Section: Voice of America (USA)
Ukraine Kidnappers Free Bitcoin Analyst After $1 Million Ransom Paid
Kidnappers in Ukraine have released an employee at a United Kingdom-registered cryptocurrency exchange after getting more than $1 million in bitcoins as ransom, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister told Reuters on Friday. Pavel Lerner, a leading analyst and expert in blockchains, or decentralized public ledgers, was abducted by unknown...
Fresh Battle Lines Drawn in Russia’s Culture Wars
Outside the doors to the Moscow courthouse, the crowd of supporters, and reporters, swelled into the hundreds. Inside, one of Russia’s most famous theater directors was on trial for embezzlement. Just meters away, on a street corner, a young woman stood with a small sign: “Return our artist to us.” Such are the times in Russia,...
Fresh Battle Lines Drawn in Russia’s Culture Wars
Outside the doors to the Moscow courthouse, the crowd of supporters, and reporters, swelled into the hundreds. Inside, one of Russia’s most famous theater directors was on trial for embezzlement. Just meters away, on a street corner, a young woman stood with a small sign: “Return our artist to us.” Such are the times in Russia,...
US to Sell Lethal Weapons to Ukraine
The U.S. is providing Ukraine with lethal weapons, in an effort to help the country with its fight against Russian-backed separatists in the eastern part of the country. The U.S. State Department said in a statement Friday that the decision to provide Ukraine with “enhanced defensive capabilities” is in keeping with the “effort...
Ukraine to Receive Defensive Weapons From US
The United States will provide Ukraine with “enhanced defensive capabilities,” the State Department said Friday, as Kyiv battles Russian-backed separatists in the eastern part of the country. “U.S. assistance is entirely defensive in nature, and as we have always said, Ukraine is a sovereign country and has a right to defend itself,” the...
UK’s Johnson, On Moscow Visit, Tells Russia to Stop Meddling in Europe
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told his Russian counterpart on Friday he wanted to talk about difficult subjects such as Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea and what he described as Russia’s destabilizing of the western Balkans. Johnson made the comments at the start of talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey...
Russian Hackers Targeted More Than 200 Journalists Globally
Russian television anchor Pavel Lobkov was in the studio getting ready for his show when jarring news flashed across his phone: Some of his most intimate messages had just been published to the web. Days earlier, the veteran journalist had come out live on air as HIV-positive, a taboo-breaking revelation that drew responses from hundreds of...
UK’s Johnson, On Moscow Visit, Tells Russia to Stop Meddling in Europe
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told his Russian counterpart on Friday he wanted to talk about difficult subjects such as Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea and what he described as Russia’s destabilizing of the western Balkans. Johnson made the comments at the start of talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey...
US Approves Sale by US Manufacturers of Lethal Weapons to Ukraine
The United States has approved the sale by U.S. manufacturers of lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert confirmed this week that Congress was notified of the matter on December 13. The legal framework for U.S. manufacturers to sell arms to Ukraine has existed since the Obama administration, Nauert said....
Opposition Leader Says He Could Beat Putin in Fair Election
As the most serious challenger during Vladimir Putin’s 18 years in power, Alexei Navalny has endured arrests, show trials and facefuls of green antiseptic that damaged his vision. But in an interview Monday with The Associated Press, he said the biggest thing keeping him from becoming Russia’s next president is a political system that...
