The Moscow Times (EN)

Russia Expels U.K. Defense Attache in Tit-For-Tat Move Russia ordered the expulsion of the United Kingdom's defense attache in Moscow on Thursday, a move it said was direct retaliation for London expelling Russia's defense attache last week. The U.K. had accused Moscow's defense attache — a diplomat in charge of military affairs — of being "an undeclared military intelligence officer," a charge Moscow called a lie. Read more | Subscribe to our channel

Opinion | Russia’s New Defense Minister Faces Thankless Economic Task By Nick Trickett Andrei Belousov’s sudden elevation to defense minister has thrust the governance of Russia’s economy back into the limelight. It also caps off a long-running effort on Belousov’s part to break the economy out of its period of low growth, an effort now inseparable from the requirements of the war with Ukraine. Even in a system driven by personal loyalties and self-interest, ideas matter. Belousov has long been one of Russia’s most credible proponents of state intervention within a market economy. This credibility was won by decades of experience as a forecaster sifting through the minutiae of economic statistics before joining the Economic Development Ministry and presidential administration.  The views expressed in opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the position of The Moscow Times. Read more | Subscribe to our channel

Russian Scientists Discover New Dinosaur Species in Siberia Russian paleontologists at St. Petersburg State University said Thursday that they have discovered a new species of fast-running dinosaurs believed to have lived in Siberia at least 100 million years ago. A single specimen of the Kiyacursor longipes was found in the Kiya River of the coal-producing Kemerovo region. The dinosaur belongs to a genus of carnivorous ceratosaurs thought to have lived in the Late Jurassic Period around 153-148 million years ago. Read more | Subscribe to our channel

Russia Extends Pre-Trial Detention of Crocus Attack Suspects A Moscow court ruled Thursday to extend the pre-trial detention of eight men accused of organizing and carrying out the deadly Crocus City Hall concert attack in March. Law enforcement agents arrested four gunmen the day after the March 22 attack, which left 145 people dead and hundreds more wounded. A total of 11 people were eventually arrested in connection with the deadly shooting, which was claimed by Islamic State affiliate ISIS-K. Read more | Subscribe to our channel

Russia Sues Kremlin Critic Khodorkovsky, Ex-Business Partner  Russian prosecutors have filed an unspecified lawsuit against the exiled former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his one-time business partner Platon Lebedev, the Vedomosti business newspaper reported Thursday. Moscow’s Meshchansky District Court registered the suit against Khodorkovsky, Lebedev, and the defunct Siberian Leasing Company on May 8, the newspaper said, citing Russia’s database of court cases. Initial hearings have been scheduled for May 27. Read more | Subscribe to our channel

Russia Labels Independent News Outlet SOTA 'Undesirable' Russian authorities on Thursday labeled the independent news outlet SOTA as “undesirable,” effectively banning anyone from working with or having links to the organization. Russia’s General Prosector’s Office, which announced the designation, described SOTA’s news coverage as “nothing more than an outright attempt to destabilize the socio-political situation inside Russia.” Read more | Subscribe to our channel

Ukraine Accuses Russian Troops of Killing Civilians in Kharkiv Region Ukraine on Thursday accused Russia of detaining and killing civilians in the border town of Vovchansk in the northeastern Kharkiv region, where Russian forces launched a ground assault last week. "Russian troops are taking civilians prisoner," Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko wrote on Telegram, adding that intelligence reports suggested Russian forces "trying to gain a foothold in the city did not allow local residents to evacuate." Read more | Subscribe to our channel

Russia’s First Transgender Politician Announces Detransition Russia’s first transgender politician said Thursday that he has returned to his gender assigned at birth, a surprise announcement that comes amid a nationwide crackdown on the LGBTQ+ community. Roman Alyoshin previously went by the name Yulia Alyoshina, which he said was listed in an internal passport he received in 2020. Last year, while still identifying as a woman, he dropped a bid to run for governor in Siberia’s Altai region, shortly before President Vladimir Putin banned legal and surgical sex changes. Read more | Subscribe to our channel

Kyiv Says Halted Russian Advance in Some Areas of Ukraine's Kharkiv Region The Ukrainian military said Thursday that it had halted a Russian advance in some parts of the northeastern Kharkiv region, where Moscow's troops launched a new offensive nearly a week ago. "The situation in the Kharkiv sector remains complicated but is evolving in a dynamic manner," a military spokesman said. Read more | Subscribe to our channel

Gallery | In Photos: Russia's Massive Patriotic Expo Draws Millions of Visitors to VDNKh By Moscow Times Reporter At least 12 million people have visited the Russia Expo at Moscow's VDNKh exhibition center. The exhibition, which opened in November 2023 and runs through July 2024, describes itself as “a large-scale projection of the entire country” and comes as the Kremlin pushes to increase public patriotism amid the invasion of Ukraine. In addition to displaying folk culture and costumes from across the country, the expo showcases "major scientific discoveries" and the "latest technological developments" from Russia’s regions — including the Kremlin-occupied Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, as well as annexed Crimea. The expo, whose organizers include Russian ministries and state corporations like Gazprom, has also presented patriotic events, concerts and conferences. Here's a look at photos from the expo: View gallery | Subscribe to our channel