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☆ Russian father had his daughter taken away after she drew an anti-war picture in art class, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A Russian sixth-grader drew an anti-war painting in her art class, Meduza reported Tuesday. He fears he will permanently lose custody of his daughter if he is jailed, his lawyer told OVD-Info. Moskalev's lawyer told OVD-Info that he was interrogated and told that his daughter had also made anti-war comments on the Russian social media outlet VKontakte. Moskalev was able to retrieve Masha from the children's center a few days later and both have since left Yefremov, Meduza reported. Under Russian law, using the words "war" and "invasion" can land someone in prison for up to 15 years.

☆ Wagner boss drops gruesome photo of war dead while blasting top Russian military leaders for getting them killed
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Yevgeny Prigozhin, who founded the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group, shared a graphic photograph of dead Russian mercenaries earlier this week and criticized the country's military leadership for getting them killed. Prigozhin shared the gruesome image, which shows dozens of corpses placed in multiple rows on the ground, to his Telegram channel on Tuesday. Russia's defense ministry denied the claims and said any statements about munitions shortages are "absolutely untrue," Russian state media TASS reported. A pedestrian walks past a mural depicting the logo of the Russian mercenary 'Group Wagner' and a slogan in Russian on January 20, 2023 in Belgrade, Serbia. "Wagner is becoming a rival power center to the Russian military and other Russian ministries."

☆ A missile system was spotted nearby as Putin spoke for just 4 minutes in Moscow, showing how the Russian city is becoming a war-time capital
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

A missile system was spotted near the Moscow stadium where Putin gave a patriotic speech. Some locals fear the installation of these defensive systems hints the war could get worse, according to the Moscow Times. Russian news site Meduza reported that the Pantsir missile system was installed outside Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium where thousands had gathered — and some had been paid — to hear Putin speak on Wednesday. These types of missile systems are intended to prevent aircraft, cruise missiles, and drones from striking Moscow, according to the Guardian. No Russian cities have been attacked so far in the conflict with Ukraine, but Russian forces have launched missiles and shelled Ukrainian towns.

☆ Extras recruited for a Putin rally featuring patriotic rap remixes were offered just $7 to come stand in the freezing cold
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Extras were recruited, paid $7 and given free merch to attend a rally in Moscow on Wednesday. The rally featured performances, military propaganda, and only a three-minute speech from Putin. According to a Telegram post and reporting from Meduza, the advertisements for extras began appearing on social network channels last week, offering extras just $7 to attend the event. The event, which was held during freezing weather at the Luzhniki Stadium, was attended by about 200,000 people, Sky News reported. One montage appeared to show Russian children writing letters and drawing pictures to send to soldiers on the front lines.

☆ A top Russian military official is dead after falling out of a 16th-floor window, the latest in a string of untimely deaths
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Russian defense official has died after reportedly falling out of a high-rise window. Marina Yankina, who worked for Russia's Western Military District, was found dead on Wednesday. Her death is the latest in a string of untimely deaths among officials and allies tied to Vladimir Putin. Before Yankina joined the Western Military District, she worked for the Federal Tax Service of Russia. Last September, 67-year-old Russian energy oligarch Ravil Maganov also died after falling from a hospital window, Insider reported at the time.

☆ Russian inmates only had to march a few yards to be considered fit enough to fight in Ukraine for the Wagner Group, 2 captured fighters say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Two captured Wagner Group fighters say the company hired convicts as long as they could march a few yards. Both Russian fighters told CNN they were serving prison sentences when the Wagner Group approached them in September and August, offering six-month contracts in exchange for pardons. The pair said Prigozhin told them they would be stationed on the second line of defense on Russia's front, per CNN. Similar reports previously emerged of Russian reservists dying by the hundreds from Ukrainian shelling and of Wagner Group recruits being executed for refusing to participate in suicide charges. "Those who disobey are eliminated — and it's done publicly," Yevgeny Novikov, a former inmate recruited by Wagner, told the Russian independent outlet Poligon Media.

☆ Wagner Group stops recruiting prisoners as growing numbers refuse to be enlisted on suicide missions, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Wagner Group has stopped recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine, its founder said Thursday. One prisoner told Meduza they no longer want "even to discuss the possibility" of joining the war. "One of the prisoners who left [with Wagner Group] told me that after he asked [Wagner] representatives how much training there would be, [they told him], 'The battlefield will be your training.' Russian prisoners for Wagner also said they've witnessed public executions of deserters and those who failed to obey orders. The mercenary organization has now "completely" stopped recruiting prisoners, its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a Telegram statement on Thursday.

☆ Ukraine's situation at the front is getting tougher, Zelenskiy says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Nick Starkov | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LVIV, Ukraine Feb 4 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that the situation on the front lines in the east of the country was getting tougher and Russia was throwing more and more troops into battle. "I've often had to say the situation at the front is tough, and is getting tougher, and it's that time again. "It is very difficult now in Bakhmut, Vuhledar, Lyman and other directions," he continued. Lyman, which lies just to the north of Bakhmut, was liberated by Ukrainian forces in October. On Friday, Zelenskiy vowed that his forces will fight for Bakhmut "for as long as we can," but the situation there is becoming increasingly dire for Ukrainian forces.

☆ Volunteers who used digital ads to counter Russian propaganda about Ukraine plan to fight misinformation in countries like Syria and Iran
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A group of volunteer 'spammers' who used ads to counter Russian propaganda about Ukraine plans to expand the campaign. Rob Blackie, organizer of the Breaking Putin's Censorship campaign. Earlier this month, the Kremlin said that anyone found simply posting a link to the banned independent Russian news site Meduza could face a six-year prison sentence. An example of one of the Breaking Putin's Censorship ads, which reads, "Why have 141 countries condemned Russians invasion of Ukraine? Breaking Putin's CensorshipThe group, which has now grown to around 60 volunteers, is already structured similarly to an ad agency.

☆ How Russia is molding the minds of schoolkids to support its brutal invasion of Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Elise Morton | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Russia is running a campaign of propaganda lessons to rally support for its invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin at a rally in Moscow held in March 2022, a few weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine. An image from the lesson materials showing Russian armored personnel carriers marked with the Z symbol from the invasion of Ukraine. But, the union said, "huge internal resistance" from Russia's teachers forced officials to edit out most references to the "special military operation" and achieve its aims less directly. It's the effect on young children, whose whole world is their school and family, that scares me."

☆ Russia orders the creation of 24 penal colonies in occupied Ukraine, says report
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russia has ordered the creation of 24 penal colonies in annexed parts of Ukraine, per Meduza. Conditions at penal colonies, which trace their roots to Soviet-era gulags, are famously harsh. The published decree outlines plans to create 12 new penal colonies in Donetsk, seven in Luhansk, three in Kherson, and two in Zaporizhzhia, Meduza reported. Ukrainska Pravda, a Ukrainian online newspaper, reported that there were 626 penal colonies in Russia as of November 2022. Ukrainian prisoners have previously been transported to penal colonies on Russian territory, according to research by Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny and Gulagu.net, per Meduza.

☆ Zelenskyy aide resigns after suggesting Ukraine air defense caused a Russian missile to hit an apartment building, killing 44
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Ukrainian official resigned after suggesting Russia did not target a Dnipro apartment block with a missile. Oleksiy Arestovych said Ukraine shot down the Russian missile that hit the block, killing 44. There was an international outcry after a massive Russian KH-22 missile slammed into the residential block on Saturday. Russian missiles have repeatedly struck residential buildings throughout the war. Contrary to Arestovych's statement, Ukraine's air force said that the country doesn't have the capability to shoot down the type of missile Russia used on Saturday, which has been dubbed an "aircraft carrier killer."

☆ Wounded Russians are being sent back to Ukraine with major injuries like punctured lungs and shrapnel still in their bodies, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Wounded Russian soldiers are being sent to Ukraine to fight despite their injuries, according to a report. Soldiers with damaged lungs and shrapnel wounds have been returned to the frontline. The presidential Human Rights Council in Russia is investigating the matter, a council member said. There have also been cases of soldiers receiving treatment for ulcers, heart attacks, and strokes being sent back to Ukraine, she said. In November, Army Gen. Mark Milley, the highest-ranking US military officer, estimated that "well over" 100,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded in the war in Ukraine, according to The Washington Post.

☆ Russia is trying to label as extremist maps that question its territorial claims over parts of Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Maps that don't respect Russia's claimed "territorial integrity" are to be labeled extremist material. Lawmakers objected to maps that don't show occupied Crimea as part of Russia. An amendment to anti-extremism legislation would include as extremist "cartographic and other documents and images that dispute the territorial integrity of Russia," according to Reuters. Russia has claimed Crimea as Russian territory since its troops seized the land from Ukraine in 2014 — a claim rejected not only by Ukraine but by almost 100 UN member states. Independent Russian outlet Meduza, in editorial remarks, said the amendment will likely apply to the regions of Ukraine occupied by Russia since its 2022 invasion.

☆ Did Putin really poop himself? How an influential Telegram account is spreading wild, unproven claims about the Kremlin's inner workings
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The Russian Telegram account General SVR is a source of many juicy tabloid stories about Putin. Experts on Russian media strongly doubt the account, and say it does more harm than good. They attributed them to a single, anonymous source: the mysterious Telegram account known as General SVR. Among those used to more rigorous documenting of Russia's secrets, General SVR prompts open derision. Soon after his questioning, the General SVR channel made a post denying any connection to Solovey.

☆ Leaked Kremlin poll shows 55% of Russians want to see negotiations with Ukraine to end the war: report
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A leaked Kremlin poll found 55% of Russians want talks to end the war in Ukraine, per Meduza. The poll also found just a quarter of Russians support continuing the war. The survey, conducted by Russia's Federal Protective Service (FSO), found that 55% of Russians favor peace talks with Ukraine. This represents a massive shift from an FSO poll in July that found just 32% of Russians favored talks, according to Meduza's reporting. Ukraine has regained control of approximately 55% of the territory occupied by Russia following the invasion, according to a recent assessment from the New York Times.

☆ Putin purges Russia's Human Rights Council, replacing critics with pro-war cheerleaders
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russia's Human Rights Council was reshuffled to exclude critics and bring in pro-war cheerleaders. It comes ahead of a key annual meeting where free speech about the Ukraine war was to be discussed. This system — often referred to as controlled opposition — is what Chatterje-Doody said had allowed organizations such as the Human Rights Council to express genuine criticism. On October 7, Russia rejected a UN Human Rights Council draft resolution condemning what the body called "the significant deterioration of the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation." Top Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that membership rotations at the Human Rights Council are normal.

☆ An officer helping enact Putin's mobilization is the latest in a string of unexplained deaths among high-ranking Russians
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Russian official who oversaw military enlistment was found dead, local officials said. People close to him do not believe that it was a suicide, Meduza reported, without specifying the source of that information. Putin announced the "partial mobilization" of Russians in September, forcing vast numbers of military reservists to join his invasion of Ukraine. Mysterious deathsA number of Russian officials have died in unusual or unexplained ways in the months since the Ukraine invasion began. The former head of a Russian aviation research institute also died, with a source telling Russian media that he fell down the stairs.

☆ Videos capture a Russian strike fighter on fire moments before it crashed into an apartment building
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Russian Su-34 warplane crashed into an apartment building in western Russia on Monday. One of the fighter-bomber's engines caught fire, and the two pilots ejected, according to reports. Yeysk is located along the Sea of Azov, a short distance across the water from the Russian-occupied Ukrainian port city Mariupol. Screengrab/Google MapsAccording to an open-source intelligence analysis by Oryx, Russian forces have lost at least 16 Su-34 fighter-bombers throughout the nearly 8-month invasion of Ukraine. Monday's accident marks the 10th non-combat crash of a Russian warplane, CBS News reported.

☆ A female doctor fled Russia to avoid being drafted amid fears the 'partial mobilization' will include women medics
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A female doctor told Insider she fled Russia because she feared being called up to serve in Ukraine. Another Russian woman, who trained as a nurse, told Insider that she'd rather go to prison than serve. "I'd been planning to immigrate to Germany for a while for work," she told Insider. The majority of doctors in Russia are womenVarvara had been planning to move to Germany with her husband in November. Sonia Subbotina, the girlfriend of jailed anti-war artist Alexandra Skochilenko, told Insider that she intends to remain indefinitely in St. Petersburg to care for Skochilenko.

☆ Russia is putting an enlistment office at its border as people continue to flee amid fears Putin will try to seal up country
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A local official said that an enlistment office will be put at one of Russia's borders with Georgia. Poland warned that Russia could close its borders, and told its citizens to leave the country. On Tuesday, a local Russian politician said on Telegram that an enlistment office will be set up in the North Ossetia Alania region, which lies on the border between Russia and Georgia. "In addition, a mobilization point of the military registration and enlistment office will be deployed at the checkpoint in the near future," Sergeev said. "They tried scaring us, saying they'll drag us to the enlistment office, telling us the border is closed – typical military humor," he told Al Jazeera.

☆ Ukraine annexation votes to end amid Russian mobilisation exodus
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Tom Balmforth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

A man walks with his bicycle past banners informing about a referendum on the joining of Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine to Russia, in the Russian-controlled city of Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine September 26, 2022. The mobilisation has also seen the first sustained criticism of the authorities within state-controlled media since the war began. Over the weekend, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia would defend any territory it annexes using any weapons in its arsenal. Even traditional Russian allies such as Serbia and Kazakhstan have said they will not recognise the annexation votes. When it held a referendum in Crimea after seizing that peninsula in 2014, it declared 97% of people had voted for annexation.

☆ Kremlin says no decisions taken on border closure amid mobilisation
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MOSCOW, Sept 26 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Monday that no decisions had been taken on closing Russia's borders, amid an exodus of military-age men since President Vladimir Putin declared a partial mobilisation last Wednesday. Asked about the possibility of border closures in a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "I don't know anything about this. Russian media have reported a string of cases of elderly or medically exempt men being called up for service in Ukraine. The comments come amid rising fears of a border closure, with Russia's frontiers seeing an unprecedented outflow of military-aged men since the partial mobilisation was declared last week. On Sunday, Novaya Gazeta reported that 261,000 men had left the country since partial mobilisation was declared, citing an unnamed source in Russia's presidential administration.

☆ Putin ally admits he created the Wagner mercenary group linked to wartime atrocities: 'I cleaned old weapons myself'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Yevgeny Prigozhin admitted to founding the Wagner mercenary firm in 2014. "I cleaned old weapons myself," the billionaire, known as "Putin's chef," said in a statement. Prigozhin previously denied founding the group and sued those who reported on his Wagner ties. "From that moment, on May 1, 2014, a group of patriots was born, which later acquired the name PMC Wagner." Timothy Lay, a coauthor of the report, told Insider that Wagner's actions — including widespread looting — were akin to "criminal violence."

☆ A movie theater gave fleeing Russians somewhere to sleep after Putin announced a military mobilization in his war against Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A movie theater in the Kazakhstan city of Uralsk opened its doors to fleeing Russians. Many Russian men are trying to flee the country after Putin announced a military mobilization. Cinema Park announced on Saturday that it would welcome those who were leaving the country and couldn't find shelter, after Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a military mobilization in his war against Ukraine last week. Russian men have in particular been trying to leave Russia in droves, as they face potentially being drafted in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Google searches for "how to leave Russia" skyrocketed after Putin's speech, Insider reported.

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