Meduza

War and sanctions have cut Russia’s nonstop flight network to about 30 countries this summer — fewer than during the Iron Curtain era

Russians will have nonstop service to 31–32 countries this summer — 25% fewer than airlines offered in their winter schedules ...
Meduza

Russian Orthodox priests hold procession to ward off Ukrainian drones, calling the attacks an ‘affliction’

Russian Orthodox Church priests held a prayer service in Perm and drove through the city with the “Permskaya” icon of the ...
Meduza

Ukraine hit Moscow with its biggest drone attack since the start of the war. Russian national TV networks all but ignored it.

Russia’s national television networks almost entirely ignored the largest Ukrainian drone attack on the Moscow area since the ...
Meduza

Russian soldiers who want out of the war are deserting and turning themselves in, hoping for prison time. Some are hiring lawyers to make it happen.

Many Russian soldiers unwilling to fight in Ukraine are deserting and then turning themselves in, seeking prosecution and ...
Meduza

A bankrupt entrepreneur climbed onto the imperial throne at the Hermitage museum and threatened staff with a knife while demanding Putin’s attention

A 45-year-old entrepreneur from the Leningrad region climbed onto the Great Imperial Throne at the Hermitage on May 17, sat ...
Meduza

Kremlin spokesman complains of ‘unrelenting drone strikes by Ukraine’s forces against civilian targets.’ He made no mention of the attack on Moscow.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged reporters to “pay particular attention to the unrelenting strikes by Ukraine’s armed forces using drones against civilian targets and civilian infrastructure ...
Meduza

Belarus begins drills on combat use of nuclear weapons

Belarus’s Defense Ministry has announced exercises for units responsible for the combat use and logistical support of nuclear ...
Meduza

A 14-year-old girl vanished in Russia after a drone strike burned her family’s home to the ground. Her body was never found.

Ukrainian drones struck Tuapse in the early hours of April 16 — the first in a series of large-scale attacks on the Tuapse ...
Meduza

‘Propaganda uses me now in both directions,’ says Russian archaeologist freed in prisoner exchange

Alexander Butyagin, a St. Petersburg archaeologist and Hermitage Museum researcher, was arrested in Warsaw in late 2025.
Meduza

Bail posted for Andriy Yermak, former Ukrainian presidential chief of staff. He has been released from pretrial detention.

Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court has approved a 140 million hryvnia bail for Andriy Yermak, the former chief of staff ...
Meduza

Online grocery sales growth in Russia slowed sharply in early 2026. Mobile internet outages are partly to blame.

Growth in Russia’s online grocery sales slowed sharply in the first quarter of 2026, the Russian business daily Kommersant ...
Meduza

Unmarried partners of deceased Russian soldiers sue over denial of benefits and payments

Russia’s Supreme Court has received its first lawsuit challenging a law that restricts benefits for the unmarried partners of ...