Week-ending 28 November 2025
Russia’s War against Ukraine
The EU has imposed sanctions against Russian prison officials responsible for the death of the Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna. Roshchyna was reporting on Russia’s systematic policy of extrajudicial detention and torture in occupied parts of Ukraine, before falling victim to it herself. She died at the age of 27 last year after more than a year in Russian captivity. Her body was returned earlier this year with some of the internal organs missing. (The Guardian, 21/11/25)
Mosfilm, Russia’s leading film studio, and several regional historical museums are buying drones and military-capable electronic equipment for use in Ukraine in what appears to be an unusual example of cultural institutions being forced to spend budget funds on the war effort. (RFE/RL, 21/11/25)
Ukraine marked Holodomor Remembrance Day on November 22 as Russia launched a massive overnight attack. On the fourth Saturday of November, Ukrainians honor the victims of the Holodomor, the man-made famine orchestrated by the Soviet government in the 1930s that led to the deaths of millions of Ukrainians. (RFE/RL, 22/11/25)
Authorities in St. Petersburg released street musicians Diana Loginova and Alexander Orlov after a month in custody. St. Petersburg police arrested Loginova and Orlov three times, beginning on Oct. 15. The cycle of arrests began after their band Stoptime went viral for performing songs by anti-war musicians during street concerts in St. Petersburg. (The Moscow Times, 23/121/25)
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Monday that its agents killed two men who were allegedly trying to carry out a sabotage attack on a railway line in Siberia’s Altai region over the weekend. According to the FSB, the pair had sought to place a so-called derailing device along train tracks on Saturday evening. (The Moscow Times, 24/11/25)
Researchers at a Yale University lab in the United States are using satellite imagery to locate Ukrainian children abducted by Russia, and have uncovered 210 re-education and military camps housing some of them, the lab’s director told AFP. (The Moscow Times, 25/11/25)
The FSB said it arrested a 17-year-old in the western Kaliningrad region for allegedly trying to attack a Russian Orthodox church. The FSB claimed the teenager, who was not identified by name, had been recruited via Telegram by an unnamed “terrorist organization” that it said was “coordinated” by Ukrainian intelligence services. (The Moscow Times, 25/11/25)
Former Vladivostok Mayor Oleg Gumenyuk had his 12-year prison sentence for bribery overturned after receiving a state award while serving in the Russian military. (The Moscow Times, 26/11/25)
Moscow prosecutors asked a court to sentence physicist Artyom Khoroshilov to 25 years on charges of treason, attacking critical infrastructure, and preparing a sabotage attack. (Meduza, 26/11/25)
Authorities in the Siberian republics of Khakassia and Sakha (Yakutia) have cut monetary support to soldiers fighting in Ukraine and their families due to budgetary constraints. This month, authorities in the Ulyanovsk region introduced restrictions on mobile internet access that are due to remain in effect until the end of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. (The Moscow Times, 27/11/25)
A Russian military court on Thursday sentenced eight men to life in prison over the 2022 bombing of the Crimean Bridge. All eight defendants had denied the charges against them. The trial began earlier this year and was held behind closed doors. (The Moscow Times, 27/11/25)
Other news
Chechnya has introduced a new ban for women’s fashion that prohibits traditional clothing featuring “masculine elements.” While this isn’t the first time the Russian republic’s authorities have imposed restrictions on women’s appearance, observers say the rationale behind the latest rules is about control –- not tradition, as claimed. (RFE/RL, 23/11/25)
Russian law enforcement authorities said Tuesday that they arrested the administrator and an 18-year-old resident of a privately run rehab center outside Moscow following accusations that minors there were subjected to physical and psychological abuse. (The Moscow Times, 26/11/25)
Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday designated Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation as a terrorist organization, escalating a yearslong crackdown on the late opposition leader’s network and exposing its members and supporters to even harsher penalties. (The Moscow Times, 27/11/25)
