Page 4 - Kremlin

Russia brings new charges against jailed opposition leader Navalny

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

Russia has not abandoned moratorium on nuclear testing, says Kremlin

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

Russian President Putin meets top Wagner commander, discusses Ukraine

The Kremlin said the meeting took place late on Thursday

Deliberate wrongdoing among possible causes of crash: Kremlin on Prigozhin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Putin weakened by Wagner Group mutiny, Ukraine missed opportunity

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

Wagner group's revolt against Moscow fizzles but exposes vulnerabilities

The greatest challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power fizzled out after the rebellious mercenary commander who ordered his troops to march on Moscow abruptly reached a deal with the Kremlin to go into exile and sounded the retreat. The brief revolt, though, exposed vulnerabilities among Russian government forces, with Wagner Group soldiers under the command of Yevgeny Prigozhin able to move unimpeded into the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and advance hundreds of kilometres toward Moscow. The Russian military scrambled to defend Russia's capital. Under the deal announced Saturday by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Prigozhin will go to neighbouring Belarus, which has supported Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Charges against him of mounting an armed rebellion will be dropped. The government also said it would not prosecute Wagner fighters who took part, while those who did not join in were to be offered contracts by the Defence Ministry. ...

Prigozhin will move to Belarus after his rebellious march, says Kremlin

Russian military company Wagner will move to neighbouring Belarus as part of deal to defuse rebellion tensions and the criminal case against him will be closed, the Kremlin said Saturday. Yevgeny Prigozhin's troops who joined him in the uprising will not face prosecution and those who did not will be offered contracts by the Defense Ministry, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. After the deal was reached, Prigozhin said he was ordering his troops to halt their march on Moscow and retreat to field camps in Ukraine, where they have been fighting alongside Russian troops. The deal appeared to defuse a dramatically escalating crisis that represented the most significant challenge to President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power. The deal was mediated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a staunch Putin ally.

Russia reports heavy fighting along border regions of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia

Russia-appointed officials and pro-Kremlin bloggers have reported intense fighting along the border of Ukraine's Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions -- an area where Kiev's forces have made gains

Zelenskyy wants Putin trial for war crimes, Russia accuses US on drones

Ukraine and Russia pressed their wartime rhetoric Thursday, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressing confidence that Vladimir Putin would be convicted of war crimes and the Kremlin alleging that the U.S. was behind an assassination attempt against the Russian president. The country's leaders have personally attacked each other multiple times during the war Russia started by invading Ukraine in February 2022. The latest flareup came Wednesday, with Russia's claim that Ukraine had attacked the Kremlin in Moscow with drones meant to assassinate Putin. Zelenskyy denied that Ukrainian forces were responsible for the purported drone attack. The Kremlin promised unspecified retaliation for what it termed a terrorist act, and pro-Kremlin figures called for the assassinations of senior Ukraine leaders. Uncertainty still surrounds exactly what happened in the purported attack. Putin's spokesman on Thursday accused the United States of involvement. To generate domestic support

Russian Prez Putin set to host Syrian leader Assad at the Kremlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to host Syrian leader Bashar Assad for talks in the Kremlin on Wednesday that are expected to focus on rebuilding Syria after a devastating civil war. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the two leaders would talk about postwar reconstruction and the continuation of the peace process in all of its aspects with an emphasis on the absolute priority of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Wednesday's meeting comes on the anniversary of Syria's 12-year uprising-turned-civil war that has killed nearly 500,000 people and displaced half of the country's prewar population. Russia has waged a military campaign in Syria since September 2015, teaming up with Iran to allow Assad's government to fight back armed opposition groups and to reclaim control over most of the country. While Russia has concentrated its military resources in Ukraine, Moscow has maintained its military foothold in Syria and kept its warplanes and troops there. Moscow ha

Will Vladimir Putin attend India G20 summit? Russia clears diary

Kremlin defiance is growing as efforts by the US and its allies to isolate Russia over its invasion of Ukraine are stalling in the face of reluctance among other countries to join

Kremlin accuses Ukrainian saboteurs of attack inside Western Russia

The Kremlin on Thursday accused Ukrainian saboteurs of crossing into western Russia and firing on villagers. Ukraine denied the claim and warned that Moscow could use the allegations to justify stepping up its own attacks in the ongoing war. The exact circumstances of the alleged attack reported in the Bryansk region were unclear, including what the strategic purpose of such an assault might be. If confirmed, it would be another indication following drone attacks earlier this week that Kyiv may be stepping up pressure against Moscow by exposing Russian defensive weaknesses, embarrassing the Kremlin and sowing unease among Russian civilians. Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Ukrainian terrorists for an incursion, claiming that they deliberately targeted civilians, including children in "yet another terror attack, another crime. They infiltrated the area near the border and opened fire on civilians, Putin said during a video call. They saw a civilian vehicle with civilians, wit

Supporting Ukrainian attacks on Crimea shows US intent, says Kremlin

He went on describe Nuland as part of "a very large group of the most aggressive hawks in American politics"

Nord Stream blasts done by CIA, says investigative journalist

The report said a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) working group came up with a covert operation plan to put explosives on the pipelines

Putin will not hold annual year-end press conference, says Kremlin

During the media gathering - a major political event in the country - Putin takes questions from the press and the public in a marathon that usually lasts several hours

G-7 price ceiling on Russian oil not low enough to hit Kremlin's revenues

European officials touted the cap - negotiated last week after months of haggling among the US and its allies - as a way to starve Russia's war machine

Vladimir Putin is open to talks and diplomacy on Ukraine, says Kremlin

The premier replying to US President Joe Biden' comment stating his willingness to speak with Putin but with conditions, said the the West must accept Moscow's demands