Russian president Vladimir Putin during a video-conference with security chiefs last week (Photo: kremlin.ru) Arguments over the plight of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and Saturday’s (23 January) street protests across Russia demonstrate that there is no such thing as purely domestic politics, and may have serious implications for Europe. Navalny, poisoned by Russian security officers…
EU foreign relations chief Josep Borrell speaking to US secretary of state Anthony Blinken by video-link on Monday (Photo: consilium.europa.eu) The EU has agreed to blacklist Russian officials guilty of wrongly jailing opposition figure Alexei Navalny, in a new “low” in relations. The asset-freezes and visa-bans ought to be in force in early March, EU…
Josep Borrell and EU foreign affairs ministers will meet next week. – AP EU countries are ready to impose new sanctions against Russia over the poisoning and imprisonment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Euronews has learned. A political decision is expected as early as next week. The move comes after the widely-criticized visit of Josep…
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Friday it would be ready to sever ties with the European Union if the bloc hit it with painful economic sanctions, a statement that Germany described as disconcerting and incomprehensible. Ties between Russia and the West, already at post-Cold War lows, have come under renewed pressure over the arrest…
MOSCOW (Reuters) – The trigger for some of the biggest protests to sweep Russia in years was the arrest of opposition politician and Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who was detained on his return to the country last month after surviving poisoning by a nerve agent. The anger runs deeper, however, and some protesters, young and…
The Kremlin deployed a brutal “castle” strategy to protect Putin from pro-Navalny protesters but huge numbers are risking beatings and imprisonment to make their voices heard. Anton Vaganov via Reuters MOSCOW—The opulent, fortified Kremlin, which stands right in the center of Moscow, looked like a besieged castle on Sunday. Metal fences, traffic cops, and interior…
The Russian government is apparently fuming after the United States issued an alert about anti-corruption protests and included the locations and times. The U.S. Embassy noted the demonstrations, which are being planned for Saturday in cities throughout Russia in support of jailed activist Alexei Navalny, on Friday. Navalny is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s biggest…
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, left, listens to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko during talks in Minsk on Thursday. (Alexander Astafyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) (CN) — The harsh view that the European Union is a weakling when it comes to foreign affairs and standing up against the military powers of the world is…
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a session of the lower house of parliament in Moscow on Tuesday to consider constitutional changes. Photo: Sputnik via Reuters Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday opened the door to constitutional changes that would allow him to remain in power until 2036, Reuters reports. Putin, who in…
Studies show that Russians believe that a state free of high-level corruption cannot exist. Corruption sure is an interesting thing. In Russia, while most people usually condemn it, polls show that people are also convinced of its indestructibility. Russians love to believe that corruption has existed in the country from the time of its inception….