Russia

Ukraine says Russian strike pattern suggests it is low on ballistic missiles

Russia is stepping up its use of S-300 and S-400 air defence systems to conduct strikes on ground targets, suggesting that Moscow's stocks of ballistic missiles are running low, Ukraine's…

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Dnipro strike death toll reaches 40, Russia denies fault

The death toll from a Russian missile strike in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro rose to 40 on Monday, with dozens more missing, making it the deadliest civilian incident of…

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EU official says no going back to Russian airspace charges

DUBLIN, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Russia must stop charging foreign airlines for the use of Siberian airspace as and when overflight restrictions introduced as a result of the Ukraine conflict…

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Russia produces first nuclear warheads for Poseidon super torpedo – TASS

MOSCOW, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Russia has produced the first nuclear warheads for the Poseidon super torpedoes to be deployed on the Belgorod nuclear submarine, TASS reported on Monday, citing…

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Russia says it launched missile strikes against Ukraine on Saturday

Jan 15 (Reuters) - Russia's defence ministry said on Sunday its forces had launched a wave of missile strikes against Ukrainian military and infrastructure sites on Saturday. At least 21 people were…

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Who is Russia’s new war commander Gerasimov and why was he appointed?

(Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin's defence minister has appointed Russia's most senior general, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, 67, to lead its war in Ukraine, the most dramatic…

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Russian ex-President Medvedev says Japanese PM should disembowel himself

Jan 14 (Reuters) - Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accused Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday of shameful subservience to the United States and suggested he should ritually disembowel…

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Putin ally suggests seizing property of war critics who fled Russia

Jan 13 (Reuters) - A close ally of President Vladimir Putin suggested on Friday confiscating the property of Russians who have left the country and who "insult" the state and…

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Russia says Belarus may enter Ukraine conflict if ‘invaded’

Jan 13 (Reuters) - A Russian foreign ministry official said on Friday that Belarus may enter the conflict in Ukraine if Kyiv decides to "invade" either country. Russia used Belarus…

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Factbox: Why Russia is targeting the Ukrainian town of Soledar

KYIV (Reuters) - Russian and Ukrainian forces were engaged in intense fighting over the town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine - a stepping stone in Moscow's push to capture the…

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Russia suggests Sweden has ‘something to hide’ in Nord Stream blast probe

Jan 12 (Reuters) - Russia questioned on Thursday whether Sweden had "something to hide" over explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year, as it slammed Stockholm for…

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Russia could increase the age of conscription for military service

A former Russian deputy minister of defence has suggested the country could increase the age of conscription for military service from 27 to 30 for this year’s spring draft campaign,…

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Russia says EU is becoming a vassal of NATO

Russia said on Wednesday that the European Union was becoming a vassal of NATO, citing the signing of a joint declaration in which the two organisations pledged to deepen their…

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Malta lags behind in sanctioning Russian assets – EU

Malta, together with Greece, lags behind their European Union peers in freezing Russian assets sanctioned over Moscow's war against Ukraine, according to an EU official and an internal document, as the…

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Russia’s Wagner mercenaries battle Ukrainian resistance in Soledar’s town centre

The battle for Soledar raged in sub-zero temperatures on Wednesday, with Russia's mercenary Wagner Group claiming to have taken control of the salt mining town in eastern Ukraine, as its…

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Amid Ukraine war, Putin’s top brass promise a stronger military

President Vladimir Putin's defence minister vowed on Tuesday to build a deeper arsenal of weapons, bolster aviation technology to better evade air defences and improve drone production after a series…

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Britain says Russian forces may control most of eastern Ukraine’s Soledar

Russian and Wagner forces are probably in control of most of the small town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine after tactical advances in the last four days, the British defence…

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Russia intensifies assaults on Ukrainian salt mining town and eastern front

Russia has launched a new "powerful assault" led by the Wagner contract militia on Soledar in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv said on Monday, describing a difficult situation for forces repelling the attacks…

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Russia backs banning of maps disputing official ‘territorial integrity’

(Reuters) - Russia's government extended support to a legislative amendment that would classify maps that dispute the country's official "territorial integrity" as punishable extremist materials, the state-owned TASS news agency…

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No sign of casualties at site of strikes Russia says killed hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers

KRAMATORSK, Ukraine, Jan 8 (Reuters) - A Russian rocket strike on the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk caused damage but did not destroy buildings and there were no obvious signs of casualties, a…

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Putin attends Orthodox Christmas service by himself in Kremlin

(Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday attended an Orthodox Church Christmas service by himself inside a Kremlin cathedral rather than joining other worshippers in a public celebration. Russia's…

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Russia’s ceasefire proposal ‘bogus and hypocritical’, EU’s Michel says:

Russian President Vladimir Putin's call on Thursday for a 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine is "hypocritical" and the only route to restore peace is for Russia to withdraw its troops from…

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Biden says Putin trying to find ‘oxygen’ with truce proposal

U.S. President Joe Biden suggested Vladimir Putin's struggle in Ukraine after 10 months of war and thousands of lives lost had prompted the Russian president to offer a 36-hour truce, saying, "I…

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Russia’s Medvedev snaps back after U.S. appeal over Ukraine war

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned the United States that hypersonic missiles would soon be close to NATO's shores after the U.S. embassy said in a video it stood in…

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Ukraine dismisses Putin truce proposal as hypocrisy and propaganda

A senior Ukrainian official dismissed a 36-hour ceasefire proposal by Moscow on Thursday as hypocrisy and propaganda, and said a "temporary truce" would be possible only when Russia leaves territory…

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Russian patriarch calls for Orthodox Christmas truce in Ukraine

MOSCOW, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, called on Thursday for both sides of the war in Ukraine to observe a Christmas truce,…

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Putin sends off frigate armed with new hypersonic cruise missile

MOSCOW, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday sent a frigate off to the Atlantic Ocean armed with hypersonic Zircon cruise missiles. In a video conference with…

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Kissinger calls for a negotiated peace in Ukraine, Kyiv dismisses his proposal

Veteran U.S. diplomat Henry Kissinger said the time is approaching for a negotiated peace in Ukraine to reduce the risk of another devastating world war, but the Kyiv government dismissed…

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SPECIAL REPORT-Pro-Putin operatives in Germany work to turn Berlin against Ukraine

COLOGNE, Germany, Jan 3 (Reuters) - In a square beneath the twin spires of Cologne's gothic cathedral, around 2,000 protesters gathered in September to urge Germany's government to break with the Western coalition…

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Japan’s ‘anti-Russian course’ makes treaty talks impossible – TASS

Japan's "anti-Russian course" makes peace treaty talks impossible, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said in comments published by the state TASS news agency on Tuesday. Russia and Japan have…

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Zelenskiy: Russia plans protracted drone campaign to ‘exhaust’ Ukraine

Russia is planning a protracted campaign of attacks with Iranian drones to "exhaust" Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday. "We have information that Russia is planning a protracted attack using Shahed drones," Zelenskiy…

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Russia says 63 soldiers killed by Ukrainian strike in Donetsk region

Russia said on Monday that 63 Russian soldiers had been killed in a Ukrainian New Year's Eve attack on their quarters, triggering furious criticism of the military leadership from lawmakers…

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Russian troops in Ukraine exempted from income tax

Russian authorities have announced that soldiers and state employees deployed in Ukraine will be exempt from income tax, in the latest effort to encourage support of its military operation there.…

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Putin says West is using Ukraine to destroy Russia in New Year video message

Dec 31 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday his country would never give in to the West's attempts to use Ukraine as a tool to destroy Russia…

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Appeal for Jews to leave Russia while they can

Moscow’s exiled chief rabbi says Jews should leave Russia while they still can, before they are made scapegoats for the hardship caused by the war in Ukraine. Pinchas Goldschmidt told…

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Russian jets shot from the sky ‘almost all’ downed by Moscow air defence systems

Russian jets shot from the sky were “almost all” downed by Moscow’s own air defence systems, pro-Kremlin military bloggers have claimed. A failure by Moscow’s forces in Ukraine to interact…

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Kremlin backs Serbia, denies Russia is stoking tensions in Kosovo

By Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW, Dec 28 (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Wednesday said it supported Serbia's attempts to protect ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo but denied Pristina's accusation that Russia…

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Russia and China hold naval drills, practise submarine capture

MOSCOW, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Russia and China have completed naval drills in the East China Sea, after a week of joint exercises which included practising how to capture an…

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Putin bans Russian oil exports to countries that imposed price cap -decree

MOSCOW, Dec 27 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday delivered Russia's long-awaited response to a Western price cap, signing a decree that bans the supply of oil and oil products to nations participating in the…

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Star rising in Kremlin, Russia’s Medvedev predicts war in West

Dec 27 (Reuters) - Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, an arch loyalist of Vladimir Putin given a new job this week, predicted war between Germany and France next year and a civil…

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Russia’s Lavrov: West and Ukraine want to destroy Russia

The United States and its NATO allies together with Ukraine want to defeat Russia "on the battlefield" in order to destroy it, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the state…

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Head of major Russian shipyard dies suddenly, no cause given

(Reuters) - A major Russian shipyard that specialises in building non-nuclear submarines said its general director had died suddenly on Saturday after 11 years in the job, but gave no…

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Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi to confer this week

Dec 26 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will speak before the end of the year, Russian state news agency TASS said on Monday,…

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Russia denounces EU for granting Bosnia candidacy status

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Russia criticised the European Union for granting Bosnia a candidate status, saying on Friday it was part of a Western push to impose its policies on the…

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Russia’s long-range air force to get new hypersonic missiles

MOSCOW, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Russia's long-range air forces are to be refitted with new wing-borne hypersonic missiles, the Interfax news agency reported on Monday, citing the force's commanding officer.…

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Russian troops work ’round-the-clock’ on new air defence positions

Dec 26 (Reuters) - Russians troops are working "round-the-clock" at new anti-aircraft missile system positions to defend against missile and air strikes by Ukraine, the Russian Interfax reported late on…

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Only Russia’s nuclear arms preventing West from declaring war – Dmitry Medvedev

Russia's nuclear arsenal and the rules Moscow has laid out for its use are the only factors preventing the West from starting a war against Russia, a top ally of…

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Duma prepares higher taxation for Russians who left country – speaker

(Reuters) - Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the Duma, said the Russian lower house of parliament was preparing a law to introduce higher taxation for people who have left the…

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UPDATED: Russia says it shot down Ukrainian drone near bomber air base, three killed

Russia says air base targeted by Ukrainian drone Says it shot the drone down, no aircraft damaged Says three servicemen were killed by falling debris No immediate comment from Ukraine…

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Putin tells Russian defence industry to up its game for Ukraine war

By Andrew Osborn Dec 23 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Friday told Russia's defence industry chiefs to up their game to ensure that the Russian army quickly got all the weapons,…

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Kremlin says Russia has made significant progress towards ‘demilitarising’ Ukraine

LONDON, Dec 23 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia had made significant progress towards "demilitarising" Ukraine, one of the goals President Vladimir Putin declared when he launched…

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Putin says Russia wants end to war in Ukraine

(Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia wants an end to the war in Ukraine and that this would inevitably involve a diplomatic solution. Putin made the…

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Navalny: mercenary boss visited his jail to recruit for Ukraine war

Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said that Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner private military company that has taken a major part in the Ukraine war, had visited his…

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Russia says U.S. Patriot missiles will not help end Ukraine conflict

U.S. announces new $1.85 bln military aid package U.S. Patriot air defence battery part of new assistance Kremlin-Patriots won't stop it from achieving its goals Putin backs increasing size of…

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Belarus military likely taken on significant role in training Russian reservists

Belarus has likely "taken on a significant but more discreet role in training thousands" of Russian reservists, according to the UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD). In its daily update, the…

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Moscow tries to close one of Russia’s oldest human rights groups

Dec 20 (Reuters) - Russia's government is trying to shut the Moscow Helsinki Group, one of the country's oldest human rights organisations, according to a notice on a Moscow court website seen…

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Moldova fears new Russian push towards breakaway east next year -spy chief

Moldova's spy chief warned on Monday of a "very high" risk of a new Russian offensive towards his country's east next year and said Moscow still aimed to secure a…

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