Week-ending 17 January 2025
Russia’s War against Ukraine
The Ukrainian military released video with a captured North Korean soldier who says he was lied to about combat against Ukraine. (RFE/RL, 13/1/25)
Russia’s FSB designated the “Belgorod People’s Republic,” a fictional entity born as an online meme, as a “terrorist organization.” (The Moscow Times, 14/1/25)
Since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, phone scammers orchestrated at least 187 arson attacks on military enlistment offices and other targets in Russia. (Meduza, 15/1/25)
The Australian government is “making urgent inquiries” after reports of the death of Australian citizen Oscar Jenkins captured by Russian forces. (The Guardian, 14/1/25)
The family Of Derrick Ngamana, an African mercenary killed fighting for Russia, cannot recover his remains. (RFE/RL, 15/1/25)
Russia and Ukraine exchanged 25 prisoners of war each in their first swap of 2025, officials from both countries announced Wednesday. (The Moscow Times, 15/1/25)
Other news
Russia has named regional media outlets Komi Daily and Asians of Russia as terrorist organizations. (The Moscow Times, 13/1/25)
The Museum of Moscow has removed an exhibition section about Soviet-era repressions, arts journalist Ksenia Basilashvili said Tuesday. (The Moscow Times, 15/1/25)
For the first time ever, a Moscow court has ruled against the city and awarded housing financial compensation to a victim of the Stalinist “Great Terror.” (Meduza, 14/1/25)
Migrant detention centers are running out of space after a crackdown on undocumented migrants. Detainees are saying they have no access to “proper food.” (RFE/RL, 15/1/25)
Russia designated the Canadian information management corporation OpenText as an “undesirable” organization. (The Moscow Times, 16/1/25)
Nearly 150 volunteers and workers cleaning up oil along the Black Sea coast sought medical assistance. A 17-year-old university student reportedly died. (The Moscow Times, 16/1/25)
IK-2 penal colony in the town of Pokrov where the late opposition figure Alexei Navalny was held after returning to Russia in 2021 is set to shut down. (The Moscow Times, 16/1/25)
The court sentenced Navalny’s lawyers Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin, and Aleksei Liptser to terms in prison on a charge of belonging to an “extremist group” for helping transport writings from Navalny that became the basis for his memoir, Patriot. Kobzev received a sentence of 5 1/2 years, Lipster was sentenced to 5 years and Sergunin to 3 1/2 years. All three have been in pretrial detention since October 2023. (RFE/RL, 17/1/25)
Police arrested several journalists accredited to attend a court hearing in the case against late opposition politician Alexey Navalny’s lawyers. (Meduza, 17/1/25)
Russian police searched the Moscow apartment of opposition figure Ilya Yashin’s parents on Thursday and briefly detained them for questioning, the exiled activist said on social media. (The Moscow Times, 17/1/25)
