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☆ Floods Batter Russia and Kazakhstan, Forcing Tens of Thousands to Evacuate
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | More About Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

More than 100,000 people were forced to evacuate on Wednesday after devastating spring floods engulfed cities and villages across vast sections of Russia and Kazakhstan. The floods affected multiple settlements across Russia in the South Urals region east of Moscow, in Western Siberia and near the Volga River, as well as at least five regions of Kazakhstan, which shares a long border with Russia. Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, said on Wednesday that the situation was “quite tense” and the forecast was “unfavorable” as “large amounts of water are coming to new regions.”

Persons: Dmitri S Locations: Russia, Kazakhstan, South Urals, Moscow, Western Siberia

☆ Xi Meets With Russia’s Foreign Minister, Reaffirming Ties
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( David Pierson | Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, and Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, met in Beijing on Tuesday, in a session seen as laying the groundwork for an expected visit to China by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and pushing back against mounting pressure from the United States and its allies. Mr. Lavrov’s visit came just days after Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen warned of “significant consequences” if Chinese companies provided material support for Russia’s war in Ukraine. It also took place as President Biden was set to host the leaders of Japan and the Philippines on Wednesday to boost economic and security ties to counter China’s growing assertiveness in Asia. Earlier in the day, Mr. Lavrov met with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, and said the two sides had talked about deepening security ties to resist the West's “anti-Chinese” and “anti-Russian orientation.” In a sign of the Kremlin’s continued deference to China, Mr. Lavrov reaffirmed Russia’s rejection of any “outside interference” over Beijing’s claims to the de facto independent island of Taiwan. “There is no place for dictatorships, hegemony, neocolonial and colonial practices, which are now being widely used by the United States and the rest of the ‘collective West,’” Mr. Lavrov said.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Sergey V, Lavrov, Vladimir V, Putin, Lavrov’s, Janet L, Yellen, Biden, Wang Yi, ’, Mr Locations: Beijing, China, Russia, United States, Ukraine, Japan, Philippines, Asia, Taiwan

☆ Putin Offers Both Reassurance and Threat on a Wider War
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has warned that if F-16 fighter jets supplied to Ukraine by its Western allies operated from airfields in other countries, the bases would be “legitimate targets” for attack. In a speech to Russian Air Force pilots late Wednesday, however, Mr. Putin rejected suggestions from some Western leaders that Russia is planning to invade NATO countries as “complete nonsense.”The threat that Russia might move against other countries has become one of the main arguments used by the Ukrainian government and its supporters to try to persuade the U.S. to dispatch more military aid to the country. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said again in an interview with CBS News published on Thursday that war “can come to Europe, and to the United States of America.”

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky, ” Organizations: Russian Air Force, CBS Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Ukrainian, U.S, Europe, United States of America

☆ Russia Digs In on Claim Ukraine and West Were Behind Terrorist Attack
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Russia on Tuesday deepened its accusations against Ukraine and its Western allies, claiming again, without evidence, that they were most likely involved in the terrorist attack on a concert hall near Moscow that killed at least 139 people. Aleksandr Bortnikov, the director of the Federal Security Service, the top security agency in Russia, said that the assault “was prepared by both radical Islamists themselves and, naturally, facilitated by Western special services.”The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, and eight people have been arrested in connection with the assault. According to the state news agency Tass, when asked whether Russia believed the United States, Britain and Ukraine were involved in the attack, Mr. Bortnikov said “we believe that’s the case.”

Persons: Aleksandr Bortnikov, “, Bortnikov, ” Organizations: Ukraine, Federal Security Service, Tass Locations: Russia, Moscow, United States, Britain, Ukraine

☆ As Russia Mourns Attack Victims, State Media Intensifies Blame of Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-25 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As Russians grieved Monday for victims of the bloody assault on a concert hall near Moscow that killed at least 137 people, President Vladimir V. Putin was scheduled to meet with government officials to discuss the tragedy, the worst such attack in the capital in two decades. The government appears to be stepping up efforts to pin the blame on Ukraine. On Sunday, hours after a district court arraigned four men suspected of carrying out the Friday night attack, the main evening news shows on Russia’s main television channels featured reports suggesting that Ukraine was responsible. The main message was that Western countries were pushing a theory that a branch of the Islamic State was behind the attack, which took place at Crocus City Hall on the outskirts of Moscow, to shift blame away from Ukraine. “The United States and Europe understand that any connection between Ukraine and the attack against Crocus City Hall would be suicidal for Kyiv and the whole anti-Russian alliance,” said one anchor, Dmitri Melnikov, in a report on Vesti Nedeli, the flagship weekly news show on Rossiya-1, the main state-owned television network.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, ”, Dmitri Melnikov, Nedeli Organizations: Islamic, Crocus City, Kyiv Locations: Moscow, Ukraine, Islamic State, United States, Europe

Bodies were recovered, flowers were laid and fingers were pointed on Sunday as competing narratives took shape over who was behind the terrorist attack on a Russian concert hall where at least 137 people out to enjoy an evening of music were killed. President Vladimir V. Putin has hinted that Ukraine was behind the Friday night attack. He stopped short of accusing Kyiv directly, but on Sunday, some of his allies showed no such compunction. American officials have said that the attack appeared to be the work of an offshoot of the Islamic State, and that there is no evidence connecting Kyiv to it. But many Russian nationalist commentators and ultraconservative hawks are pushing the idea that Ukraine is the obvious culprit.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Sergei A, Markov Organizations: Islamic, Kremlin, “, ISIS Locations: Russian, Ukraine, Kyiv, Islamic State

The group got a dramatic second wind soon after the Taliban toppled the Afghan government that year. The attack raised ISIS-K’s international profile, positioning it as a major threat to the Taliban’s ability to govern. Counterterrorism officials in Europe say that in recent months they have snuffed out several nascent ISIS-K plots to attack targets there. And now the group has claimed responsibility for the attack in Moscow. “ISIS-K accuses the Kremlin of having Muslim blood in its hands, referencing Moscow’s interventions in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Syria.”

Persons: Biden, Michael E, “, Qassim Suleimani, Vladimir V, Putin, Colin P, Clarke, ” Organizations: Taliban, U.S, Islamic State, ISIS, military’s, Command, Counterterrorism, Soufan, Kremlin Locations: Kabul, Afghanistan, Moscow, State Khorasan Province, U.S, United States, Persian, Europe, Kerman, Iran, Gen, Iranian, Russia, New York, Chechnya, Syria

☆ Here’s What We Know About the Moscow Concert Hall Attack
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-23 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | More About Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At least 115 people were killed and more than 140 injured Friday night in an attack at a popular concert venue near Moscow, the deadliest act of terrorism in the Russian capital in more than a decade. A branch of the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack; American officials, too, have attributed it to ISIS-K, a branch of the group active in Iran and Afghanistan. Russian officials have not commented on the claim. The gunmen entered the Crocus City Hall building, one of the biggest entertainment complexes in the Russian capital, with capacity of more than 6,000, shortly before a sold-out rock concert was scheduled to start. Using explosives and flammable liquids, Russian investigators said, they set the building ablaze, causing chaos as people began to run.

Persons: Here’s Organizations: Islamic State Locations: Moscow, Iran, Afghanistan, Crocus, Russian

☆ Russians Know Putin Will Be Re-Elected, but Many Worry What Comes Next
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-17 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Maria and her husband, Aleksandr, are certain that President Vladimir V. Putin will secure a fifth term as Russia’s leader in the presidential election this weekend. Foremost in their minds are fears that Mr. Putin, emboldened by winning a new six-year term, might declare another mobilization for soldiers to fight in Ukraine. Aleksandr, 38, who left Russia shortly after Mr. Putin announced the first mobilization in September 2022 but recently returned, is even considering leaving the country again, his wife said. Many Russians have been worrying about a multitude of issues before the vote, which started on Friday and takes place over three days. Though the Russian authorities have denied that another mobilization for the war is planned, a sense of unease persists.

Persons: Maria, Aleksandr, Vladimir V, Putin, Mr, “, ” Maria Locations: Moscow, Ukraine, Russia

“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

☆ From Moscow to Mumbai: Russia Pivots South for Trade
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-13 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | Sergey Ponomarev | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For centuries, trade with Europe was the main pillar of Russia’s economy. The war in Ukraine ended that, with Western sanctions and other restrictions increasingly cutting Russia off from European markets. That southern route has now become a focus of Russian policymakers as they try to build infrastructure for their plans to pivot away from the West for good. The effort faces challenges, including questions over financing, doubts over the reliability of Russia’s new partners, and threats of Western sanctions targeting countries that trade with Russia. “As Russia’s traditional trade routes were largely blocked, it had to look at other options,” said Rauf Agamirzayev, a transport and logistics expert based in Baku, Azerbaijan, referring to the southern route.

Persons: ”, Rauf Agamirzayev Organizations: Iran Locations: Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Moscow, China, India, Persian, Mumbai, Baku, Azerbaijan

☆ Navalny’s Mother Says Authorities Are ‘Blackmailing’ Her Over Son’s Remains
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Anton Troianovski | Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Russian authorities have declared that the opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny died of natural causes but are refusing to release his remains until his mother agrees to a “secret funeral,” Mr. Navalny’s mother and his spokeswoman said on Thursday. Lyudmila Navalnaya, Mr. Navalny’s mother, said she had been “secretly” taken to a morgue Wednesday night, “where they showed me Aleksei.” She was shown a medical report on Mr. Navalny’s death that said he died of natural causes, according to the Navalny team’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh. But Ms. Navalnaya said she now was locked in a grim battle with local authorities in the northern Russian city of Salekhard who, taking orders from Moscow, were not releasing custody of the remains. She said the authorities warned that if she did not “agree to a secret funeral,” then “they will do something with my son’s body.”“They’re blackmailing me,” Ms. Navalnaya said in a video posted on her son’s YouTube channel. “They are setting me conditions on where, when and how Aleksei should be buried.”

Persons: Aleksei A, Navalny, ” Mr, Navalny’s, Lyudmila Navalnaya, “, ”, Aleksei, Kira Yarmysh, Navalnaya, “ They’re, ” Ms Organizations: YouTube Locations: Russian, Salekhard, Moscow

☆ Russia Arrests U.S. Citizen, Accusing Her of Treason by Aiding Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | More About Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Russia’s main security agency said on Tuesday that it had arrested a dual citizen of Russia and the United States on accusations of committing state treason by raising funds for Ukraine. The Federal Security Service, known as the F.S.B., identified the detainee as a 33-year-old woman who lives in Los Angeles. It said in a statement that she had raised money for a Ukrainian organization that bought weapons and other equipment for Ukraine’s military. said that the woman had been arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg in central Russia. RIA Novosti, a Russian state news agency, published a video that it said showed the woman, wearing a white hat that covered her eyes, being handcuffed and escorted by masked security service officers.

Persons: Perviy Organizations: Ukraine, Federal Security Service, RIA Novosti Locations: Russia, United States, Los Angeles, Razom, Ukraine, New York, Yekaterinburg, Russian

☆ From Frigid Cells to Mystery Injections, Prison Imperiled Navalny’s Health
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-17 | by ( Paul Sonne | Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Aleksei A. Navalny portrayed himself as invincible, consistently using his hallmark humor to suggest that President Vladimir V. Putin couldn’t break him, no matter how dire his conditions became in prison. But behind the brave face, the reality was plain to see. Since his incarceration in early 2021, Mr. Navalny, Russia’s most formidable opposition figure, and his staff regularly suggested his conditions were so grim that he was being put to death in slow motion. The cause of Mr. Navalny’s death in prison at 47 has not been established — in fact his family has not yet even been allowed to see his body — but Russia’s harshest penal colonies are known for hazardous conditions, and Mr. Navalny was singled out for particularly brutal treatment. “As Navalny’s doctor told me: the body cannot withstand this.”

Persons: Aleksei A, Navalny, Vladimir V, Putin, Navalny’s, “ Aleksei Navalny, Dmitri A, Muratov, ” Locations: Russian

☆ Aleksei Navalny’s Allies Confirm His Death
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-17 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | More About Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Aleksei A. Navalny’s political allies on Saturday confirmed his death, saying that his mother had received an official notification of it. Kira Yarmysh, Mr. Navalny’s spokeswoman, said in a statement on X that Russian investigators had transferred Mr. Navalny’s body from a penal colony in the Arctic to the nearby town of Salekhard, where it is being examined. “We demand for Aleksei Navalny’s body to be released to his family immediately,” Ms. Yarmysh said in her statement. Ms. Yarmysh is a member of a team of Mr. Navalny’s allies. Working from outside Russia, they continued to carry out his work after his poisoning in 2020 and his subsequent imprisonment, publishing his statements and organizing political events.

Persons: Aleksei A, Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s, Aleksei Navalny’s, ” Ms, Yarmysh Organizations: Saturday Locations: Salekhard, Russia

The news of Mr. Navalny’s death shocked many at the conference and could add new urgency to the discussion. Ms. Harris said at the start of her address to the conference — which had already been expected to focus on Russia — that the United States was still trying to confirm the reports of Mr. Navalny’s death, but that it held Russia’s government responsible. “I made it clear to him that I believe the consequences of that would be devastating for Russia,” Mr. Biden told reporters after meeting with Mr. Putin in Geneva in 2021. “What do you think happens when he’s saying it’s not about hurting Navalny, all the stuff he says to rationalize the treatment of Navalny, and then he dies in prison?” Mr. Biden continued. “I saw Yulia Navalnaya and Leonid Volkov last night here in Munich,” said Michael McFaul, a former American ambassador to Moscow.

Persons: Aleksei A, Yulia Navalnaya, clampdown, Navalnaya, Leonid Volkov, Kamala Harris, Antony J, Blinken, Vladimir V, Putin, Navalny’s, Harris, ”, Mr, Biden, Navalny, “, ” Mr, it’s, Ms, Michael McFaul, Aleksei, ” Edward Wong Organizations: Munich Security Conference, ” Locations: Munich, Europe, Ukraine, Moscow, Russia, United States, Geneva, American

☆ Russia Bars Antiwar Candidate in Election Putin Is All But Sure of Winning
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Russian authorities on Thursday banned from the presidential race the only candidate who had openly contested President Vladimir V. Putin’s hold on power in Russia, and who made his opposition to the war in Ukraine central to his campaign. The move by Russia’s Central Electoral Commission, the body that administers elections in Russia, was the latest predictable twist in a campaign that few doubt will result in Mr. Putin’s re-election in March. Mr. Putin’s expected victory in the March 15-17 presidential election would secure him a fifth term in the Kremlin, cementing his rule as one of the longest and most consequential in Russian history. The commission’s dismissal of the antiwar candidate, Boris B. Nadezhdin, demonstrated how the Kremlin has decided to remove all contenders who deviate from the party line. Mr. Nadezhdin, who has attracted thousands of supporters across Russia, has called the decision to invade Ukraine a “fatal mistake.”

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin’s, Boris B, Nadezhdin, ” Organizations: Russia’s, Electoral Commission, Mr, Kremlin Locations: Russia, Ukraine

☆ U.N. Court to Rule on Whether Ukraine Committed Genocide
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | More About Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The top court of the United Nations ruled on Friday that it would take up the question of whether Ukraine committed genocide in its Donetsk and Luhansk regions, an accusation at the heart of Russia’s argument for its 2022 full-scale invasion. The ruling came in a case brought by Ukraine to the International Court of Justice. The court said that Ukraine’s claim that there was no credible evidence that Kyiv was “responsible for committing genocide” in its Donetsk and Luhansk regions was admissible and that it would examine that claim on its merits. The case, which will likely take many months to complete, will give a legal answer to one of the central allegations made by Russia against Ukraine — that Kyiv has been committing genocide against Russian speakers in the country’s east. In his February 2022 speech that announced the invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir V. Putin said that the purpose of the “special military operation,” as Russia has called the war, was to “protect people who, for eight years now, have been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime.”

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, ” Organizations: United Nations, International Court of Justice, Kyiv, Ukraine — Locations: Ukraine, Donetsk, Luhansk, Russia, Kyiv, ”

☆ Russian Court Jails Woman Over Blast That Killed Influential Military Blogger
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | More About Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A Russian court on Thursday sentenced a woman to 27 years in prison for delivering a bomb that killed an influential military blogger in a St. Petersburg cafe last year, a lengthy sentence that underscored the Kremlin’s efforts to deter violent opposition to its war in Ukraine. The activist, Daria Trepova, 26, was convicted on charges of terrorism, illegal possession of explosives and document forgery. She handed a statuette to the blogger, Maksim Fomin, who was known more popularly as Vladlen Tatarsky, as he gave a public talk in a cafe in April. Mr. Tatarsky was killed and others were injured at the event when a bomb inside the statuette exploded. The prosecution had argued that Ms. Trepova knew about the explosive device in the statuette, which was in the blogger’s likeness.

Persons: Daria Trepova, Maksim Fomin, Tatarsky, Trepova Organizations: Mr Locations: St, Petersburg, Ukraine

☆ Large Military Airplane Crashes in Russia, Moscow Says
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | More About Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A large Russian military transport plane crashed on Wednesday in the Belgorod region near the border with Ukraine, state news agencies said, citing a statement by the Russian Defense Ministry. The plane also carried six crew members and three other individuals, the ministry said, according to Tass, a Russian state news agency. The Defense Ministry did not say whether there were any survivors. The Ukrainian military intelligence agency said that it could not immediately comment. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that it was looking into the situation and declined to comment, according to Suspilne, a Ukrainian news website.

Organizations: Russian Defense Ministry, Tass, The Defense Ministry, Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Ukrainian Air Force Locations: Belgorod, Ukraine, Russian, Ukrainian

☆ Fire Rips Through Abkhazia Gallery, Destroying Nearly 4,000 Artworks
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Almost 4,000 paintings belonging to the National Gallery of Abkhazia were destroyed when a fire swept through an exhibition hall in central Sukhumi, the region’s capital, Abkhazia’s acting culture minister said in a statement. “This is an irreparable loss for Abkhazia’s national culture,” she said. The National Gallery is more of a storage space than a museum, however. Residents rushed to the scene on Sunday to rescue paintings, but only 200 artworks were removed from the burning building. Photos from the scene, released by Apsnypress, a local news agency, showed people carrying framed canvases, some charred and burned.

Persons: Dinara Smyr, Aleksandr Chachba, ”, Apsnypress Organizations: National, Residents Locations: Abkhazia, Russian, Georgia, Russia, Syria, Venezuela, Sukhumi, Abkhazian, France

☆ Putin, Bidding to Cement His Legacy, Will Seek Re-election as President
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-08 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the absence of genuine political opposition, Mr. Putin is all but assured of winning another six-year term, prolonging his authoritarian grip. There had been next to no doubt that he would run: Perhaps in an acknowledgment of his expected candidacy, Mr. Putin declared his intentions not at a podium, but in a conversation with soldiers that was recorded on camera. Still, the exchange was laden with symbolism, coming after a military awards ceremony at the Kremlin that underscored his standing as a wartime president overseeing a brutal invasion of Ukraine. The interaction appeared to be highly choreographed, though the Kremlin later denied that was the case. A Ukrainian-born Russian military officer and official from Donetsk, a Russian-occupied city in eastern Ukraine, approached Mr. Putin and expressed gratitude that its residents now had the opportunity to vote for the first time in Russian presidential elections, and they wanted to cast their votes for Mr. Putin.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Catherine the Great, Mr Organizations: Kremlin Locations: Ukraine, Ukrainian, Donetsk, Russian

☆ Russian Court Extends Detention of American Reporter
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | More About Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A Moscow court on Tuesday extended the pretrial detention of Evan Gershkovich, an American reporter for The Wall Street Journal who has been held in Russia for nearly eight months on an espionage charge that he, his newspaper and the U.S. government vehemently reject. Mr. Gershkovich, 32, has been held in the notoriously strict Lefortovo prison in Moscow since his arrest on March 29 during a reporting trip to the central Russian city of Yekaterinburg. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in a Russian penal colony. Wearing jeans and a checkered shirt under a dark jacket, Mr. Gershkovich listened to the judge on Tuesday from a white courtroom cage, according to a video shared by the press service for Moscow courts. The ruling means that Mr. Gershkovich will remain in custody until Jan. 30; it was the third time his detention has been extended.

Persons: Evan Gershkovich, Gershkovich Organizations: Wall Street, U.S Locations: Moscow, American, Russia, Russian, Yekaterinburg

☆ The Certainties of a Putin Election Meet the Uncertainties of War
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-23 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | More About Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

When asked last week what kind of leader should replace President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, his longtime spokesman gave a quick and simple answer: “the same.”“Or different, but the same,” the spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, told a Russian television network, adding that he was confident that should Mr. Putin run, he would win the election “without doubt” and would remain “our president.”Few doubt that Mr. Putin will seek another presidential term in an election scheduled for March. He is widely expected to formally announce his candidacy next month. There is little question about the outcome, too; in Russia’s authoritarian political system, Mr. Putin is always reported to have won in a landslide. He has led Russia as either president or prime minister since 1999.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Russia, Dmitri S, Peskov, ” Locations: Russian, Russia

For Mr. Putin, it was a rare interaction with Western leaders since the start of the war last year. Once he had a chance to respond, Mr. Putin could not hide his irritation. “Some colleagues already in their speeches were saying that they were shocked by the ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine,” Mr. Putin said. Mr. Putin repeated Russia’s official line that the Kremlin was ready to negotiate and blamed Ukraine for rejecting talks. “Russia has never refused peace talks with Ukraine,” Mr. Putin said.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, “, ” Mr, ”, Mr, Viktor F, Yanukovych, Putin —, Xi Jinping —, Biden, Sergei V, Lavrov, Li Qiang Organizations: Hamas, Western, Kremlin, Ukraine Locations: Ukraine, Israel, Russia, India, Gaza, United States, China, Moscow, Europe, Delhi, Western

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