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On the air of the [Russian] Vremya program on Channel One, one of the employees staged a protest action. She stood behind TV presenter Ekaterina Andreeva and unfolded an anti-war poster with the call: “Stop the war, don’t believe the propaganda, they lie to you here.” According to preliminary data, Marina Ovsyannikova, who worked as an editor, staged a protest on the air. She was taken to the Ostankino police station. Marina Ovsyannikova also recorded a video message... What is happening in Ukraine now is a crime, and Russia is an aggressor country and the responsibility for this aggression lies...

On March 4, my colleagues and I decided to publish for the first time a letter from our source, who, judging by the letters, is serving in one of the analytical units of the special services. We sincerely hoped that this publicity would draw attention to the war in Ukraine and the ongoing events and would allow the war to be stopped sooner. But we could not imagine that this letter and this publication would attract such attention around the world. We decided to continue publishing data from our source and we believe that this will give the world new...

A Moscow microbiologist has accused the Kremlin of 'pure lies' and 'propaganda' in claiming Ukraine had secret US-funded biowarfare labs which they claim could attack Russia... But Moscow State University microbiologist Dr Yevgeny Levitin analysed the documentation allegedly seized by the invasion force - and strongly criticised the Russian claims. From a scientific perspective, he says the claims are 'absurd fakes' and 'a deliberate lie, which is not justified in any way'. In a sign of rising dissent in Moscow over the war, he went public with his critique and wrote an open letter with other unnamed graduates of his...

Andrei Kozyrev, Yeltsin’s first top diplomat, speaks about Putin’s ‘disastrous’ war in Ukraine and why the revisionist history about NATO enlargement is all wrong... I ask Kozyrev about a debate that has roiled the American foreign policy establishment in the leadup to this war. Did NATO go too far? On the contrary, he thinks it didn’t go far enough... Where America erred, Kozyrev insists, was in not investing as a matter of “strategic necessity” in Russia’s nascent and fragile democracy, which he and Yeltsin — at least in the earlier phase of his career — represented.... "We were ready to...

As Russia’s war against Ukraine enters its third week, President Vladimir Putin is cracking down on his favorite agency — the FSB. Journalists Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan, who have long specialized in covering Russia’s security services, report that the FSB’s foreign intelligence arm, the so-called Fifth Service, has become the target of repressions. According to Soldatov and Borogan’s sources, its leadership has been placed under house arrest. There is no official confirmation of these reports as yet. For Meduza, Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan explain how the FSB’s Ukraine intel got this bad. The Fifth Service — or, as...

The National Science Center, Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology (KIPT), which was a hotbed of early nuclear research in the former Soviet Union and currently hosts a newly installed neutron source, has suffered significant damage from Russia’s relentless attack on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. Rockets and bombs have damaged buildings and left civilians wounded, says Oleksandr Bakai, who heads the department of condensed matter and nuclear theory at KIPT and lives near the institute. The damaged facilities include the constructed but not fully operational Ukraine Neutron Source, according to the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine. After saying in...

According to ZN.UA, obtained from reliable diplomatic sources, Russia put forward 6 demands to Ukraine. The first five of them, as Putin sees it, should be enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine. 1. Refusal to move to NATO. Neutral status of Ukraine. Russia, which attacked our country, is ready to become one of the guarantors. 2. Russian is the second state language. The abolition of all laws that infringe on it. 3. Recognition of Crimea by Ukraine as Russian. 4. Recognition by Ukraine of the independence of the DPR and LPR within the administrative boundaries of the regions (including the...

The head of a U.S.-funded biolab in Tbilisi, Georgia has spoken about how the facility is battling Russian disinformation and conspiracy theories as it tests for coronavirus in the country. On the outskirts of Tbilisi, staff at the U.S.-funded Lugar Research Center are helping to limit the spread of COVID-19 in Georgia by testing hundreds of samples and turning results around in under 24 hours. The lab, funded by $350 million in American taxpayer dollars, has been at the center of Georgian media coverage for weeks. But for years prior to this pandemic, it’s been the subject of media attention...

Russian troops stranded in the 40-mile long convoy of tanks and armoured vehicles stalled on the outskirts of Kyiv could face freezing to death in their vehicles this week as temperatures are set to plunge. A pronounced cold snap in Eastern Europe will see temperatures drop to -10C overnight in the middle of the week around Kyiv and Kharkiv – down to -20C when wind chill is taken into account. The icy conditions are expected to make a difficult situation even worse for the invaders, who have been stuck roughly 20 miles from Kyiv for days amid mechanical problems, fuel...

A severe cold snap could push Russian troops to desert a convoy that has been stalled outside of Kyiv for the last few days, a military advisor to Ukraine's armed forces has said. Arctic air moving through Russia and Ukraine will combine with an easterly wind to make the temperature feel as cold as minus 20 [celsius] by Wednesday, according to forecasts. Russian troops are expected to find these conditions tough as they remain stuck in a column around 20 miles outside of the Ukrainian capital that has barely moved since last week. "A metal tank is just a fridge...

The first Israeli special forces veterans arrived in Ukraine to fight on the side of Ukraine against Russian aggression.

Japan's government has renewed its claims in a territorial dispute with Russia over the Pacific archipelago of the Southern Kuril Islands. Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Tuesday described the four islands as an "integral part" of Japan, the Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun reported. Previously, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had also used this wording. In view of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, his government is returning to language that Kishida's predecessor Shinzo Abe had avoided for 10 years in the hope of reaching an agreement with Russia's President Vladimir Putin. snip Abe dispensed with the phrase "integral part" of Japan...

Kirill (we do not indicate his last name at the request of his mother) is 12 years old, he studies in the 6th grade of a Moscow school... On Friday, March 4, sixth graders had their usual history lesson. Cyril himself tells about what happened: The teacher said: "Actually, this is not discussed with the sixth graders, but if you want to understand what is happening, then ask questions." And I started asking questions. I asked: “Why did Putin [start a ‘special operation’]?” To this the teacher replied that it was a "special operation." She said: “I don’t know exactly...

HORISHNI PLAVNI, Ukraine... Spurred by Russia’s unprovoked invasion of their country, the citizens of this small Ukrainian city on the east bank of the Dnipro River have mustered all available resources to support the war effort and ease the suffering of fellow civilians caught in the crossfire.... Out of Horishni Plavni’s overall population of about 50,000 residents, roughly 80% work in the local mining industry and earn an average salary of about $500 a month.... Although Horishni Plavni has not been struck by a Russian attack, the air raid alerts have frequently sounded, adding anxiety to people’s daily lives. So,...

TikTok has suspended all live streaming and content sharing on its platform in Russia, joining American Express and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the latest of several companies to boycott the country amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The social media giant made the announcement Sunday in response to the country's new controversial 'fake news' law, which threatens imprisonment for sharing what authorities consider to be false information. 'TikTok is an outlet for creativity and entertainment that can provide a source of relief and human connection during a time of war when people are facing immense tragedy and isolation,' the company said they had 'no...

...Speaking to donors at a Republican National Committee event in New Orleans, Trump called the 30-nation Western alliance a "paper tiger" and said the United States cannot stand by as Russia devastates its neighbor, according to the Washington Post, which obtained a recording of Trump's remarks. "At what point do we [say we] cannot take this massive crime against humanity?" Trump asked. "We can't let it happen. We can't let it continue to happen."... Trump suggested, perhaps not seriously, that the U.S. "put Chinese flags on America's F-22s and then bomb the s***" out of Russia while "we sit back...

The Russian invasion of Ukraine resulted from two immense strategic blunders, Robert Service says.... It rankles Mr. Putin that Ukraine would seek to join the West—and not merely because he wants it as a satellite state. He also “can’t afford to allow life to a neighboring Slav state which has even a smidgen of democratic development. His Russian people might get dangerous ideas.”... Mr. Service says the key to understanding Mr. Putin is his adamant belief that Russia is “a great global power” and that the Russian sphere of influence should extend to as many of the former Soviet republics...

A key ally of Vladimir Putin has called for a blitzkrieg of savagery to be unleashed in Ukraine to force a surrender 'within a day or two'. Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Chechnya who holds the rank of Major-General in the Russian National Guard and whose forces are deployed in Ukraine, is urging the despot to bombard Ukraine into submission to spare further Russian losses. He told Putin to 'shut your eyes to everything, and allow us to finish it all'. snip In an audio message to Putin, the 45-year-old said: 'Comrade President, Comrade Supreme Commander - I have said...

The Belarusian army did not take part in the Russian "special operation" against Ukraine and does not plan to do so, said Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, reports the Telegram channel Pool 1. "The Belarusian army did not take part in the "special operation" and does not intend to do it," Lukashenka said and added that Belarus is protecting the state border from Brest to Mazyr on its own. "The hybrid war that has been started against Belarus, especially the sanctions war in the economy and finance, is for a long time. They clutch us with a concrete grip. This is...

Spreading fake news about the Russian military can be punishable by up to 15 years in prison if a new bill is passed in Russia, state-owned news agency TASS reported Friday. On Friday the State Duma passed a law introducing punishment for spreading fake news about the Russian Armed Forces and the military operation in Ukraine, statements that discredit the armed forces, and calls for sanctions on Russia. According to deputy Maria Butina and TASS, the document was adopted unanimously. A group of people that use their position to spread fake information or distribute fake news with falsified evidence could...