News of the Week

Week-ending 24 October 2025

Russia’s War against Ukraine

Actors Martin and Janet Sheen, John Cusack and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek urged Russia to end the solitary confinement of anti-war activist Mikhail Kriger. (The Moscow Times, 17/10/25)

Russian courts have convicted at least 158 minors on terrorism and sabotage-related charges since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. (The Moscow Times, 20/10/25)

Moscow police are using facial-recognition technology to detain men who have appealed their military conscription orders. (The Moscow Times, 20/10/25)

Exiled Russian pop artist Monetochka has written a poem in support of three St. Petersburg street musicians, jailed after performing a banned anti-Kremlin song. (The Moscow Times, 20/10/25)

In the fourth year of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, reports of post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol addiction among troops are on the rise. (The Moscow Times, 21/10/25)

Singer Diana Loginova (Naoko) faces two additional charges of “discrediting” the Russian army, which could lead to criminal prosecution. (The Moscow Times, 21/10/25)

Police have detained Yevgeny Mikhailov a local street performer in Yekaterinburg after he played songs in support of members of Stoptime, arrested in St. Petersburg. (The Moscow Times, 21/10/25)

The FSB said it had arrested a man in the Amur region for transferring money to a pro-Ukrainian organization and passing information about military train movements. (The Moscow Times, 22/10/25)

Western countries have ratcheted up pressure on Moscow with sanctions announcements in Washington and Brussels targeting the oil and gas sectors. (RFE/RL, 23/10/25)

Russia on Thursday returned 1,000 bodies to Ukraine, which Moscow said were the remains of Kyiv’s soldiers killed in battle. (The Moscow Times, 23/10/24)

EU leaders stopped short of a deal to use frozen Russian state assets to fund Ukraine, after Belgium — where most of the money is held — raised legal and technical concerns. (RFE/RL, 24/10/25)

Other news

France has arrested four people in a probe into a suspected plot against an unnamed Russian dissident reportedly Vladimir Osechkin. (The Moscow Times, 16/10/25)

Russia is preparing to introduce textbooks for school language and literature classes aimed at promoting “patriotism” and “spiritual and moral values”. (The Moscow Times, 17/10/25)

A record $50-billion payment from Russia to shareholders of oil giant Yukos remains in force after the Dutch Supreme Court on Friday quashed a Russian appeal. (The Moscow Times, 17/10/25)

The body of missing Chechen woman Ayshat Baimuradova who had reportedly fled domestic violence has been found in a rented apartment in Yerevan. (The Moscow Times, 20/10/25)

Russia’s regions are facing a looming fiscal crisis as falling tax revenues and mounting expenses have forced local governments to exhaust nearly all their financial reserves. (The Moscow Times, 20/10/25)

Russian police said Tuesday that they had opened the country’s first criminal case over a violation of a new law that bans the transfer of mobile phone numbers to others. (The Moscow Times, 21/10/25)

Russia has built a unified database of “digital traces” of cybercriminals to help authorities block fraudulent networks, Prosecutor General Alexander Gutsan said . (The Moscow Times, 21//10/25)

Access to Telegram and WhatsApp has been restricted in about 40% of Russia’s regions, the independent monitoring project Na Svyazi said Wednesday. (The Moscow Times, 22/10/25)

Russia’s mobile operators say almost no foreign tourists bother to buy local SIM cards under new identification rules that have made the process too onerous. (The Moscow Times, 22/10/25)

Nasiliu.net, Russia’s leading domestic violence support center, announced it is shutting down over intensifying government pressure. (The Moscow Times, 22/10/25)

A court northeast of Moscow fined a local language center for referencing the British Council, a U.K.-backed cultural organization banned earlier this year as ‘undesirable.’ (The Moscow Times, 22/10/25)

French cyclist Sofiane Sehili detained for more than seven weeks was convicted of illegally crossing the border, fined 50.000 roubles and released. (The Moscow Times, 23/10/25)