Week-ending 6 March 2026
Russia’s War against Ukraine
At least 55 Ghanaians have been killed in Russia’s war with Ukraine. (The Guardian, 27/2/26)
Pavel Talankin’s undercover film about his school’s indoctrination drive won a Bafta and is tipped for an Oscar, but has left him in exile (The Guardian, 2/3/26)
The Supreme Court designated the Russian Anti-War Committee a terrorist organization. (The Moscow Times, 2/3/26)
In January, the Russian government formally added drone assembly and operation to lessons taught under the school subject Fundamentals of Homeland Security. (The Moscow Times, 3/3/26)
Text and audio messages, photos, and videos purportedly sent and received by Roman Demurchiev includes ample evidence of possible war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine. (RFE/RL, 3/3/26)
For the first time in at least two years, Russian forces appear to have lost territory in Ukraine, according to battlefield experts and open-source researchers. (RFE/RL, 3/3/26)
President Putin urged Russia’s Interior Ministry to recruit veterans of the country’s war in Ukraine to help address growing personnel shortages in the country’s police force. (The Moscow Times, 4/3/26)
Russia is spending tens of millions of dollars to recruit Ukraine war veterans into Paralympic sport. (The Moscow Times, 4/3/26)
Russia has agreed to free two Ukrainian-Hungarian dual nationals captured while fighting for Ukraine, President Putin said. (The Moscow Times, 4/3/26)
Russia and Ukraine released 200 prisoners of war each on Thursday. (The Moscow Times, 5/3/26)
The US has temporarily allowed India to buy Russian oil currently stuck at sea in an effort to keep global supplies flowing and temper further price increases. (The Guardian, 6/3/26)
Other news
The mayor’s office in Irkutsk revoked a permit for a public demonstration against government restrictions on Telegram. (The Moscow Times, 27/2/26)
Russian police have arrested Alexei Kostylev, the founder and former editor-in-chief of the pro-Kremlin news outlet Readovka, on charges of fraud. (The Moscow Times, 27/2/26)
New laws taking effect on March 1, 2026 concern ‘protection’ of the Russian language; ‘traditional Russian spiritual and moral values’ in media and film; and ‘drug propaganda’. (Meduza, 2/3/26)
London’s High Court ruled former Yukos shareholders may seek to enforce arbitration awards against Russian state assets in Britain. (The Moscow Times, 2/3/26)
A Moscow judge sentenced exiled Yekaterina Schulmann to one year in prison in absentia after finding her guilty of violating Russia’s “foreign agent” law. (The Moscow Times, 2/3/26)
Russia’s Central Bank said that it filed a lawsuit in one of the European Union’s two main courts to challenge the bloc’s decision to freeze Russian state assets indefinitely. (The Moscow Times, 3/3/26)
Russia’s Justice Ministry has designated UC Berkeley and the Russian-American Science Association (RASA) as “undesirable” organizations. (The Moscow Times, 3/3/26)
Investigations revealed prevaricating about the timing of Putin’s meetings is common practice for the Kremlin, which has also repeatedly misled the public about Putin’s location. (RFE/RL, 4/3/26)
Russia’s prison population has fallen to a historic low, the first deputy chief justice of the Supreme Court said, with 308,000 people currently incarcerated nationwide. (The Moscow Times, 4/3/26)
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that the city government will reduce the size of its workforce by 15% after budget revenues in recent months fell short of projections. (The Moscow Times, 4/3/26)
A judge in Chechnya sentenced Zarema Musaeva, jailed mother of exiled critics of Ramzan Kadyrov, to nearly four years in prison for assaulting a prison guard. (The Moscow Times, 5/3/26)
Authorities in Moscow arrested between 20 and 45 Iranian citizens for allegedly holding an unauthorized rally in support of U.S. and Israeli actions in the Middle East. (Meduza, 6/3/26)
A Russian judge has sentenced a Romanian man to 15 years in prison after he was found guilty of spying for Ukraine, court officials said Thursday. (The Moscow Times, 6/3/26)
