Page 2 - Kremlin

Putin shuffles security team, replaces defence minister Sergei Shoigu

Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Sunday proposed replacing Sergei Shoigu as defence minister on Sunday and appointed him as secretary of Russia's national security council. The appointment comes after Putin proposed appointing Andrei Belousov as the country's defence minister in place of Shoigu, who has served in the post for years. The reshuffle comes as Putin starts his fifth presidential term and as the war in Ukraine drags on for the third year In line with Russian law, the entire Russian Cabinet resigned on Tuesday following Putin's glittering inauguration in the Kremlin. The announcement came as thousands more civilians have fled Russia's renewed ground offensive in Ukraine's northeast that has targeted towns and villages with a barrage of artillery and mortar shelling, officials said Sunday. The intense battles have forced at least one Ukrainian unit to withdraw in the Kharkiv region, capitulating more land to Russian forces across less defended settlements in the so-cal

As cases of asset seizures rise, Vladimir Putin's tycoons seek safeguards

With most Russian billionaires having been sanctioned over the past two years, the next concern is which decades-old privatisation decisions might be reversed

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny died of natural causes: Russian spymaster

Russia's spymaster said on Tuesday that opposition leader Alexei Navalny died of natural causes, a statement that appeared to reflect the Kremlin's efforts to assuage international outrage over the death of President Vladimir Putin's fiercest foe. Sergei Naryshkin, the director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, the top spy agency known under its Russian acronym SVR, made the statement in an interview broadcast by Russian state television. He didn't name the cause of Navalny's death in a remote Arctic penal colony or give any other details. Sooner or later life ends and people die, he said. Navalny has died of natural causes. Navalny died on February 16 at Penal Colony No. 3 in the town of Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenets region about 1,900 kilometres northeast of Moscow where he was serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism. Russian authorities still haven't announced the cause of his death at age 47 and many Western leaders blamed it on Putin, an accusation the Kremlin ang

Putin's 24-years rule: Crackdown on dissent solidifies his leadership

When charismatic opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was gunned down on a bridge near the Kremlin in February 2015, more than 50,000 Muscovites expressed their shock and outrage the next day at the brazen assassination. Police stood aside as they rallied and chanted anti-government slogans. Nine years later, stunned and angry Russians streamed into the streets on the night of Feb 16, when they heard that popular opposition politician Alexei Navalny had died in prison. But this time, those laying flowers at impromptu memorials in major cities were met by riot police, who arrested and dragged hundreds of them away. In those intervening years, Vladimir Putin's Russia evolved from a country that tolerated some dissent to one that ruthlessly suppresses it. Arrests, trials and long prison terms once rare are commonplace, especially after Moscow invaded Ukraine. Alongside its political opponents, the Kremlin now also targets rights groups, independent media and other members of civil-society

How Kremlin weaponised Russian history and used it to justify Ukraine war

Earlier this month, when Tucker Carlson asked Vladimir Putin about his reasons for invading Ukraine two years ago, Putin gave him a lecture on Russian history. The 71-year-old Russian leader spent more than 20 minutes showering a baffled Carlson with dates and names going back to the ninth century. Putin even gave him a folder containing what he said were copies of historical documents proving his points: that Ukrainians and Russians historically have always been one people, and that Ukraine's sovereignty is merely an illegitimate holdover from the Soviet era. Carlson said he was shocked at being on the receiving end of the history lesson. But for those familiar with Putin's government, it was not surprising in the least. In Russia, history has long been a propaganda tool used to advance the Kremlin's political goals. In an effort to rally people around their world view, Russian authorities have tried to magnify the country's past victories while glossing over the more sordid chapte

Over 400 detained in Russia as country mourns death of Alexei Navalny

Over 400 people were detained in Russia while paying tribute to opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died at a remote Arctic penal colony, a prominent rights group reported. The sudden death of Navalny, 47, was a crushing blow to many Russians, who had pinned their hopes for the future on President Vladimir Putin's fiercest foe. Navalny remained vocal in his unrelenting criticism of the Kremlin even after surviving a nerve agent poisoning and receiving multiple prison terms. The news reverberated across the globe, and hundreds of people in dozens of Russian cities streamed to ad-hoc memorials and monuments to victims of political repressions with flowers and candles on Friday and Saturday to pay a tribute to the politician. In over a dozen cities, police detained 401 people by Saturday night, according to the OVD-Info rights group that tracks political arrests and provides legal aid. More than 200 arrests were made in St Petersburg, Russia's second largest city, the group said. Amo

Navalny's team confirms his death, says his mother searching for body

Alexei Navalny's spokesperson confirmed Saturday that the Russian opposition leader had died at a remote Arctic penal colony and said he was murdered," but it is unclear where his body is. An official note handed to Navalny's mother stated that he died at 2:17 pm local time Friday, Kira Yarmysh said. She added that an employee of the prison colony said that Navalny's body was taken to the nearby city of Salekhard as part of a probe into his death. She demanded that his body be handed over to his family. When a lawyer and Navalny's mother visited the morgue in Salekhard, it was closed, Navalny's team said, writing on their Telegram channel. The lawyer called the morgue and was told that Navalny's body is not there, his team said. We demand that Alexey Navalny's body be handed over to his family immediately, Yarmysh wrote on X, previously Twitter. The cause and the circumstances of Navalny's death Friday remain largely unclear. Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service reported that Nava

Regret Argentina's move not to join Brics, hope it reconsiders: Kremlin

Argentina's incoming Foreign Minister Diana Mondino said in November that his country would not join the Brics grouping of developing nations despite being invited to do so

21 killed in Russia's Belgorod following aerial attacks across Ukraine

Shelling in the centre of the Russian border city of Belgorod Saturday killed 21 people, including three children, local officials reported. A further 110 people were wounded in the strike, said regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, making it one of the deadliest attacks on Russian soil since the start of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine 22 months ago. Russian authorities accused Kyiv of carrying out the attack, which took place the day after an 18-hour aerial bombardment across Ukraine killed at least 41 civilians. Images of Belgorod on social media showed burning cars and plumes of black smoke rising among damaged buildings as air raid sirens sounded. One strike hit close to a public ice rink in the very heart of the city, which lies 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of the Ukrainian border and 415 miles (670 kilometers) south of Moscow. While previous attacks have hit the city, they have rarely taken place in daylight and have claimed fewer lives. Russia's Defence Ministry said it ...

Western assets will meet same fate if Russian assets are seized: Kremlin

Leaders of the Group of Seven major industralised nations will discuss a new legal theory that would enable the seizure of frozen Russian assets when they meet in February

Russia-India ties going strong despite turbulences: Putin to Jaishankar

Russia's relations with India and its people are making "steady headway" despite the "current turbulences" in the world, President Vladimir Putin has said and expressed confidence that the two countries will maintain their traditionally friendly ties in "any alignment of political forces" after elections in India. Putin's remarks came on Wednesday when visiting External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called on him at the Kremlin. "We are very pleased to note that despite the current turbulences in the world, relations with our traditional friends in Asia, with India and the Indian people are making steady headway," Putin said. The ties between India and Russia remained strong notwithstanding Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue. "We know Prime Minister Modi's position and we have repeatedly spoken about this the position concerning his ...

Kremlin has 'no information' about missing Putin critic Alexei Navalny

The prison authorities moved him from the penal colony, where he was serving his sentence for multiple charges, including extremism, but have not said where he was transferred to

Russia brings new charges against jailed opposition leader Navalny

Imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been handed new charges by Russian prosecutors. The 47-year-old is already serving more than 30 years in prison after being found guilty of crimes including extremism charges that his supporters characterise as politically motivated. In comments passed to his associates, Navalny said he had been charged under article 214 of Russia's penal code, which covers crimes of vandalism. I don't even know whether to describe my latest news as sad, funny or absurd, he wrote in comments on social media Friday via his team. I have no idea what Article 214 is, and there's nowhere to look. You'll know before I do. He said that the charges were part of the Kremlin's desire to initiate a new criminal case against me every three months. Never before has a convict in solitary confinement for more than a year had such a rich social and political life, he joked. Navalny is one of President Vladimir Putin's most ardent opponents, best known for campaignin

Russia has not abandoned moratorium on nuclear testing, says Kremlin

President Vladimir Putin, who rules the world's biggest nuclear power, has repeatedly cautioned the West that any attack on Russia could provoke a nuclear response

Russian President Putin meets top Wagner commander, discusses Ukraine

The Kremlin said the meeting took place late on Thursday

Deliberate wrongdoing among possible causes of crash: Kremlin on Prigozhin

The Kremlin said Wednesday that deliberate wrongdoing is among the possible causes of the plane crash that killed mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin last week. Speaking to reporters during his daily conference call, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov noted that different versions of what happened exist and are being considered, including let's put this way, deliberate wrongdoing. He urged reporters to wait until the probe by the Russian Investigative Committee is concluded, and said there can't be an international investigation into it. The committee said last week it has opened a criminal case on charges of flight safety violations, a standard charge used in plane crash investigations in Russia when there is no immediate reason to suspect foul play. A business jet carrying Prigozhin, founder and leader of the private military force Wagner, and his top lieutenants crashed halfway between Moscow and St. Petersburg last Wednesday, killing all 10 people on board. The crash occurred .

Russia denies role in plane crash believed to have killed Yevgeny Prigozhin

President Vladimir Putin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, on Friday rejected allegations that the Kremlin was behind a plane crash that is presumed to have killed mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose brutal fighters were feared in Ukraine, Africa and Syria and conducted a brief but shocking mutiny in Russia two months ago. Prigozhin, who was listed among those on board the plane, was eulogised by Putin, even as suspicions grew that the Russian leader was behind a Wednesday crash that many saw as an assassination. A preliminary US intelligence assessment concluded that the plane was downed by an intentional explosion. One of the US and Western officials who described the initial US assessment said it determined that Prigozhin was very likely targeted and that the explosion falls in line with Putin's long history of trying to silence his critics. The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment, did not offer any details about what

Putin says Wagner mercenary group 'doesn't exist' as it has no legal basis

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Wagner private military company simply doesn't exist as a legal entity, in comments adding to the series of often bizarre twists that have followed the group's abortive revolt last month the most serious threat to Putin's 23-year rule amid the war in Ukraine. There is no law on private military organisations. It simply doesn't exist, Putin told a Russian newspaper late Thursday, referring to the Wagner group. Putin recounted to Kommersant his own version of a Kremlin event attended by 35 Wagner commanders, including the group's chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, on June 29. That meeting came just five days after Prigozhin and his troops staged a stunning but short-lived rebellion against Moscow authorities. The meeting was revealed earlier this week by a Kremlin official. Putin said that at the talks, Wagner rejected an offer to keep its troops in Ukraine, where they have played key battlefield roles, under the leadership of their direct ...

Can India continue with purchasing spree of Russian oil as discounts narrow

The shift to date has suited the Kremlin, looking for new markets as Western buyers and established oil traders pull back. It's worked for India too, eager to snap up cheaper fuel

Putin weakened by Wagner Group mutiny, Ukraine missed opportunity

On Friday June 23 2023, Prigozhin ordered 25,000 of his troops on to a march for justice, which duly set out to confront the Russian president in Moscow