Week-ending 19 September 2025
Russia’s War against Ukraine
The FSB said Tuesday it arrested a woman accused of detonating a bomb along the Trans-Siberian Railway who allegedly worked on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence. (The Moscow Times, 16/9/25)
The FSB said it arrested an African man, officially registered as a foreign resident living in Astrakhan, on accusations of spying for Ukraine. (The Moscow Times, 17/9/25)
Evidence has been found for the first time that abducted Ukrainian children were used by Russia to assemble military equipment, according to the head of a Yale University team. (RFE/RL, 17/9/25)
Dmitry Kozak — a longtime confidant and close associate of President Putin who reportedly opposed the Ukraine war in its early days — has resigned from the government. (RFE/RL, 18/9/25)
Russia and Ukraine exchanged the bodies of more than 1,000 of their soldiers killed in the war, officials from both countries said Thursday. (The Moscow Times, 18/9/25)
A court in Moscow on Wednesday ordered the arrest in absentia of London restaurateur Yevgeny Chichvarkin on charges of spreading “fake news” about the war in Ukraine and evading “foreign agent” obligations. (The Moscow Times, 18/9/25)
A Russian military court sentenced contract soldier Dmitry Shamanaev to 16 years in a maximum-security prison for murdering a civilian who was allegedly “rude” to him. (Meduza, 18/9/25)
Three people in St. Petersburg have been arrested on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack on orders from Ukrainian intelligence, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said. (Meduza, 18/9/25)
A St. Petersburg court sentenced ex-school security guard Alexander Glushkin to five years in prison for spreading “disinformation” about the Russian army in a post about Bucha. (Meduza, 18/9/25)
Russia has appealed to the International Court of Justice over a decision by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council that held Moscow responsible for the 2014 downing of a Malaysia Airlines plane over Donbas, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. (Meduza, 19/9/25)
Other news
Russia’s high qualification board of judges has endorsed Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov’s candidacy for the post of chief justice of Russia’s Supreme Court. (The Moscow Times, 15/9/25)
Russia’s fifth wartime regional elections ended with sweeping victories for incumbents from the ruling United Russia party. (The Moscow Times, 15/9/25)
The elections for 19 regional governors in Russia, 11 regional legislatures, and numerous local offices were marred by claims of fraud. (RFE/RL, 15/9/25)
A Moscow court investigator Darya Kurilova said Monday Ilya Yashin recently listed as a “stateless person” remains a Russian citizen. (The Moscow Times, 16/9/25)
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, said that two foreign laboratories had confirmed her husband was poisoned. (The Guardian, 17/9/25)
Around 87 percent of migrant children who applied to study in Russian schools during this academic year were rejected. (RFE/RL, 17/9/25)
French cyclist Sofiane Sehili, arrested after trying to enter Russia’s Far East, will be held in jail until at least next month, Russian state media reported on Wednesday. (The Moscow Times, 17/9/25)
Russia’s State Duma has passed a bill to withdraw from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture. (RFE/RL, 18/9/25)
President Putin nominated former deputy prosecutor general and current presidential envoy to northwestern Russia, Alexander Gutsan, as the next prosecutor general. (The Moscow Times, 18/9/25)
Police in Moscow have reportedly charged punk musician Vladimir Bolobolov with storing explosives after allegedly torturing him and planting evidence. (Meduza, 18/9/25)
Vladimir Putin has signaled a willingness to abolish Russia’s labor patent system which requires citizens of visa-free countries to get special authorization for employment. (Meduza, 18/9/25)
Cleanup crews have finished removing fuel oil residues from the seabed near Anapa, nearly a year after one of the Black Sea’s worst oil spills, regional officials said Friday. Oil continues to seep from the wrecks, complicating efforts to contain the damage. (The Moscow Times, 19/9/25)
