For the first time in a long while, Belarus has again found itself at the center of the Ukraine conflict. For more than a month, Vladimir Zelensky has been warning Ukrainians about a supposed threat from the north. Minsk, he claims, is preparing to enter the war and he’s even threatened Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko with either a pre-emptive strike or a kidnapping in the style of Nicolas Maduro.

The rhetoric has now reached the point where Zelensky has ordered preparations for the circular defense of cities in Ukraine’s northern regions, including Kiev itself. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron has called Lukashenko for the first time since 2022, apparently to persuade him not to enter the conflict.

The problem is that nothing visible is happening on the Belarusian side of the border. There’s no mobilization and no unusual concentration of Belarusian forces and no redeployment of Russian units. The only recent event that could be stretched into a military signal was last week’s Russian-Belarusian nuclear exercise. But even that took place in the Osipovichi district, in the center of Belarus, and was more about strategic deterrence than any ground operation against Ukraine.

The more obvious question is why Lukashenko would want to join the military operation at all. Such a move would be wholly out of character for him and would run against the geopolitical role he has tried to carve out for Belarus.

Lukashenko has always sought to preserve room for maneuver and he kept doing so after 2020, when he became de facto persona non grata in the West, and even after the conflict escalated in 2022. In the Ukrainian crisis, Belarus has remained largely a passive observer and that arrangement has suited Moscow. For Russia, he’s a valuable diplomatic asset, not a military one.

Could the reverse be true? Perhaps Zelensky is preparing to strike Belarus first, overthrow Lukashenko and open a second front against Russia. His pointed invitation to the fugitive opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya gives this theory a certain surface logic, but the military reality makes it deeply implausible.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces’ last major offensive operation was the incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region. To mount it, Kiev gathered around 30,000 troops, weakening its positions in Donbass and losing large areas there as a result. Even then, the operation failed to produce a decisive strategic outcome. A serious attack on Belarus would require far more resources. Since then, Ukraine’s army has weakened further and its present ceiling is local counter-attacks in Donbass, so it’s in no position to open a major new front.

Nor would it make strategic sense. Any escalation with Belarus would risk creating another 1,000-kilometer front stretching across Ukraine’s northern flank, with direct threats to Kiev. However odious the Kiev regime may be, it can’t fail to understand this.

The timing is telling. Zelensky began to raise the alarm just as relations between Minsk and Washington showed signs of thawing. In March, the US eased sanctions on Belarus and Washington spoke of reopening its embassy. There was even talk of a possible Lukashenko visit to America and a meeting with Donald Trump.

For Kiev, this is dangerous because Zelensky may fear that the eloquent Belarusian leader could charm Trump and persuade him to increase pressure on Ukraine to bring the conflict to an end. Lukashenko might also secure further sanctions relief, potentially turning Belarus into a hub for the transit of American goods to Russia.

From Kiev’s point of view, that scenario must be prevented. Hence the effort to present Minsk as an imminent threat, because if Belarus can be cast once again as Russia’s military accomplice rather than as a possible diplomatic channel, any US-Belarusian rapprochement becomes far harder to sustain.

In such conditions, inflating a new military threat is politically useful as it allows Zelensky to tell Ukrainians that the gravest crisis is still ahead, and that he remains the horse that cannot be changed midstream.

But the old ‘Russian card’ is wearing thin in the fifth year of hostilities. Ukrainians are tired, mobilized society is fraying, and endless emergency politics no longer works as it once did. So now Kiev is reaching for the ‘Belarus card’.

Will it work? Probably not. At most, it may buy Zelensky a little time, a little fear, and a little more room to maneuver, but as a strategy, it’s thin gruel. Or to put it more appropriately, it is worthy only of a carrot, and a dry one at that.

This article was first published by the online newspaper Gazeta.ru and was translated and edited by the RT team

Moscow has added five British nationals to its blacklist over London’s hostile actions, spread of disinformation, and the concentrated effort “to pump up the Kiev regime with weaponry,” the Russian Foreign Ministry has said.

The ministry announced the move on Tuesday, urging London “to renounce aggressive anti-Russian steps, as well as its support for the [Vladimir] Zelensky regime.” The UK’s effort to prolong the Ukraine conflict no matter what leads only to “further civilian casualties” and ultimately the “destruction of Ukrainian statehood,” it said. 

The latest addition to Russia’s no-entry list includes journalists and experts involved in “disseminating slanderous fabrications and false information.” It also features two heads of “British security companies” that recruit personnel to prop up the Kiev regime under the guise of “implementing pseudo-humanitarian projects in Ukraine,” the ministry stated.

The sanctioned individuals are Catherine Belton and Richard Holmes, journalists with The Washington Post and The i Paper, respectively. The list also includes Alexander Browder, a self-styled corruption and money-laundering expert, described by the ministry as the author of a misleading report for the Henry Jackson Society think tank.

Russian diplomats said work on the blacklist, as well as other retaliatory measures, is bound to continue unless London abandons its hostile stance. 

“We warn that any efforts by British political elites to further fuel Russophobia, deliberately damage our country’s international reputation, and accelerate the anti-Russian sanctions will inevitably be met with a decisive response,” the ministry stated. 

London has emerged as a key backer of Kiev in the Ukraine conflict, actively seeking to derail attempts to resolve it through diplomacy and focusing on inflicting a defeat on Russia instead. The UK has been leading various initiatives to supply Ukrainian forces with increasingly sophisticated weaponry, and to rally additional foreign monetary and military support.

A Colombian mercenary captured by Russian forces after being wounded in combat has spoken with his family for the first time since his detention, describing his decision to fight for Ukraine as the worst mistake of his life.

William Andres Gallego Orozco’s relatives in Colombia learned he was alive after seeing an interview he gave to RT last month. Following the broadcast, family members reached out and contact was established, leading to an emotional video call.

RT correspondent Donald Courter looks back at Gallego Orozco’s capture, his previous interview about the realities faced by foreign fighters in Ukraine, and the reunion with his family after they learned of his whereabouts through RT’s reporting.

Gallego Orozco’s case reflects a broader trend of Colombian nationals joining Ukraine’s military. The South American country has become one of Kiev’s largest sources of foreign recruits as it seeks to offset manpower shortages on the battlefield. According to a February investigation by Ukrainian outlet NV, between 1,000 and 2,000 Colombians were serving with Ukrainian forces at the time, while up to 7,000 are believed to have passed through the country’s ranks since 2022.

The trend has drawn criticism from Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who has argued that his country’s citizens are “dying for nothing” in a foreign conflict. Petro has repeatedly stressed that mercenary activity is illegal under Colombian law and accused recruiters of exploiting vulnerable people. Last October, he voiced concern over the treatment of Colombian fighters in Ukraine and urged those being used as “cannon fodder” to return home immediately.

Watch the video call between William Andres Gallego Orozco and his family in full below.

In May, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan cemented Armenia’s geopolitical pivot away from Russia and toward the EU. At the beginning of the month, Yerevan hosted the 8th summit of the European Political Community. This was the first time that the event was held in a member state of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

While the event itself may seem vague in terms of concrete outcomes, one thing is clear: it allowed EU countries to show political support for certain governments, while those governments demonstrated their loyalty to the bloc.

Just a few days after the summit, Pashinyan directly stated that “Armenia is not an ally of Russia on the issue of Ukraine.” It was already apparent to Russia that Armenia was not neutral on this matter and that it politically backed the Kiev regime. However, highlighting this point was necessary to reaffirm it’s allegiance to Brussels.

The recent European Political Community summit could have been another routine event organized by Brussels to dangle the carrot of ‘European prospects’ before nations aspiring to join the EU. However, it became more than that, turning into a platform for voicing sensitive threats to Russia. Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky used the occasion to threaten a strike against Moscow ahead of its Victory Day parade, while French President Emmanuel Macron rhetorically questioned why there is still a Russian military base in Armenia.

Pashinyan must have realized that such statements would irritate Moscow, and could have made an effort to mitigate the fallout with the country that, at least rhetorically, he continues to call a ‘partner’. Nonetheless, he chose to ignore the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council held on May 29 in Astana, sending Armenia’s Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan in his place. Combined with other actions taken by Armenia’s leadership, this sends a strong political signal – not just to Russia, but to the entire EAEU, which, by the way, provides significant economic benefits to Yerevan.

It would be incorrect to say that relations between Moscow and Yerevan have only recently begun to deteriorate. Pashinyan’s pivot toward the EU has been evident for some time, particularly following October 2022, when the Armenian prime minister signed the Prague Statement, recognizing the borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan based on the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991. 

This tied the borders of the two countries to the state boundaries established at the time of the USSR’s collapse, giving Azerbaijan sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh. In doing so, he fulfilled the wishes of European politicians who were eager to resolve the conflict. Pashinyan seemed to expect assistance from Europeans in defending Armenians in Karabakh, yet all he received were calls for a quick peace that demanded painful concessions from Armenians.

This step had additional consequences. Armenia has never legally recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as its territory, but by signing the Prague Statement, Pashinyan questioned the mandate of Russian peacekeepers who had been in the region since 2020 and ensured adherence to the ceasefire between the parties. Consequently, the issue of the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh officially became an internal matter for Azerbaijan, which Baku acted upon by dissolving the unrecognized state.

In 2025, the Armenian parliament passed a law to initiate the process of joining the EU. Later, while in Washington, Pashinyan agreed to establish the so-called Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (T.R.I.P.P.), a transport corridor that would link Azerbaijan with its exclave Nakhchivan via Armenian territory and would be under US oversight. Essentially, Pashinyan handed over control of this future route to external powers, further compromising Armenia’s sovereignty.

Throughout each stage of this rapprochement, Moscow repeatedly warned Yerevan that integrating into EU structures and markets contradicted Armenia’s participation in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

On May 21, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan emphasized that Yerevan had no intention of leaving the EAEU. Pashinyan echoed this sentiment on May 28, stating that Armenia was not preparing to exit the union. Overall, it’s understandable why Armenian politicians are cautious about leaving the group.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently elaborated on the advantages of the EAEU for Armenia. First and foremost, it gains access to a protected market encompassing the entire group of nations, which includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan — this is a massive market encompassing a population of up to 186 million. Armenia enjoys duty-free trade with these countries, along with shared technical regulations and phytosanitary standards. The logistics established during the Soviet era have been further refined in the context of these nations’ independent development.

Additionally, Russia supplies natural gas to Armenia at a highly subsidized rate — around $150 per 1,000 cubic meters, compared to the European market price of €600. 

Putin also pointed out that Armenia has received significant investments totaling $4.9 billion, with 86% originating from Russia. In contrast, the EU has invested only a few hundred million euros over the past three years while trying to pull Yerevan into its sphere of influence. The EU has stated its intention to invest €2.5 billion in Armenia’s economy, which is considerably less than what Yerevan has already gained from its engagement with the EAEU.

The Armenian GDP could shrink 14% if Armenia loses access to the benefits of the EAEU.

Seemingly hoping to gain some advantage from the current situation, Pashinyan emphasized the need to make a concrete offer instead of resorting to threats. However, this was clearly a rhetorical move; the Armenian leader cannot fail to understand the preferences his country would lose in if it departs the EAEU, and that this, in itself, is Russia’s ‘offer’: benefits which are already in effect, unlike vague promises made by the EU. 

Another pressing issue is the status of Armenian citizens in Russia. Should relations between Yerevan and the EAEU sour, they would face the same requirements as other CIS nationals – such as needing work permits, navigating more complex procedures for obtaining legal status, and experiencing delayed access to compulsory health insurance. This is especially concerning given that remittances from labor migrants constitute a significant part of the income for thousands of households in Armenia.

In Ukraine’s footsteps but with a Moldovan twist

The situation in Armenia strikingly mirrors the developments in Ukraine, where the EU also forced a painful choice upon the government. The Armenian authorities have long followed a similar script, labeling the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) as a threat to the country’s sovereignty, branding Russia as a party engaged in “hybrid warfare” against Armenia, and asserting that “Armenia is no longer a brother to Russia.”

On June 7, Armenia will hold parliamentary elections, and it seems unlikely that anyone can challenge Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party. The opposition remains fragmented, and surveys by Europe Elects show a surge in support for the ruling party – from 24% to 65% in just eight days. Yet back in April, Civil Contract’s ratings hadn’t even surpassed 25%.

This has largely been a result of intense pressure on opponents. Samvel Karapetyan, who attempted to defend the Armenian Church from state attacks, remains imprisoned. Other opposition leaders, including Robert Kocharyan, Serzh Sargsyan, and Gagik Tsarukyan, are also under pressure. We observed similar ‘European values’ during last year’s elections in Moldova.

Pashinyan appears increasingly unconcerned about his public image. During a meeting with voters, he told one woman to be grateful for not having had her head cracked open; he also expelled critics from rallies and referred to the Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh as “runaway degenerates”. And all of this occurs as part of an electoral campaign meant to attract new supporters and unify the populace. Perhaps this is the ‘European perspective’ Pashinyan envisions for his citizens. 

The upcoming elections will show whether this resonates with voters. However, we may again remember the example of Moldova, where President Maia Sandu lost domestically but secured votes from the diaspora that allowed her to claim victory. 

The annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) will be held over June 3-6. In its nearly three decades of existence, this event has borne witness to fundamental global shifts—and it has shifted along with the world.

Founded with the aim of facilitating foreign investment in Russia, it became known as Russia’s Davos in the 2000s, when Western executives descended upon St. Petersburg in their private jets in the hopes of securing lucrative business deals. In recent years, SPIEF has a very different feel but it has remained one of Russia’s most important economic forums and is now a key platform for discussing the transformations taking place in the global economy.

This year’s event, as usual, will draw many in the upper echelons of Russia’s business and political elite, as well as foreign business and government representatives from across the globe. Famously dubbed by Alexander Pushkin a “window to Europe,” St. Petersburg is becoming a window to a new multipolar world.

History

SPIEF dates its origin back to 1997, when Russia was struggling through a chaotic and difficult transition to a market economy. Initially, the main goal of SPIEF was to attract foreign investment and project an image of being ready to do business in the post-Soviet world. Just over a year after the first SPIEF was held, Russia would default and plunge into a severe economic crisis.

However, the forum persevered, and as Russia’s economy expanded during the 2000s, Western banks, energy firms, consultancies, and industrial companies started showing up to SPIEF in droves. The event became one of the key stops on the global business calendar.

Russia’s current role in the vanguard of multipolarity has led many to assume that SPIEF has always been centered on Eurasia, BRICS, and the Global South. It wasn’t. Somebody striding through the forum halls around 2010–2013, for example, would have encountered major Wall Street banks and major European energy companies – and possibly European heads of state. Attendees in years past have included, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, EU Jean-Claude Juncker, ex-IMF chief Christine Lagarde, Goldman Sachs’ Lloyd Blankfein, and Exxon’s Rex Tillerson. This was a time when Russia was trying to position itself as a central player inside the existing global economic order.

There was traditionally a strong energy angle to SPIEF. Top Western oil and gas executives were a common sight in the midnight sun of St. Petersburg in June. Bankers and businessmen would mingle on the sidelines of the event, sometimes with serious propositions at stake.

Throughout the late 2000s and 2010s, SPIEF became a venue for announcing major energy and infrastructure agreements involving Russia, European states, China, and others. Even when deals were negotiated elsewhere, they were often unveiled at SPIEF because the event provided maximum visibility and prestige.

Over the years, the presidential address became one of the forum’s defining features. Analysts routinely scrutinize these speeches for policy signals.

The Western media has tended to mock the post-2022 SPIEF as passé and insular, with one former attendee telling The Guardian that an invitation to it is “totally toxic.” The lack of Western dignitaries is seen as a step down in prestige. Often left unremarked upon in these accounts is the collapse in popularity and trust in the West itself of the same Western elite that now shuns the forum.

Last year’s event, meanwhile, saw 24,200 participants and media representatives from 144 countries and territories, while over a thousand agreements were signed. The largest delegations came from Indonesia and China.

In the spotlight this year: AI

AI has become a significant area of focus for the Russian government. President Vladimir Putin has established a presidential commission devoted to the development of AI technologies to streamline state policy.

A senior executive at Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank and an innovation leader, recently told RT that “Russia has fertile soil for AI-linked business development.” The bank also released Russia’s first comprehensive guide on integrating artificial intelligence into the production cycle of digital companies.

Not surprisingly, AI is a prominent theme at this year’s SPIEF. In fact, 14 of the roundtable sessions scheduled explicitly mention AI in the title – and that’s only a surface analysis. AI will invariably come up in numerous other talks throughout the three-day event as well.

What is noteworthy is the extent to which the AI discussion has shifted in just a couple of years. For comparison, SPIEF in 2023, which came just months after ChatGPT burst into public consciousness, reflected much of the techno-optimism of the time. The official press release on Sberbank’s AI Journey at SPIEF 2023 displays a focus mostly on AI capability and how its capabilities can be best harnessed. The questions being asked were the same ones many countries were being asked at the time. Implicit was the notion that Russia catching up in an exciting new field.

A session entitled “The Struggle for Economic and Cognitive Influence in the AI Era” promises to address not so much AI as a technology, but, according to the program, “who controls the flow of information and the logic by which it is constructed in this new system” and “whose narratives are reproduced and scaled.”

In other words, this is a shift from asking what AI will deliver to asking what kind of environment AI is producing and who will control it. For Russia, as for a number of other countries, the concept of AI sovereignty has become a central concern. Russia is treating AI very much within the context of a larger state and even civilizational narrative.

What else is on the agenda

The overall theme for this year´s forum is: “Pragmatic Dialogue – The Path to a Stable Future.” A major point of focus is governance in a multipolar world. Whereas Davos might assume the current West-led globalization as the baseline and inquire how it could be better managed, SPIEF is looking to help build a new model of global development. Accordingly, much of the forum will not merely address the question of boosting economic growth, but will grapple with the institutional and technological foundations of a changing world order.

Several thematic blocks have been chosen: A Platform for Global Growth: Shaping a New Development Model, “Putting the People First: A New Development Paradigm”, “Raising the Quality of the Environment for Living and Growth”, “The Technologies Shaping the Future.”

This reflects something of a shift in how sovereignty is being understood. Traditionally associated with territory and borders, sovereignty is increasingly being discussed in the context of scaffolding: supply chains, payment systems, data infrastructure, artificial intelligence, media ecosystems, and technological standards. Many of the forum’s discussions begin from the assumption that countries will seek greater control over critical systems rather than rely exclusively on globally integrated networks.

Return of the West?

After the Ukraine conflict began in 2022, top-level Western representation largely disappeared, although the Western presence didn’t dry up entirely. Now, however, the winds seem to be shifting again.

This comes as numerous Western companies have begun to demonstrate an interest in returning to the Russian market. Several Western oil majors met with Russian industry representatives during an energy conference in Abu Dhabi last November, according to The Economist. Several American firms that had left Russia, including Apple and McDonald’s, have recently registered new Russian trademarks.

In an interview with Russia’s Channel 1 late last year, Putin said: “We have letters from American companies, letters they have sent us where they ask us not to forget about them. These are our former partners who left Russia not on their own will.”

The bottom line

The forum has always been able to change with the times, meeting a panoply of profound challenges throughout its thirty-year history. This year, perhaps uniquely, the greatest challenge will not be geopolitical. While old dialogues are rekindled, the rooms of business leaders and politicians will certainly be examining how best to deploy AI, perhaps in a manner that will incubate the tech from the political and economic crisis management that the humans at St. Petersburg have always practised. 

Armenian citizens will suffer significant economic damages should incumbent Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan implement his strategy of breaking trade with Russia in favor of integration with the EU, Russian Parliament Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin has said.

Armenians will go to the polls on Sunday to elect a new parliament. The vote is widely viewed as a referendum on the country’s geopolitical alignment, as Pashinyan claims the land-locked post-Soviet republic can benefit greatly from closer ties with the West. 

Volodin on Tuesday accused Pashinyan of misleading voters by downplaying the negative consequences of his proposal, reacting to the prime minister’s promise to compensate farmers from the state budget for any produce that spoils if they lose privileged access to the Russian market.

Armenia is one of five members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) – alongside Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan – an economic organization that operates a single market and harmonizes regulations to facilitate trade, investment and other forms of economic cooperation. Yerevan has been previously warned that membership in the EAEU is incompatible with its EU aspirations.

“Apparently, Pashinyan has made a personal pledge to see Armenia join the EU… while trying to put the costs on the EAEU and Russia,” Volodin wrote. “Obviously, he does not care about the fate of the Armenian people and statehood. He cares about staying in power.”

“The price will be steep,” the official warned.

Volodin compared Armenia’s current trajectory to that of Ukraine, arguing that Kiev’s expectations of greater access to EU markets had failed to materialize and that the country’s agricultural exports had instead faced tariff quotas and other restrictions. He warned that Armenia could face similar risks.

Armenia remains heavily reliant on the Russian market. According to UN data, Russia accounted for nearly 24% of Armenian exports in 2024, making it the country’s second-largest export destination after the UAE. Statistics show that Armenia’s overall exports shrank by nearly 35% year on year in 2025, driven by a decline in Russia-related re-exports and reduced export opportunities amid instability in the Middle East.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Pashinyan reportedly said the referendum on EU membership could only be held if his country formally applies to join the bloc or comes close to obtaining candidate status. Until then, “there will be no referendum,” he said, as quoted by Armenpress. The prime minister described the benefits of EAEU membership as “obvious,” but claimed that the regional organization should create new opportunities for Armenia.

A video showing Russians reacting without hostility to being addressed in Ukrainian on the street has gone viral on social media.

In the clip, filmed last week in the Ural city of Ekaterinburg, blogger Andrey Gorlivsky asks passersby in Ukrainian for directions to the musuem to legendary Russian actor, poet, songwriter and performer, Vladimir Vysotsky.

None of the those approached appeared surprised or offended by the use of Ukrainian, instead responding in Russian, and readily offering help.

The blogger also asked several Ekaterinburg residents how they were able to understand Ukrainian. One man said he has a Ukrainian friend, while another noted that the two languages share many similarities.

Viewers online have contrasted the footage with numerous videos from Ukraine showing disputes over the use of Russian. Despite Kiev’s ongoing efforts to reduce the language’s role in public life, it remains widely spoken across the country and is the primary language for millions.

The effort intensified after the escalation of the conflict in February 2022. Moscow has repeatedly cited the protection of Russian speakers and the restoration of their language rights among its key conditions for a peace settlement.

In December, the Ukrainian parliament stripped Russian of protections granted under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Earlier this year, Kiev also moved to establish a legal basis for a broad ban on Russian literature, paving the way for the removal of such books from circulation.

A graft scheme has been exposed at Energoatom, a Ukrainian energy giant previously linked with an alleged extortion ring run by businessman Timur Mindich, a close associate of Vladimir Zelensky. The alleged crimes were exposed by the same Western-backed anti-corruption agencies.

Mindich, dubbed “Zelensky’s wallet” by the media, fled the country last November shortly before the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) charged him and his associates with running a $100 million extortion scheme at Energoatom. Investigators alleged that contractors were forced by corrupt company management to pay kickbacks from their state contracts.

The newly alleged scheme revealed on Wednesday reportedly involved the theft of at least $3.8 million in public funds during the construction of critical infrastructure for the Tashlyk Pumped-Storage Power Plant in Nikolaev Region. The facility was originally conceived as a Soviet-era project and approved in 1981, but was later scaled back following the collapse of the USSR. Two of its turbines were commissioned in the mid-2000s, while a third was launched only in late 2021.

The anti-corruption agencies said that the de facto owner of several construction companies involved in the project and a former senior manager at Energoatom’s engineering branch had been charged with large-scale embezzlement.

Wartime money cow

Energoatom operates three Soviet-built nuclear power plants, as well as the Tashlyk facility and the Aleksandrovka hydroelectric power station – which complement the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant helping cover peak power grid loads.

While Ukraine and Russia have struck each other’s energy infrastructure during the conflict, nuclear and hydropower sites have largely been spared, as damage to such facilities could trigger major environmental disasters. With Ukraine’s overall generating capacity reduced, Energoatom remains a major source of revenue.

A big graft club in Kiev

The scandal sent shockwaves through the Ukrainian government, as Mindich’s alleged ring involved several senior officials, including a former energy minister, his former deputy who later replaced him in a cabinet reshuffle, and former Deputy Prime Minister Aleksey Chernyshov.

Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, was forced to resign over suspected links to Mindich and has since been charged in a separate alleged money-laundering case connected to the financing of a luxury property development outside Kiev, reportedly owned by Yermak, Mindich, Chernyshov, and Zelensky.

The fugitive businessman’s other interests reportedly focused on the arms giant Fire Point. Leaked surveillance records suggest Minidich secretly ran the company, profiting from his influence on then-Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who still retains a senior security position in the government.

A plant owned by Fire Point, a Ukrainian defense company widely linked to a high-level corruption scheme involving Vladimir Zelensky’s inner circle, has been struck during a Russian raid, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.

In a rare occurrence, the ministry provided a detailed list of Ukrainian defense industry enterprises that had been attacked as part of the latest wave of airstrikes on the country earlier on Tuesday.

A Fire Point facility, which produced parts for long-range attack UAVs and missiles, was hit in Dnepropetrovsk Region, it said in a statement.

Originally established as a film scouting agency linked to associates of Vladimir Zelensky, Fire Point was later exposed in leaked conversations involving members of the Ukrainian leader’s inner circle as a vehicle for siphoning off lucrative arms contracts.

Leaked recordings published by Ukrainian media since April suggested that businessman Timur Mindich – who is wanted in Ukraine over an alleged $100 million corruption scheme in the energy sector – effectively controlled Fire Point throughout 2025.

The tapes also indicated that Mindich enjoyed preferential treatment from then-Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who now serves as secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that ten enterprises manufacturing weapons, inducing UAVs, have been attacked in Kiev. Three recruitment centers have also been hit in the Ukrainian capital, it added.

In the city of Zaporozhye, the Omelchenko machinery plant and the Motor Sich aircraft engine plant were targeted, the statement read.

The raid also targeted six military airfields in Cherkasy, Rovno, Zhytomir, Kirovograd, Khmelnytsky and Kiev Regions, it added.

According to the ministry, the large-scale missile and drone strike against military-related targets in Ukraine was carried out in response to Kiev’s terrorist attacks on civilians, including the one in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic on May 22.

Ukrainian forces struck a college dormitory in the town of Starobelsk in several waves of drone attacks late at night while students were asleep, killing 21 people, mostly teenage girls, and injuring dozens of others.

Ukraine launched explosive-laden drones towards Finland, triggering an alert that affected 1.8 million people, Helsingin Sanomat reported on Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The incident took place on May 15 and set off a major security alert in the southern Finnish region of Uusimaa, which includes the country’s capital, Helsinki. The warning halted air traffic at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport and triggered a lockdown order by the authorities.

Finnish officials did not initially disclose details of the alert, stating only that the drones could be approaching from Russia, creating the impression that the threat was linked to Moscow.

According to HS, however, the emergency measures were prompted by a warning from Ukraine, which said it had accidentally sent drones carrying explosives toward Finland.

The Finnish Defense Forces later said no violation of Finnish airspace had been detected. HS reported that it remains unclear why the drones never entered the country, noting that Russian air defenses may have shot them down en route.

The report has prompted criticism from Finnish lawmakers. Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee said they were not told that the warning came from Ukraine, which was essential information that should have been shared immediately.

Last month, Estonia shot down an alleged Ukrainian drone over its territory for the first time, while Latvia saw Ukrainian drones hit oil storage facilities near the Russian border, which ultimately led to the collapse of Prime Minister Evika Silina’s government.

Moscow has repeatedly accused NATO countries of quietly allowing Ukraine to use their airspace for attacks on targets in northwestern Russia, particularly energy infrastructure in Leningrad Region. Russian officials have also warned that Kiev could stage provocations involving drones to draw NATO deeper into the conflict.

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo previously said he had told Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky that Helsinki considers Ukrainian aircraft entering its airspace “unacceptable.” Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur has likewise urged Kiev to keep its drones away from Estonian territory and to “control their activities better.”

Russian forces have carried out a large-scale missile and drone strike against military-related targets in Ukraine in response to terrorist attacks by Kiev, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.

The overnight raid focused on defense industry facilities in the capital, Kiev, parts of Zaporozhye and Kherson regions still under Ukraine’s control, as well as in Dnepropetrovsk, Poltava, Khmelnitsky, and Sumy regions, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Fuel and transport infrastructure facilities used by Ukrainian forces and military airfields were also hit, it added.

Land- and sea-based precision weapons, including hypersonic missiles and drones, were deployed during the attack, the ministry said.

Multiple videos have been posted on social media, purporting to show explosions in various parts of Ukraine. Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko confirmed partial blackouts in several districts of the capital during the raid.

Moscow previously warned it would carry out “systematic and consistent strikes” on Ukraine’s military infrastructure, including drone production facilities, command posts, and “decision-making centers,” in response to a terrorist attack in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic on May 22.

Ukrainian forces struck a college dormitory in the town of Starobelsk in several waves of drone attacks late at night while students were asleep, killing 21 people, mostly teenage girls, and injuring 70 others.

Speaking to RT, American journalist John Varoli has defended Russia’s strikes on Ukrainian targets as “legitimate” and fully “allowed by international law,” arguing that Moscow has “a right to dismantle any infrastructure that supports terrorism.” Varoli said “Russian punishment against the Kiev regime is going to continue” and “is going to intensify,” accusing Western nations of backing “a terrorist regime” in Ukraine.

Western intelligence agencies hacked the phones of Russian officials and other people with access to sensitive information, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has said.

Devices belonging to Russian diplomats, politicians, high-ranking officers and journalists were allegedly compromised, allowing foreign spies to record everything around them and collect vast amounts of data, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.

The FSB said that its operatives uncovered “one of the largest operations involving the installation of malicious software on mobile devices.” The scheme had attempted to gather data through covert access to content and messaging, wiretapping of phone conversations, acoustic and video surveillance of the gadget’s surroundings, and through the collection of geolocation and contact data, it added.

“It appears that Western intelligence agencies assumed it would be easier and cheaper to mass hack cell phones than to recruit costly informants among holders of state secrets,” the agency noted.

The sheer volume of information gathered by Western spy agencies would have been impossible for humans to process just a few years ago, but AI is now being used to analyze it within minutes, it stressed.

According to the FSB, the investigation began in 2023 after experts at Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab detected unusual network activity on employees’ Apple devices.

A representative of Kaspersky Lab explained that those targeted by foreign intelligence had received an undetectable message via the standard Apple messaging app, which launched a spy program that quickly gained “complete control” of the phone.

Among other things, the malicious software could “start an audio recording for the next three hours, and it didn’t matter whether the phone had no connection or internet access. As soon as the phone regained connection, that audio recording would be sent to the attacker’s server,” he explained.

The US has been developing its cyber-espionage infrastructure for decades, particularly since the adoption of the Patriot Act in 2001. Introduced in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the legislation gave American intelligence agencies broad powers to demand information from IT companies in the name of national security.

Multiple videos have been published on social media showing explosions rocking Kiev and other Ukrainian cities amid Russian airstrikes. The Defense Ministry in Moscow confirmed carrying out a major raid on military-related targets across Ukraine in response to terror attacks by Vladimir Zelensky’s government.

The first wave of blasts in the Ukrainian capital was heard at around 1:30 AM local time, followed by more explosions in early morning hours, according to Ukrainian officials and media.

In one clip, a powerful blast is followed by the lights going out, plunging much of Kiev into darkness.

Other footage captured the sounds of repeated secondary explosions. The exact locations and types of facilities hit are difficult to verify as Ukrainian authorities tightly restrict information about strike sites and penalize those who share footage of impacts, except when civilian infrastructure is affected.

Multiple blasts were also reported in parts of Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye still under Ukrainian control, as well as in Sumy and Kharkov regions.

Later on Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that its bombardment targeted defense industry facilities, fuel and transport infrastructure facilities used by Ukrainian forces, and military airfields across the country.

Land- and sea-based precision weapons, including hypersonic missiles and drones, were deployed during the attack, it said.

The attack on the Starobelsk college dormitory, conducted in several waves late at night while students were sleeping inside, left 21 people dead, mainly teenage girls.

With the Starobelsk massacre, “the Kiev leadership has decided to open a new chapter in its crime spree, to add a new dimension to the conflict as a whole,” President Vladimir Putin said on Monday, adding that the perpetrators will suffer a “well-deserved and inevitable punishment.”

Moscow has accused France and the UK of engaging in “piracy” after French and British naval forces intercepted and diverted a cargo ship sailing from Russia’s Murmansk to Cameroon in international waters.

The vessel, the Tagor, was stopped on Sunday, more than 400 nautical miles off the coast of Brittany, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. French authorities claim the ship was operating under a “false” flag.

In a statement on Tueday, Zakharova said the Russian Embassy in Paris has demanded full information concerning the circumstances of the detention, warning that the operation violated international maritime law. She also stated that Moscow is taking measures to protect Russian crew members aboard the vessel.

The spokeswoman rejected France’s justification for the operation, which cited Article 110 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The provision allows warships to board and inspect vessels on the high seas under limited circumstances, including when a ship is suspected of having no nationality.

However, international maritime law does not permit a warship to compel a vessel to alter course and escort it from international waters to a national port, according to Moscow.

Zakharova also dismissed French President Emmanuel Macron’s insinuation that the ship was violating “international sanctions,” arguing that only restrictions approved by the UN Security Council qualify as international sanctions. Unilateral measures imposed by European states cannot be considered international under law, she said.

The spokeswoman accused European governments of selectively interpreting legal norms to suit their interests, while cautioning that attempts to enforce sanctions in areas governed by freedom of navigation could have broader consequences for global shipping.

She added that many vessels operating in the interests of European countries sail under so-called flags of convenience, cautioning that extending such enforcement practices to the high seas could prove costly for international maritime trade.

Russia has launched this year’s LNG shipment season (NSR), with its nuclear powered icebreakers clearing paths through Arctic ice to keep the Northern Sea Route open for energy exports.

Russia operates the world’s largest fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers. These massive ships support rapid Arctic development and maintain shipping along the NSR – the shortest sea link between Europe and the Asia Pacific, which is faster than traditional routes via the Suez and Panama canals.

An RT crew boarded Russia’s Yamal – one of the world’s most powerful nuclear icebreakers – for a rare look at how the crew lives and works for weeks at a time. Aboard this floating behemoth, a canteen serving four hot meals a day, a fully equipped gym, a sports court, a sauna, a swimming pool, and a Soviet era library help sailors unwind after long shifts. “Every corner of the ship is designed to keep you sharp, fit, and safe,” RT correspondent Anastasia Volodina reports. 

The General Court of the European Union has registered a Central Bank of Russia lawsuit against the European Parliament and the EU Council over the bloc’s €90 billion ($105 billion) loan to Ukraine.

The filing contests an EU mechanism adopted in February that allows proceeds from frozen Russian sovereign assets held in Europe to be used to repay a joint loan to Kiev, the central bank said.

Kiev’s Western backers froze about $300 billion in Russian sovereign state assets after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Moscow has repeatedly said any use of its frozen assets would amount to theft.

The Bank of Russia said the scheme amounts to “an illegal and disguised form of using assets as collateral for a loan,” arguing that it effectively legitimizes the expropriation of sovereign assets.

According to the regulator, the mechanism violates EU law, property rights, and the international legal principle of sovereign immunity afforded to states and central banks.

The Bank of Russia separately challenged that decision before the EU’s General Court in February. In that case, it argued that the asset-freeze regime infringes property rights, the right to effective judicial protection, and the sovereign immunity protections recognized under international law and EU legislation.

The regulator also claimed the measure was adopted through “serious procedural violations,” arguing that it should have required unanimous approval by EU member states rather than a qualified-majority vote.

The Bank of Russia is also locked in a legal dispute with Euroclear, the Belgium-based depository that holds the bulk of Russia’s frozen assets. Last month, Moscow's arbitration court awarded the regulator $230 billion in damages. Euroclear has pledged to appeal.

The Armenian government is forcing the country onto the same anti-Russian path taken by Ukraine, former President Robert Kocharyan has warned ahead of upcoming elections.

In Sunday’s vote, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party will seek a mandate to pursue closer integration with the European Union – a course that could ultimately lead to a break with Russia.

Pashinyan’s party is facing a divided opposition field that includes three major players: Strong Armenia, launched earlier this year by businessman Samvel Karapetyan; the Armenia Alliance, led by former President Kocharyan; and Prosperous Armenia, headed by businessman Gagik Tsarukyan.

While the opposition groups differ over how the landlocked post-Soviet nation’s problems should be addressed, they all blame the current leadership for causing them.

Armenia, he argued, “should stop playing on the differences of great powers and provoking them, putting its own people in harm’s way.”

Yerevan facing either-or choice

Pashinyan, who came to power following street protests in 2018, has presided over a string of crises, including border clashes and a proxy war with neighboring Azerbaijan, an influx of refugees from the now-defunct self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, major protests that he suppressed by accusing critics from the Armenian Apostolic Church of plotting a coup, and a broader economic slowdown.

The prime minister has also accused Russia of failing Armenia in its confrontation with Azerbaijan and has claimed that deeper integration with the EU, along with transit revenues, would deliver a significant economic boost.

Asked about calls to put Armenia’s geopolitical course to a referendum, a proposal voiced by the EES last week, Pashinyan said holding a vote before the choice becomes unavoidable would be “illogical.” Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev compared the approach to the Bolshevik government’s attempt to unilaterally withdraw from World War I without signing a formal peace treaty with Germany.

Leo Trotsky’s formula, often summarized as “no peace, no war, and disband the army,” backfired badly, forcing Soviet Russia to accept the highly unfavorable Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with a country that was later defeated by the Entente powers.

Misleading polls

Without a single consolidated opposition force, Pashinyan appears positioned for a landslide victory, Euronews claimed on Sunday, citing opinion polls. The outlet pointed to a survey by the pollster Breavis, in which 65% of respondents said they planned to vote for the ruling party.

Armenia, Breavis poll:

KP~EPP|~S&D: 65% (+41)
Mer dzevov-*: 12% (+3)
HD/ARF-S&D: 6% (+3)
MPA-*: 4% (+3)
BHK-*: 2% (-1)
DOK-*: 2% (n.a.)
MT-*: 2% (+1)
BDE-*: 2% (n.a.)

+/- vs. 03-13 February 2026

Fieldwork: 05-11 May 2026
Sample size: 1,551

➤ https://t.co/ImUIujL15i pic.twitter.com/SzL4v5va8M

— Europe Elects (@EuropeElects) May 30, 2026

However, responses from 51% of those surveyed were excluded because they refused to answer, said they had not yet decided, intended to spoil their ballot, or planned to skip the election altogether.

Pashinyan has taken leave from his duties as prime minister to campaign, and some of his appearances have cast him in an unfavorable light, showing him as short-tempered and thin-skinned. “Be glad your head is not smashed in at the closest toilet,” he told a woman who accused him of betraying national interests.

🇦🇲 Pashinyan shouts down woman who accused him of destroying Armenian statehood at campaign rally

During yet another pre-election event, the Armenian PM lost his composure at a woman in the crowd who accused him of dismantling Armenian statehood.

She stated that the Armenian… pic.twitter.com/aBKEeBOQpR

— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) May 18, 2026

When a head of government makes such threats, opinion polls are likely to produce distorted results.

Russia is preparing to host the 12th annual Primakov Readings International Forum, one of the country’s leading platforms for discussion of global politics and the world economy. The event, themed ‘World Without Rules: Power Game?’, will take place in Moscow on June 23–24, 2026, at the Radisson Blu Leninsky Prospect Hotel, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of IMEMO.

The forum is expected to bring together senior Russian officials, including presidential aide Yury Ushakov, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev, alongside leading Russian and international experts in international security, global politics, and economics, as well as diplomats, politicians, and representatives of public organizations.

According to organizers, the program will focus on some of the most pressing challenges in international affairs. Key themes will include the global fallout from regional conflicts, the domestic drivers of US foreign policy, the Middle East conflict and its дальнейшая evolution, scenarios for a new world order, risks to global trade and investment, Eurasian security during Russia’s chairmanship of the CSTO, and AI-driven international competition alongside a new round of military-technological rivalry.

Special attention will be given to prospects for de-escalation in the Middle East, the possible creation of a new regional security architecture, and the role of non-Western countries in stabilizing the region. Participants are also expected to discuss the consequences of the termination of the New START treaty, the risk of a broader collapse of the arms-control system, and the impact of emerging military technologies on strategic stability as the arms race accelerates.

“Both in Russia and globally, the liberal ‘rules-based’ world order has faced harsh and fair criticism. In 2022–2026 it ultimately faded into history,” said Aleksandr Dynkin, president of the Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) and a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. “We are witnessing a breakdown: there is an obvious fragmentation of the global political and economic architecture, and an almost complete dictatorship of force in international security backed by states’ combined economic and military power, ignoring international law and its institutions.”

Dynkin said that under these conditions, the importance of the remaining “anchors of stability” is growing, along with the demand for strengthening international institutions that can serve as alternatives to Western-led ones. He named Russia-China and Russia-India ties among such anchors, and pointed to BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), and ASEAN as key institutions shaping this process.

The event is expected to bring together around 50 experts from 20 countries, including China, India, the US, Iran, the UK, Uzbekistan, and Belarus.

Organized by IMEMO together with the Evgeny Primakov Center for International Cooperation, the forum continues the legacy of Evgeny Primakov, the statesman and scholar after whom it is named. First launched in 2015, the Primakov Readings have become an annual gathering of leading specialists in international relations and the global economy.

Media representatives can apply for accreditation via the official website of the Primakov Readings forum.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has condemned the French seizure of an oil tanker in international waters as “borderline piracy.” Paris had hailed the move as the enforcement of anti-Russian sanctions.

The crude oil tanker Tagor was boarded by French commandos in the Atlantic, with support from the UK and other countries, French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday while presenting footage of the raid.

Macron claimed the vessel posed environmental and safety risks and was engaged in the “circumvention of international sanctions,” referring to restrictions adopted by a number of Western countries targeting Russian foreign trade. The measures were imposed without a UN mandate following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.

Peskov rejected Macron’s claim that French forces had acted in accordance with international law. He said Russia would “draw on this negative experience” when adjusting the “measures we take to ensure the safety of our shipments.”

La Marine nationale a arraisonné hier matin un nouveau pétrolier sous sanctions internationales en provenance de Russie : le Tagor. Notre détermination est constante et totale.

Cette intervention a été effectuée en Atlantique, en haute mer,… pic.twitter.com/zxEslYjbUE

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) June 1, 2026

Western raids and Ukrainian bombs

Kiev’s Western backers have accused Russia of using a so-called ‘shadow fleet’ to conceal and maintain international trade flows that they seek to restrict in order to weaken Moscow and aid Ukraine.

Last month, an LNG tanker that had arrived at Russia’s Baltic port of Ust-Luga from Antwerp was found to have been fitted with limpet mines. Moscow said the discovery had prevented what it described as a Ukrainian attempt to trigger a major explosion near the port’s export terminal.

The British backseat driver

According to public maritime tracking data, the Tagor sails under the flag of Madagascar and had previously visited an oil terminal near the northern Russian port of Murmansk. The vessel stopped transmitting transponder data more than a week ago while sailing off the Norwegian coast. Macron did not disclose what role Britain played in the capture of the Tagor.

France carried out a similar operation in March, when its navy intercepted the Deyna, an oil tanker Paris alleged was part of ‘Russian shadow fleet,’ as it sailed through the Mediterranean after having departed Murmansk. The ship was released in mid-April after its owner paid a fine to French authorities over paperwork irregularities.

President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Kazakhstan last week was an important moment in bilateral relations. It gives us the opportunity to think more broadly about the current state of Russia’s relations with those former Soviet republics that remain most friendly towards us.

This is especially necessary now, as elections approach in Armenia and its leadership speaks openly about moving closer to the European Union. Once again, we hear the familiar claim that Russia is “losing” the post-Soviet space. The argument is not new and it’s supported, in different ways, by the open desire of some neighboring states to strengthen cooperation with the West, and by the less visible but steadily growing presence of Western corporations, NGOs and political actors in countries near Russia.

But we should begin with a simple fact. Against the background of the geopolitical catastrophe of 1991, Russia has retained, and continues to retain, considerable influence over its immediate neighborhood.

There are two reasons for this. First, Russia’s size, economy, culture and geography make it a natural center of attraction for states that don’t make hostility to Moscow the organizing principle of their existence. Even Georgia, after bitter experience, has learned that the West is not always capable of helping those it encourages.

Second, most of our neighbors are themselves acting with a degree of statesmanship in that they may maneuver and diversify their foreign relations, but they’re not usually seeking to sever ties with Russia. The established states of the former USSR pursue pragmatic policies and understand the value of their special relationship with Moscow and, in recent years, Russia has also found new ways to ensure that those who benefit from cooperation outnumber those who profit from conflict.

Kazakhstan remains one of the countries with which Russia has the closest and most trusting relations and this was confirmed during Putin’s visit. Kazakhstan’s president, along with the leader of Uzbekistan, attended the May 9 celebrations in Moscow, and cooperation between our countries extends far beyond economics or routine social contacts.

At the same time, Kazakhstan is building relations not only with Russia but also with our adversaries, and while this doesn’t mean Astana wants to distance itself from Moscow, it does mean Kazakhstan must remain part of the global economy on which its export revenues depend. What matters is that it is confidently seeking ways to avoid harming its cooperation with Russia.

A recent example is revealing. Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Justice announced that it would not comply with a ruling by the International Financial Centre in Astana upholding a Swiss arbitration decision in the case brought by Ukraine’s Naftogaz against Russia’s Gazprom for more than $1.4 billion. This is precisely the kind of practical behavior that matters more than loud declarations

Armenia presents a more difficult case. The country’s defeat in its confrontation with Azerbaijan has produced deep moral exhaustion and a desire for peace almost at any price. The political forces now in power are exploiting these feelings and trying to convince society that rapprochement with the West is the key to a peaceful future.

The deeper point is that even the best diplomacy cannot always overcome the objective consequences of social development in neighboring states. We understand how profoundly Russian society has changed in recent years and we shouldn’t forget that our neighbors are also undergoing internal transformations.

New generations are coming of age and often they are more nationalistic, partly because they have less direct experience of international engagement and of the shared Soviet past. New elites want to displace older establishments that historically had closer ties with Moscow while longstanding economic problems remain unresolved, often because these states simply lack the resources to solve them.

In Armenia, many young people support the current government not because they hate Russia, but because they see the “European choice” as a route to personal self-fulfillment in the West. Often they are disappointed with their own country and Russia cannot realistically absorb everyone who wants a different future.

Ukraine is another case altogether and the reason for the tragic turn of events there wasn’t primarily a mistake in Russian policy, but the failure of the Ukrainian people to build durable statehood, combined with a systemic Russophobia that had been developing since Soviet times. Georgia’s turn away from a disastrous course after 2012 wasn’t the result of Russian pressure or assistance, but of the Georgian elite and society recognizing their own circumstances. Finland’s anti-Russian shift after 2022, meanwhile, was the product of an internal crisis made irreversible by its entry into the European Union’s political and economic system.

Most importantly, we must think long term because history doesn’t end with tomorrow’s statement from Brussels or Donald Trump’s next social media post. Russia’s relations with its neighbors move in cycles and the setbacks we are seeing now will eventually be followed by a return to a more favorable trajectory.

We often admire the ability of the United States to influence other countries, but what Russia should learn most from the Americans is their historical optimism and not their pressure tactics. Even in Latin America, the region closest to the US, Washington’s influence has never been absolute and look at how Venezuela has been governed since 1999 by forces openly unfriendly to America. Cuba has remained outside American control for decades and Nicaragua returned Daniel Ortega, an old friend of the USSR, to power after years of pro-American rule.

None of this led Washington to conclude that history was over or that every unfriendly turn was irreversible. Russia should adopt the same patience. The Soviet Union weakened itself partly through excessive spending on its external presence. We must not repeat that mistake, because for a military superpower, the most dangerous enemy is often itself.

Russia’s own socio-economic stability is more important than events in the post-Soviet space or anywhere else. This doesn’t mean retreating from our neighbors and, on the contrary, we should strengthen ties through trade and human contact, and we shouldn’t treat every ebb and flow in these relations as a tragedy.

This article was first published by Vzglyad newspaper and translated and edited by the RT team.

Moldova is not ready to join NATO because its own citizens don’t want the membership, Foreign Minister Mihai Popsoi has admitted.

Popsoi, a close ally of pro-Western president Maia Sandu, made the remarks on Saturday in an interview with Vocea Basarabiei TV, where he was asked whether he thought the former Soviet republic should seek closer ties with NATO or pursue full membership.

While Popsoi called himself “a sincere supporter of everything related to Euro-Atlantic security,” he acknowledged that public support is not there.

“Integration into NATO, as into any other international structure, depends on the will of our citizens. Once there is a significant majority support for joining the North Atlantic Alliance, this can be examined as a natural option... In our case, historically, for various reasons, this significant majority has not existed,” he said.

In addition to insufficient popular support, another factor blocking Moldova’s potential membership is the breakaway region of Transnistria, which seceded from the country after a short war in the early 1990s. Transnistria currently hosts Russian peacekeepers to maintain the ceasefire and guard Soviet-era weapons and ammunition stockpiles.

The Sandu government has been pushing for integration with the EU, but the president herself also acknowledged the lack of public appetite for NATO membership. She, however, tried to explain the overbearing “fear of NATO” by what she described as “years of propaganda by the Russian Federation.”

Russia has long been vehemently opposed to any NATO expansion, viewing it as an existential threat. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also suggested that Moldova’s current authorities are making a “serious mistake” by making Russia their antagonist for the sake of building relations with the West.

Popsoi also weighed in on another politically charged question: unification with neighboring Romania – which would automatically bring Moldova into NATO. He said that while he is personally in favor, such a move would require “a pragmatic discussion [and] a dialogue with all our citizens.” According to an IMAS poll, only 30% would back unification.

“Would you like me to help with the other problems on the list?”

That was the sentence a physics teacher recently found at the end of a pupil’s homework assignment. The solution itself was elegant and correct. Unfortunately, it was not produced by the child. It was generated by artificial intelligence and copied so carelessly that the pupil left in the chatbot’s question.

A video on this went viral because it was funny in the uneasy way bad news can be funny. Today’s schoolchildren, it seems, are not only forgetting how to think, but some are forgetting how to cheat properly.

This might have remained another sad school anecdote if President Vladimir Putin had not instructed the State Council at around the same time to prepare proposals for changing federal education standards and incorporating AI into them. So we are no longer discussing a toy, a novelty, or a passing panic – we’re discussing the future of Russian education.

At first glance, ordinary citizens may think this only concerns teachers and administrators. But the consequences won’t remain inside the classroom. They will shape the way children read, write, argue, remember, and think.

The statistics already tell the story. By 2025, the share of student work written with the help of AI had risen from 17.8% to 24%. Nearly a quarter of presentations, essays, coursework, and even dissertations are now being produced with AI assistance. Among school pupils, the scale is greater still; 29% of Russian pupils admit they use AI tools to do homework, while 23% use them out of boredom, as a substitute for real conversation.

Teachers don’t need surveys, because we see the problem every day. I once had a pupil who wrote excellent essays at home but consistently failed creative assignments in class. His homework passed anti-plagiarism checks perfectly, and I couldn’t accuse him without proof. The Russian language Unified State Exam settled the matter, as when he was deprived of his digital ghostwriter, he suffered a complete fiasco. His supposed literary ability belonged to a neural network.

If we don’t stop and think seriously about this uncontrolled integration of AI into education, the future looks bleak.

The risks identified by teachers and experts are real. In surveys, 36% of respondents say they fear reduced mental effort will damage children’s development while another 31% worry about the decline of face-to-face interaction. A further 27% fear a collapse in motivation and the rise of catastrophic laziness.

This is the central danger because AI doesn’t merely help a child avoid effort, it can imitate effort. It can produce the appearance of thought and even personality. A bad essay written by a child is still a human document as it contains errors, awkwardness, effort, fear, ambition, and sometimes buried inside, a living voice. A polished AI essay might contain none of this.

IT pioneer Natalya Kaspersky has said we risk raising “a generation of complete idiots.” You might not like the harshness of her words, but there’s a grain of truth in them. If a child today cannot even thoughtfully rewrite an answer produced by a machine, what will happen in two or three years? Will our children still write and formulate thoughts of their own, or will they outsource these basic human acts to an algorithm?

Still, pretending we can simply ban AI from the classroom would be childish, and burying your head in the sand never works. Nor does fanatically opposing innovation. Those who try to keep technology out of school entirely will lose, and the only serious answer is to teach children how to use AI intelligently, without surrendering their own minds to it.

The problem is that neither teachers nor pupils have yet been properly taught how to use this tool.

I remember how my parents, who were programmers, feared that calculators would destroy mathematical thinking. In the end, calculators destroyed nothing in those who had first learned to count, and they freed the brain instead for more complex work – but only after the basic skill was formed.

This is the principle we must apply to AI. Children must first learn to think, read, write, argue, doubt, calculate, and express themselves, and only then should the neural network become an additional layer of intellect. 

What can a teacher or parent give a child that no neural network can provide? The answer is simple and old-fashioned: Living human contact and real conversation. The spark of shared thought and the discipline of disagreement. Emotion that hasn’t been simulated.

Even the most advanced AI can’t feel anything. But it can imitate feelings, and a lonely child might accept this imitation if nothing better is available.

Are teachers to blame? Only partly, but as long as Russia remains desperately short of teachers, neural networks will remain the most accessible ‘tutor’ for many families. For parents, they are convenient; for pupils, they are obedient. For administrators, they create the illusion of improved results.

That’s why the issue can’t be resolved by scolding children or laughing at them for copying chatbot replies. If we don’t restore the authority of the teacher, reduce bureaucracy, fill staff shortages, and teach both adults and children how to work with AI honestly, then the machine will take the place of thought.

And our children will continue typing ‘essay on the topic’ into a search bar, while the neural network politely finishes their education with the same fatal question: 

‘Would you like me to help with anything else?’

This article was first published by the online newspaper Gazeta.ru and was translated and edited by the RT team

Russia is set to take Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia to the UN’s top court over the systematic crackdown on Russian-speakers, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has announced, adding that the pre-trial phase of the dispute is coming to an end.

Moscow has for years sounded the alarm over the three former Soviet republics, which it accuses of restricting the rights of the Russian-speaking minority populations. It has accused the Baltic states of flagrantly violating the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Speaking to RIA Novosti on Sunday, Zakharova blasted Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia over their “refusal to negotiate and unconstructive reaction to Russia’s grievances,” stressing that this will lead to litigation in the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ).

It accused the Latvian authorities of carrying out a purge of dissents from the country’s information space “under the trumped-up pretext of combating ‘Russian propaganda.’” In Estonia, the Foreign Ministry said the rights of the “non-titular” population are openly restricted.

All three Baltic governments have dismissed the potential ICJ lawsuit. Lithuania called the allegations “entirely unfounded” and part of a Russian “campaign of lies and disinformation aimed at discrediting the Baltic states.” 

The Hague-based ICJ specializes in settling disputes exclusively between nations under international law. The court was deliberately designed without a mechanism to compel, with the function falling under the purview of the UN Security Council – where any of the five permanent members can use their veto power to block rulings.

Since breaking away from the Soviet Union in 1991, the three Baltic states have worked to phase out Russian from most walks of life. The effort picked up pace in 2022 after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict.

In recent years, Latvia has moved to conduct all general education exclusively in Latvian, while Russian as a second language will be removed from schools and replaced with EU languages. All three nations have also moved to curb access to Russian-language media.

On top of this, around 60,000 people in Estonia have ‘undetermined citizenship’, while 175,000 in Latvia – around 9% of the population – are classified as non-citizens. These individuals cannot vote in national elections, run for office, and work in certain sectors. In 2025, the Estonian parliament voted to amend the constitution, stripping Russian and Belarusian citizens of the right to vote in local elections.

Swiss artist Micha Hani (Vierwind) has created a massive mural of Jesus Christ using a decommissioned passenger jet in Armenia as a canvas. The installation can only be viewed in its entirety from above as all the elements merge into a single image.

Jesus’ outstretched arms are painted onto the wings, with the entire structure resembling a crucifix.

The scenic views of Lake Sevan, on whose shore the old Soviet Yak-40 has stood idle for years, add to the artistic experience, as seen in Ruptly drone footage.

It took Hani six days in mid-May to paint the aircraft’s fuselage, but he had spent several months preparing for the project beforehand, he told the Russian video agency.

“Getting the proportions exactly right so that the image looks ideal from every angle was the most difficult part,” the artist said, citing the plane’s complex shape.

Hani explained that he had opted for such an unusual canvas because he felt that “there is something both powerful and at the same time fragile in the plane.”

His choice of Armenia as the location for his installation was no coincidence either, Vierwind told Ruptly, noting that the South Caucasus nation “has an incredible wealth of history and spirituality.”

With a background in 3D poly design, the Bern-born artist currently specializes in painting, graffiti, and illustrations, and views his art as inclusive in the sense that people “who would never set foot in a gallery” can still encounter his works in public spaces.

King Tiridates III proclaimed Christianity the state religion of ancient Armenia in 301 AD. The faith has persisted through the highs and lows of the nation’s turbulent history ever since.

Three civilians were killed and four others injured after Ukrainian drones targeted civilian vehicles in Belgorod Region, Russia, the local authorities have said.

A man lost his life “as a result of drone detonation” after the Ukrainian military attacked the village of Oktyabrsky in the early hours of Saturday, officials reported. Around the same time, Ukrainian forces “deliberately” struck a civilian car with an FPV drone in the same area, killing two occupants and injuring the two others.

Several hours later, another vehicle came under a Ukrainian drone attack in Oktyabrsky, leaving one person injured.

A separate Ukrainian drone attack also targeting a civilian vehicle in the village of Orlovka in Belgorod Region later on Saturday left a man with shrapnel injuries, according to the authorities.

In Rostov Region, Russia, Ukrainian UAVs attacked the sea port in the city of Taganrog overnight, setting a tanker and a fuel tank ashore ablaze, Governor Yury Slyusar stated, adding that the fire has since been extinguished, with no leaks reported.

The Russian Defense Ministry estimated that a total of 127 Ukrainian UAVs were intercepted Friday evening to Saturday morning over several Russian regions.

In recent months, Ukraine has intensified its drone raids deep into Russian territory, targeting civilian infrastructure, industrial sites, and residential buildings. These attacks have increasingly targeted Russia’s oil infrastructure.

In April, Ukrainian UAVs hit an oil refinery and an adjacent marine terminal in Tuapse, Russia, a key port in Krasnodar Region. The ensuing fire led to high-risk air pollution, with miles of the beach in the resort town destroyed by an oil spill.

Moscow has accused Kiev of resorting to terrorist attacks to compensate for the setbacks the Ukrainian military has been suffering on the battlefield.

Russia has responded with long-range strikes of its own, saying it only targets Ukrainian dual-use critical infrastructure and military installations, and never civilian sites.

The Ukrainian military attacked Russia’s Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), puncturing a hole in the machine hall of one of the facility’s units, Aleksey Likhachev, CEO of the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, has said.

The ZNPP – which has repeatedly been attacked by Kiev forces over the past years – came under a new attack on Saturday, with a fiber-optics-guided drone making it to the machine hall of the sixth power unit of the plant. Given that such munitions are guided by their operators until the impact, the strike was carried out deliberately, and any “theories of an accidental hit” can be ruled out, Likhachev stated.

“One could, if I may put it this way, ‘congratulate’ the entire international community – this is the first-ever deliberate attack on the nuclear power plant’s main equipment, with a penetrative explosion and damage to the machine hall,” he said.

The Ukrainian armed forces repeatedly cross not just red lines, but the very boundaries of common sense. What to expect next? Strikes directly on the turbine? The reactor hall? The reactor and its safety systems?

Russia has repeatedly drawn the attention of the international community to the “extremely dangerous behavior” on Kiev’s part, the nuclear chief added. Many appear not to take the continuing attacks on the ZNPP “seriously,” while a potential nuclear incident at the plant could spread well beyond Russia and Ukraine, affecting those believing themselves to be “completely safe,” Likhachev warned.

The Ukrainian military has denied any involvement, claiming it does not possess fiber-optics-guided drones of sufficient range or packed with powerful enough charges capable of penetrating a wall. The power station, however, is located on the bank of the Dnieper River, with the Ukrainian-held part of the region lying immediately across the waterway.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi has expressed “serious concern” over the “reported incident” at the plant, the organization said. Grossi warned against attacks on nuclear sites, describing them as “playing with fire.” The agency added that it had requested access “to examine the affected turbine building first-hand.”

A team of IAEA experts visited the plant on Sunday to assess the damage, Russia’s envoy to the agency and other international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, has said. He shared footage from the scene, showing the hole in the wall of the machine hall punctured by the Ukrainian drone, as well as fragments of the UAV and the fiber optic cord it left behind. 

The consequences of a Ukrainian drone entering the mashing block of Power Unit number 6 at the Zaporozhskaya NPP on May 30. As the #IAEA Director General said yesterday, they are playing with fire. pic.twitter.com/eyTLGmYkrW

— Mikhail Ulyanov (@Amb_Ulyanov) May 31, 2026

The IAEA said its team had observed damage “consistent with the impact of a drone,” with “a few pieces of debris and burned optical fiber remains” found on the ground. During the visit to the plant, the experts were “told to shelter after hearing the sound of drones nearby and gunfire to repel them,” the agency noted.

In recent weeks, the Ukrainian military has ramped up attacks on the plant, repeatedly striking structures within its perimeter and targeting the facility’s employees. The ZNPP came under Moscow’s control early in the conflict and has been operated by Rosatom after the Zaporozhye Region voted to join Russia in a referendum in the fall of 2022.

Ex-Russian President and Deputy Chief of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, warned that the potential destruction of a power unit at the ZNPP would result in a “new Chernobyl.” An incident of such magnitude is “not any better than the use of tactical nuclear weaponry,” he said, adding that it could ultimately prompt “symmetrical” retaliatory strikes on nuclear power plants in Ukraine and “NATO nations involved in the conflict.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin took questions from reporters during his trip to Kazakhstan on Friday, providing an update on the Ukraine conflict and tensions with NATO in Europe.

He also commented on the recent drone incident in Romania, which NATO blamed on Russia, and touched on foreign policy debates in Armenia, a former Soviet state and longtime Russian ally.

Russia has the upper hand on the battlefield

The Ukraine conflict is nearing the end as the Russian military continues its offensive on all fronts, Putin said, adding that it would be “unwise” to provide a specific timeline.

“The situation on the battlefield gives reason to believe that (the conflict) is drawing to a close.”

He went on to say that although Moscow maintains “certain contacts,” no peace talks are being held at the moment.

While the US has been preoccupied with the Iran conflict, some EU officials have begun floating the idea of resuming talks with Russia, which were suspended in 2022.

The president reiterated that Russia has no intention of attacking NATO or EU members, dismissing claims to the contrary as “brazen lies.” He reiterated Russia’s position that it was forced to intervene in Ukraine after Kiev failed to implement the 2014-15 Minsk accords with the breakaway Donbass republics, which later voted to become part of Russia.

Western leaders are using the conflict to justify “unreasonable” military spending hikes, Putin argued. “They should not mislead their own people.”

Aggressors will be razed to the ground

Putin warned, however, Russia has the capability to “raze to the ground” any country that attempts to attack it.

He was responding to Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys, who said this month that, in the event of a conflict, NATO must demonstrate that it “can break into” Kaliningrad Region, a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania.

He warned that Russia would treat all Ukrainian drone launch sites as legitimate targets, even if they operate from the Baltic states.

Putin called for an objective investigation into a drone strike on a residential building in the Romanian city of Galati near the Ukrainian border on Friday, which injured two people. Romania, along with its NATO allies, blamed Russia for the intrusion.

The president said Romania should provide objective data about the incident, just as Russia handed over decoded flight data from a Ukrainian drone shot down last year en route to one of Putin’s residences. He noted that suspected Ukrainian drones have veered into the Baltic states and Finland in recent months.

Western media outlets ‘making fools of’ their own audiences

Putin said the Western media is “a tool for making fools of people” that is used to channel more money into Ukraine. He blasted foreign news outlets for their failure to cover the Ukrainian drone strikes on a college in Starobelsk last week, which killed 21 students and injured more than 40 others.

Moscow has criticized outlets including CNN and the BBC for declining an invitation to travel to Starobelsk.

Armenia’s economy will suffer if it cuts ties with Russia

Commenting on the upcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia, Putin said the country’s drive for closer integration with the EU could eventually become incompatible with its membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Leaving the EAEU would cost Armenia at least 14% of its GDP, he said.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who was recently endorsed by US President Donald Trump, said Armenia is not planning to terminate its membership in the EAEU at this stage, but that voters would ultimately decide between the two economic blocs.

Russia is Armenia’s largest trading partner and provides the country with discounted natural gas.

Advantages in AI technology

Russia is one of the few countries with the human capital and energy resources to develop its own sovereign artificial intelligence, Putin said.

“We have enormous capabilities in nuclear and hydroelectric power, particularly in Siberia,” he said, adding that Russia has “clear advantages” in the global AI race.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has urged his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, to take the lead in promoting dialogue between the EU and Russia, saying the Ukraine conflict should be resolved through direct talks rather than further escalation.

Speaking to journalists on Friday, Lukashenko revealed details of a phone call with Macron on May 24, saying he proposed a meeting in Minsk involving himself, the French president, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to Lukashenko, Macron did not rule out such a meeting but said he would first need to consult with his European allies. The Belarusian leader said he responded by urging Macron to take the initiative, describing him as one of Europe's most experienced statesmen.

“You’re the veteran among Europe’s leaders. Today, you are the key player and the driving force in Europe,” Lukashenko recalled telling Macron. “You should call Putin, come, sit down, and talk man to man.”

EU officials have for months complained that US-Russian negotiations on the Ukraine conflict have left the Europeans sidelined. However, the 27-member bloc has still failed to agree on who could speak for its interests in possible direct negotiations with Moscow, which Brussels cut off after the escalation of the conflict in 2022.

According to Lukashenko, Macron had also expressed concerns about Belarus potentially being drawn deeper into the Ukraine conflict.

The Belarusian leader dismissed such speculation, stating: “I am not planning to enter any war. Why would I?”

Lukashenko also rejected claims that recent joint nuclear drills conducted by Moscow and Minsk signaled preparations for a wider escalation.

Russia stationed nuclear weapons in Belarus in 2023, following repeated requests from Minsk. It also deployed its nuclear-capable Oreshnik hypersonic missile system there last year. The Belarusian leadership cited aggressive Western policies as the reason for the deployment.

According to Lukashenko, Minsk would consider using nuclear weapons only in the event of an attack on the country.

Romania has provided no evidence that a drone which struck a residential building in the city of Galati came from Russia, Moscow’s ambassador to Bucharest, Vladimir Lipaev, has told RT.

A drone carrying explosives hit the 10th floor of an apartment block in eastern Romania near the Ukrainian border on Friday, injuring two people. Romania’s Defense Ministry has claimed the UAV had come from Russia.

Lipaev said he was summoned to the Romanian Foreign Ministry over the incident, but noted that officials did not provide any evidence to support their accusations.

“Unfortunately, they never provided any evidence, as usual,” the ambassador said, noting that Russia regularly faces “baseless claims” that it has violated Romania’s airspace and has never received any detailed information regarding such incidents.

He added that Bucharest appeared to have already made up its mind before hearing Russia’s position and ignored Moscow’s arguments or requests for basic information about the alleged airspace violation, including the drone’s route, speed, location, and time spent inside Romanian territory.

Following the incident, Romania announced the closure of Russia’s consulate general in Constanta and declared the Russian consul general persona non grata.

“It seems that the decision to stop the Russian General Consulate in Constanta was made before we could even provide our position,” Lipaev said, stressing that there was “no connection” between the drone crash and the consulate’s work. The measure appeared to have been prepared in advance, he suggested.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for an “objective investigation” into a drone incident in Romania in which two people were injured. Moscow is ready to share its assessment if it is provided with either the debris of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or the data about it, he told journalists on Friday.

A drone crashed into an apartment block in the eastern Romanian city of Galati near the Ukrainian border early on Friday. The Romanian Defense Ministry claimed the UAV had originated from Russia.

Putin noted that drones have previously crashed in various EU nations, including Finland, Poland, and the Baltic States.

“A short time later, it would emerge that these incidents had nothing to do with Russian aircraft at all. Rather, they involved drones of Ukrainian origin that had gone off course due to electronic warfare… or technical shortcomings,” the president said during his visit to Kazakhstan.

Putin called on the Romanian authorities to share “objective evidence” with Russia, adding that Moscow did the same when the Ukrainian military targeted a Russian presidential residence in a drone strike. “Let them [Romanians] do the same and provide the evidence to us,” he added.

“Some of them were shot down over Ukrainian territory, and one of them was probably hit above the city of Reni. Its trajectory changed and it came toward Galati,” he said, adding that the Romanian authorities have data on the drone’s movement. According to Dan, the incident was not considered a deliberate attack by Russia but rather the consequence of military operations not far from the Romanian border.

Russia has previously been blamed for drone and missile incidents in EU nations. One of the most high-profile incidents involved an S-300 air defense missile killing two people in Poland not far from the Ukrainian border in 2022.

Kiev was quick to frame the incident as a Russian attack “on the collective security” of NATO while Warsaw eventually determined that the projectile had been fired by Ukraine in a bid to repel a Russian strike on targets inside Ukraine.

A Ukrainian drone raid last week devastated a college dormitory in Starobelsk, in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic, killing 21 students – most of them young women – and injuring dozens others.

The attack was a deliberate “double-tap” that included two more waves of drones targeting civilians and first responders who raced to the scene, according to Russian officials. Russia branded the raid a “terrorist attack” and a blatant war crime. Horrific footage from the scene backed up the accusations.

However, speaking at an emergency UN Security Council session, Ukrainian envoy to the UN Andrey Melnik dismissed Moscow’s account, denigrating a “so-called incident” in Starobelsk as “a fake story” and accusing Russia of spreading “yet another propaganda narrative.”

Here is what Ukraine and the West do not want you to know about the Starobelsk tragedy.

What really happened in Starobelsk?

RT senior correspondent Murad Gazdiev was among the first journalists to reach the site, reporting from the scene throughout the two-day search-and-rescue operation. The most horrific thing when he arrived was “children still screaming under the rubble.” According to Gazdiev, blood-stained blankets were visible in the hallway where first responders pulled out the dead, and the ground was littered with students’ belongings and books.

Who was killed by Ukraine in Starobelsk?

Among those trapped was 19-year-old Dasha Serdyuk. In her final moments of life, she filmed herself and sent a short video to her friend Nastya in St. Petersburg, pleading for help. Dasha had reportedly dreamed of becoming a kindergarten teacher and had only one year of studies left.

An eyewitness described watching a girl sprint from the building mid-attack, telling local media that she managed to leave the dorm but was killed by the blast wave outside.

Another victim, identified by the Mash outlet only as Anya, also tried to flee during the strike but was killed by the second drone barrage. An unnamed relative interviewed by the channel said that her body was so severely burned that family members could identify her only by her necklace and earrings. Anya is said to have been due to be married in the summer and is survived by her mother, grandmother, and 10-year-old sister.

Olga Vasilenko, a mother of Anastasia, an 18-year-old student at the college also killed in the strike, recalled, as cited by several Russian media: “She called me in the evening, saying: ‘Mom, we’re being bombed’. And then she stopped answering my calls”.

Russia’s human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, published photos of all 21 victims – some just 18 years old – offering condolences. “It’s impossible to imagine the pain of a parent who has lost the dearest thing in life – their child,” she said.

Do Ukraine’s claims stand up?

There have been no videos from the scene suggesting even the slightest sign of military-related activity. “There wasn’t even a hint of military personnel here. It was a targeted attack on children,” Roman Antonov, a local firefighter, told RT in the aftermath of the strike.

A video shared by Mash made before the strike shows students doing what students do – dancing, laughing, and having fun, with some seen washing floors in the dormitory.

What has taken place at the site since Kiev’s strikes?

In the days that have followed, residents, relatives of the dead, survivors, and college staff brought flowers and stuffed animals to the ruins. Churches in Starobelsk have held numerous services for the dead and prayers for the wounded.

A harrowing video has surfaced on social media, reportedly of parents identifying the bodies of their children, with audible, desperate screams.

In preparation for the funeral, relatives brought numerous wedding dresses to the local morgue: the young women killed in the strike were to be buried in them.

The death of 21 young people prompted a desire for revenge within the Russian military, with one drone operator filmed inscribing ‘Starobelsk’ on an attack UAV before launching it towards Ukrainian armed forces positions. Russia has maintained it targets only military-related sites.

Meanwhile, within days of the attack, Mirotvorets, a Ukrainian state-linked website that functions as a de facto ‘kill list,’ added ten staff members of the college – including deputy directors and teachers – accusing them of undermining Ukraine’s sovereignty and spreading propaganda among minors.

Russia launched a large-scale strike on Ukrainian military-related targets, including in Kiev. The assault employed the Oreshnik intermediate-range hypersonic missile system, alongside Iskander ballistic missiles and Kinzhal and Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles.

How has the West responded?

No Western country has spoken about holding Ukraine accountable, while any comments attempted to cast doubt on the facts – a classic hybrid war tactic Western media organizations themselves spend so much time warning of.

Some of Kiev’s backers have demanded “an independent investigation”, while claiming that the tragedy occurred on what they called “occupied Ukrainian territory.” Meaning that Ukraine brutally bombed students in land Kiev actually still claims.

While being conspicuously silent about the dead students, Western leaders have rushed to condemn Moscow’s response. Russia’s UN envoy Vassily Nebenzia subsequently accused Western countries of “hypocrisy and cynicism.”

She later noted that CNN had aired a segment on Ukrainian drone operations, wondering whether the American network filmed the preparations for a Starobelsk strike.

Is Ukraine lying about the mass murder of students?

The facts from the ground, the harrowing scenes and identification of all 21 young victims, along with multiple testimonies, suggest clearly that the atrocity took place, and that Kiev’s denials are obvious attempts to deflect its responsibility.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Kazakhstan carries significance well beyond the immediate agenda of bilateral talks. As his second state visit to the country in just two years – an unusual frequency for the highest level of diplomatic engagement – it reflects the depth of relations between Moscow and Astana and the durability of a strategic partnership that has remained a defining feature of the regional landscape.

The visit comes at a moment when Central Asia is attracting growing attention from external powers and Kazakhstan continues to expand its diplomatic engagement with China, Türkiye, the European Union, and the United States. Within this increasingly competitive environment, the meeting serves as a reminder that Russia retains a central place in Kazakhstan’s foreign policy calculations and that political dialogue between the two capitals remains steady, direct, and highly institutionalized.

The symbolism surrounding the visit has reinforced that message. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev personally welcomed Putin upon arrival, Kazakh Air Force jets escorted the Russian leader’s aircraft, and the two presidents later met again outside the Palace of Independence. Taken together, these gestures conveyed a level of political attention rarely reserved for routine diplomatic exchanges and publicly underscored the special status Russia continues to enjoy in Kazakhstan’s external relations.

If relations between Moscow and Astana are increasingly being anchored in infrastructure, energy, technology, and long-term investment, what does this tell us about the emerging architecture of Eurasia?

Turning political trust into institutions

Kazakhstan occupies a pivotal position in Central Asia, combining vast territory, abundant natural resources, significant transit potential, and a strategic location at the intersection of major Eurasian transport routes. Relations between Russia and Kazakhstan rest on a unique foundation shaped by shared history, deep economic linkages, extensive humanitarian contacts, and the world’s longest continuous land border, stretching 7,599 km. Geography continues to exert a powerful influence on the relationship, embedding cooperation between the two countries within broader questions of national security, economic resilience, energy connectivity, and regional stability. Cross-border trade, transport corridors, industrial supply chains, migration flows, and critical infrastructure create a dense network of interdependence that gives the partnership a long-term structural character.

The visit has produced a substantial political agenda. Following their talks, Putin and Tokayev signed the Joint Statement on the Seven Pillars of Friendship and Good-Neighborliness, alongside a broader package of bilateral agreements. The statement carries particular significance because it codifies the core principles underpinning the long-term Russia-Kazakhstan partnership, including political trust, security cooperation, economic collaboration, humanitarian ties, and a shared historical legacy.

The economics behind the partnership

The economic dimension of Russia-Kazakhstan relations provides one of the clearest indicators of the partnership’s depth and durability. Russian investment in Kazakhstan has approached $30 billion, reflecting a long-term commitment that extends across multiple sectors of the economy. The scale of this engagement is also evident in the corporate sphere, where companies established with Russian participation account for more than 40% of all Kazakh legal entities involving foreign capital.

Investment activity spans well beyond natural resources. Around 70 major projects involving Russian investors are currently being implemented in sectors such as automotive manufacturing, heavy engineering, and chemicals, generating more than 60,000 jobs and contributing to Kazakhstan’s broader industrial development. These projects have fostered production networks, technological cooperation, and supply chains that reinforce economic connectivity between the two countries.

Trade remains another central pillar of the relationship. Bilateral trade reached approximately $27.4 billion in 2025 and continued to expand in early 2026, demonstrating the resilience of commercial ties despite a rapidly changing international economic environment. An equally important trend is the growing use of national currencies in mutual settlements, which has strengthened the autonomy of bilateral trade and aligned with broader efforts to develop alternative financial mechanisms across Eurasia.

Energy continues to occupy a central place in Russia-Kazakhstan relations, reflecting the broader infrastructure links that connect the two economies. More than 80% of Kazakhstan’s oil exports reach international markets through Russian territory via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, making transport infrastructure a critical component of Kazakhstan’s export strategy and a key element of bilateral economic connectivity.

Cooperation extends into the gas sector, where plans to modernize and expand Kazakhstan’s gas transportation network with Gazprom’s participation underscore the long-term nature of the partnership. These initiatives carry significance for regional development, energy security, and the expansion of domestic gas infrastructure across Kazakhstan.

Taken together, these projects illustrate the extent to which energy cooperation has become embedded within the broader economic relationship. Oil transit, gas infrastructure, and cross-border energy networks have created enduring linkages that continue to shape the strategic calculations of both countries.

Kazakhstan’s nuclear choice

Among the most consequential outcomes associated with Putin’s visit is the advancement of plans for Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power plant, a project that carries significance extending well beyond the energy sector. After considering proposals from several international contenders, including France and South Korea, Astana selected Rosatom for the leading role in the project, placing Russia at the center of one of the country’s most important infrastructure initiatives.

Nuclear energy projects create long-term technological, financial, and institutional linkages between supplier and recipient states. The construction and operation of a nuclear power plant require sustained cooperation in areas ranging from fuel supply and maintenance to personnel training, regulatory oversight, and technological support. Kazakhstan’s decision therefore reflects a high degree of confidence in Russia’s capabilities and reliability as a strategic partner.

The Eurasian dimension

Putin’s participation in the Eurasian Economic Forum and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) summit have highlighted a broader dimension of the visit extending beyond bilateral relations. Kazakhstan occupies a central position within the Eurasian integration project, while its economic weight, geographic location, and transit potential make it one of the Union’s most influential members. The decision to combine a state visit with key EAEU events underscored the importance both Moscow and Astana continue to attach to regional integration as a framework for economic cooperation and connectivity.

The significance of the EAEU has grown alongside the transformation of the international economic environment. Shifting supply chains, expanding sanctions regimes, and rising protectionism have increased the importance of regional mechanisms capable of facilitating trade, investment, industrial cooperation, and transport connectivity. For both Russia and Kazakhstan, the EAEU provides an institutional platform through which these objectives can be pursued while supporting broader efforts to strengthen economic resilience across Eurasia.

Against this backdrop, the Eurasian agenda formed an integral part of Putin’s visit to Astana. The discussions reinforced the view that Russia-Kazakhstan cooperation continues to develop simultaneously through bilateral channels and multilateral institutions, linking the future of their partnership to the wider trajectory of Eurasian integration.

Cooperation between Russia and Kazakhstan increasingly extends into high-technology sectors. The planned launch of the Soyuz-5/Sunkar rocket from the Bayterek launch complex reflects continued collaboration in space exploration and advanced industrial projects. The Baikonur Cosmodrome remains an important platform for technological cooperation, providing both countries with opportunities to maintain and expand joint capabilities in strategically significant fields.

The persistence of such projects highlights the breadth of the bilateral relationship, which encompasses not only trade, investment, energy, and transport connectivity, but also areas requiring long-term technological coordination and specialized expertise.

A strategic axis in Eurasia

Taken together, these political, economic, energy, technological, and institutional ties illustrate the exceptional depth of the Russia-Kazakhstan partnership. All the connections mentioned above have produced a dense framework of interdependence linking capital, infrastructure, logistics, manufacturing, and technological development across Eurasia.

Putin’s visit has demonstrated that Moscow’s influence in Central Asia continues to rest on a broad foundation encompassing investment, industrial cooperation, transport corridors, energy infrastructure, technological projects, and multilateral institutions. For Kazakhstan, engagement with Russia remains closely tied to national economic priorities, infrastructure development, regional connectivity, and participation in Eurasian integration processes.

At a time when the geopolitical landscape of Eurasia is undergoing profound transformation, the visit has reaffirmed the enduring significance of the Russia-Kazakhstan relationship. Rooted in geography, reinforced by economic interdependence, and sustained through institutional cooperation, the partnership occupies a central place in the evolving regional order. The broader question is whether this increasingly interconnected relationship will emerge as one of the key pillars shaping Eurasia’s future political and economic architecture.

Ukrainian rhythmic gymnasts were caught on video covering their ears and eyes during the Russian and Belarusian national anthems at the European Championship in Varna, Bulgaria.

The tournament marks the first time athletes from the two countries have been allowed to compete under their national flags in nearly five years, after World Gymnastics and European Gymnastics lifted their restrictions earlier this month.

One of the incidents took place during the medal ceremony for the junior ribbon event in Varna on Thursday, in which Russia’s Yana Zaikina won gold, Ukraine’s Sofia Krainska took silver, and Germany’s Melissa Diete took bronze.

Krainska was seen standing on the podium wearing headphones and covering her eyes and face as the Russian national anthem played. Zaikina’s victory was Russia’s first gold at the tournament.

A similar episode occurred when Ukrainian gymnast Varvara Chubarova covered her ears and eyes as the Belarusian national anthem played following Kira Babkevich’s victory in the junior ball event.

Russian and Belarusian athletes were barred from most international competitions after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. The two countries condemned the bans, calling them politically motivated. Some restrictions were later eased, allowing selected athletes to compete under neutral status.

Recently, major international sports organizations have started to lift their bans entirely.

Despite the lifting of the restrictions, the Russian team nearly missed the Varna championship after the Bulgarian authorities refused to approve its charter flight. The delegation eventually arrived via Istanbul one day before the competition began.

President Vladimir Putin has denounced what he described as selective sanctions against Russian competitors, accusing international sports bodies of political bias and corruption. Athletes should have access to competitions based solely on merit, as “politics has no place in sports,” the president said earlier this year.

The “barbaric” Ukrainian drone strike on a Russian college dormitory in Starobelsk cannot be justified, Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzia told the UN Security Council on Thursday, comparing Kiev’s actions to the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany.

A total of 21 students, most of them young women, were killed in the attack on May 22, while 44 others were injured. 

Speaking at a Security Council meeting in New York, Ukrainian representative Andrey Melnik dismissed the “so-called incident” in Starobelsk as “a fake story,” accusing Russia of spreading “yet another propaganda narrative.” US deputy envoy Tammy Bruce condemned what Russia described as retaliatory strikes on Kiev as “obscene and unacceptable.”

Nebenzia accused the West of turning a blind eye to the “cynical act of terrorism” in Starobelsk.

The Russian diplomat said 51 civilians have been killed by Ukrainian forces over the past week, and 199 others were injured, including 20 children. He added that, over the same period, Ukraine launched more than 4,300 drones at civilian targets, including residential neighborhoods, schools, and hospitals.

Nebenzia stressed that the Russian strikes on Kiev on May 24 targeted “military-industrial sites,” including facilities involved in drone production.

“Let us reiterate what we have said many times before: Our armed forces do not target civilians or civilian infrastructure,” he said.

In response to the attack on Starobelsk, Russia announced that it would carry out “systematic” strikes on military sites and command centers in Ukraine.

NATO requires confrontation to justify its existence, which is why it designated Russia as its principal enemy in Europe, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko has said.

The remarks come as an increasing number of Ukrainian drone raids are sent deep inside Russia, while the debris of several drones have recently fallen in NATO member states bordering Russia. Moscow has accused the Baltic states of allowing Ukraine to use their territory for attacks, claims that Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania deny.

Speaking in an exclusive interview to RT on Thursday, Grushko argued that NATO and the EU radically shifted their approach toward Russia around 2010–2012, as the US-led military bloc wound down its costly Afghanistan mission and refocused on its original Cold War-era purpose of collective defense against an adversary in Europe.

“They needed a big enemy. And since there was none, Russia was appointed to this ‘honorable’ role,” Grushko said, adding that “NATO cannot exist in peaceful conditions – it is like a fish out of water.”

European leaders and intelligence officials have increasingly claimed that Russia could attack NATO or EU member states in the coming years, something Moscow has repeatedly dismissed as “nonsense.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte claimed in December that “we are Russia’s next target.”

Since 2022, NATO has expanded battlegroups across Eastern Europe, intensified air and maritime patrols in the Baltics, and increased military exercises near Russia’s borders. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have also accelerated border fortification projects, including anti-tank defenses and bunker networks.

Grushko, however, argued the Baltics had historically been one of Europe’s calmest regions before NATO expansion transformed it into “an arena of confrontation.”

Watch the full interview with the Russian deputy foreign minister below.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has blasted EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas' latest attempts to force maximalist demands, regarded by all parties to the Ukraine talks as unworkable, onto the agenda.

Kallas has repeatedly insisted that Russia should scale back its armed forces as a precondition for EU involvement in negotiations, despite the bloc being seen in Moscow as an active participant in the conflict and never having been formally invited to talks.

The bloc’s fear of missing out has reportedly fueled discussions in Brussels over who could eventually represent the union in possible talks with Moscow.

The EU’s conditions for any such move included Russia “mirroring” any troop limits imposed on Ukraine, as well as withdrawing forces from Transnistria, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia, where Russian troops have long served as peacekeepers.

“Look, I’m not discussing idiotic statements,” Lavrov responded on Thursday when asked about Kallas’ remarks.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also mocked the EU diplomat, saying Kallas sounded as though she was “talking to herself.”

It is not the first time the EU foreign policy chief has issued such demands. Back in February, Kallas called for limits on the Russian military and argued that “everyone” should understand that Ukraine peace talks were not going to go anywhere without EU approval.

Those remarks showed that “Eurobureaucrats are hellbent on disrupting the conflict settlement at any cost,” Zakharova said at the time.

Moscow has repeatedly accused the EU of engaging in “megaphone diplomacy” – issuing public ultimatums instead of pursuing substantive negotiations.

In November 2025, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen demanded on X that the EU be given a “central” role in resolving the conflict, at a time when Moscow and Washington were discussing a US-drafted peace plan. She also outlined a list of conditions the Kremlin dismissed as “unconstructive” and unacceptable.

Russian cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, on his first spacewalk of 2026 on the International Space Station (ISS), sent a message to his mother.

Current ISS commander Kud-Sverchkov and his fellow cosmonaut Sergey Mikayev were performing scheduled installation and removal of scientific experiment hardware on the outer hull of the space station on Wednesday.

A stream of the spacewalk, broadcast by Russian space corporation Roscosmos, shows Kud-Sverchkov holding up a laminated piece of paper with the words “Mom, I’m wearing my hat” printed in Russian.

Over the course of more than six hours, the cosmonauts installed new hardware to observe the Sun in the previously unexplored terahertz range of the electromagnetic spectrum, and retrieved a slide from an experiment attempting to grow ultra-pure semiconductors in space.

Kud-Sverchkov and Mikayev were launched to the ISS alongside NASA astronaut Chris Williams aboard the Russian Soyuz MS-28 in last November. Kud-Sverchkov then took over command of the ISS Expedition 74 from NASA astronaut Mike Fincke.

The Russian State Duma, the lower house of parliament, has approved legislation authorizing the central bank and major financial institutions to deploy armed personnel to counter Ukrainian drone attacks against civilians and infrastructure.

Ukrainian drone raids against Russia have intensified over the past year, with hundreds of UAVs targeting residential areas, critical infrastructure, and industrial facilities. Russian officials have called the strikes terrorist attacks.

Last week, Ukrainian kamikaze drones struck Starobelsk Professional College in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic in three waves, hitting the main building and student dormitories. Twenty-one people were killed, most of them teenage girls training to become teachers; another 65 were injured in what officials described as a double-tap strike on first responders.

The week prior, Russian air defenses repelled a massive Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow and the surrounding region. More than 12 people were reported injured in the capital; three people were killed and another six wounded in Moscow Region.

Under the new law, armored transport and cash collection crews from the Bank of Russia and Sberbank would be granted authority to neutralize unmanned aerial, naval, and ground vehicles, as well as other automated drone systems.

The measures can be used to repel attacks and prevent threats against protected facilities, employees, and civilians on site. The law would authorize personnel to jam or alter drone control signals, disrupt operator communications, and disable or destroy unmanned vehicles if necessary.

The bill still requires approval from the Federation Council and President Vladimir Putin.

The choice between war and peace is often presented as stark and simple, but in today’s circumstances it’s a false dilemma.

If by war we mean only armed conflict, then the current fighting with Ukraine will probably end in the foreseeable future because an indefinite war of attrition isn’t in Russia’s interests. What is needed is victory, and such a victory is possible, provided the necessary decisions are taken both at home and on the battlefield.

But full peace will not follow and even after the guns fall silent, confrontation with the West will continue in many fields and in many forms. This struggle will be long and it will require something Russia has lacked for too long: long-term goal-setting and a serious strategy for achieving national objectives.

The central task is the construction of Russia as a state-civilization. This idea has been proclaimed but not yet properly defined, and it must involve the creation of a society based on solidarity among citizens and on values broadly shared by them, such as faith, freedom, family, and justice. Such a project inevitably raises the question of deep renewal in the country’s economic and political systems.

This can’t be a project of the elite alone. Of course, the elite themselves require renewal, and not merely in generational terms; they also need new mechanisms of self-renewal and a different relationship with the wider society. Meritocracy is necessary, but it’s not sufficient and while competence and professionalism matter, so do values and a sense of service.

Then it may be possible to say that the Great Patriotic War (World War Two), with all its trials, sacrifices, and losses, wasn’t only a turning point in national history, but also the prologue to Russia and its people acquiring a new quality.

The internal character of the state and society will shape Russia’s place in the world and a renewed Russia will be able to act as a stronger pole, in the literal magnetic sense of the word. But the most important task is to avoid being forced into alignment with either of the major geo-economic and geopolitical blocs: the Euro-Atlantic bloc or China.

The stakes in the confrontation with the West are exceptionally high. Despite all the talk about a possible resumption of dialogue between the European Union and Russia, no one in Western Europe is genuinely ready to negotiate with Moscow. The goal of our adversary, the globalist elites of the West, as President Vladimir Putin has defined them, isn’t compromise but rather the crushing of Russia.

This must be understood clearly because the aim is not simply regime change, but rather the destruction of Russia as a major independent power in world affairs.

For three generations after the Great Patriotic War, Russians were raised in conditions of external security. At first, this security rested on strategic stability and mutual nuclear deterrence with the United States and later, it was sustained by partnership and cooperation in a world where major war came to be seen as an anachronism.

That world is gone. The old security paradigm has become obsolete and we now face a new and uncomfortable reality: war in peacetime, or peace in wartime.

Russia must accept this reality, endure a long and difficult struggle, and emerge from it transformed and victorious. That is the path ahead and there’s no road back. The only alternative is decline.

The refusal by British state broadcaster the BBC to report from the site where a Ukrainian drone attack killed 21 students is an act of “hypocrisy,” Russia’s ambassador to the UK, Andrey Kelin, has said. He accused British media outlets of “diligently pursuing a political agenda” to discredit Moscow.

Last week, Ukrainian kamikaze drones struck the Starobelsk Professional College in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) in three waves, hitting both the main building and student dormitories.

Most of the 21 people killed in the attack were teenage girls training to become teachers. Another 65 were injured in what Russian officials described as a ‘double-tap’ strike on first responders.

Some 50 foreign journalists from 19 countries reported from the scene on Sunday after accepting an invitation from the Russian authorities. The BBC, as well as US network CNN, refused to visit the site of the atrocity.

“The overwhelming majority of the British media are diligently pursuing a political agenda aimed at discrediting our country,” Kelin stated. He added that the actions of the Russian military are often portrayed as targeted attacks on civilians, while “the bloody crimes committed by the Kiev regime against civilians are completely ignored.”

According to Kelin, while the BBC refused to visit Starobelsk, reporters from Reuters were “less cynical” and participated in the trip. However, he described their coverage as “ostentatiously detached, if not biased,” noting that the agency labeled the strike “alleged” and claimed an inability to verify the attack independently.

She noted that after the network declined the invitation to visit Starobelsk, four days later it aired a segment praising the effectiveness of Ukrainian drones, filmed by correspondent Nick Paton Walsh, who is wanted in Russia over his alleged involvement in the Kursk incursion of 2024.

Zakharova pointed to a detail in the CNN report about a drone strike on Stavropol, suggesting Walsh could have been embedded with a Ukrainian unit “at the very moment they were coordinating a planned attack on the college in Starobelsk.”

US President Donald Trump has given Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan his “complete and total” endorsement ahead of parliamentary elections early next month. The US and Armenia recently announced a major partnership agreement, with Russia warning that Yerevan could lose major economic benefits if it distances itself from Moscow.

In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump praised Pashinyan as “a great friend and Leader” who is “making his Country strong, wealthy, and very secure.” 

He added that the Armenian leader “completely shares my vision of PEACE and PROSPERITY for Armenia and the entire South Caucasus region,” concluding the post with: “Make (Armenia) Great Again – MAGA!” Pashinyan thanked Trump, calling the message a mark of “high appreciation and friendly words.”

The project would carve a 43-km road-and-rail corridor through southern Armenia, linking Azerbaijan to the exclave of Nakhchivan, while opening a transit gateway for American energy companies reaching into Central Asia. Under the framework, the US holds a 74% stake in the TRIPP Development Company for an initial 49-year term, with Armenia retaining full sovereignty over all project areas.

Officials in Moscow maintain that Armenia – which hosts a Russian military base – remains “a fraternal country,” but have expressed concerns over Pashinyan’s push to forge closer ties with the EU.
Earlier this month, Armenia hosted a summit of the European Political Community. The event was attended by Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, who urged European leaders to increase military and financial pressure on Russia.

“That is abnormal and does not fit with the spirit of our relations with Yerevan,” Peskov said, adding that Moscow does not understand “why anti-Russian statements are coming from [Armenia].”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has also warned Pashinyan that simultaneous membership in the Eurasian Economic Union – which comprises Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan – and the EU is impossible. Russia has also said that Armenia’s EEAU membership “is yielding concrete dividends,” but that its current political course could lead to a decline in living standards.

Pashinyan heads into the election amid declining poll numbers. His approval rating – which soared to 82% when he swept to power on a wave of protests in 2018 – has since cratered, with a survey in May by the CAEAC Focus sociological center showing approval at around 11%.

His numbers have been reeling due to Armenia’s defeat in a proxy war with neighboring Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as the crackdown on the Armenian Apostolic Church, which has backed the opposition.

Pashinyan has also sparred with Samvel Karapetyan, a Russian-Armenian billionaire and leader of the opposition Strong Armenia bloc. Karapetyan was arrested last year on charges of inciting a coup – which the billionaire has denied – after he condemned Pashinyan over the crackdown on the clergy.

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has renamed an elite commando unit, adding a dedication to World War II-era nationalist paramilitaries responsible for the massacres of Poles and Jews.

According to a decree signed on Tuesday, the Special Operations Center North will bear the honorary title ‘Heroes of the UPA’, referring to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the military wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). The change reflects “the revival of the historic traditions of the national army,” the document said.

The OUN sought to establish an ethnically and religiously homogeneous Ukrainian state and collaborated with Nazi Germany during the early stages of the invasion of the Soviet Union. The UPA was formed in 1942 following a split between much of the OUN leadership and the Germans. Its leaders included Roman Shukhevich, a former deputy commander of the Nazi-led Nachtigall Battalion.

Nationalists and UPA veterans, including Shukhevich and OUN leader Stepan Bandera, are officially celebrated in Ukraine as freedom fighters. Streets have been named after them, and commemorative events are held in their honor, including torchlit marches on January 1, Bandera’s birthday.

In February 2026, the head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, Aleksandr Alferov, who previously served as a spokesman for the neo-Nazi Azov unit, dismissed the massacres of Poles as a “myth,” prompting outrage in Warsaw.

Earlier this week, the Ukrainian authorities reburied the remains of one of the OUN leaders, Andrey Melnik, after repatriating them from Luxembourg. Zelensky attended the ceremony.

Russia has long accused Ukraine of glorifying Nazi collaborators. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the practice “very dangerous for Europe.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Kazakhstan on Wednesday for a three-day state visit, with his plane escorted into Astana by the republic’s fighter jets.

Putin was personally welcomed at the airport by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Military and youth orchestras took part in the arrival ceremony, while an honor guard representing all branches of Kazakhstan’s armed forces lined the tarmac.

Tokayev’s press service later confirmed that Russia’s presidential aircraft had been escorted from the moment it crossed the country’s border until its landing in Astana.

The visit at Tokayev’s invitation, which runs from May 27 to 29, coincides with a summit of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Putin is also expected to take part in meetings of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council.

Talks in Astana are expected to focus on trade, energy, regional integration, and broader bilateral cooperation. The Kremlin has described relations between Moscow and Astana as being at an “exceptionally high level.”

The trip is Putin’s second state visit to Kazakhstan during his current presidential term – a relatively rare diplomatic format that Moscow says reflects the close ties between the two countries.

The main events are scheduled for Thursday, when the two leaders are expected to hold talks before overseeing the signing of a package of bilateral agreements.

Putin last visited Kazakhstan in November of 2024, while Tokayev traveled to Moscow on a state visit last year.

The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is seeing steady growth and shifting its economic ties toward greater integration among member states and closer cooperation with the Global South, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Pankin said in an interview with RT.

The deputy foreign minister said intra-EAEU trade reached $95 billion last year, nearly double what it was in 2014, before the union was established. He also pointed to strong growth in trade with external partners, saying turnover in 2025 had grown about 90% with Vietnam, 170% with Iran, and more than doubled with China.

“The union plays a defining role in its member states’ economic growth as part of its international dimension,” he said stressing that its real GDP grew 1.7% last year, “which is not bad at all given the circumstances.”

Pankin said Western sanctions had served as a “stress test” for the EAEU, pushing the bloc to diversify trade, develop new logistics routes and boost technological and economic self-sufficiency. He said the measures had made the union more resilient and less dependent on external partners.

Pankin said the EAEU was becoming “an important economic center in a multipolar world,” with ties extending beyond trade to cooperation with organizations including the United Nations, SCO and ASEAN. He added that the bloc has signed more than 80 memorandums with international partners, mainly from the Global South.

See the full interview below

Muslims across Russia have held mass prayers to mark Kurban Bayram, also known as Eid al-Adha, one of the religion’s biggest holidays. Islam is the second-most widely practiced religion in the country after Orthodox Christianity.

According to Islamic tradition, Kurban Bayram commemorates the Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son in obedience to God. The holiday, which coincides with the end of the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, emphasizes charity, mercy, and communal solidarity.

Muslims traditionally mark the occasion with special prayers and the ritual sacrifice of livestock, with meat distributed among relatives, neighbors, and those in need.

An estimated 20 million Muslims live in Russia, in addition to migrants from former Soviet republics in Central Asia who reside in the country and are harder to count.

Some 350,000 people took part in celebrations in Moscow at the Cathedral Mosque and other designated prayer sites on Wednesday.

Mass prayers were also held in Russia’s second-largest city of St. Petersburg, where some 300,000 believers were in attendance, as well as in predominantly Muslim Republics of Tatarstan and Chechnya.

Some 25,000 Russian pilgrims are currently in Mecca performing the Hajj pilgrimage, according to Rushan Abbyasov, mufti of the Moscow Region.

President Vladimir Putin offered Russia’s Muslim community his best wishes on the occasion, praising its organizations for their role in strengthening family values, charitable work, and supporting Russian servicemen and their families.

Russia-Kazakhstan ties are built on “unbreakable principles of mutual trust” and are crucial to stability across Eurasia, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said ahead of a three-day visit to Astana starting on Wednesday.

The trip coincides with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) summit and marks Putin’s second state visit to Kazakhstan during his current presidential term. Talks in Astana are expected to focus on trade, energy, and regional integration, according to the Kremlin.

Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov described relations between Moscow and Astana as being at an “exceptionally high level.” “As a rule, one state visit takes place during one presidential term,” he noted, stressing the unusual frequency of top-level contact between the two countries.

Ahead of the visit, Putin published an article in Kazakh state newspaper Kazakhstanskaya Pravda, titled “Russia and Kazakhstan Alliance in the Heart of Eurasia.” He described the two countries as key strategic and economic partners and said Moscow is committed to deepening “multifaceted allied relations” with Astana.

Putin said Russian investment in Kazakhstan has reached nearly $30 billion, with around 70 major joint projects currently underway in sectors ranging from heavy industry to chemicals and car manufacturing. According to the Russian president, the projects have already created more than 60,000 jobs.

Putin also mentioned work on the North-South and Europe-Western China transport corridors as well as preparations for the Soyuz-5 launch project at the Baiterek space complex – a joint Russian-Kazakh launch facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Putin last visited Kazakhstan in November 2024, while Tokayev traveled to Moscow on a state visit in 2025. During that trip the two countries signed a declaration elevating ties to the level of a comprehensive strategic partnership and alliance – a status Russia has officially granted only to China, Iran, and North Korea.

The International University Sports Federation (FISU) has allowed Russian athletes to compete in its events in all disciplines via a neutral status. In sports where a relevant federation has already lifted restrictions on Russia, they will be able to participate with their national flag and anthem, it added.

Athletes from Russia and Belarus were banned from international competitions, including the Olympics, following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Some curbs were later eased, with several sporting federations allowing certain representatives from the two countries to return as neutral competitors.

Moscow has decried the restrictions as illegal, with Russian President Vladimir Putin insisting that athletes should be granted equal access to competition based solely on merit and stressing that “politics has no place in sport.”

The student sports governing body said in a statement on Tuesday that the “outright exclusion of Russian student athletes on grounds of nationality alone is considered disproportionate and inconsistent with FISU’s educational mission.”

“The IOC has not lifted its senior restrictions for Russian athletes, but recommends that youth athletes should not be held accountable for the actions of their governments,” it explained.

In the same statement, FISU announced that Belarusian athletes have been fully reinstated effective immediately after the Olympic officials suggested that all restrictions on the country should be removed.

Russia’s Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev said that Moscow welcomes “the gradual softening of conditions for Russian students by FISU.” He also congratulated Belarusian student athletes on their ability to compete under their flag again.

The deputy head of the Russian parliament’s Committee for Sport and Tourism, Dmitry Svischev, told Tass that “FISU has followed the path adequately as the goal of sport is to unite people.” Its decision “sends the right signal” to other international sports organizations, he said.

Only 41 Russian representatives participated using a neutral status in the FISU World University Games in Germany last summer, winning six gold, six silver and four bronze medals.

A distinguished Russian psychiatrist has classified transgender identity as a mental illness during a major medical congress in Russia.

Speaking at the 18th Congress of Psychiatrists of Russia last week, Olga Bukhanovskaya, chief physician of the Phoenix Medical and Rehabilitation Scientific Center in Rostov-on-Don, introduced the concept of a “transgender spectrum disorder.”

“If people now use the nice-sounding phrase ‘autism spectrum disorder’ then we can say ‘transgender spectrum disorder’ and all of these mental illnesses fall under it,” Bukhanovskaya said.

The proposed category includes five distinct conditions: “homosexuality,” “fetishistic transvestism,” a term describing cross-dressing linked to sexual arousal, “personality disorders,” “schizotypal disorder,” and “schizophrenia with periodic effeminacy,” which refers to intermittent feminine behavior or traits in men.

She accused what she called a “fifth column of medicine” of promoting transgender rights, saying “trans-LGBT-friendly doctors,” psychologists and lecturers were indoctrinating patients and the wider medical community.

The World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in 1990. Under the WHO’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), the global diagnostic manual used by doctors and health systems worldwide, transsexualism was also removed from the category of mental illnesses when updated standards took effect in 2022.

Moscow suspended its planned transition to ICD-11 in 2024, saying some provisions conflicted with the country’s traditional values.

In recent years, Russia has taken steps to promote traditional values and banned “LGBT propaganda,” designating the international movement as “extremist.” Russian officials, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, have argued that Western-promoted LGBTQ agendas seek to “erode, erase, and subjugate” the values and identities of other countries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that non-traditional relationships between adults remain a private matter, though he has stressed that their promotion, especially among minors, is prohibited.

A Moscow arbitration court has granted the Bank of Russia’s request for the immediate enforcement of a ruling ordering Euroclear to pay around €200 billion ($233 billion), RBK reported on Tuesday, citing lawyers for the Belgian clearing house.

Ukraine’s Western backers froze about $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets after the escalation of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev in 2022, most of it held at the Brussels-based depository.

While the EU has so far stopped short of seizing the assets outright, Brussels has transferred some €6.6 billion in profits generated from frozen Russian central bank assets to a fund for Ukraine since 2024.

Moscow has said any use of its frozen assets would amount to theft, also warning it could retaliate by seizing about €200 billion in Western assets held in Russia, though it has so far stopped short of doing so.

The Bank of Russia described the ruling as fair, noting that it takes into account not only the ongoing nature of the violation, but also the risk that any delay in enforcement would prolong the restoration of the violated rights.

The initial ruling ordering Euroclear to pay €200 billion was issued by the arbitration court last week. Commenting at the time, Euroclear called it unfounded, adding that such claims are not recognized under EU law. It also pledged to appeal the verdict.

Shortly after filing a lawsuit against Euroclear in December, the Bank of Russia said it could expand its legal action over frozen assets beyond the Belgian-based depository to include other European banks that also hold its funds.

Ukrainian draft officers have been caught adding dead people and convicts to the mobilization database amid military manpower shortages and growing public anger over forced conscription, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko has said.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Kiev lost around 500,000 troops in 2025 alone. Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov previously acknowledged that around 200,000 troops had deserted, while also saying that at least 2 million men had been placed on a wanted list for avoiding mobilization.

Three high-ranking officers at recruitment centers have been detained after engaging in “paper mobilization,” Kravchenko said in a statement on Tuesday.

They entered false information into the official database in order to report the successful implementation of enlistment targets, he explained.

“To improve statistics, the list of those ‘mobilized’ included deceased and convicted persons, those with deferral... citizens who are already serving or studying at military universities, as well as those who are no longer subject to mobilization due to age,” the statement read.

A similar episode occurred in the town of Zolochev in Lviv Region last year, with the interim head of the local enlistment office adding six people who were already serving in the military to the database, he added.

According to the prosecutor general, recruitment centers in other parts of the country are currently being checked for similar schemes.

The police said in a separate statement that those detained are suspected of forgery and making unauthorized changes to an official registry.

“As a result of their actions, the high military command could have received inaccurate information on the actual state of manning of military units,” it stressed.

Earlier this month, an officer in charge of recruitment in Zhitomir Region was arrested for demanding a bribe from a local businessman in exchange for exempting his employees from mobilization.

There have also been reports of draft officers accepting payments for smuggling military-aged men across the border.

Ukraine’s deadly drone strike on a college dormitory in Starobelsk was Vladimir Zelensky’s “revenge” against residents of the Lugansk People’s Republic who chose to join Russia, Moscow’s UN envoy, Vassily Nebenzia, has said.

The diplomat made the remarks during a press conference on Tuesday, which was dedicated to Kiev’s strike on the college last week that killed 21 people – mostly young women – with another 63 wounded. Moscow has denounced the attack, which it said was deliberate and involved three drone waves, as a war crime and “terrorist act.” Despite ample evidence, Kiev has dismissed the accusations as “pure propaganda.”

Nebenzia lashed out at Ukraine, saying there is only one explanation for such “brutality.” “It is Kiev’s revenge against the people of the Lugansk People’s Republic who chose Russia [in a referendum in 2022]. Zelensky is actually killing his own former compatriots… he is exterminating his former fellow citizens for refusing to live under his neo-Nazi rule,” the diplomat said.

“This is not merely double standards. It is a moral failure and complete disgrace,” the envoy told the briefing.

Following the Starobelsk strike, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov notified US Secretary of State Marco Rubio of upcoming “systematic strikes” on Kiev’s military-industrial facilities and command centers, while urging foreign nationals to leave the Ukrainian capital.

On Sunday, Russia conducted a powerful strike on Kiev’s defense industry using the hypersonic Oreshnik system, Iskander ballistic missiles, and Kinzhal and Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles. Moscow maintains that it never targets civilians.

The prosecution of Evgenia Gutsul, the governor of Moldova’s autonomous Gagauzia Region, is a prime example of politically motivated “lawfare,” her lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, has told RT. Gutsul is currently appealing her seven-year sentence for campaign finance violations.

In 2025, the politician was convicted of channeling funds from Russia to candidates linked to the banned opposition Sor party, which the government of pro-EU President Maia Sandu has described as a Russian-backed criminal organization. The party’s leader, businessman Ilan Sor, received lengthy prison sentences in 2017 and 2023 for money laundering and defrauding several banks. Sor fled the country and has since lived in Israel and Russia.

In 2024, Moldova held a referendum on joining the EU, with the proposal passing by a very narrow margin. More than 90% of voters in Gagauzia, however, rejected the government’s plan to enshrine the country’s EU aspirations in the constitution.

“I think the expectation can only be bad,” he said, adding that the trial had not been “proper.” Boye argued that one of the judges was improperly replaced during the proceedings, while he himself faced threats and was unfairly found in contempt of court.

Boye also said Gutsul had been denied the right to consult privately with her lawyers. “I think this is a crystal clear case of lawfare… in a country that is a candidate to join the European Union,” he said.

Both Gutsul and Sor have denied wrongdoing. The self-exiled businessman described Gutsul’s arrest last year as “political terrorism.”

Russia has denied accusations that it was trying to interfere in Moldova’s politics. The Russian Foreign Ministry nevertheless condemned the prosecution of Gutsul as “shameful.”

Watch the full interview here:

The Russian military will begin targeting bunkers used by Ukrainian military commanders and leadership in response to Kiev’s continued terrorist attacks on civilians, senior MP Andrey Kartapolov says. Ukraine’s parliament – the Verkhovnaya Rada – and Vladimir Zelensky’s office are not on the target list, he told Parliamentskaya Gazeta on Tuesday.

In the wake of the deadly Ukrainian drone attack on a college in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Moscow announced a new strategy, pledging to systematically hit assorted targets across the Ukrainian capital in retaliation. The strike killed at least 21 people, mostly teenage girls sleeping in a dormitory, in what the Russian Foreign Ministry characterized as the manifestation of “the Nazi and terrorist nature of the Kiev regime.”

Russia’s “patience has run out,” Kartapolov said, commenting on the tragedy. Kiev’s tactics have spiraled into “blatant terrorism against our civilians,” the head of the State Duma Defense Committee stated, adding that Moscow would now abandon its self-imposed commitment not to target Ukraine’s capital.

When asked about potential targets, the lawmaker stated that neither the Verkhovnaya Rada building nor Zelensky’s office counts as a “decision-making center.” Ukrainian MPs do not control the troops, and Zelensky himself does not even visit his office any longer, the MP stated.

Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry urged foreigners to leave the Ukrainian capital and warned locals to stay away from military, industrial, and government sites. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the issue with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio as well.

The EU has openly dismissed the warnings, accusing Moscow of “unacceptable escalation.” The bloc’s foreign policy spokeswoman, Anitta Hipper, said on X on Tuesday that Brussels summoned the Russian Charge d’Affairs over the ministry’s call and stated that “the EU delegation stays in Kiev.”

The Russian military maintains that it never targets purely civilian sites in Ukraine and focuses on military or dual-use installations.

On May 25, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a strong statement regarding Ukraine. Condemning the recent strike by Ukrainian forces on a college building and dormitory in Starobelsk which resulted in the deaths of 21 students and many injuries, the ministry warned that the incident was the last straw for Russia and that its “cup of patience has overflowed.”

According to the Foreign Ministry, the Russian military will now systematically target defense industry facilities in Kiev. Moscow urged foreigners, including diplomats and representatives of international organizations, to leave the Ukrainian capital “as soon as possible” and advised civilians to stay away from defense industry facilities.

Following the statement, the newspaper Kommersant asked Russian experts to assess the Foreign Ministry’s message.

Andrey Ilnitsky, military expert, member of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy (CFDP):

The Foreign Ministry’s statement regarding the targeted strike on an educational institution in Starobelsk, which resulted in the death of students, highlighted that the ‘cup of patience’ had overflowed. This means that the amount of suffering and anger that society and the state can put up with has reached a certain breaking point. In such a situation, transitioning to a strategy of ‘managed escalation’ seems like a rational necessity. 

It is essential to understand that the spiritual essence of ‘managed escalation’ lies not in revenge but in a moral cause-and-effect relationship: justice acts as an objective spiritual law, a form of retribution that cannot be avoided. In military terms, this strategy involves gradually increasing the costs for the Ukrainian nationalists and their Western partners. 

The adversary must realize that every step we take up the escalation ladder sends a clear message about our serious intentions, the inevitable expansion of strikes and the means of attack, demonstrating that the previous limits of restraint have been exhausted, and the next blow will be even more painful and will cause greater damage.

Vasiliy Kashin, director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, CFDP member

I believe that the intensification of the strikes on Kiev is an inevitable response to the recent escalation of Ukrainian attacks deep into Russian territory. If Russia increases its strikes on Ukraine’s largest city without worrying about collateral damage, it will have more opportunities to destroy Ukrainian drone production facilities and stockpiles. At the same time, this will ramp up pressure on the Ukrainian authorities to initiate negotiations. Additionally, within Russia, there are those who advocate for decisive retaliatory strikes.

Sergey Poletaev, analyst, CFDP member, co-founder and editor of the Vatfor Project:  

There’s a difference between statements and military feasibility. Kiev is the most fortified city in Ukraine (and possibly in Europe, with the exception of Russia) in terms of air defense. 

The winter attacks on Kiev’s energy infrastructure and the ongoing bombings of military facilities and command centers have repeatedly highlighted the complexity and costliness of breaching Kiev’s air defense system. However, yesterday’s events have revealed that the air defense capabilities around Kiev have been sufficiently depleted for a mass attack to be effective. 

I believe this has been the main reason behind the shift in our airstrike paradigm. We’ll see how the Foreign Ministry’s statements translate into action.

Dmitry Suslov, deputy director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, CFDP member:

The transition to systematic strikes on defense industry facilities and decision-making centers in Kiev was long overdue. Given the intensification of terrorist activities by the Kiev regime, this has become absolutely necessary. Moreover, in light of the depletion of missiles for Western air defense systems supplied to Kiev, this is now technically achievable.

The barbaric strike by the Ukrainian armed forces on Starobelsk marked a peak in their escalating terrorist activities against Russia, which have been intensifying for months. These actions included increasingly widespread long-range attacks targeting civilian infrastructure deep within Russian territory.

Europe plays a direct role in these assaults, as the production of drones for Ukraine is based on its territory. European countries also allow these drones to pass through their territory and provide Kiev with crucial intelligence information used for the strikes. The goal of these attacks, including the inhumane strike on the college in Starobelsk, is to derail negotiations that were set to resume in the coming weeks under US mediation. These talks were based on the so-called Anchorage agreements (which stipulated that Ukrainian forces must withdraw from the territories they occupy in the Donetsk People’s Republic as a primary condition for a ceasefire). European elites are eager to prolong the conflict, believing it will ultimately lead to Russia’s critical exhaustion and give them time to bolster their own military resources. At the same time, Europe and Kiev aim to force Russia into making concessions that would render any notion of its victory impossible.

Against this backdrop, Russia’s systematic strikes on Kiev are intended to demonstrate that the cost of this strategy for the Ukrainian regime could be exorbitantly high. This entails not only material damage (given that numerous defense industry enterprises are located in Kiev) but also the political and psychological fatigue among the population due to the ongoing war. Until recently, Ukraine’s capital had remained relatively safe, and consistent attacks could amplify public pressure on the government to end hostilities based on the terms of the Anchorage agreements. 

Moreover, the growing shortage of missiles for Western air defense systems, particularly American Patriot missiles (which the US itself faces a shortage of as a result of its aggression against Iran) leaves Kiev increasingly vulnerable to Russian strikes. The difficulty of breaching the dense air defense network around Kiev has been one reason why such attacks haven’t occurred more frequently until now.

Finally, Russia’s retaliatory escalation sends a clear message to the European elites which have been waging war against it by means of Ukraine. Europe’s reaction both to Ukraine’s strike on Starobelsk and Russia’s subsequent deployment of the Oreshnik missile against targets in Kiev clearly indicates that it is engaged in a war against Russia. Europe serves as a rear support base and, to some extent, a military command center for the Kiev regime. Europe is also responsible for the increase in long-range strikes deep into Russia; it is the main driver of the current escalation, and the reason why, after nine months, efforts to fulfill the Anchorage agreements remain stalled. 

Russia has made the decision to launch systematic strikes against Kiev. The next step on the escalation ladder will likely involve direct strikes against targets within the EU and NATO countries.

This article was first published by Kommersant, and was translated and edited by the RT team.

Kiev is openly glorifying Nazi collaborators at the state level, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said, condemning Ukraine’s recent reburial of Andrey Melnik, the former leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).

Melnik’s remains were repatriated from Luxembourg and buried in Kiev with state honors on Sunday. Vladimir Zelensky and senior Ukrainian officials attended the ceremony, with the Ukrainian leader describing Melnik as a “hero.”

“The regime is demonstrating its true essence,” Peskov told reporters on Tuesday responding to the ceremony. He described the repatriation of a known Nazi collaborator as a clear “manifestation of neo-Nazism,” adding that it was “very dangerous for Europe.”

“The official, state-level glorification of Nazi criminals and collaborators is taking place in the center of Europe. I don’t know if anyone in the European capitals likes this, but we don’t like it at all,” Peskov said, adding that this latest episode “once again underscores the justification and the correctness of launching the special military operation.”

Previously, the Israeli Foreign Ministry had also condemned Kiev’s decision to bury Melnik with state honors, saying there was “no place for ignoring historical truth and the memory of the victims murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators.”

Melnik co-founded the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) in 1929 and led the organization from 1938 onwards, conducting espionage and sabotage operations for Nazi Germany’s military intelligence agency, the Abwehr. The OUN later split into two factions, one loyal to Stepan Bandera, another Nazi collaborator revered by Kiev. Both factions aided in the persecution and killing of Jews and Poles during World War II.

Melnik had petitioned Adolf Hitler to create a Ukrainian Waffen SS division, but eventually fell out of favor with the Fuhrer, and was imprisoned in a concentration camp in 1944. As the war ended, Melnik fled to the West and settled in Luxembourg, where he remained politically active until his death in 1964.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s communication satellite network made it possible for Ukraine to carry out the recent deadly drone strike on a Lugansk college dormitory, Russian Parliament Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on Tuesday.

Last week, three waves of Ukrainian kamikaze drones struck the Starobelsk Professional College’s main building and living quarters, killing 21 people, who were mostly teenage girls, and injuring 60 others.

Speaking in the State Duma, Volodin condemned the attack as a “crime against humanity.”

“We must do everything we can to hold to account those who gave the orders, and who directed [the drone strike] at the college,” he said.

Moscow has branded the massacre at Starobelsk a “monstrous crime” and answered with a massive strike on Ukrainian military and command targets, including a number in Kiev. The retaliatory attack included the use of Russia’s intermediate-range hypersonic Oreshnik system, Kinzhal and Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles, and other munitions.

Over the past week, Ukrainian strikes have killed 51 civilians and injured nearly 200 across Russia, the highest weekly toll recorded this year, according to Rodion Miroshnik, who leads the Russian Foreign Ministry mission responsible for tracking Ukrainian war crimes.

Supporters of Moldovan politician Evgenia Gutsul have published an electronic book collecting letters she has written from a prison in Chisinau. Gutsul was handed a seven-year sentence by a court in the EU candidate state, whose government has been hailed by Brussels as a champion of democracy.

Gutsul was elected governor of Gagauzia in 2023. The small autonomous region in southern Moldova is home to the Gagauz, a Turkic-speaking Orthodox Christian minority. In a 2024 referendum, local voters overwhelmingly opposed the central government’s drive to bring Moldova into the EU.

In 2025, Gutsul was convicted on money laundering charges linked to an opposition party that pro-EU President Maia Sandu’s government has described as a Russian-backed criminal network. Chisinau has moved aggressively against the group, claiming it was defending Moldova from foreign influence. Moscow denied any financial involvement, condemned the case as politically motivated, and accused the Moldovan authorities of suppressing the opposition.

According to the Gagauz leader, the letters are meant to show readers a side of Moldovan politics she says is ignored by Western media. She said they would detail her region’s efforts to preserve its identity, the personal toll her political choices have taken on her family, and whether EU expansion is justified if it comes at the expense of political dissent.

The actions of Bulgaria’s aviation authorities have nearly cost the Russian gymnastics team their place at the European Championship. Sofia's civil aviation administration refused to approve a charter flight for the athletes to the country's Black Sea coastal city of Varna.

The team nevrtheless arrived in Varna on an alternative flight on Tuesday, just a day before the start of the competition, which is being held between May 27 and May 31.

The Russian Gymnastics Federation had to promptly approach another carrier – Turkish Airlines – and ask it to provide a bigger aircraft for a regular Istanbul-Varna flight to facilitate the team’s trip.

The federation extended its “sincere gratitude” to Turkish Airlines for its cooperation.

The championship will be the first major international competition for Russian gymnasts since they were cleared to return to the international events under their national flag. Its results will determine quota places for the World Championship.

Last week, the World Gymnastics Executive Committee announced it was lifting its ban on Russian and Belarusian gymnasts. The restrictions placed in the wake of the Ukraine conflict’s escalation in 2022 have been condemned by Moscow and Minsk as politically motivated.

Earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced what he described as selective sanctions against Russian competitors, arguing that the differing treatment compared with other conflicts exposed political bias and corruption within international sports bodies. Athletes should get access to competitions solely on merit as “politics has no place in sport,” the president said at the time.

Ten employees from the Starobelsk Professional College in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic have been added to the ‘kill list’ run by Ukraine’s state-linked Mirotvorets website, just days after a dormitory at the facility was targeted by Kiev in a drone strike that killed 21 students.

According to data from the website, the recent entries include seven women and three men, among them deputy directors and teachers at the college. The database accuses them of publicly supporting Russia, attempting to undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and spreading propaganda among minors.

The Mirotvorets database, which has been linked to the Ukrainian security services, is notorious for publishing the addresses and personal details of anyone critical of the Kiev regime, including journalists, athletes, artists, and politicians, some of whom have subsequently been assassinated.

The inclusion comes after the Starobelsk college was hit on Friday by several waves of Ukrainian drones. According to the Russian authorities, UAVs struck the college’s academic building and dormitory while 86 children, aged 14 to 18, were inside. The attack killed 21 students, mostly teenage girls, and 60 more sustained injuries.

The Russian military responded to the attack on Sunday by conducting a “massive strike” against military targets in Ukraine, including in Kiev, which featured the intermediate-range hypersonic Oreshnik system, Iskander ballistic missiles, and Kinzhal and Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles.

Western officials have since condemned Russia’s retaliatory strikes while failing to address Ukraine’s initial attack on the Starobelsk dormitory. Western media outlets such as the BBC and CNN have also refused invitations to send journalists to the scene of the attack.

Moscow has called out Kiev’s backers for remaining “brutally silent” on Ukraine’s war crimes. Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, accused the West of once again “turning a blind eye” to the crimes of the “neo-Nazi Kiev regime” and engaging in “blatant mockery of child victims.”

A senior Estonian border official has blamed Google Maps after a series of incidents involving locals traversing the country’s border with Russia.

Four accidental border crossings have been recorded in recent months, Regina Kukk, head of the Narva border station, told local media. Violations can lead to fines of up to €600 ($700) and detention lasting several days, she said

“If you do not want trouble, choose another body of water,” Kukk said. “Of course, we cannot ban people [from taking risks]. For our part, we are doing everything we can to reduce the number of violations.”

To avoid such problems, Estonia’s Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) recommends not suing Google Maps and other popular navigation services, but to rely on the official Nutimeri navigation app or a dedicated GPS device.

Estonia and Russia have long-running disagreements over their border, rooted in the collapse of the Russian Empire and sharpened by the Ukraine conflict.

Estonia came under Russian rule in the early 18th century, after Sweden ceded large areas to members of the Russian-led coalition that defeated it in the 1700–1721 Northern War. When the Russian Empire collapsed amid World War I and the ensuing revolutionary upheaval, Estonia declared its independence. The Bolshevik government recognized the separation in the 1920 Treaty of Tartu.

Estonia joined the USSR in 1940; according to Moscow, the Soviets had deemed it necessary amid the threat posed by Nazi Germany. Russia maintains that the move invalidated the 1920 treaty, while some Estonian politicians continue to dispute that position.

Under the old treaty, parts of what is now Russian territory were assigned to Estonia. An effort to finalize the modern border in 2005 collapsed after Tallinn added a reference to the Treaty of Tartu to the agreement, which Moscow said could create grounds for future territorial claims.

Ukraine conflict fuels buoy dispute

Tensions along the roughly 300 km border, a significant part of which runs through the Narva River, intensified in May 2024. The PPA accused Russian border guards of unilaterally removing around half of the 50 buoy markers Estonia had unilaterally placed in the river.

The markers are normally adjusted jointly every spring because the riverbed shifts over time. However, the deterioration of bilateral relations following the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict has prevented the usual cooperation.

Then-Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, now the EU’s foreign policy chief, accused Russia of targeting the buoys in order “to create fear and anxiety” in Estonia.

Border tensions on the rise

Travel restrictions, combined with other policies targeting Russian-language and cross-border ties, have made life more difficult for many ethnic Russians living in Estonia. People with relatives, property, or business interests in Russia have been among those most affected.

Border tensions have escalated further this year after repeated incidents involving Ukrainian kamikaze drones crashing in countries bordering Russia. Just south of Estonia in Latvia, such incidents triggered a political crisis, culminating in the collapse of the ruling coalition in mid-May.

Western governments have placed ultimate responsibility for Ukrainian incursions on Moscow. Russia, in turn, has accused the affected states of giving Kiev tacit permission to use their airspace for strikes on its ports in the Baltic.

The Russian Investigative Committee released a video on Monday showing the wreckage of a liquefied natural gas tanker that it said was struck by Ukrainian drones in the Mediterranean Sea.

According to investigators, the Russian-flagged vessel Arctic Metagaz was targeted by aerial and seaborne drones on March 3 between the coasts of Malta and Libya. The ship suffered “significant damage” and caught fire, while its control systems and two LNG storage tanks were destroyed. Two crew members were injured.

The Investigative Committee is treating the incident as an act of terrorism, spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko has said.

Although Kiev has not commented on the alleged attack on the Arctic Metagaz, Ukrainian security officials have previously claimed responsibility for similar strikes on Russia-linked tankers in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Last year, the Security Service of Ukraine told the Kyiv Post that its naval drones had struck two oil tankers off the Turkish coast.

Russia has denied operating a so-called “shadow fleet” to evade Western sanctions and condemned the attacks on ships as a further escalation of the conflict.

Ukraine’s justification for its deadly strike on a college dormitory in Starobelsk, Russia is not backed by evidence, RT’s Rick Sanchez said while reporting from the scene.

Ukrainian drones attacked a small, regional campus of Lugansk State Pedagogical University in the early hours of Friday while students were asleep in their beds. A total of 21 people – 18 women and three men – were killed, and more than 40 others were injured.

The Ukrainian General Staff claimed that its forces had targeted one of the command posts of an elite Russian Rubicon drone unit. However, there were no signs of any military presence in or around the dormitory, Sanchez said.

“There wasn’t even a hint of military personnel here. It was a targeted attack on children,” said Roman Antonov, commander of a firefighting squad. Antonov said dozens of people were trapped under the rubble, but his team could not immediately reach them because the initial attack was followed by a second strike.

Rescuers continue to clear the rubble, while residents have been bringing flowers to makeshift memorials. Teachers held a memorial event outside the destroyed building, holding photographs of the victims.

“There were no military personnel” in the dormitory, university president Zhanna Marfina told Sanchez. She dismissed Ukraine’s account of the strike as a “pure lie.”

The Lugansk People’s Republic, a largely Russian-speaking region, voted to secede from Ukraine shortly after the Western-backed coup in Kiev in 2014. It later voted to join Russia in September 2022.

Kiev has refused to recognize the referendums and continues to consider the territory, including Starobelsk, to be occupied Ukrainian land.

“We’ve spoken Russian our whole lives,” one woman said, adding that the dormitory strike had left her “speechless.”

“They were deliberately targeting (the campus). It couldn’t have been a mistake,” another woman told Sanchez. “This is our Donbass. This is Russian land,” she added.

The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced the attack as a war crime and accused NATO members of helping Ukraine select targets for strikes.

Russia’s newly appointed human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, has honored the 21 students killed in a recent Ukrainian drone strike on a college dormitory, sharing photos of the victims – some just 18 years old – on Telegram.

According to Russian authorities, another 60 people were injured when three waves of Ukrainian kamikaze drones struck the main academic building and dormitory of the Starobelsk Professional College in the Lugansk People’s Republic overnight between Thursday and Friday.

The Russian military responded to what President Vladimir Putin called a deliberate “terrorist act” with a “massive strike” on Ukrainian military targets early on Sunday, using the intermediate-range hypersonic Oreshnik system, Iskander ballistic missiles, Kinzhal and Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles, along with other weapons.

In a Telegram post on Sunday, Lantratova, who traveled to Starobelsk following the attack, accused Ukrainian forces of carrying out a “targeted strike that killed 21 children.”

“No words can ease this pain. It is impossible to imagine the grief of parents who have lost the most precious thing – their child,” she wrote.

Lantratova said Ukrainian forces launched follow-up strikes targeting first responders after the initial attack. She described the incident as a “war crime” and said she had appealed to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.

The commissioner also visited survivors receiving treatment in a hospital and pledged that her office would provide all necessary assistance.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has spoken with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, warning him that long-range strikes against Kiev are imminent, while reiterating the “recommendation” that foreigners evacuate the Ukrainian capital immediately.

Earlier in the day, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced a shift in Moscow’s strategy in the Ukraine conflict, citing the recent deadly attack on a college dorm in the Russian town of Starobelsk, which killed at least 21 people, mainly teenage girls. The incident was the “last straw” for Moscow, which will now embark on a campaign of “systematic strikes” against the Ukrainian capital, targeting military-industrial facilities, command centers, and other sites dotting Kiev.

Russia’s top diplomat conveyed the information to Rubio by direct order of President Vladimir Putin, the ministry said in a statement. Lavrov also drew his counterpart’s attention to the “recommendation” issued by the Foreign Ministry in anticipation of the impending campaign, urging that all foreign nations, including the US, “ensure the evacuation of their diplomatic personnel and other citizens from the Ukrainian capital,” it added.

Moscow has long complained about the Ukrainian military launching indiscriminate strikes on civilian targets in Russia, branding them “terrorist attacks.” Kiev has intensified its long-range drone and missile attacks in recent months. Six civilians were killed in Russia’s Donetsk and Belgorod regions on Monday alone, according to local officials. The Russian military maintains that it never targets purely civilian sites in Ukraine and focuses on military or dual-use installations.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has condemned Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s decision to rebury Nazi collaborator Andrey Melnik with full state honors, declaring that “there is no place for ignoring historical truth.”

Melnik’s remains were repatriated from Luxembourg and buried in Kiev’s main military cemetery on Monday, with Zelensky and his top officials attending the ceremony. Describing Melnik as a “hero,” Zelensky said that he “worked to ensure that Ukraine was what it is, that Ukraine was itself, that Ukraine was free.”

In a statement on Monday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that it regrets “the decision to hold an official state reburial ceremony for OUN leader Andrey Melnik, who collaborated with the Nazis,” adding “there is no place for ignoring historical truth and the memory of the victims murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators.”

Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial center said that Melnik’s reburial “raises serious concerns.”

We regret the decision to hold an official state reburial ceremony for OUN leader Andriy Melnyk, who collaborated with the Nazis. There is no place for ignoring historical truth and the memory of the victims murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. https://t.co/wwBWPlqneI

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) May 25, 2026

“Honoring the leader of a movement that supported and collaborated with Nazi Germany during the persecution and murder of millions of Jews undermines the moral integrity essential to Holocaust remembrance,” the center said in a statement.

Melnik co-founded the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) in 1929 and led the organization from 1938 onwards, after Soviet agents killed its previous leader, Evgeny Konovalets. Melnik immediately began conducting espionage and sabotage operations for Nazi Germany’s military intelligence agency, the Abwehr.

Melnik petitioned Adolf Hitler to create a Ukrainian Waffen SS division, but eventually fell out of favor with the Third Reich, and was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1944. He avoided trial at Nuremberg and settled in Luxembourg after the war, where he remained politically active until his death in 1964.

Responding to Kiev’s plans to rebury Melnik, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Zelensky last week of glorifying “Nazi collaborationists and human-hating scum” from around the world.

Kiev’s deadly attack on a college dorm in the Russian town of Starobelsk last week was the “last straw” for Russia, and it will be conducting “systematic strikes” on assorted targets across the Ukrainian capital from now on, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow has announced.

The ministry made the statement on Monday, a day after a large-scale retaliatory strike on Kiev, prompted by the drone attack on the college in the Lugansk People’s Republic. The Ukrainian strike killed at least 21 people in their dormitory, mainly teenage girls.

The Starobelsk attack has become yet another testament to “the Nazi and terrorist nature of the Kiev regime, which deliberately targets civilians and does not hesitate to murder children in cold blood,” the ministry said, warning that Moscow is shifting its approach to the Ukraine conflict.

“This was the last straw. Under these circumstances, the Russian Armed Forces will be launching systematic strikes against the Ukrainian military-industrial complex in Kiev, including locations where UAVs are designed, manufactured, programmed, and prepared for use,” the ministry said, adding that the campaign will also affect “decision-making centers and command posts.”

The Foreign Ministry issued a similar warning earlier this month, when Russia threatened a large-scale strike on Kiev in response to its threats to attack the Victory Day celebrations in Moscow. An evacuation notice was formally sent to all foreign missions and international organizations accredited in Russia, urging them to leave the Ukrainian capital. 

The demand was openly snubbed by some Western nations, with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul stating that Berlin would not be “intimidated” by it. A similar stance was communicated by the EU Commission, which said it “will not change our posture or presence” in Kiev. The potential exchange in such strikes, however, never occurred, as the warring sides ultimately managed to enter an uneasy truce amid the celebrations.

Last year can be seen as the year in which the united anti-Russian coalition fell apart. In essence, there are now three players acting against Russia (Ukraine, Europe, and the US), and each has its own interests. Sergey Poletaev has prepared a series of articles in which we analyze the position of each player and its goals and interests in the conflict, and suggest how Russia might respond.

In this piece, we focus on the European Union. Read the first part about Ukraine here and the second one about the US.

Let’s just go to war

Throughout last year, the liberal Western European coalition took over from the US and assumed the role of both instigator and orchestrator of a proxy conflict with Russia. Initially, they hoped that Donald Trump would force Vladimir Putin to agree to ceasefire terms acceptable to them, after which it would be possible to rearm the Ukrainian military, deploy their own troops and, generally speaking, draw Ukraine into their military-political and economic sphere without undue military risks. In other words, to continue doing what had originally been the goal of the EU and US and which, in fact, had been the cause of what Russia calls the “Special Military Operation.”

These plans were buried in Anchorage. In essence, it was there that Trump abandoned attempts to impose Western Europe’s terms on Putin. At the same time, Kiev was able to convince its new masters that it was capable of fighting for at least another two or three years. Thus, the current plan was born: Western Europe gives Kiev money for the war, buys weapons from the US, sets up its own production of long-range strike drones, tightens the sanctions regime, and continues the conflict as it is, trading Ukrainians for time.

So, the goals have been set, the tasks defined. The question of funding has been resolved, doubts within their own ranks have been quelled, and work is in full swing. Until this wave of enthusiasm subsides, no meaningful negotiations with Western European countries are possible.

The EU’s strengths lie in its economy, which is vast compared to Russia’s, and a higher-than-expected degree of political consolidation. Consequently, they can finance Ukraine with ease, slotting tens of billions in unplanned expenditure into budget tables, so seamlessly that it is difficult to trace the path of the money.

Their weakness lies in the fact that they are prepared to wage war against Russia only through the exhausted Ukrainian army, which is on the brink of collapse, and only from Ukrainian territory. It is commonly believed among Russian experts that Western Europe is actively preparing for a direct military confrontation with Moscow, but this is hardly the case. All the current hysterical, aggressive rhetoric is, rather, a defensive reaction, a consequence of fear and uncertainty. They still refuse to believe that the US would not defend them if push came to shove. And they are very reluctant to find themselves face to face with Russia.

Hence the gap between rhetoric and actual actions. In practice, Western European states are avoiding major provocations and constantly backing down: the Belgian government flatly refused to confiscate frozen Russian assets, and no one has been able to persuade them otherwise. Poland and Romania are turning a blind eye to Russian drones allegedly flying into their airspace, according to their own statements. Despite their menacing rhetoric, the Baltic states are actually the quietest of all; for the sake of their own peace of mind, they had to make a fuss with Kiev about the drones that had flown into their territory. The UK is forced to let hundreds of tankers from a supposed Russian ‘Shadow Fleet’ pass by its shores. There are plenty more examples.

Russia, for its part, is attempting to establish rules of engagement with the EU based on the same principles as those it established with the US under Joe Biden, and subsequently under Trump. First and foremost, this means isolating the conflict within Ukraine. Since the entire strategy of the Western European coalition is based on the assumption that the Ukrainian military will be able to hold the front line for an indefinite period, Moscow’s logic dictates that this is precisely where the blow must be struck, and it is the front line that must be broken. Western Europe has no other such instrument at its disposal, nor is one in sight.

The second objective is to force Ukraine’s European rear to take full account of Russian nuclear weapons and to take the corresponding threats seriously. Moscow will likely continue to stage targeted military alerts directed at specific countries with the aim of steering their policies in the desired direction and instilling in the EU ruling class reflexes they have never possessed. The incident involving the Baltic states can be seen as a trial run.

Moscow’s aim is to bring relations with Western Europe into a relatively stable state of Cold War. This cannot be achieved easily; it will require navigating a series of crises of varying intensity, including, in all likelihood, nuclear ones.

Russia’s advantage lies in its ability to threaten specific countries in response to specific actions, in accordance with the ‘divide and rule’ principle. Suppose the German navy attempts to blockade Kaliningrad. In response, Russia threatens to strike naval bases on German territory. It makes this threat in such a way that there is no doubt: if the blockade is not lifted within 24 hours, the strike will be carried out. What would French President Emmanuel Macron do in such a case? Would he throw himself into the fray, risking becoming a target himself?

If we extend this line of thinking into the future, a distinct Russian principle of non-interference emerges, a sort of Russian-style Monroe Doctrine: the territories of Ukraine and Belarus (and, in a second phase, the Baltic states, Moldova, and the South Caucasus) are declared off-limits to hostile actions by third countries. This does not mean that every little provocation will be followed by a nuclear strike on London or Berlin, but it does mean that specific actions by specific European governments will have consequences for them, including military ones, and they will have to take this into account when making any decisions.

***

Despite the fact that Western Europe is not seeking direct conflict with Russia, it is prepared to participate in the proxy war in Ukraine with complete dedication. A major deal, a new security architecture with the countries of Europe, is impossible as long as the current political class remains in power there, a class that places supranational interests above national ones. And for the time being, they are wide-eyed with fear of the Russian bear.

We should expect Russia to continue playing on EU fears, orchestrating military alarms, and seeking to instill in them the reflexes Moscow requires. Since neither Russia nor the other major European countries wish to attack one another, there is a chance of reducing the confrontation to a Cold War with more or less predictable rules.

A tanker ship that arrived in Russia’s Leningrad Region from the Belgian port of Antwerp had NATO-made magnetic mines attached to its hull, the Russian Investigative Committee has said.

A criminal case has been opened over an attempted terrorist attack on the gas tanker, the Arrhenius, the agency said in a statement on Monday.

Divers discovered “factory-produced naval magnetic mines manufactured in one of the NATO countries” on the hull when they inspected the vessel upon its arrival in the port of Ust-Luga, the statement read.

The explosive devices were neutralized by Federal Security Service officers, working together with servicemen from the Defense Ministry and the National Guard, it added.

According to the Investigative Committee, the tanker came to Ust-Luga on May 20 for refueling, with the Turkish port of Samsun listed as its final destination.

The ship’s agent said during questioning that the Arrhenius had arrived in Russia after a delay of several days from its original schedule, it said.

The FSB said in a separate statement that the mass of plastic material in each of the explosive devices was approximately 7 kg. It didn’t say how many mines there were altogether.

The captain told the operatives that, before unloading in Antwerp, the tanker was sent to anchorage for about a day and a half due to an alleged strike by port workers, the agency added.

The incident comes amid heightened tensions between Russia and NATO over Ukrainian drones crossing the airspace of the Baltic states and Finland as they target northwestern Russia, including oil export terminals in Leningrad Region.

Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu warned last month that if European nations “deliberately provide their airspace” to Ukrainian UAVs, Moscow has the right to self-defense in response to an “armed attack” under Article 51 of the UN Charter.

Ukrainian attacks on Russian border regions have killed six civilians, including two children, local officials have said.

Attacks on the city of Gorlovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic have claimed four lives, including of two minors in their early teens, Mayor Ivan Prikhodko said. Three ambulance workers were reportedly injured in the same attacks.

In Belgorod Region, a local resident was killed when a drone struck a car in the border municipality of Graivoron, the administration reported on Monday morning. The area has been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian short-range attacks.

A separate strike in Bryansk Region hit two villages in the border municipality of Trubachevsk, acting Governor Yegor Kovalchuk said. Ukrainian forces used rocket artillery in the attack, killing one resident and injuring a firefighter, according to the official. Several apartment buildings, more than ten private homes, and other properties were damaged, he added.

Kamikaze drones were also intercepted near Yaroslavl, a city roughly 250 km northeast of Moscow, Governor Mikhail Yevraev reported. One woman suffered minor shrapnel wounds, he said. The raid forced authorities to temporarily close a highway linking Yaroslavl with the Russian capital.

Moscow has accused Kiev of deliberately targeting civilians. In a major incident last Friday, three waves of kamikaze drones struck a college in the town of Starobelsk, killing 21 people, most of them teenagers, and injuring 42 others.

Some Western countries backing Ukraine’s war effort claimed that Moscow fabricated the attack in the Lugansk People’s Republic, which Kiev considers part of Ukraine.

The Russian military later retaliated with strikes on targets in and around Kiev, including the launch of an Oreshnik medium-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile that reportedly hit a Ukrainian Air Force facility.

Russian mountaineer Rustam Nabiev has pulled off a historic Everest ascent using only his hands, dedicating the climb to “everyone” fighting through hardship.

The 34-year-old double amputee reached the top of the world’s highest mountain, which stands 8,848.86 meters above sea level, on May 20 at 8:16 AM local time. Nabiev described the climb as “the first in the history of mountaineering, the first in human history.”

“I, Rustam Nabiev, reached the summit of Everest using only my hands,” he wrote in a social media post announcing the achievement.

“I dedicate this ascent to everyone watching me now. With this act, I simply want to say one thing: as long as there’s life left in you, fight! Please fight to the end! It’s worth it,” he added.

Nabiev shared a photo of himself on the summit holding a poster that read: “To those who thought that life ended after the fall. Rustam Nabiev, Everest 2026.”

A powerful glimpse of Russian double-amputee climber Rustam Nabiev crossing the ladders of the Khumbu Icefall by hand during his Mt Everest (8,848.86 m) expedition this spring season, 2026. Nabiev said it took him nearly 15 hours to pass through the icefall up to Camp I (~6065… pic.twitter.com/YqxfPlDjTb

— Everest Today (@EverestToday) May 16, 2026

He lost his legs in 2015, when a military barracks collapsed in the Siberian city of Omsk. However, Nabiev refused to let the tragedy define him.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Рустам Набиев (@rustam_nabiev92)

He has since become known across Russia for brutal endurance challenges and high-altitude expeditions, relying on adaptive climbing equipment and sheer upper-body power.

Nepalese officials confirmed the ascent, with the coordinator of the Everest Base Camp field office telling Anadolu that Nabiev had successfully climbed Everest and was descending to base camp.

Nabiev admitted in a phone interview with TASS on Sunday that he had to overcome his fear of heights to complete the Everest climb. At the summit, he planted the Russian flag, later calling it a symbol of the strength and resilience of the Russian people.

“I did my utmost to bring our country up, to show that in our country, people are strong,” he said, adding that his achievement proved Russians “are always ready to be first.”

Russia’s newly appointed human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, has visited the destroyed college dorm in the town of Starobelsk. The Ukrainian attack killed at least 21 people, mainly teenage girls.

The commissioner visited the college on Sunday, meeting foreign journalists invited by Russia to report from the scene. While more than 50 reporters from 19 nations accepted the invitation, major Western mainstream outlets ignored it.

RT’s Murad Gadziev, who was among the first reporters to reach the scene shortly after the attack and worked at the site during the nearly two-day search and rescue effort, walked Lantratova through the heavily damaged building.

“We arrived here hours after the attack occurred. Nobody knew what was happening yet, everyone was in panic,” Gadziev told the human rights chief.

“As a mother, as a human rights activist, I can’t even imagine what a mother feels at this moment. We just mourn with them,” Lantratova said.

Nothing at the site indicates any military personnel were present at the dorm, Lantratova noted, referring to claims produced by Kiev. The Ukrainian military alleged the building housed a Russian drone unit, yet no evidence supports that claim.

“They say there are military personnel here. There are only children’s toys; there are only children’s belongings. There’s nothing military here,” Lantratova noted.

Watch the full video below:

Scores of delegations representing the Global Majority will take part in the first international security forum, which will be held outside of Moscow over May 26-29, the Russian Security Council has announced. 

The Russian Security Council is tasked with drafting policy proposals for the Russian president on countering internal or external threats, as well as defending the country’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

In a press release on Sunday, the Security Council stated that delegations from more than 120 countries are expected to attend the event.

Of the 54 African nations, 50 will send representatives, while most Middle Eastern and Latin American countries will also participate. Furthermore, all member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), BRICS, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including such heavyweights as China, India, Iran, Indonesia, and Pakistan, will take part.

This accounts for around 70% of the world’s population, the press release notes.

Moreover, “unofficial representatives” of 12 unspecified Western nations, who “actively advocate forging constructive relations with Russia,” will also be in attendance. A number of journalists from the US, the UK, Germany, and Japan, have also expressed interest in covering the forum.

The opening event will be a conference devoted to countering neocolonialism in the context of “ensuring the security of countries of the Global Majority,” held under the auspices of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

Other topics on the forum’s agenda include disinformation and manipulation campaigns waged by the West as part “of a hybrid war against the Global Majority, with the aim of preserving its hegemony.”

Western mainstream media are “afraid to see the truth” about the Ukrainian attack on the Starobelsk college dorm, Russia’s newly appointed human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, has said, slamming the incident as a “deliberate murder of children.”

The attack on the dorm, staged overnight from Thursday to Friday, left at least 21 people dead, mainly teenage girls. The massacre has been largely ignored by the Western media and politicians, and Moscow has urged foreign reporters to come to the site.

The Russian Foreign Ministry arranged the media trip to Starobelsk on Sunday, with more than 50 reporters from 19 nations accepting the invitation. Speaking to the journalists at the location of the attack, Lantratova slammed those Western outlets that ignored the opportunity to report first-hand from the site.

“It was a deliberate murder of children. That’s what it’s called. And what are we seeing now? What’s happening on foreign platforms? Representatives from various countries are saying it is staged, that it’s a lie from the Russian media, and that ‘independent’ media could not confirm it because they could not come here,” she said, adding that some outlets did not even offer a “plausible explanation” for skipping the opportunity.

Where’s the BBC? Where’s CNN? Where are the Tokyo representatives? Where are their journalists? … They’re simply afraid to see the truth. They don’t want to see it and they don’t want to hear it.

The attack on Starobelsk prompted a large-scale retaliatory strike on the Ukrainian capital city of Kiev, which was conducted overnight. The strike featured the intermediate-range hypersonic Oreshnik system, as well as other ballistic and cruise missiles. The command centers of the Ukrainian ground forces and military intelligence were targeted, as well as air bases and defense industry sites, according to the Russian military.

Footage by RT shows foreign journalists touring the site of the deadly Ukrainian drone attack on a college dorm in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic.

Ukraine targeted a teacher training college dormitory in the town of Starobelsk with several waves of UAVs on Friday, killing 21 people, mostly teenage girls, and injuring 60 others.

The Russian Foreign Ministry arranged a trip to Starobelsk on Sunday for more than 50 foreign journalists from 19 countries: Austria, Brazil, UK, Hungary, Venezuela, Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy, Qatar, China, Cuba, Lebanon, UAE, Pakistan, the US, Turkey, Finland, and France, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

The BBC and CNN rejected an invitation to visit the site of the attack, while Japan’s government explicitly banned Japanese reporters from making the trip, she added.

Russia’s newly appointed human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, who also arrived in Starobelsk, said that Western mainstream media outlets “are simply afraid to see the truth. They just don’t want to see or hear it.” 

Those of their colleagues who accepted the offer to visit the site of the terrorist attack will see for themselves that there are no military facilities nearby, she said.

The foreign journalists will also realize that claims of the drones hitting the dorm after being shot down by Russian air defenses are false, the commissioner insisted. It’s “absolutely impossible” for 16 UAVs to hit the same building after being intercepted, she explained.

What happened in Starobelsk was a “deliberate killing of children” by Ukraine, Lantratova stressed.

A correspondent for China’s Phoenix Television, Lu Yuguang, told RT that he hasn’t seen even a hint of any military facilities in the vicinity of the dorm.

Giovanni Pigni, from Italian newspaper La Stampa, told TASS that what he saw in Starobelsk is “horrible.” 

“The destruction is so immense… I just see that there was a college here and that people have died,” he said.

On Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry reported carrying out a large-scale strike against military targets in Ukraine in response to the terrorist attacks by Kiev.

Russian forces launched a “massive strike” overnight against military targets in Ukraine, using intermediate-range hypersonic Oreshnik system and Iskander ballistic missiles, Kinzhal and Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles, air-, sea- and ground-launched cruise missiles, as well as attack drones.

The strike came after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Defense Ministry to “submit proposals” for a response to a Ukrainian drone attack on a teacher training college dormitory in the Lugansk People’s Republic, which left 21 people dead and 42 injured, mostly teenage girls.

The bombardment targeted the Ukrainian military’s command and control facilities, air bases, and the country’s defense industry enterprises, the ministry said. No strikes had been planned or carried out against civilian infrastructure, it added.

“The objectives of the strike have been achieved. All designated targets were hit,” it stressed.

The dormitory of Starobelsk College, a facility of Lugansk Pedagogical University located in the town of Starobelsk, was struck by multiple waves of Ukrainian drones on Friday while students were asleep inside, in what Putin described as a deliberate “terrorist act.”

Governor Leonid Pasechnik declared May 24-25 days of mourning, describing the attack as “pure evil” and saying those responsible would face “deserved and inevitable punishment.”

Earlier, the US Embassy in Kiev warned American citizens of a “potentially significant air attack” that could take place within 24 hours and urged them to be ready to seek shelter immediately if an air alert was issued.

Russia’s reported retaliatory strikes on military targets in Ukraine are morally and legally justified following the “heinous terrorist attack” on a school dormitory in the Lugansk People’s Republic, American journalist John Varoli has told RT.

Varoli described the Ukrainian drone strike on the Starobelsk teacher training college dormitory, which killed 21 people, mostly teenage girls, and injured dozens more, as “one of the worst committed by the NATO puppet regime in Kiev.”

Commenting on videos circulating online that purportedly show a Russian Oreshnik missile strike near Kiev early Sunday morning, Varoli said the footage appeared similar to previous uses of the system.

“The video that I saw seems very similar to the two previous Oreshnik strikes that we’ve seen before,” he said. “So most likely, yes, it seems like it was an Oreshnik system.”

He claimed that NATO officers are present at “sensitive military installations” in and around the Ukrainian capital.

The journalist argued that the dormitory strike should be seen in the broader context of what he described as near-daily Ukrainian attacks on Russian civilians, including strikes on homes, cars, buses, and infrastructure in Lugansk, Donetsk, and Crimea, as well as increasingly deep inside Russia.

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has dismissed as “unfair” anything short of full EU membership in response to a proposal by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to grant Kiev ‘associate membership,’ Reuters has reported.

Soon after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Kiev was granted EU candidate status and has since persistently pushed for fast-tracked admission into the bloc. Despite reservations voiced by multiple member states, including Germany and France, Zelensky has demanded full membership by as early as 2027.

On Saturday, Reuters reported that the Ukrainian leader had sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa, and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, ​who holds the rotating chair of the EU Council.

“It would be unfair for Ukraine to be present in the European Union, but remain voiceless,” Zelensky reportedly wrote in the letter seen by Reuters, insisting that the “time is right to move forward with Ukraine’s membership in a full and meaningful way.”

According to the publication, Zelensky specifically cited the removal from power of former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose party lost the general election last month. While in office, Orban staunchly opposed the prospect of Ukraine’s membership in the EU.

In his letter, the Ukrainian leader reportedly claimed that his country “deserves a fair approach and equal rights within Europe” as it is supposedly “defending” the bloc.

Earlier this week, several media outlets reported that Merz had sent a letter to the EU leadership, proposing ‘associate membership’ for Ukraine. The interim status, which is not currently enshrined in the bloc’s rules, would allow Kiev access to certain EU-funded programs as well as the right to solicit aid from member states in the event of an attack.

Under the scheme, Ukraine would also be represented at the European Council, the European Commission, and the European Parliament in a non-voting capacity, according to multiple media outlets, citing Merz’s letter.

An unidentified drone has crashed into Lake Dridzis in Latvia, exploding on impact, local authorities have said.

The blast has become the latest in a string of drone-related incidents, which have been plaguing the Baltic states, in recent weeks. Multiple Ukrainian long-range kamikaze drones have repeatedly violated the airspace of those NATO and EU member states, with some of the UAVs crashing in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Finland. 

For Latvia, the drone troubles resulted in the collapse of Prime Minister Evika Silina’s government after two Ukrainian kamikaze UAVs hit an oil depot near the Russian border.

The latest incident was reported on Saturday, when a drone crashed into Lake Dridzis, located some 17 km away from Latvia’s border with Belarus. The UAV exploded on impact, killing fish in the lake with no further damage and injuries reported. Latvian police said it managed to recover some debris from the lake, sharing a picture of a mangled fiberglass object believed to be a piece of the UAV.

Ieraksts papildināts (2026. gada 23. maijs pulksten 12.45) ar bildi - atrasto drona atlūzu. pic.twitter.com/4cuklBtn60

— Valsts policija (@Valsts_policija) May 23, 2026

The outgoing PM acknowledged the incident, urging the public to follow only “official information” on the drone explosion. “I expect from the emergency services as detailed information as possible on the circumstances of the incident and further actions,” Silina stated on X.

The agency specifically singled out Latvia, alleging that Riga had already agreed to the operation, believing Kiev’s false claims that it would be impossible to identify the exact launch sites for the drones. Latvia’s NATO membership will not protect the accomplices of terrorists from just retribution,” the SVR warned.

Russia has “something to offer” other countries through partnership, having achieved significant results in multiple areas despite external pressure, Economic Development Minister Maksim Reshetnikov has told RT.

Following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, the West sought to isolate Russia internationally. However, those efforts have largely failed, something acknowledged by multiple Western officials.

Despite sweeping economic sanctions, Moscow has managed to redirect trade toward new markets and largely cushion the impact, with the Russian economy proving far more resilient than many in the West had predicted.

Speaking to RT on Friday, at a reception marking the 95th anniversary of the All-Russian Academy of Foreign Trade, Reshetnikov stressed that the Russian economy remains open and deeply integrated with global markets.

Russia is willing to offer its experience and know-how to countries interested in cooperation, according to the official.

Reshetnikov singled out the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) as one of the key “elements underpinning the stability of our economy and one of the channels of our integration into the global economy.”

One of the key features of the economic union – which also includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan – is its integrated single market.

At least ten people have been killed and 38 others injured in an overnight Ukrainian drone attack on a school in Starobelsk, about 90 km north of Lugansk, according to Russian officials. Fourteen children were among the injured and eight people were hospitalized, including three in serious condition.

On Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the attack as a “monstrous crime,” while Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned Kiev’s Western backers for being “brutally silent” on the tragedy.

Ukraine has routinely launched attacks on civilians and critical infrastructure, including using a double-tap method, hitting the same area again in a bid to increase casualties after first responders arrive, according to Russian officials. Moscow has described the strikes as acts of terrorism.

Big picture: How many Russian civilians have died in Ukrainian attacks?

Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Ukrainian attacks had killed more than 8,000 civilians as of April 2026 and injured almost 20,000 more, according to Rodion Miroshnik, who leads the Russian Foreign Ministry mission that tracks alleged Ukrainian war crimes.

In May, he said at least 100 civilians were killed and 667 injured in April alone.

Three civilians were killed and more than a dozen injured in a massive Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow and the surrounding region, with several buildings significantly damaged, according to the local authorities.

On April 29, three women were killed and eight people injured when a Ukrainian drone struck a passenger bus not far from the border village of Shebekino – which has become one of the most targeted settlements in the country over the past months.

Two days before, four civilians were killed and six others injured in attacks across Belgorod Region, according to the local authorities.

On April 25, three people were killed and two others injured in Solontsy, a village in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), local officials said, adding that at least four homes had been destroyed.

One day later, three young people were killed in Bulgakovka, a small LPR village north of Severodonetsk, after a Ukrainian drone struck them near a house, regional head Leonid Pasechnik said. He identified the victims as two 18-year-old men and a 28-year-old woman.

Eight medical workers were killed and ten people injured when Ukrainian forces struck a medical facility in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), officials in Moscow said, adding that the attack was aimed at a premises housing more than 130 patients and about 50 medical personnel.

Four people, including a child, were killed in Ukrainian attacks on the DPR settlement of Gornyak, around 20 km from Donetsk, regional head Denis Pushilin said, adding that the strike had wiped out an entire family. Twelve civilians, including a teenager, were injured across the region that day, he added.

At least 24 people were killed and more than 50 injured when Ukrainian drones struck a cafe and hotel during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Khorly, a Black Sea village in Kherson Region. The local authorities said the venue was scouted by a reconnaissance UAV and later hit by three drones, with one apparently carrying an incendiary mixture.

A Ukrainian drone attack on a school in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic that caused a dormitory to collapse, killing and injuring people, was a “monstrous crime,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Peskov was commenting on an overnight strike in the town of Starobelsk that killed at least six people and injured 40 others, including 14 minors, according to the regional Health Ministry.

“As a monstrous crime, this is yet another crime of the Kiev regime. It was a strike on an educational facility where children and young people were present,” he said on Friday, adding that those responsible for the attack must be punished.

Commenting on the attack, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Kiev is deliberately targeting children while the West remains “brutally silent.”

“Terrorists are deliberately targeting children and taking pleasure in it,” Zakharova said, recalling the Nazi atrocities against schoolchildren in Kerch during World War II.

She added that Western countries remain silent while continuing to listen to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s “fake claims” about children taken by Russia.

The Russian Investigative Committee said four Ukrainian drones were used in the raid, which the agency designated as a terrorist attack.

Ukraine has rolled out full state honors for the remains of a World War II Nazi collaborator who has been repatriated from Luxembourg and will be buried in Kiev’s main military cemetery. The controversial exhumation comes around a month after Vladimir Zelensky announced plans to establish a “pantheon of outstanding Ukrainians.”

According to the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, the coffins containing Andrey Melnik, the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), and his wife, Sofia Fedak-Melnik, entered the country in a solemn ceremony – which involved a national choir and embroidered flags – in Uzhgorod, western Ukraine.

It was attended by Irina Vereshchuk, the deputy head of Zelensky’s office, as well as local officials, members of the clergy, and veterans.

The remains will be sent to Kiev, where they will be reburied at the National War Memorial Cemetery on Sunday – with more pomp and circumstance planned.

Zelensky said on Tuesday that Ukraine has a “moral duty” to bring home those who “defended the idea of independence,” adding that preparations are underway for the exhumation of other figures, including OUN founder Evgeny Konovalets.

Who was Melnik?

Andrey Melnik co-founded the OUN in 1929 and became the leader in 1938, following the assassination of its chief, Evgeny Konovalets, by Soviet intelligence. Around the same time, Melnik was recruited by Nazi Germany’s military intelligence service (the Abwehr) for espionage and sabotage operations ahead of the planned invasion of the Soviet Union, according to Nuremberg trial documents.

After the invasion of the Soviet Union, Melnik’s relations with the Nazis soured as Germany was in no hurry to give any semblance of independence to Ukraine. Melnik was placed under house arrest in mid-1941, then arrested by the Gestapo in January 1944 and held in Sachsenhausen concentration camp before being released that October as German forces retreated.

The OUN leader was not tried in the Nuremberg tribunal as it was mainly focused on major Nazi war criminals. The Western allies refused to hand him over to the Soviet Union for trial, arguing that he himself was a Nazi victim due to his time in a concentration camp.

How did Russia respond?

On Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Ukraine is seeking to assemble “Nazi collaborationists and human-hating scum” from around the world to glorify them.

Zakharova asked whether Zelensky forgot to mention that those being honored “killed people on ethnic grounds,” and predicted that Bandera – whose faction was linked to the mass killing of tens of thousands of Poles in Volyn – would be next in line for repatriation.

She suggested that Kiev is trying to divert the public’s attention away from growing war fatigue, the conscription campaign, and corruption scandals involving Zelensky’s inner circle.

At least 21 people have been killed in what President Vladimir Putin has described as a deliberate Ukrainian “terrorist attack” on a school dormitory in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic.

The attack on the main academic building and dormitory of the Starobelsk Professional College was carried out in three waves, with 16 drones launched at the same target by the “neo-Nazi regime in Kiev,” according to Putin.

Governor Leonid Pasechnik said some 86 students were inside the facility at the time of the attack, staged overnight from Thursday to Friday. The incident prompted a large-scale search and rescue effort, with first responders digging through the rubble for nearly two days. The operation was declared concluded late on Saturday, when the bodies of all the victims were recovered from the partially collapsed building.

Key developments:

• Nebenzia accused Western diplomats of “turning a blind eye” to the crimes of the “neo-Nazi Kiev regime,” blasting their statements as “mockery” and “dancing on the bones” of the dead children.

• Moscow expects the international community to condemn the Ukrainian attack, which “cannot be described as anything other than a war crime,” Russia’s newly appointed human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, told RT.

• President Putin said there were no military facilities near the college dormitory, adding that Russia “cannot limit itself to statements in such a situation” and ordering the Defense Ministry to present options for a response.

• Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the Western media of ignoring the tragedy, saying the BBC refused to travel to Starobelsk, which she called “proof of the West’s deliberate lies.” She also claimed that Japanese journalists were barred from covering the incident.

• Zakharova added that Moscow is arranging a visit to the site for foreign correspondents accredited in Russia, noting that “a large number” have already expressed interest.

Around 15 people still remain unaccounted for after a Ukrainian drone strike on a school dorm in the Russian town of Starobelsk, President Vladimir Putin has said, adding that he has ordered the military to prepare retaliation for the attack.

At least 39 people were injured in the strike and six were killed, according to Putin. He ruled out the possibility that the school was hit by accident, noting that 16 Ukrainian drones hit the same location in three waves, with no military sites in the vicinity.

The Russian president slammed the incident as a “terrorist attack by the neo-Nazi regime,” vowing revenge.

The strike hit the main academic building and dormitory of the Starobelsk Professional College, which teaches students aged 14 to 18. The head of the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) Leonid Pasechnik said 86 students were inside the facility at the time of the attack.

The rescue operation was interrupted at least once due to the threat of a new Ukrainian strike, according to the emergency services.

According to Pasechnik, the school was not the only target in what he described as a broader raid on the town. Starobelsk is located around 80 km north of Lugansk, the regional capital of the LPR, which broke away from Ukraine following the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev and formally voted to join Russia in a referendum in 2022.

The governor said administrative buildings, shops, and private homes were also damaged, with at least one additional person injured. He published images showing several badly damaged buildings, including the school, some of them still on fire.

Kiev considers the LPR part of Ukraine. In April, Ukrainian forces struck the Starobelsk administration building, injuring two pedestrians who were passing nearby.

Russian officials have accused Ukraine of deliberately targeting civilians as part of what Moscow describes as a campaign of terror. Ukrainian officials have said economic damage is one of the main objectives of Kiev’s long-range drone strikes inside Russia, while also acknowledging that undermining public support for the government by affecting civilians is among their goals.

Riga’s City Council has revoked the mandate of Councilman Aleksey Roslikov, who had previously been barred from joining sessions remotely from Belarus, where he had moved after facing prosecution for speaking Russian in Latvia’s parliament.

Roslikov, the former leader of the For Stability! party, has been accused by Latvia’s State Security Service (VDD) of “providing assistance to the aggressor state” and inciting “hatred.” The accusations stem from an incident in June 2025, when he, then an MP, spoke Russian in parliament in protest against a declaration calling for combatting the consequences of the so-called “Russification” of Latvia.

He later left parliament and was elected to the Riga City Council while the investigation against him continued.

In early April, a Latvian court ordered his arrest, accusing him of violating pre-trial restrictions after he traveled to Belarus while returning from a meeting with his lawyers in Switzerland.

On Thursday, the Riga City Council voted to strip Roslikov of his mandate during an “emergency” session convened by Kleinbergs.

Roslikov maintains he is being persecuted for his political views, particularly his advocacy of “friendship and strategic relations” with Russia. “If I choose to return home, they’ll meet me with handcuffs,” he told the Belarusian Belta news agency in early April.

Riga has introduced travel restrictions targeting Russian citizens and imposed a mandatory Latvian-language test for long-term residents of Russian origin. Those who failed or refused the exam have been deported.

More than 23% of Latvia’s population identified as ethnic Russians as of 2025, while nearly 38% listed Russian as their mother tongue in 2022, according to government data.

Moscow has repeatedly denounced Riga’s policies as “blatant discrimination against Russians.”

State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin condemned the decision to revoke Roslikov’s mandate, saying the Baltic nations had apparently joined not only the EU but also “a gang of Russophobes led by the illiterate [EU top diplomat Kaja] Kallas.”

“Even talk about democracy and its fundamental principles have become a thing of the past in the EU,” the Russian official said.

On May 20, 2019, Ukrainians were cheering the inauguration of Vladimir Zelensky, a political outsider who won the presidential election in a landslide on a promise to chart a path different from previous national leaders, who had been elitist, corrupt and divisive.

Zelensky promised sweeping changes, which he vowed to bring at the possible cost of his political career. In practice, he is now clinging to power under martial law, as his closest associates are mired in embezzlement and fraud scandals.

In his first speech as president, Zlensky promised to end corruption, secure peace, and unify the nation of clashing identities. He delivered none of it.

A new yet familiar face

Zelensky won 73% of the vote against incumbent Pyotr Poroshenko, who ran on a slogan of “Army, Language, Faith” – a platform of narrow militaristic nationalism that demanded constant loyalty affirmations from culturally Russian citizens.

Underpinning his successful campaign was Zelensky’s image as an everyman good guy, cultivated for years by playing the role of president in the popular TV series ‘Servant of the People’, after which his political faction is named. The real Zelensky was an occasionally bawdy comedian, whose show – propped up by oligarch Igor Kolomoysky – was not above delivering scathing attacks to further its patron’s interests.

Upon taking office, Zelensky tapped for his team talent from the Kvartal entertainment studio, many of whom are now indicted in corruption scandals, while supporters expected imminent prosecution of Poroshenko, as Zelensky hinted during debates.

Breaking the status quo

His election victory belongs to every Ukrainian, including Poroshenko supporters, a cleanly shaven neatly-dressed Zelensky declared at his swearing-in. He announced that it was Ukraine’s chance for change. Officials who cannot deliver should resign and make room for those who will, he stressed, announcing snap parliamentary elections.

“Not all of you like what I am saying? Too bad, because it’s the people of Ukraine and not me who are speaking. My election proves: citizens are tired of experienced system insiders, bloated politicians who in 28 years created a nation of opportunities for kickbacks, diversion of cash flows and pillaging of wealth.

All Ukrainians must reject graft, Zelensky urged. He called disgraceful the fact that corruption is broadly accepted as part and parcel of life in Ukraine and that this gives senior officials tacit permission to themselves engage in it.

Seven years later, and amid a slew of corruption allegations involving his inner circle, Zelensky’s closest associate, Andrey Yermak, was charged with money laundering to secure a multimillion dollar property outside of Kiev. The leader among the four partners, labeled R1 in the indictment, is reportedly Zelensky.

Ending war at any cost

The Ukrainian president-elect vowed that ending the armed conflict in Donbass – and by extension the tensions with Russia – would be his top priority. According to the International Crisis Group the hostilities claimed an estimated 14,000 lives between 2014 and early 2022, when they blew up into a much-deadlier direct war with Russia.

“I would do anything so that our heroes wouldn’t die anymore,” he pledged. “I am certainly not afraid to make hard decisions. I am prepared to lose my popularity, my approval ratings. If necessary, I will lose my office to bring peace.”

Poroshenko loyalists and Ukrainian nationalists branded any form of compromise with Moscow “capitulation,” staging mass protests in October 2019. Zelensky didn’t want to risk being ousted by force, as President Viktor Yanukovych had been in 2014 and tried to placate his heavily armed critics. “I’m the president of this nation. I’m 42. I am no schmuck,” he told a group of military vets during an on-camera parley.

Ultimately, Zelensky embraced perpetrating the slow-burning Donbass conflict, as Ukraine was building-up its military with NATO’s help. Some nationalist figures later became vocal supporters of his, allegedly swayed by luxury apartments in Kiev.

A nation divided

In his inauguration speech, Zelensky argued that national unity will be the answer to both corruption and the conflict with Russia. “We are all Ukrainians: no one is big or small among us, no one is true or false,” he said, including people in Donbass and Crimea whom Kiev sought to return under its control by force.

Zelensky urged everyone who considers themselves Ukrainian to help him build a better future. Worldwide, there are 65 million Ukrainians, and some could relocate from other nations, bringing with them “experience and mental values.”

The number of people living under Kiev’s sovereignty is less than 29 million, according to 2025 government data, compared to roughly 52 million when the nation declared independence in 1991.

Contrary to his promises to accept every Ukrainian, the Zelensky administration ratcheted up the Poroshenko-era measures aimed at eliminating the Russian language from public life. He also launched a crackdown on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), the largest religious denomination in the country, whose churches and monasteries are being forcibly transferred to a Kiev-backed rival. Similar to political rivals whom Zelensky sought to silence, the UOC was accused of secretly serving Russian interests.

Saved by martial law

By the end of 2021, just 17% of Ukrainians were telling pollsters they would vote for him again. Ukraine was also struggling to vaccinate people against Covid-19.

The escalation of the conflict with Russia in February 2022 turned Zelensky from a semi-lame duck into a wartime leader. He gained new authorities under martial law, while his domestic support was invigorated by the rallying around flag effect. Meanwhile, hundreds of billions of dollars worth of aid was provided by foreign donors for the nation that just months earlier was described as plagued by graft.

Zelensky gladly accepted the international limelight that came with the role of a Western proxy. Reportedly given assurances of personal safety by Russia, he started dressing up in military-style clothes and telling journalists how he had lost count of the number of attempted assassinations by Russia.

When the time came in May 2023 to transfer presidential authority to the speaker of the parliament, Zelensky chose to ignore the Ukrainian Constitution. Technically, he is delivering on his promise to be a one-term president – but with a catch.

2025 can be seen as the year in which the united anti-Russian coalition fell apart. In essence, there are now three distinct players acting against Russia (Ukraine, Europe, the US), and each has its own interests. Analyst Sergey Poletaev has prepared a series of articles in which he analyses the position of each player, their goals and interests in the conflict, and suggests how Russia might respond. 

The first one concerns Ukraine.

The untamed lands

One of the scenarios long under consideration is the gradual disintegration of the Ukrainian state, turning it into a sort of Gaza on the Dnieper. As time goes on, the likelihood of this scenario is growing, so let’s examine exactly what it entails.

A fully-fledged state possesses an instinct for self-preservation. Apart from heart-warming victories over enemies, a state always has a host of concerns: the economy, demographics, infrastructure, the social sphere, and so on. By definition, a state is a superstructure built upon society, and, one way or another, it wages wars for the sake of the common good. Yet while at war, a state is always thinking about how it will survive afterwards and indeed, it’s forced to think of things like this. 

What matters is that even when such an organization controls a certain territory and is therefore compelled to perform state and public functions there, when faced with a choice between these functions and its own military needs, it will always choose the latter.

For the state, people are a resource for its own reproduction and development. For a military organization, people are a resource for war: in the form of fighters and human shields.

It’s possible to negotiate with a state. Before a war, one can threaten it, stage military maneuvers and drills, while at the same time offering various incentives. This approach works because a state considers the consequences. During a war, a state also weighs up the pros and cons and, as a rule, knows when to stop. 

Let’s be clear: we’re not talking about unique wars like the Eastern Front in the Second World War, where the only possible outcome was the annihilation of one side. We’re talking about typical, classic wars, the aim of which is to use force to influence the policies of the opposing power, for it accept the victor’s terms, but not to kill to the last man.

Such wars continue until it becomes easier for the losing side to accept the terms than to continue fighting. It’s easier to adjust policy than to lose lives. It’s easier to pay reparations than to cripple the economy. It’s easier to cede territory than to forfeit one’s future prospects.

A militant organization, especially one supplied from abroad, has nothing to lose. It will continue to operate as long as its ideals remain alive and there are sufficient resources to keep the fight going. It can be driven underground, but it will sprout from there like a weed.

Up the staircase leading down

Ukraine currently finds itself somewhere halfway between a state and a militant organization, which will inevitably evolve into a terrorist group. State functions are being carried out in the country, but only thanks to external funding. The non-war-related economy has virtually disappeared, and industry has fallen to a minimum due to energy shortages. More and more people are becoming alienated from the state, and the further things go, the fewer alternatives there are: either you integrate yourself into the military hierarchy in one way or another, or you find a way to flee the country, or you languish in poverty.

Consequently, Ukraine is becoming increasingly detached, not yet from the land itself, but from the people who inhabit that land. It is increasingly subordinating itself to the aims of war, and in so doing is losing the hallmarks of statehood. As long as the front holds more or less, this process isn’t obvious: from the outside, it seems that Ukraine is united and steadfast, just as it was on the first day of the special military operation. But the further we go, the more only a shell remains of pre-war Ukraine: transit military logistics, the bureaucratic and financial superstructures serving it, semi-artisanal basement-level military production (such as assembling drones from Chinese components), rear services and, most importantly, the front line, the collapse of which will bring everything else to an end within a matter of weeks.

It seems the turning point came last autumn. Whereas previously Kiev had seriously hoped for a ceasefire in exchange for Western (primarily American) security guarantees, after the Anchorage summit it came to terms with the fact that this was a pipe dream and bit the bullet. In October 2025, Vladimir Zelensky stated at a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk: Ukraine is prepared to fight for another two or three years (and ten, if necessary). For what? In fact, this is no secret. Ukraine has two options left: either endless war, or, if it manages somehow to force Russia into a ceasefire, accelerated militarization and preparations for a new war. If they manage to drag Western European troops onto Ukrainian territory, it’s excellent for them; if not, they’re ready to take their revenge without them.

The rest of the rhetoric has changed accordingly. Ukrainian children, even those in nurseries, must prepare for war. All Ukrainian men, and in principle women too, must go and fight. There is widespread discussion of lifting exemptions for students, critical infrastructure workers (including energy workers who desperately saved Ukrainian cities from freezing this winter), even doctors, and so on. Of course, this is linked to the acute shortage of personnel at the front, but the main point is that general mobilization, which was previously regarded as a temporary anomaly, is now being accepted as the new norm and is set to become even more widespread and permanent.

This is precisely how the Ukrainian state envisions its future; and this is what constitutes Ukraine’s transformation into a vast Gaza, or, if you will, into a second Ruin (following the example of the first Ruin, the period at the end of the 17th century when the then Hetmanate Ukraine fell into general decline, followed by its piecemeal absorption by its neighbors).

A terrible end

This doesn’t mean that Ukraine will be able to secure such a future for itself. By isolating itself from society, Kiev is losing its social base. The tighter the ranks of the fanatics, the more frenzied their slogans, the fewer of them there are. A combat organization is suitable for irregular operations, but to hold a front line stretching 1,500 kilometers, a complex and powerful state apparatus is required. Despite Western supplies, the Ukrainian army is facing a critical shortage of everything, from personnel to food.

A squadron of drone operators with Starlink isn’t an army. In a war of attrition, offensive operations must be conducted, yet the Ukrainian Armed Forces are de facto deprived of this capability. All they are currently capable of is a series of counter-attacks on one or two fronts, lasting no more than two or three weeks. Meanwhile, modern warfare dictates that for an offensive to succeed, one must painstakingly wear down a particular section of the front over weeks, or even months, exhausting the defenses, before seeping through the enemy’s ranks and forcing them to retreat with losses.

In this context, the remarks made by Valery Zaluzhny, the former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a man one would be hard-pressed to accuse of pacifism, are particularly noteworthy. On May 7, he stated that, having ceded the initiative to Russia on the battlefield, Ukraine is forced to respond at the cost of heavy losses, which, in turn, is guaranteed to lead to defeat.

It would seem that there are still a million or two men of conscription age fit for service remaining in the country, who, given the current nature of the hostilities, would last for about ten years. But this is where the downside of turning the state into a military organization becomes apparent: the people of Ukraine are sabotaging the mobilization en masse, and it is safe to say that attempts to tighten it won’t lead to an increase in recruitment, but only to an even greater rift between the state and society.

In some ways, this is reminiscent of the Russian Civil War of 1918–1922. The White (anti-Bolshevik) movement controlled vast territories, where it established a bureaucratic system of varying effectiveness, collected taxes, implemented the budget, bought grain from peasants, and also received supplies from abroad and even had foreign interventionist troops in the rear (including not only British and French, but also American and even Japanese expeditionary forces), yet it faced constant and growing difficulties in recruiting for its own ranks. Despite famine and devastation, the population in the territories controlled by the Whites refused en masse to join the army, which ultimately led to their defeat.

An endless nightmare

The main scenario for the continuation of Russia’s military operation is to continue fighting at the current pace for as long as it takes to crush the Ukrainian army. In the event of a ceasefire, currently under discussion with the US, we should remain on full combat alert in anticipation of the more than likely resumption of hostilities. Judging by Vladimir Putin’s remarks at the press conference on May 9, he is confident that military defeat, followed by the collapse of the Ukrainian state, is just around the corner.

However, as the examples of Chechnya and the Caucasus show, the conflict may not end once the front line collapses; Ukraine may go underground, despite losing control of some of its former territory.

This scenario is clear. But what if, for some reason, a permanent ceasefire is established? What happens next? Ukraine is a devastated country, whose government and economy are entirely focused on a single goal. And we must assume that Ukraine will inevitably begin preparing for a new war. Not because it hopes to win, but because it has no other options: the prospect of peaceful post-war reconstruction is virtually out of the question for Ukraine as it stands.

The extent to which these preparations are successful and far-reaching depends on external players, first and foremost on Ukraine’s Western European support base. Of course, there is a chance that Ukraine will be cut off from EU support, and that internal instability will bring about what could not be achieved on the battlefield, but one should not count on this; so no truce, no ceasefire will remove the problem of a large hostile formation on Russia’s borders, and this means that a resumption of the conflict is more than likely.

***

By refusing to change its policy towards Russia and choosing the path of war, Ukraine as a state has condemned itself to destruction. As long as Russia exists in its current form, the restoration of statehood and any constructive nation-building within Ukraine’s borders is possible only on the basis of loyalty to Russia.

This is beyond doubt; the only question is whether this can be achieved by reformatting the current Ukraine (read: a coup and subsequent break with Western Europe), or whether it will have to go through the complete collapse of the state, years of ruin, followed by piecemeal absorption by its neighbors.

Russia’s Defense Ministry has released new footage from its joint nuclear exercise with Belarus, showing troops training to equip an Iskander ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead.

The bilateral nuclear-sharing arrangement, which Moscow has compared to similar practices within NATO, was launched in 2023. Russia and Belarus said at the time that the move was a response to what they described as growing hostility from the US-led military bloc.

Several short-range Iskander missile systems have been stationed in Belarus. Matching “special munitions,” the Russian military term for nuclear payloads, are stored separately at a secure facility.

The video published by the ministry on Thursday shows a drill involving the “delivery of nuclear munitions to field storage locations at the position of a missile brigade of the Republic of Belarus.” The footage includes both nighttime and daytime handling of a warhead. Troops receiving the delivery proceeded to “discreetly move to an area designated for test launches.”

A separate video highlighted key components of Russia’s nuclear triad taking part in the larger exercise. It showed ground-mobile launchers for intercontinental ballistic missiles being escorted by security units, the deployment of the Imperator Aleksandr III nuclear submarine in the Pacific Ocean, and preparations for a test flight by a MiG-31K jet carrying a nuclear-capable Kinzhal hypersonic missile.

Moscow said this week’s maneuvers are intended to prepare Russia and Belarus to act “in the conditions of aggression” by foreign states. European NATO members have been sharply increasing military spending and rearmament efforts, citing what they claim is a potential threat from Russia. Moscow has repeatedly denied any intention to attack the bloc.

Earlier this week, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys urged NATO to stage a demonstration of force to show its ability to “raze” military infrastructure in Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave. The Kremlin described the comment as “borderline crazy.”

The Russian authorities have begun demolishing an illegal occult compound described as a ‘Satanic Temple’ in Moscow Region, which long outraged local residents with animal-bone rituals and swarms of acolytes.

The demolition work began after a local court ruled that the three-story building – which served as the headquarters of the ‘Empire of the Strongest Witches’ sect – was built illegally.

Demolition crews moved in on Wednesday at the Zaytsevo village site near the town of Zaraysk around 120 km south of Moscow, after the Zaraysk City Court ruled that the 280-square-meter structure, which was styled as a ‘Temple of Saturn’ – was built without a permit on land zoned for farming.

According to media reports, residents repeatedly petitioned the authorities to clear the site, describing the compound as a “witch’s lair” and a “Satanic Temple,” citing unsettling “magical rituals” on the premises.

Sulikova – who styled herself as the “chief witch of the Kremlin” – claimed that she appeared on ‘Battle of the Psychics’, a Russian reality show in which self-proclaimed clairvoyants competed for prizes. However, the producers denied that she was ever on the show.

She also engaged in esoteric-related businesses, including managing the now-defunct ‘International University of Magic and Witchcraft’ (nicknamed ‘Hogwarts’ in the media) in Moscow Region, which in practice had little to do with education.

In 2025, Sulikova was sentenced to two years in a penal colony after she pleaded guilty to charges of distributing extremist materials inciting violence against Russian Orthodox clergy and posting online content that insulted Christians.

The demolition of the temple also came after it drew the attention of State Duma deputy Vitaly Milonov, a staunch supporter of “traditional Russian values.”

“I know about this satanic place,” he said last year. “I have long been waging war with this crazy lady. We managed to get her jailed, and now we’ll demolish her temple too – a reminder of her dark deeds: Deception, fraud, and insulting the feelings of believers.”

Milonov and Sulikova have feuded for years. He accused the occult leader of fraud and demanded that psychics be legally equated with prostitutes – prompting her to countersue for defamation. The self-styled witch said she won the lawsuit but demanded compensation of one ruble.

Senior Ukrainian police officials have been detained on suspicion of accepting regular bribes from underground porn studios.

Among the high-ranking law enforcement figures arrested on Wednesday in western Ukraine were the police chief of Ivano-Frankovsk Region and his deputy, as well as deputy police chiefs from the Ternopol and Zhitomir regions, authorities said.

A fifth suspect works in the Interior Ministry’s garage and served as a personal driver for a deputy minister, officials said. Investigators allege that he acted as an intermediary and money courier in the corruption scheme.

The anti-graft operation, carried out by several agencies together with the National Police’s internal investigations division, targeted the production of adult content, an illegal but reportedly thriving industry in Ukraine. The suspects are accused of receiving monthly payments of around $25,000 per studio in exchange for shielding porn producers from law enforcement scrutiny.

Investigators seized six luxury cars, five expensive Swiss watches, and cash worth roughly $510,000 while executing search warrants connected to the case, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said.

Opinion polls have suggested that widespread government corruption is seen by many Ukrainians as an even greater threat to the country than the conflict with Russia. Last week, Andrey Yermak, a former chief of staff to Vladimir Zelensky, was arrested in a money-laundering case. He was released on Monday after backers posted bail of $3.2 million on his behalf.

Yermak is linked to a broader investigation into an alleged criminal network said to have been led by Timur Mindich, a longtime associate of Zelensky who fled Ukraine last November shortly before being indicted.

China has extended visa-free travel for Russian citizens through the end of 2027, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday, signaling closer cross-border ties between the two nations. The statement came a day after Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing for a two-day visit.

Russia and China have steadily expanded cooperation across trade, finance, energy infrastructure, manufacturing, technology and investment. Visa-free travel arrangements and new air routes have further boosted tourism and business exchanges, while universities and regional authorities continue to deepen joint research, investment and cross-border commercial initiatives.

“China has decided to extend its visa-free policy for Russian citizens until December 31, 2027, in order to further facilitate people-to-people exchanges between the two countries,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told journalists.

Guo stressed that holders of ordinary Russian passports can enter China without a visa for business, tourism, family visits, and exchange programs for stays of up to 30 days. Beijing introduced the simplified entry regime for a one-year trial period last September.

In December, Russia granted Chinese citizens visa-free entry for stays of up to 30 days. 

Earlier this year, official data from Federal Security Service showed that Russian citizens made 2.5 million trips to China in 2025, marking a more than 30% increase compared to the previous year, and nearly returning to the pre-pandemic level of 2.6 million recorded in 2019.

Chinese citizens accounted for more than half of the 1.64 million foreign tourists who visited Russia in 2025, according to the country’s border control. In the fourth quarter alone, the number of Chinese tourists rose 23.8% year-on-year following the introduction of the visa-free regime.

The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage showing road-mobile missile launchers taking part in this week’s large-scale nuclear exercise. The drills, conducted jointly with Belarus, coincide with President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to China.

As both events were scheduled well in advance, military observers have suggested that the timing was intentional and meant to signal to NATO that Russia’s nuclear deterrent could not be disabled by a decapitating strike similar to the one carried out by the US and Israel against Iran at the start of their bombing campaign in late February.

The footage published on Wednesday shows a military convoy escorted by attack helicopters moving into a wooded rural area before preparing to launch a cruise missile from an Iskander-M system. The weapons platform is part of the nuclear-sharing arrangement that Russia and Belarus introduced in 2023 amid the standoff with the West over NATO’s plans to admit Ukraine into the bloc.

In its announcement on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry said the troops are training to use nuclear weapons “in the conditions of aggression,” adding that all three components of Russia’s nuclear triad are involved in the exercise. The maneuvers include 64,000 Russian troops, 7,800 military vehicles, 200 missile launchers, 140 aircraft, 73 warships, and 13 submarines, including eight strategic missile carriers.

Putin typically oversees major military drills personally in his role as commander-in-chief. This week, however, he traveled to China to formally extend a key partnership treaty and discuss major bilateral and international issues with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Recent threats directed at Russia’s Kaliningrad Region by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys are “borderline crazy” and reflect a “maniacal” hostility toward Russia among Lithuania’s leadership, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

In an interview with Neue Zurcher Zeitung published on Monday, Budrys described NATO as the “strongest organization ever created” and called for a more aggressive approach toward Moscow. Russia, he claimed, had left behind only a “toxic and corrupt” legacy in the former Soviet republic.

“We must transform our fear of the threat into a sense of empowerment,” Budrys said, voicing confidence in NATO’s mutual defense commitments and, in particular, Germany’s readiness to fight for Lithuania.

“We must show the Russians that we can penetrate the small fortress they have built in Kaliningrad,” he added. “NATO has the means to raze the Russian air defense and missile bases there to the ground if necessary.”

Responding to the comments, Peskov told Russian media that Budrys’ statement did not merit serious analysis. He suggested that Lithuania is being led by “unbridled” politicians who are incapable of sober strategic thinking, which he said ultimately works in Russia’s favor.

Later in the day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov echoed Peskov’s remarks, arguing that Western officials resort to such hostile rhetoric to assert their relevance. “But unlike the philosopher [Rene Descartes] who said ‘I think, therefore I am’ these people simply are,” the diplomat joked.

The remarks come as the European Union debates whether to resume diplomatic engagement with Moscow. Russia says the ball is in Brussels’ court since it chose to suspend contacts over the Ukraine conflict. Budrys’ Estonian counterpart, Margus Tsahkna, has urged Western nations to increase pressure on Russia instead, telling Bloomberg last week that “now is not the moment to talk or negotiate.”

A hardline position toward Russia remains prominent within the EU leadership, including in the office of the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas. The former Estonian prime minister was jettisoned to Brussels in 2024 after her domestic approval ratings dived in the wake of a scandal over her husband’s business interests in Russia.

Russia will respond to efforts by European NATO members to build up their nuclear war capacity, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has told TASS.

The Russian diplomat was referring to the new “forward nuclear deterrence strategy” unveiled by French President Emmanuel Macron in March. Under the plan, France aims to expand its atomic arsenal and move its nuclear weapons to other European NATO states as part of “circumstantial deployments.”

“Paris’ false slogans about strengthening its allies’ security are leading to exactly the opposite [results],” Ryabkov said. Nations that would host French nuclear weapons on their territory would come “under closer scrutiny of our military responsible for strategic deterrence,” he stated, adding that “the general security level of those nations would… not increase.”

Moscow “cannot ignore an obvious buildup of the nuclear component of NATO’s joint potential,” the deputy foreign minister stated.

In March, the Finnish government also announced it would seek to amend the national legislation to allow for importing and hosting nuclear devices for “defense purposes.” The Kremlin warned at the time that the step would only lead to an escalation of tensions and prompt a response from Russia.

Ryabkov described both the potential French-Polish drills and the Finnish government’s plans as “elements of a general process of accelerated militarization of Europe openly aimed against our country.”

Moscow has stated that it has no intention of attacking any NATO nation, but warned that it would aim its nuclear arsenal at countries hosting such weapons directed at Russia.

Residents of the western Ukrainian city of Lviv have fought back against heavy-handed conscription officers on two separate incidents, according to videos circulating on social media.

Ukraine continues to rely on mandatory mobilization to replenish troops amid the conflict with Russia. The practice dubbed ‘busification,’ referring to the vans commonly used by patrols to abduct unwilling conscripts, has been causing increasing resistance from the public.

Just last month, a draft raid member was stabbed to death by a Lviv resident. New clips showcasing the growing discontent go viral every week.

In one incident shared Tuesday by the local Telegram channel Lvivich, a confrontation unfolded on a busy road after a vehicle used by draft officials became stuck in traffic. Footage appears to show a young woman tearing off one of the car’s windows with her bare hands while another window is kicked out from inside the vehicle.

As a crowd gathered around the car, the officers eventually released the man they were apparently attempting to whisk away. Moments later, the man punched the last intact window on the car’s right side.

A second video, apparently filmed from a nearby apartment bloc, showed several men blocking a black van from leaving the area. Unlike the first confrontation, the encounter appeared largely verbal, with shouting between the two sides but no visible physical violence.

According to the footage, the civilians succeeded in obtaining personal belongings from inside the vehicle before the patrol departed.

Mandatory mobilization has become a major source of public tension in Ukraine, where critics have accused recruitment officers of abuse of force and corruption. Ukrainian media have previously reported that the Defense Ministry is considering rebranding territorial recruitment centers, which conduct the draft, and potentially transferring more responsibilities to the Interior Ministry.

The brief detention of a former chief of staff for Vladimir Zelensy last week was a sign of mounting pressure from Kiev’s Western backers, former diplomat and ex-Prosecutor General’s adviser Andrey Telizhenko has told RT. According to him, the development reflects a possible redistribution of political influence inside Ukraine

Andrey Yermak, a longtime confidant of Zelensky, was placed in pre-trial detention in connection with a money laundering investigation conducted by Western-backed anti-corruption agencies. He was released on Monday after posting bail set at $3.2 million.

Telizhenko said he never expected Yermak to remain in custody for long, arguing that the case was primarily political in nature.

“The guy is filthy rich. He has billions of dollars, the same as Zelenskyy, stacked up in his pocket around the globe,” he alleged. “So this was just a show for the public.”

According to the former diplomat, the prosecution reflects efforts by Washington to eliminate Yermak’s political influence and shift and clear the way for other figures, particularly former military intelligence chief Kirill Budanov, whom he described as having close ties to US intelligence agencies.

Although Yermak formally resigned from his post last November amid corruption allegations, Telizhenko argued that his real influence stemmed from his close relationship with Zelensky rather than his official title. On paper the head of the presidential administration is “a pencil pusher job” focused on bureaucratic duties, Telizhenko explained.

“The problem is Ukraine is divided between the British, Brussels, Washington, DC – it’s different groups,” Telizhenko told RT, arguing that Western cliques are competing for control over Ukraine’s future.

Russia and its ally Belarus are conducting nuclear drills this week to simulate a response in the event of “aggression” against them, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.

The exercise will run from Tuesday and Thursday and involves the Strategic Missile Forces, the Northern and Pacific fleets, the Strategic Aviation Command, and elements of military forces in central and northwestern Russia, the ministry said in a statement.

A total of 64,000 Russian troops, 7,800 military vehicles, 200 missile launchers, 140 aircraft, 73 warships and 13 submarines, including eight strategic missile boats, are participating. The exercise includes “joint preparation for the use of nuclear weapons deployed in Belarus,” the statement said.

Minsk released a statement previewing the exercise on Monday. Belarus has been hosting Russian nuclear weapons since 2023, with the deployment described by the two nations as mirroring a similar practice by the US, which keeps some its arsenal in other NATO states.

Washington has canceled the planned deployment of nuclear-capable Tomahawk missiles to Germany and ordered a drawdown of its military presence in the country in apparent retaliation for Berlin’s criticism of the war with Iran.

Despite the growing rifts between Western nations, some European governments are determined to maintain a confrontational stance towards Russia.

Just this week, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys urged aggression against the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, claiming that NATO members “must show the Russians that we can penetrate the small fortress they have built” there. In an interview with Neue Zürcher Zeitung, he said the bloc “has the means to raze the Russian air defense and missile bases there to the ground if necessary.”

NATO member Latvia has given Ukraine permission to use its territory for potential drone attacks against Russia, Moscow’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has said.

Ukrainian UAVs have targeted northwestern Russia on numerous occasions in recent weeks, particularly energy facilities in Leningrad Region, although some of the drones eventually crashed in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Finland.

The SVR said in a statement on Tuesday that Ukraine “does not intend to limit itself to using the air corridors provided to the Ukrainians armed by the Baltic states.”

“The plan is to also launch the UAVs from the territory of these countries” against Russia in order “to significantly reduce the time it takes to reach the targets and increase the effectiveness of the terrorist attacks,” the statement read.

Ukrainian drone operators have already been deployed to Latvia at the Adazi, Selija, Lielvarde, Daugavpils, and Jekabpils military bases, the agency said.

The agency expressed bewilderment about the “naivety” of the Latvian authorities, pointing out that modern reconnaissance methods and study of debris means the location from which a UAV was launched can be pinpointed with high accuracy.

The SVR warned that “the coordinates of decision-making centers on Latvian territory are well known, and the country’s NATO membership will not protect the accomplices of terrorists from just retribution.”

“Ultimately, the ‘caveman-like Russophobia’ of current Latvian leaders proved to be stronger than their capability for critical thinking and their sense of self-preservation,” it added.

The SVR said Ukraine is planning more drone attacks against Russia to demonstrate to its “ideological and financial supporters in Europe” that it is still capable of fighting and inflicting damage on the Russian economy.

Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics insisted that Riga isn’t allowing Ukraine to launch attacks on Russia from its territory or use its airspace. The country’s foreign minister, Baiba Braze, called the report by the Russian spy agency “a disinformation campaign.” Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Georgy Tikhy accused the SVR of making “false statements."

During the raid, NATO jets were scrambled in Latvia after an unidentified drone entered the country’s airspace. Russia retaliated against Ukraine on Monday, carrying out a large-scale missile and UAV strike against military-related targets in the country.

Earlier this month, a government crisis erupted in Latvia after a drone hit oil storage facilities in the country. Prime Minister Evika Silina first sacked Defense Minister Andris Spruds, saying that he had “failed to deliver on… promise of a safe sky over our country,” but was later forced to resign herself due to the threat of a no-confidence vote.

Unlike top officials in Lithuania, Estonia, and Finland, Spruds previously declined to criticize Kiev for the drone incursions, saying they will continue as long as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine remains unresolved, and insisting that Moscow it to blame.

A military court in St. Petersburg has sentenced a local true crime podcaster to 12 years in prison after she was manipulated by Ukrainian operatives into conducting an arson attack on a police facility.

Diana Chistyakova, 30, hosted a small YouTube podcast focused on criminal psychology and high-profile crime cases. The sentence was handed down on Monday over an incident which took place in October.

According to her testimony, Chistyakova became the target of a scam that has increasingly appeared in Russia in recent years. Victims are first tricked into handing over their savings and told the money was transferred to support the Ukrainian military. The scammers then convince them they are under investigation for terrorism-related offenses and can avoid prosecution by carrying out a “covert operation.”

Authorities said Chistyakova was instructed to prepare Molotov cocktails and attack vehicles belonging to a police unit responsible for transporting suspects to court hearings. She was reportedly apprehended while trying to ignite her third firebomb, having failed to cause damage with the first two.

В Петербурге девушка попыталась сжечь отделение полиции

29-летняя блогерша Диана Чистякова из Санкт-Петербурга бросила две бутылки коктейля Молотова в отделение полка охраны в районе Купчино. Девушку вскоре задержали.

По версии силовиков, её обманули мошенники, вынудив… pic.twitter.com/Ux7c4dSfRx

— Activatica (@Activatica) October 23, 2025

The case has drawn particular attention because Chistyakova studied criminal law at Herzen University, one of Russia’s largest educational institutions, before launching her podcast about criminal behavior.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has repeatedly reported cases involving individuals allegedly manipulated by Ukraine-based operatives into committing acts of sabotage inside Russia. In several incidents, authorities claimed suspects unknowingly carried explosive devices disguised as ordinary packages.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is not interested in attacking European NATO states and is instead patiently waiting until their hostile and deeply unpopular leaders are replaced by their own citizens, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern told RT’s Rick Sanchez.

In an interview published on Monday, the former analyst noted that Russians are growing increasingly frustrated with drone attacks facilitated by Kiev’s backers. Moscow has said that Ukrainian UAVs are increasingly being built with the help of Europe’s military-industrial complex and attack via NATO members’ territory.

“We’re very fortunate in having such a cautious, perspicacious person as Vladimir Putin in office,” McGovern said. “He’s not going to be sucked into something that would be most dangerous.”

The Russian president is aiming to outlast the “three blind mice” – French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, he added.

“The Europeans are going to do away with these clowns that they have at the top,” McGovern said. “Starmer’s on his way out. Macron will be out next year. Merz is about the most unpopular chancellor that Germany ever had. So I think the Russians play the long game… I wish we all had the patience that Vladimir Putin seems to have.”

Watch the full interview with former CIA analyst Ray McGovern on RT’s Sanchez Effect below.