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The ballistic missiles rolled through Red Square, the fighter jets zipped overhead and rows of foreign dignitaries impassively looked on. Russia’s annual commemoration of the end of World War II presented a traditional ceremony on Thursday cherished by millions of Russians, a reflection of President Vladimir V. Putin’s broader attempts to project normalcy while resigning the population to a prolonged, distant war. At last year’s Victory Day celebration, as Russia struggled on the battlefield, Mr. Putin said the country was engaged in a “real war” for survival, and accused Western elites of seeking the “disintegration and annihilation of Russia.” On Thursday, he merely referred to the war in Ukraine once, using his initial euphemism for the invasion, “special military operation.”And on Russia’s most important secular holiday, he dedicated more time to the sacrifices of Soviet citizens in World War II than to the bashing of modern adversaries. Still, he did not ignore those adversaries entirely, reviving familiar criticisms and grievances about what he says are attempts to undermine Russia and accusing the West of “hypocrisy and lies.”

Persons: impassively, Vladimir V, Putin, ” Locations: Russia, Ukraine

☆ Moscow Concert Hall Shooting Russia Begins Day of Mourning for Victims
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-24 | by ( Mike Ives | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +7 min

The terrorist attack outside Moscow a few days later was a blow to his aura as a leader for whom national security is paramount. Just days later came a searing counterpoint: His vaunted security apparatus failed to prevent Russia’s deadliest terrorist attack in 20 years. Inside Russia, the election — and its predetermined outcome — underscored Mr. Putin’s dominance over the nation’s politics. The area is closed as part of increased security measures after the terrorist attack on Friday. Before Friday, the most recent mass-casualty terrorist attack in the capital region was a suicide bombing at an airport in Moscow in 2011 that killed 37 people.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, “, ” Aleksandr Kynev, ” Mr, Mr, ”, Nanna Heitmann, Aleksei A, ” Ruslan Leviev, Olga Skabeyeva, Margarita Simonyan, Russia’s, Aleksandr Dugin, Dugin, Dugin’s, Andriy Yusov, Putin’s, Shamil Zhumatov, Kynev, Vladimir Putin’s, Constant Méheut Organizations: Kremlin, Islamic State, Passengers, The New York Times, Terrorism, Islamic, ., Reuters Locations: Russia, Moscow, Ukraine, Russian, Beslan, United States

His most beloved crooner sang a nationalistic ballad with an appeal to Russians: “The Motherland is calling. Don’t let her down.”His favorite band belted out a moody song about wartime sacrifice. And then he took the stage, under a banner celebrating the 10th anniversary of Crimea’s seizure from Ukraine, to remind thousands of Russians gathered on Red Square that his fight to add territory to Russia wasn’t over. President Vladimir V. Putin, a day after declaring victory in a performative election, signaled on Monday that the war against Ukraine would continue to dominate his rule and called for unity in bringing the people of eastern Ukraine “back to their home family.”“We will move on together, hand in hand,” Mr. Putin told the crowd, boasting of a restored railroad line that he said would soon connect to Crimea through territory taken from Ukraine. “And this is precisely what really makes us stronger — not words, but deeds.”

Persons: Don’t, ”, Vladimir V, Putin, Mr Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Crimea

☆ With New Six-Year Term, Putin Cements Hold on Russian Leadership
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-17 | by ( Anton Troianovski | Nanna Heitmann | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Vladimir V. Putin on Sunday extended his rule over Russia until 2030, using a heavily stage-managed presidential election with no real competition to portray overwhelming public support for his domestic dominance and his invasion of Ukraine. Some Russians tried to turn the undemocratic vote into a protest, forming long lines at polling stations at a predetermined time — noon — to register their discontent. At the same time, Ukraine sought to cast its own vote of sorts by firing a volley of exploding drones at Moscow and other targets. But the Kremlin brushed those challenges aside and released results after the polls closed claiming that Mr. Putin had won 87 percent of the vote — an even higher number than in the four previous elections he participated in. Afterward, Mr. Putin took a lengthy, televised victory lap, including a swaggering, after-midnight news conference at which he commented on the death of the imprisoned opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny for the first time, referring to it as an “unfortunate incident.”

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Mr, Aleksei A, ” Organizations: Sunday Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Moscow

“All of us decent people are hostages here.” Like other voters interviewed, she declined to provide her last name, for fear of reprisal. “It is so important to see people who think like you, who don’t agree with what is happening,” she said. More broadly, the muted, purely symbolic form of civil disobedience envisioned by the initiative underscores just how little the Russian opposition can do to influence events in the country amid the pervasive repression. Noon Against Putin has been expected to be particularly large-scale abroad, because dissident voters faced lower risks outside Russia. Ms. Navalnaya was seen standing in a long line outside the Russian Embassy in Berlin on Sunday afternoon.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Aleksei A, Navalny, Mr, Navalny’s, ”, Lena, Noon, Yulia Navalnaya, “, ” Leonid Volkov, Nanna Heitmann, Volkov, Kristina, Navalnaya, Valerie Hopkins, Tomas Dapkus, Anton Troianovski Organizations: Sunday, The New York Times, YouTube, Russian Embassy Locations: Russian, Ukraine, Moscow, Russia, Lithuania, Lane, Berlin, Riga, Latvia

How the Russian Government Silences Wartime DissentJust days after invading Ukraine, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia signed a censorship law that made it illegal to “discredit” the army. The indignities of the crackdown, and the long arm of the Russia law, is being lost in the numbers. Nanna Heitmann for The New York TimesIn dry legalese, the court documents recount the Russian state’s case against these statements and protests. People’s “negative assessment” of the Russian military could adversely affect its performance, the court said, presenting a national security risk. And I very much don’t want this.”Sergei Platonov at district court in Moscow listening to his guilty verdict in November.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, ”, — schoolteachers, —, That’s, Ukraine —, pollsters, Andrei Kolesnikov, Demyan, Aleksandr T, Olga V, ” Maksim L, Omsk Diana I, Denis V, Russia ”, “, Maksim P, Anna S, Maria V, people’s “, Russia’s, Zaynulla Gadzhiyev, Mr, Bespokoyev, Marina Tsurmast, scrawled, Nanna Heitmann, Tsurmast, Gadzhiyev, Vladimir Kara, Murza, Aleksandra Y, Skochilenko, Selimat, Vladimir A, Rustam I, ” Yelena L, Aleksandr K, Olga P, Dmitri D, Sergei V, Eve, Daria Ivanova, Ms, Ivanova, “ you’ll, Anton Redikultsev, Redikultsev, Jan, Marina, Sergei P, ” Yuldash, ” Dmitri S, Peskov, Putin’s, Sergei Platonov, Platonov, Russian Gestapo ”, Polina, Kolesnikov, Anna Sliva, Sliva Organizations: New York Times, Times, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, OVD, Penza Yuriy V, Russia, ”, Ukraine ” “, YouTube, Bucha, Ukraine, Police, The New York Times, Armed Forces, Russian Federation, VK, Russian Gestapo, The New York Locations: Russia, Russian, Ukraine, “, Omsk, Peace, Ukraine ” “ Ukraine, Bucha, Moscow, St, Petersburg, Iglino, ”, Novosibirsk, Siberia, Crimea, Ukrainian, Kalga, Russia’s, OVD, Coast, Primorye, Soviet

A cold wind was blowing across the steppe, but Sapura Kadyrova didn’t see the point in bundling up. She was waiting to greet her son, who was arriving home from the war in a crimson government-issued casket. “So maybe I won’t be warm,” Ms. Kadyrova, 85, moaned. “In February he would have turned 50, and he promised me he would be allowed to come home then,” Ms. Kadyrova told her guests. While as many as 80 percent of Ukrainians have a close friend or relative who was injured or killed in the war, many Russians in urban centers still feel insulated from it.

Persons: Ms, Kadyrova, Garipul S, Kadyrov, “, ” Ms Locations: Klishchiivka, Ukraine

The skeletons are never far away from Konstantin A. Dobrovolsky. Sometimes he sleeps above them in a tiny olive-green trailer in the woods. For 44 summers, he has traversed the hilly scrabble northwest of Murmansk, the most populous city above the Arctic Circle and the northernmost frontier in World War II, in search of the remains of Soviet soldiers who died defending it. He has continued unearthing those bones even as descendants of the soldiers — of Russian, Ukrainian and other ethnic origins — are dying on a new front line, in Ukraine. While the Kremlin has sought to draw parallels between the Great Patriotic War, as World War II is known in Russia, and the current war, it is a comparison that Mr. Dobrovolsky, who is categorically opposed to the invasion of Ukraine, wholeheartedly rejects.

Persons: Konstantin A, Dobrovolsky Organizations: Kremlin Locations: Murmansk, Ukraine, Russia

Tens of thousands died fighting for and against it, destroying the careers of two presidents — one Armenian, one Azerbaijani — and tormenting a generation of American, Russian and European diplomats pushing stillborn peace plans. It outlasted six U.S. presidents. But the self-declared state in the mountainous enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh — recognized by no other country — vanished so quickly last week that its ethnic Armenian population had only minutes to pack before abandoning their homes and joining an exodus driven by fears of ethnic cleansing by a triumphant Azerbaijan. Slava Grigoryan, one of the thousands this week who fled Nagorno-Karabakh, said he had only 15 minutes to pack before heading to Armenia along a narrow mountain road controlled by Azerbaijani troops. On the way, he said, he saw the soldiers grab four Armenian men from his convoy and take them away.

Persons: —, Slava Grigoryan Locations: Nagorno, Karabakh, Azerbaijan, Republic of Artsakh, Armenia

Metro trains are running smoothly in Moscow, as usual, but getting around the city center by car has become more complicated, and annoying, because anti-drone radar interferes with navigation apps. There are well-off Muscovites ready to buy Western luxury cars, but there are not enough available. And while a local election for mayor took place as it normally would last Sunday, many of the city’s residents decided not to vote, with the result seemingly predetermined (a landslide win by the incumbent). Almost 19 months after Russia invaded Ukraine, Muscovites are experiencing dual realities: The war has faded into background noise, causing few major disruptions, and yet it remains ever-present in their daily lives.

Organizations: Metro Locations: Moscow, Russia, Ukraine

☆ Russia Reports Widespread Drone Attacks on Country
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Victoria Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

The police presence was heavy on Tuesday at the Porokhovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg, Russia, where the press service of Yevgeny V. Prigozhin said he had been buried. “Those wishing to say goodbye can visit the Porokhovskoye cemetery” in St. Petersburg. The secrecy reflected the sensitivities surrounding Mr. Prigozhin, a longtime ally of Mr. Putin who launched a failed mutiny against Moscow’s military leadership in June. Video People paid tribute to Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the Russian mercenary chief, and Dmitri Utkin, a longtime lieutenant. That left room for days of speculation about whether Mr. Prigozhin was really on the plane.

Persons: Yevgeny V, Prigozhin, Vladimir V, Putin, “, ”, Porokhovskoye, Mr, Wagner, Dmitri Utkin, Nanna Heitmann, Valery Chekalov, ” Farida Rustamova, Safronova, Jesus Jiménez Organizations: Russian, Video, Credit, The New York Locations: St . Petersburg, Russia, Moscow, Russian, Northern

☆ Russia-Ukraine War: Latest News
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Daniel Victor | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +7 min

Hundreds of people have placed flowers, photographs, candles and flags — including some bearing the private military group’s skull design — at a small sidewalk memorial near Red Square in Moscow. Like many who agreed to be interviewed, Alyona did not want to give her last name because of the political sensitivity surrounding Mr. Prigozhin, who frequently criticized how the war was conducted and launched a brief rebellion against the military’s leadership two months ago. “No one ever abandoned me; they helped me, they did everything that was necessary and provided me with everything that was needed,” said Prapor, who added that he had personally met Mr. Prigozhin. But in a country where little is said about the casualties, the sidewalk memorial became a rare place for people to mourn publicly. Mr. Prigozhin, Alyona said, was unique in his generation in his ability and willingness to openly discuss the issues plaguing Russian society.

Persons: Wagner, Yevgeny V, ”, Alyona, Prigozhin, didn’t, Dmitri Utkin, Nanna Heitmann, “, Prapor, Dmitri Utkin —, —, Kirill, Mr, Prigozhin’s, “ Wagner, Natalia, Sergei K, Shoigu —, Vladimir V, Putin, “ Evgeny Prigozhin, Shoigu, Sergei, ” Sergei, Aleksei A, Elena, “ I’ve, Vladlen Tatarsky, Daria Dugina, Lenin, Stalin, Milana Mazaeva Organizations: ” Volunteers, The New York Times, The New York, ., Kremlin, Police, Wagner Group, Ministry of Defense Locations: Red, Moscow, Ukraine, Russian, Ukrainian, Bakhmut, Prigozhin ., Mariupol, Russia, St . Petersburg, Washington

Putin’s Forever WarVladimir Putin wants to lead Russians into a civilizational conflict with the West far larger than Ukraine. Far from the Potemkin paradise of Moscow, the war is ever visible. On the eastern shore of the lake, where white-winged gulls plunge into the steel-blue water, Yulia Rolikova, 35, runs an inn that doubles as a children’s summer camp. She is some 3,500 miles from the front, yet the war reverberates in her family and in her head. “I said, ‘No, you have an 8-year-old daughter, and it’s a much more important duty to be a father to her.’”

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Will, Yulia Rolikova, “, —, ”, ‘, ’ Locations: Ukraine, Lake Baikal, Siberia, Moscow

Video The attack on the Moscow buildings closed traffic on at least two large avenues, according to state media. Credit Credit... Reuters Smoke was rising from the top floors of a high-rise building in a complex for Leroy Merlin, a French home improvement store. Russia has fired missiles and drones at cities across Ukraine nearly every day while Russian cities, including Moscow, have been spared the violence of the war. Then on May 31, the Russian defense ministry said at least eight drones had targeted the capital and surrounding region. Ukraine has started to publicly take credit for attacks in Crimea, the peninsula that Russia illegally annexed in 2014, arguing that the attacks are happening inside Ukrainian territory.

Persons: Maxim Shemetov, Sergei Sobyanin, Leroy Merlin, Volodymyr Zelensky, Shawn Paik, Jin Yu Young, Ivan Nechepurenko Organizations: ., Reuters, Russian Ministry of Defense, Russian National Defense Management Center, The New York Times, Credit, Military University, Central Military, Russian Armed Forces Locations: Moscow, Ukrainian, Ukraine, Komsomolsky, Russian, Moskva, Russia, Crimea

The recent high school graduate selected her wardrobe carefully as she headed off to a summer folk festival. She dressed all in white, as is customary for the event, and wore a large flower wreath in her golden hair. But when it came to choosing a sash for her skirt, she grabbed a brown leather band, avoiding the color red. In Belarus, red and white are the colors of the protest movement against the country’s authoritarian leader, Aleksandr G. Lukashenko. After claiming victory in a widely disputed presidential election three years ago — and violently crushing the outraged protests that followed — Mr. Lukashenko has ushered in a chilling era of repression.

Persons: Aleksandr G, Lukashenko, ”, — Mr Locations: Belarus

Mr. Lukashenko said last week that Wagner might use an old Belarusian military base, but despite the speculation spurred by the new tents, it was not clear that he meant this one, in the village of Tsel’. He also said that Mr. Prigozhin was in Belarus, though there was no confirmation of that. On Thursday, in a rare session with foreign journalists, Mr. Lukahsenko said Mr. Prigozhin was in Russia, a free man. On Friday, a Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss military intelligence, said Mr. Prigozhin was believed to be in Moscow, with no apparent restrictions on his movements. He said it would be used for a military training exercise in September, and insisted that the tents and bunks were erected so quickly as part of an exercise in rapid field camp construction.

Persons: Lukashenko, Wagner, Yevgeny V, Prigozhin, Lukahsenko, General Kasinsky Organizations: Pentagon Locations: Belarus, Ukraine, Tsel, Russia, Moscow

☆ Fear and Mayhem as Russia’s War Comes Home
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Roger Cohen | Nanna Heitmann | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Abandoned cats and dogs roam vacant streets lined with blasted apartment buildings, rubble and crumpled cars in Shebekino, a Russian border town pounded by shelling from Ukraine. “I need insulin! I need insulin!” cried Lyudmila Kosobuva, 56, who said she was taking care of a diabetic friend too old to move. “We will not leave our land.”Such desperation and scenes of devastation are familiar to millions of Ukrainians confronting the Russian invasion of their country. But this was not Ukraine, it was Russia — a western sliver of the vast country where Ukrainian-backed forces have lobbed shells and missiles on residential areas.

Persons: ”, Lyudmila Kosobuva, “ Locations: Shebekino, Russian, Ukraine, Russia, Ukrainian

☆ Putin’s War Rhetoric Rallies Russia’s Border Towns, but Nerves Fray
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Evan Gershkovich | Photographs Nanna Heitmann Magnum For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

PSKOV, Russia—A jackhammer pounded the frozen ground on a recent afternoon as gravediggers uncovered fresh soil to provide the resting place for the body of a Russian soldier killed in Ukraine. At the Vybuty village cemetery in the western region of Pskov, the digging, the men said, has become a near daily job.

☆ The Year in Pictures 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( The New York Times | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +57 min

Every year, starting in early fall, photo editors at The New York Times begin sifting through the year’s work in an effort to pick out the most startling, most moving, most memorable pictures. But 2022 undoubtedly belongs to the war in Ukraine, a conflict now settling into a worryingly predictable rhythm. Erin Schaff/The New York Times “When you’re standing on the ground, you can’t visualize the scope of the destruction. Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 25. We see the same images over and over, and it’s really hard to make anything different.” Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb 26.

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