Section: Newsweek (USA)
Chechen Volunteers Fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq: Report
Young Chechen volunteers are currently fighting the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) in both Syria and Iraq, a senior source in the Chechen government told Russian news agency Interfax on Tuesday. “There have been people from the Chechen Republic in the region of conflict in Syria and Iraq ever since the arrival of ISIS,” the source, speaking...
Putin Calls For Snap Military Drill on East Ukraine Borders
Russian forces around Ukraine and the Caucasus have been called to a snap drill on the orders of President Vladimir Putin, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told state news agency Itar-Tass on Monday. The Russian military saw a spike in mass exercises in 2015, performing at least 4,000 drills in the first nine months alone—500 more than over...
Pope and Russian Orthodox Patriarch to Hold Historic Talks in Cuba
Pope Francis and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church will meet in Cuba next week in what could be a historic step toward healing the 1,000-year-old rift between the Western and Eastern branches of Christianity. The Vatican and the Moscow Patriarchate announced on Friday that Francis will stop in Cuba on Feb. 12 his way to Mexico to hold talks...
Kremlin Slams BBC for Programme Simulating WW3 NATO Russia Conflict
The Kremlin has taken a swipe at British broadcaster the BBC after it aired a hypothetical look at what a conflict between Russia and NATO would look like in Eastern Europe. The WW3: Inside the War Room programme, shown on BBC Two on Wednesday, simulated a hypothetical situation of ethnic unrest erupting in the Baltics, escalating tensions...
Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokno Takes on Russia’s Prosecutor in Music Video
Feminist and anti-Putin activist Nadya Tolokno from Russia’s famous protest punk band Pussy Riot has released a music video taking on the country’s prosecutor Yury Chaika. Chaika and his family became the subject of a scandalous investigation by one of Russia’s leading opposition figures, anti-corruption blogger Alexey Navalny,...
Putin and Kissinger to Meet for ‘Friendly Dialogue’
Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in Moscow, as the two have apparently kept in close touch through the years, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. German-born Kissinger served as national security advisor and later as secretary of state in the administrations of Presidents Richard...
Ukraine’s President Says Risk of Open War With Russia “Greater Than Last Year”
Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko believes the risk of open war with Russia is greater now than it was in 2015, despite a relative de-escalation in violence in eastern Ukraine, German tabloid Bild reports. While Russia has repeatedly denied it has sent any soldiers to support pro-Russian fighters in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and...
Wikipedia Ukraine Gains 1,000 New Pages in Three Days
A push to increase Ukrainian-language content on online encyclopedia Wikipedia has resulted in over 1,000 new pages being created in the space of three days, independent news agency Interfax has reported. The preservation of the Ukrainian language has been a priority of the Ukrainian government since toppling pro-Russian President Viktor...
Chechen Head Kadyrov Puts Russian Opposition Leader in Sniper Scope
Chechen President and Kremlin ally Ramzan Kadyrov has shocked the Russian opposition by posting an ominous video on his Instagram feed that shows opposition leader Mikhail Kasyanov in a sniper’s crosshairs. Kasyanov leads Russia’s Parnas party, which he co-chaired with Boris Nemtsov until Nemtsov was mysteriously shot near the Kremlin...
Russia Tops List for European Court of Human Rights Violations
Russia violated the convention of the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) more times than any other country in 2015, Russian weekly newspaper Novaya Gazeta reports. Human rights abuses in Russia have long been cause for concern among international organizations and earlier this week Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a damning assessment of the...
