed cafe in central Grozny, despite Chechnya’s past repression of the genre 📍 Marietta, Geor gia, U.S.A. At the intersection of two highways near a local air base stands a modest, two-story townhouse, clad in beige vinyl siding and partially faced with brick. Two American flags flutter near the roofline. Most of the windows are covered with closed blinds. A sign at the parking lot entrance warns that the property is under video surveillance. According to business records, this unremarkable building is the listed address of All Stop Motors LLC. Since February 2022, the company has shipped hundreds of vehicles to countries bordering Russia — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Customs records reviewed by Novaya Gazeta Europe show that the cars are purchased by private individuals — ostensibly ordinary citizens living in those countries. Sometimes, the same person buys several high-end vehicles in a single month. But the cars rarely stay long. Within days or weeks, they are shipped onward — into Russia. In some cases, the route is even more circuitous. On August 29, 2024, for example, a Kazakhstani citizen named Zhuldyzym Shaimaranova received a brand-new Tesla Cybertruck from All Stop Motors. Less than a week later, on September 3, the vehicle was processed through Chinese customs — Shaimaranova had sold it to a Chinese company. Just three days after that, the same vehicle crossed into Russia and arrived in Ulyanovsk. A month earlier, on July 23, Shaimaranova had received another Tesla from the same U.S. company. Three days later, that vehicle ended up with Shamil Amiyev in Chechnya. The Kremlin crushed Meduza’s business model and wiped out our ad revenue. We’ve been blocked and outlawed in Russia, where donating to us or even sharing our posts is a crime. But we’re still here — bringing independent journalism to millions of our readers inside Russia and around the world. Meduza’s survival is under threat — again. Donald Trump’s foreign aid freeze has slashed funding for international groups backing press freedom. Meduza was hurt too. It’s yet another blow in our ongoing struggle to survive. You could be our lifeline. Please, help Meduza survive with a small recurring donation. Novaya Gazeta Europe found no visible sign of All Stop Motors at its official address in Marietta. At midday on a weekday, the parking lot was empty. The building’s entrances were plastered with signage for companies nominally operating there — roughly 75 in total, judging by the nameplates — nearly all seemingly connected to the auto industry. But no one answered the door, and no one responded to knocks. Still, the building was unlocked. Inside the narrow entryway stood two worn leather sofas, a few chairs, and a coffee table stacked with junk mail. A yellow note taped next to the door handle read: “Lock it. Homeless people.” Framed landscape prints and vases of artificial flowers did little to brighten the space. A thick layer of dust coated nearly every surface. The carpet was stained and clearly hadn’t been cleaned in some time. The air smelled musty. Novaya Gazeta Europe’s correspondent called into the silence: “Hello, is anyone here?” There was no reply. leveraging sanctions ‘The U.S. came to the peace talks unarmed’ Sanctions expert Maria Shagina explains how the West can use its main economic weapon in negotiations with Russia All Stop Motors was incorporated in 2020. Georgia’s corporate registry doesn’t disclose the company’s owners, only the name of its registered agent: Alex Pierce. That same name appears as the agent for another business involved in freight transport. The building listed in corporate documents as Pierce’s office was, until recently, owned by a woman named Alla Kotova. She’s listed as the director, secretary, and registered agent of a company called Auto Baltic Shipping, which describes itself as a leader in international auto transport. Novaya Gazeta Europe made multiple attempts to contact All Stop Motors using the phone number listed on Google Maps, but no one answered. An email sent to the company bounced back — either the address never existed or it had been deactivated. Reporters were also unable to find contact information for any of the affiliated companies. Finding no one at the registered address for All Stop Motors, Novaya’s correspondent crossed the street to a nearby restaurant. The waiter there knew nothing about the ghostly building across the way. He was unfamiliar with the war in Ukraine, the sanctions against Russia, or the attempts to circumvent them. Asked whether he knew who Ramzan Kadyrov was, the waiter paused, then asked if he was bald. When told Kadyrov isn’t, the young man shrugged and said, “All the Russians I know are bald.” 📍 Almaty, Kazakhstan Zhuldyzym Shaimaranova is 31 years old. She doesn’t hold any high positions, nor does she own or manage a large business. She’s registered as living in a Soviet-era apartment block on the outskirts of Almaty, Kazakhstan. Yet in 2023 and 2024, she imported two BMWs and three Teslas into the country. None of the cars stayed for long — all were soon re-exported to Russia. One of them ended up with Shamil Amiyev in Chechnya. Shaimaranova did not respond to questions from Novaya Gazeta Europe sent via Instagram. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the imposition of Western sanctions, Moscow legalized “parallel imports” — allowing goods to enter the country without the manufacturer’s permission. That change quickly reshaped the import structures of Russia’s neighbors. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, which did not adopt the same strict sanctions as Western countries, effectively became transit hubs for sanctioned goods en route to Russia. According to UN Comtrade data, vehicle imports in Kazakhstan in 2023 were five times higher than in 2021. In Uzbekistan, they tripled. In Kyrgyzstan, they rose eighteenfold. Insiders in the auto market previously told Novaya Gazeta Europe that cars are often imported under the names of private individuals, helping dealers avoid customs duties and other taxes. That workaround has caused problems for end buyers in Russia, who sometimes find themselves on the hook for additional duty payments months after their vehicles have arrived. Shaimaranova’s Instagram suggests she works at WWTech, a company that sells and services vehicles in Kazakhstan. WWTech has partners in the United States — where its vehicles originate — and in Moscow. Some of the company’s social media posts openly reference shipments to Russia. all roads lead to Russia ‘Lifting sanctions is the last thing they want’ Western sanctions on Russia have upended cross-border trade. In Georgia’s case, that just might be a good thing. All Stop Motors, the Georgia-based exporter, has shipped vehicles to other Kazakhstani citizens as well. Many of them are involved in the auto trade and make no secret of doing business with Russian clients. Between 2022 and January 2025, Russia’s Rosstandart registry recorded at least 4,500 safety certificates (SBKTS) issued for Tesla vehicles. Of those, 21 were for the Cybertruck model — the same type Ramzan Kadyrov showed off in his now-infamous video. Novaya Gazeta Europe didn’t find any politicians or government officials among the other Cybertruck owners. Elon Musk, for his part, denied having anything to do with Tesla shipments to Russia. “Are you seriously so retarded that you think I donated a Cybertruck to a Russian general?” Musk wrote on his X account in August 2024, shortly after Kadyrov posted the video of himself driving the armed pickup through Grozny. A month later, Kadyrov claimed on Telegram that Tesla had remotely disabled the vehicle. Still, the next day he announced that two more Cybertrucks would soon be sent to the front in Ukraine. Then, in December, he admitted he’d lied — the trucks weren’t a gift from Musk after all. skirting sanctions Short-circuiting sanctions How Belarusian companies funnel Western-made microchips to Russia for missiles and fighter jets…

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Trump's 'final offer'. Washington wants Ukraine to sign a minerals deal, give up NATO membership, and accept Russian occupation

14 hours ago

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Last week, during a meeting in Paris with Ukrainian and European officials, a U.S. delegation led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio put forward its proposal for ending Russia’s war in Ukraine. Now, Axios has reported the details of the plan, citing sources with direct knowledge of it. Meduza explains what it would entail. The Trump administration's proposed framework for a peace deal in Ukraine is laid out in a one-page document explicitly stating that it’s Washington’s “final offer.” After he presented the plan to Ukrainian and European delegations in Paris last week, Marco Rubio said that if the plan is rejected, the U.S. will walk away from its role as mediator between Russia and Ukraine. According to Axios, the deadline for the parties to respond is Wednesday, April 23. The plan’s main points are as follows: The U.S. would formally recognize Crimea as part of Russia. All territories occupied by Russian forces since February 2022 — except for the small occupied part of the Kharkiv region — would remain under Russian control, but without international recognition of their annexation. This includes most of the Luhansk region and parts of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions. Ukraine would pledge not to join NATO; its potential membership in the E.U. would remain undecided. All sanctions imposed on Russia since the start of the war in 2014 would be lifted. The U.S. and Russia would strengthen their economic ties, especially in the energy and industrial sectors. A group of European countries would guarantee Ukraine’s security; U.S. security guarantees are not mentioned. Ukraine would receive assistance for postwar reconstruction, though the source of the funding is not specified. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant would remain under Ukrainian ownership but be managed by the U.S., supplying electricity to both Ukraine and Russia. Ukraine would be required to sign an agreement with the U.S. on mineral resources. According to the Financial Times, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed freezing the fighting along the current front line during an early April meeting in St. Petersburg with U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff. This marked a step back from Putin’s earlier demands, which called for Russia's full control of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions — including areas still held by Ukraine. Rubio discussed this same proposal with Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Lavrov in a phone call immediately after the Paris meeting. New talks involving the U.S., Ukraine, and E.U. countries were scheduled to take place on April 23 in London, though the Ukrainian delegation reportedly planned to discuss a temporary ceasefire rather than a new peace deal. Rubio pulled out of the meeting on Tuesday, and the talks were ultimately postponed — even after Ukraine’s defense and foreign ministers had already arrived in the British capital. The U.S. expects that the minerals agreement with Ukraine will be signed on Thursday, April 24, and that Steve Witkoff will travel to Russia later in the week for another meeting with Putin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky indicated that he considers Trump’s “final offer” unacceptable. He said that Ukraine rejects any recognition of Russia's annexation of Crimea and that the U.S. cannot operate the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant without Ukraine. The planned London meeting Ukraine wanted to discuss 30-day ceasefire, not Trump's peace plan, at London talks — Axios Foreign ministers postpone planned London talks on war in Ukraine Rubio pulls out of London peace talks after Zelensky rejects recognizing occupied Crimea as Russian — NYT Zelensky to meet with European leaders in London to discuss possible security guarantees…

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The 'tribunal for Putin' is ready. European officials have drafted a plan to prosecute Russia's top leadership — but there's still a long road ahead

17 hours ago

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A protest in London on February 22, 2025 The Council of Europe has finished drafting the concept for a special tribunal to prosecute Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials over the war in Ukraine, Deutsche Welle reports. However, there’s still a long road ahead: the U.S. appears to have dropped out of the project after Donald Trump’s return to office, and serious challenges related to jurisdiction remain unresolved. Here’s where the initiative currently stands. Draft documents for establishing a special international tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine — unofficially referred to as the “tribunal for Putin” — have been completed and are now awaiting approval from European politicians, according to Deutsche Welle (DW). On February 4, Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset announced that the tribunal would be created within the Council’s framework. The announcement came at a press conference during the 13th meeting of the Core Group working on the tribunal's establishment. Initially made up of 41 countries (now 38), the group also includes the European Commission, the E.U.’s diplomatic service, and the Council of Europe. The tribunal is expected to investigate senior members of the Russian leadership. Early proposals named President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin as possible defendants. According to a DW source familiar with the process, the investigation will focus on approximately 20 Russian officials whom Ukraine has identified as “responsible for planning, preparing, initiating, and executing the crime of aggression against Ukraine.” Read more about efforts to prosecute Putin for the war Putin the suspect The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Russia’s president However, DW reported on Tuesday that the tribunal will not be able to prosecute Russia's top officials themselves — including the president, prime minister, or foreign minister — even in absentia, as the Council of Europe lacks the authority to lift their immunity. “The special tribunal will not try Vladimir Putin in absentia as long as he remains president of the Russian Federation,” a European official told DW. The outlet notes that "jurisdiction has been a sticking point from the start," as it determines whether figures like Putin, Lavrov, and Mishustin could be prosecuted. “If the tribunal had international jurisdiction, it might have been feasible. However, in March, the European Commission officially stated that the tribunal’s jurisdiction would come from Ukraine,” DW reports. Irish international law expert Andrew Ford said the plan is to establish a court with limited international jurisdiction, based on Ukrainian law but located outside Ukraine — though DW doesn’t say where Ford got this information. A separate DW source said the tribunal is expected to be located in The Hague. Ukraine will likely submit evidence from its investigations to the tribunal’s prosecutor, who will also consider material collected by the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression , also based in The Hague. The bitter truth is that events in Russia affect your life, too. Help Meduza continue to bring news from Russia to readers around the world by setting up a monthly donation . The United States appears unlikely to be among the tribunal’s founding members. According to a DW source, the U.S. “simply disappeared” from the Core Group after Donald Trump returned to the White House. Hungary opposes the tribunal’s creation, and the positions of countries such as Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Serbia remain unclear. Approval requires a two-thirds majority in the Council of Europe. Following that, “many countries” (not specified in the article) will need to ratify a “governance agreement” through their national parliaments. DW describes this as a matter of “finances and political positions” but provides no further detail. Ratification is expected to take several months. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov previously said Russia views the efforts to establish the tribunal as “one-sided and unconstructive.” According to him, the international bodies and “so-called experts” behind the plan are detached from reality. He also claimed that these same experts had "remained silent since 2014, when the Kyiv regime sent tanks against its own people.” Read more about Russia's reaction ‘The losers don’t put the victors on trial’ Reactions from the Kremlin’s cronies to Europe’s prosecution plans against Putin…

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Ukraine wanted to discuss 30-day ceasefire, not Trump's peace plan, at London talks — Axios

19 hours ago

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At the now-postponed meeting scheduled for Wednesday in London with U.S. and European officials, Ukraine's delegation intended to focus on negotiating a 30-day ceasefire — rather than discussing the Trump administration's proposed peace plan — according to new reporting from Axios. A U.S. official involved in the talks told the outlet that the Ukrainian delegation had begun to hint at this shift in focus in the final 24 hours before the meeting. “The decision was made for the secretary to not travel to London. Instead, the U.S. delegation will continue to engage in conversations with U.K. and Ukrainian counterparts,” he said. According to the official, Washington's framework agreement designed to “get us closer to reaching an end to the war” was developed by Rubio and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff. Axios reports that the plan includes formal U.S. recognition of occupied Crimea as Russian territory and Ukraine agreeing not to join NATO. The proposal was presented to the Ukrainian delegation during talks in Paris on April 17 as the United States’s “final offer,” the article says. The White House had previously indicated it was prepared to walk away from peace talks if a deal wasn’t reached soon. A source close to the Ukrainian government told Axios that Kyiv viewed the U.S. proposal as biased towards Moscow. “The proposal says very clearly what tangible gains Russia gets, but only vaguely and generally says what Ukraine is going to get,” the source said. The London talks that weren't (yet) Foreign ministers postpone planned London talks on war in Ukraine Rubio pulls out of London peace talks after Zelensky rejects recognizing occupied Crimea as Russian — NYT…

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Foreign ministers postpone planned London talks on war in Ukraine

20 hours ago

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The foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Ukraine have postponed planned peace talks on ending Russia’s war in Ukraine that were scheduled to take place in London on April 23, Sky News reported . For now, the talks will proceed at the level of senior officials rather than foreign ministers. The U.K. Foreign Office confirmed the shift in format in a statement quoted by The Guardian, adding that the discussions will be held behind closed doors. Despite the lower-level talks, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, Andriy Yermak, confirmed that Ukraine’s delegation had arrived in London. Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha are among the officials accompanying him. The high-level meeting was called off after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio withdrew from the talks, citing scheduling-related “logistical issues.” Once his decision became public, Sky News reports, France and Germany suspended preparations for their ministers’ visits. A ministerial meeting may still take place at a later date.…

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Russia strips two comedians of naturalized citizenship and bans them from country over anti-war statements

21 hours ago

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The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has stripped stand-up comedians Slava Komissarenko and Dmitry Romanov of their Russian citizenship, according to a press release published on the agency’s website. Both comedians have also been banned from entering Russia. The FSB cited their performances in E.U. countries, during which they “spoke out against the special military operation ” and “promoted ideas aimed at undermining the constitutional order of the Russian Federation.” The agency claimed their actions “pose a threat to national security” and said the decision was made in accordance with Russia’s citizenship law. Slava Komissarenko was originally a citizen of Belarus. After the country’s widespread anti-government protests in 2020, Komissarenko repeatedly condemned the authorities’ violent crackdown and spoke out about election fraud. He’s also known for his parodies of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. By the end of 2021, Komissarenko had become a naturalized Russian citizen, but he left the country in 2022, citing persecution by the Belarusian KGB. In late 2024, a Minsk court sentenced him in absentia to six years in prison. He is also on the Belarusian Interior Ministry’s list of “extremists.” Dmitry Romanov, a former performer on the TV show “Stand Up,” was born and raised in Odesa before moving to Moscow. He became a Russian citizen in 2018. Romanov left Russia in 2022 and announced in 2023 that he had obtained an Israeli passport. He has also applied for Romanian citizenship. “I decided that I want to get every citizenship I can — so I can be as much of a world citizen as possible,” Romanov has said.…

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Kyrgyzstan arrests employee of Russian House cultural center for allegedly recruiting mercenaries to fight in Ukraine

22 hours ago

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A court in the Kyrgyzstani capital of Bishkek has ordered the arrest of Natalia Sekerina, an employee of the Russian state-sponsored Russian House cultural exchange center in Osh, the country’s second-largest city, according to Russian state media. The arrest was requested by Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security (GKNB). Also detained in the case are Sergey Lapushkin, a press officer for the Osh mayor’s office, and two other individuals whose identities have not been disclosed. All four are being held as part of a criminal investigation on charges of mercenary activity, which carry a sentence of up to 15 years in prison. According to the court, the suspects are believed to have recruited individuals to fight in Russia’s war against Ukraine. The independent outlet Mediazona noted that in 2023, a man named Askar Kubanychbek uulu was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Kyrgyzstan for participating in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. His sentence was later reduced, and he was released under the condition that he report to law enforcement twice a month. In the summer of 2024, Kubanychbek uulu fled to Russia and returned to the front. How Russia seeks fighters abroad Polish court sentences two Russian nationals to 5.5 years in prison for espionage and Wagner Group mercenary recruiting after they posted stickers and distributed leaflets ‘The worst decision you can make’ How Russia lured hundreds of men from Nepal to fight in Ukraine, leaving many of their families in financial ruin…

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Rubio pulls out of London peace talks after Zelensky rejects recognizing occupied Crimea as Russian — NYT

22 hours ago

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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has declined to participate in Ukraine ceasefire talks scheduled for April 23 in London, The New York Times reported . Rubio’s decision came shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine “will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea” — a stance that, as The New York Times noted, runs counter to one of U.S. President Donald Trump’s key proposals for a peace deal. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce initially said Rubio would attend the meeting because “London has potential,” but later announced that he would not travel to the talks due to “logistical issues in his schedule.” Several Western media outlets have reported that the United States is prepared to consider recognizing Crimea as Russian as part of a broader peace agreement. U.S. officials reportedly conveyed this to Ukrainian representatives during talks in Paris on April 17. The American proposal is also said to include Ukraine abandoning its bid to join NATO and transferring control of the area near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant to the United States. Axios reported on April 22 that this is Washington’s “final offer.” Trump has said he hopes Russia and Ukraine will “make a deal this week.” According to Axios, Trump has also suggested the United States could exit the talks if no progress is made. After the Paris meetings, Rubio said the U.S. had no intention of negotiating “for weeks and months on end.”…

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From webcams to handcuffs. How Russia criminalized its live-stream porn industry

22 hours ago

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The Russian authorities are prosecuting more and more “producers and distributors of pornographic materials.” According to a new investigation by Novaya Gazeta Europe, the number of convictions for porn-related offenses jumped 1.5 times between prewar 2021 and 2023 to more than 315. The shift follows a ruling by the Russian Supreme Court’s Plenum, which classified live-streamed performances by webcam models as pornographic productions. Novaya Gazeta Europe journalists examined how Russia’s stricter enforcement of anti-pornography laws has affected the lives of webcam studio workers and given police another tool in the crackdown on queer bloggers. Meduza summarizes their findings. Legal limbo Russia’s webcam modeling industry is roughly two decades old. In the late 2000s, studios emerged in larger cities, typically operating out of apartments where models were supplied with Internet access and worked out of individual rooms. For many years, Russia’s webcam adult entertainment existed in a legal gray area because its live broadcasts weren’t subject to the country’s laws against prerecorded pornographic videos and images. That changed in late 2022, when the Plenum of Russia’s Supreme Court issued a ruling that erased this loophole, explicitly outlawing “actions performed live (in particular on websites that allow users to stream video — i.e., streaming platforms)” under Article 242 of the Criminal Code. Since the Supreme Court’s decision, Russia’s justice system has convicted more “pornographic materials traffickers” and sent more than twice as many to prison (up from 14 in 2021 to 37 in 2023). According to Novaya Gazeta Europe, the cases overwhelmingly target online content. The new policing practices have introduced additional hazards to an already dangerous industry. Even before Russian law enforcement declared open season on webcam models, studio owners often exploited their performers by withholding pay without warning, deliberately downplaying the legal risks of the job, and being outright abusive. For example, an anonymous webcam model told the Samara-based outlet 66.ru in 2022 that her coworker was denied leave to attend her brother’s funeral. “Time off requires one week’s notice. This is sudden, so — too bad. Now grab a dildo [and get back to work],” the woman recalled. Police raids on webcam studios have driven some models to work from home, hoping to slip under the authorities’ radar, while studio owners have developed new security protocols, urging performers to purge their social media presence and practice dressing in a hurry when anyone enters the “office.” Despite these measures, most Russian webcam models say they know someone who’s been subjected to police searches, interrogations, arrest, or even jail time, says Novaya Gazeta Europe. When a case goes to court, performers are usually treated as mere witnesses and spared the worst of it, but not always. Further reading ‘Mom, is it true?’ What happens when children find out their mother is a sex worker. A report from Russia’s heartland. A weapon for anti-gay zealots The messaging platform and social network Telegram is brimming today with bloggers who sell access to private channels where they post erotic photos and videos. This growing supply of adult content has become ammunition not just for police but also for the activists who hunt LGBT people by reporting them under various criminal and administrative statutes. Enemies of Russia’s queer community are opportunistic in their crusade. For example, in 2023, censorship advocate Yekaterina Mizulina succeeded in getting a criminal case opened against transgender blogger Hilmi Forks. Initially, Mizulina’s Safe Internet League focused on violations of Russia’s ban on LGBT “propaganda,” but officials ultimately found it more “convenient” to prosecute Forks under the country’s anti-pornography law. According to the Telegram channel SHOT , the case was based on videos showing “scenes of sexual intercourse” that Forks had shared online in late 2022. Another high-profile case involved blogger Matvey Volodin, who posted an incomprehensible mix of pornographic content and political commentary, often praising Vladimir Putin and criticizing Russia’s queer community. Volodin (no relation to Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of Russia’s State Duma) argued that police only targeted LGBT people if they openly “propagated” their identity or tried to “push their views on others.” In an ill-fated stunt to demonstrate the absence of state homophobia in Russia, he repeatedly traveled to the North Caucasus and filmed content for his channel. In late May 2024, Volodin went to Makhachkala and attended a party that ended in a police raid. Several human rights activists and journalists speculate that local anti-gay activists used Volodin as “bait” to entrap gay men from the region. Volodin denies these accusations. Yaroslav Rasputin, editor of the LGBT outlet Parni+, told Novaya Gazeta Europe that he believes Dagestani blogger Khadzhimurad Khanov initiated the case that targeted Volodin and other men in Makhachkala. Six months earlier, Khanov had complained publicly that the city was becoming “the unofficial gay capital of the North Caucasus” and hinted that something had to be done about it. Rasputin explained the plot as he understands it: Fake dates and purging the region of gay people weren’t working. So, the idea was to create a big scandal and scare off the ‘fags’ for good. Porn bloggers were the perfect fit. Why? Because no one had really been jailed under Article 242 yet, but the law was there. To pull it off, they needed to lure someone to Dagestan. Matvey, unfortunately, had built a reputation as a Russophile. No other porn bloggers were traveling to the Caucasus. They invited him — he agreed. When they arrested him, he didn’t resist. He stayed and handed over his phone. They told him: “You’ll be the bait.” He agreed. Then they started using his phone to lure other people in. If this was the plan, it worked perfectly. A few months later, Volodin was released from pretrial detention in Makhachkala. He returned to Moscow and resumed filming adult videos, but he soon deleted everything from his channel. Many of Volodin’s Dagestani acquaintances now face criminal charges for distributing pornography. According to the human rights group SK SOS, two of these men successfully fled Russia, while another was sentenced to probation after a stint in jail. Original report by Matvey Leybin at Novaya Gazeta Europe Cover photo: M-Production / Shutterstock…

Meduza.io

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Russian drone strike hits bus in Ukraine’s Marhanets, killing nine

23 hours ago

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The Russian military launched an overnight drone attack on Marhanets in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, according to Governor Serhii Lysak. Nine people were killed and 30 injured, he said , noting that the strike hit a bus carrying workers. Russian forces also launched drone attacks on several other regions of Ukraine overnight. According to Suspilne, the Poltava region was targeted as well; one drone fell near an apartment building, injuring three people. In the Odesa region, the attacks sparked fires in residential buildings and at a business, leaving two people injured. In the Kyiv region, falling drone debris caused a fire at a hotel and restaurant complex. No injuries were reported there, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.…

Meduza.io

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Putin offers to freeze Ukraine invasion along current battle lines as U.S. suggests recognition of annexed territories — The Financial Times

1 day ago