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“Even in Chechnya, there was nothing like this,” a soldier tells friend in an intercepted call, as reports emerge of another getting so fed up he ran over his colonel with a tank.
Allison Quinn

Two Russian soldiers have been caught venting about Putin’s “bullshit” war against Ukraine in an intercepted phone call as devastating losses reportedly led one soldier to drive over his colonel with a tank. “Basically, it’s a shitshow here, I’ll put it that way,” an unnamed soldier near Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine can be heard telling a colleague in a recording released by Ukraine’s Security Service late Tuesday. After telling his friend that Ukrainian forces “tore apart” a column of Russian forces sent along with his own unit, he described complete disarray among the Russian military, with 50 percent of the unit suffering from frostbite on their feet. “But they don’t plan to treat them in the [field] hospital,” he said. On the fourth day of their deployment, he said, the general commanding the unit, General-Lieutenant Yakov Rezantsev, told them it’d be over quickly.
Jason Lalljee

It's not a question of whether people want to leave Russia, Oleg Itskhoki, an economics professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, told Insider. It's a matter of when they will — and whether they can. "People want to leave in mass quantities now, but there are severe restrictions on mobility as a result of sanctions," he said, citing "closed embassies, closed skies for flying." "So, in fact, fewer people will be able to leave even if more people are trying harder to leave now," he added. "This is particularly relevant for educated, informed people." Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine last week, Western countries enacted a wave of sanctions that left Russia isolated and financially restricted. Foreign governments have even left Russians physically isolated: At least 33 foreign airlines have stopped flying to Russia, and most European countries have prohibited Russian planes from entering their airspace.
AP News

LONDON (AP) — Russian Olympic athletes who participated in a rally supporting President Vladimir Putin and the invasion of Ukraine are facing a backlash, with one losing a sponsorship deal and facing a disciplinary investigation. Medalists from cross-country skiing, gymnastics, figure skating and swimming gathered on stage at the Luzhniki Stadium on Friday as part of the concert and entertainment program around Putin’s speech. Olympic champion swimmer Evgeny Rylov is under investigation from the sport’s governing body, known as FINA, for attending the event.
Barbie Latza Nadeau

ROME—For the last two weeks, Russian oligarch watchers have had their eyes on the Scheherazade mega yacht docked in the posh Marina di Carrara in northern Tuscany. There are growing suspicions that the $700 million, six-deck super-luxurious vessel—with its two helicopter pads, various swimming pools, his-and-hers beauty salons and gold fixtures that would make Donald Trump jealous—belongs to Vladimir Putin. Until two days ago, its Russian crew, led by British captain Guy Bennett Pearce, whose mother told the Daily Telegraph her son would “never work for a murderer,” didn’t leave the ship. But The Daily Beast has learned that all that changed this week when the Russian crew disappeared overnight, replaced by an entirely British set, who, despite Brexit constraints that would require work visas, seem to have descended out of nowhere.
From CNN's Andrew Carey, Yulia Presniakova and Hande Atay Alam

A convoy of 11 empty buses — driving towards Mariupol to rescue fleeing Ukrainians — has been commandeered by Russian forces, according to the Ukrainian government. The Russians have driven the buses, along with the original bus drivers and several emergency services workers, to an undisclosed location the government says.
John Bacon, Tom Vanden Brook and Joel Shannon | USA TODAY

As many as 15,000 Russian troops have been killed since the invasion of Ukraine began four weeks ago, according to NATO's first estimate since the war began. Russia has suffered 30,000 to 40,000 battlefield casualties, including 7,000 to 15,000 killed, a senior NATO military officer said in a briefing Wednesday from the alliance’s military headquarters in Belgium. The officer, speaking on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by NATO, said the estimated deaths are based on information from the Ukrainian government, indications from Russia and open-source information. The officer said the number of casualties came from a calculation of three wounded soldiers for every soldier killed. Casualties include killed, wounded or missing in action as well as those taken prisoner.
By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON, March 22 (Reuters) - Russia's combat power in Ukraine has declined below 90 percent of its pre-invasion levels for the first time since its attack began, a senior U.S. defense official said on Tuesday, suggesting heavy losses of weaponry and growing casualties. The United States has estimated Russia assembled more than 150,000 troops around Ukraine before the Feb. 24 invasion, along with enough aircraft, artillery, tanks and other firepower for its full-scale attack. "For the first time they may be just a little bit below 90 percent," the U.S. defense official told reporters on condition of anonymity. The official did not provide evidence. Nearly a month into the war, Russian troops have failed to capture a single major city and their advance has been halted on nearly all fronts by Ukrainian forces. Moscow has instead turned to bombarding cities with artillery, missiles and bombs. read more Russia denies targeting civilians.
By Andrew Carey, Kostan Nechyporenko and Jack Guy, CNN

(CNN) Russian forces have looted and destroyed a laboratory near the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear power plant that was used to monitor radioactive waste, the Ukrainian government said Wednesday. The site of the world's worst nuclear disaster fell into Russian hands in the first week of Russia's invasion, triggering fears that safety standards inside the exclusion zone could be compromised. According to a Ukrainian government agency, the laboratory was part of a European Union-funded attempt to improve radioactive waste management -- through on-site analysis of waste samples, as well as the packaging used to dispose of waste. The government agency also reported that samples of radionuclides -- unstable atoms that can emit high levels of radiation -- had been removed from the lab. It said it hoped Russia would use the samples to "harm itself, and not the civilized world."  
After an hour and a half queuing for sugar, or worse still fighting for it in a market, Russians are feeling the effect of shortages caused by an unprecedented cutoff from the world
Andrew Roth

The lines for sugar in Saratov were hard not to compare to the Soviet era, part of a recent run on Russian staples that have revived fears that the Kremlin’s invasion in Ukraine will lead to a virtual slide back to the shortages or endless queues of the Soviet Union. Bags of sugar and buckwheat began disappearing from local markets in early March, just a week after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. And when the local mayor’s office announced that it would hold special markets for people to buy the staples last week, hundreds showed up. “People are sharing tips about where to get sugar. This is crazy,” said Viktor Nazarov, who said that his grandmother had tasked him with visiting the special market last weekend to stock up. “It’s sad and it’s funny. It feels like a month ago was fine and now we’re talking about the 1990s again, buying products because … we’re afraid they’ll disappear.” After an hour and a half waiting at the city’s main square, he was limited to buying one bag of five kilograms, he said.
Josh Dickey

They couldn't ignore Arnold Schwarzenegger for long: After failing to contain the actor's lengthy video directly urging the Russian people to see through state-sponsored lies, Moscow mouthpieces went on offense. Schwarzenegger's personal-appeal video was viewed by millions across Twitter and Telegram, the latter of which is used mostly by Russians, according to the Daily Beast. After a few days of pretending there was nothing to see here, pro-Russia voices from inside the warring nation began to push back this week. "That face is the cover page of American imperialism and colonialism," a "visibly furious" TV host Vadim Gigin said on "Sunday Evening with Vladimir Solovievon," according to the Beast. "Not the caricature image of Uncle Sam, but this Schwarz, in a Hollywood production."
'Visibly Furious' Russian TV Talking Heads Rage at Arnold Schwarzenegger: 'Don't Side With Skynet'
Josh Dickey

They couldn't ignore Arnold Schwarzenegger for long: After failing to contain the actor's lengthy video directly urging the Russian people to see through state-sponsored lies, Moscow mouthpieces went on offense. Schwarzenegger's personal-appeal video was viewed by millions across Twitter and Telegram, the latter of which is used mostly by Russians, according to the Daily Beast. After a few days of pretending there was nothing to see here, pro-Russia voices from inside the warring nation began to push back this week. "That face is the cover page of American imperialism and colonialism," a "visibly furious" TV host Vadim Gigin said on "Sunday Evening with Vladimir Solovievon," according to the Beast. "Not the caricature image of Uncle Sam, but this Schwarz, in a Hollywood production."
Kremlin Refuses to Rule Out Russia Using Nuclear Weapons
AJ McDougall Breaking News Reporter

A spokesman for the Kremlin said in a Tuesday interview that Russia would use nuclear weapons if faced with an “existential threat.” Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s chief spokesman, explained in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that any violations of his nation’s “concept of domestic security” would justify the use of nuclear arms. Peskov also insisted that the Ukraine invasion was going “strictly” to plan and said Russian forces were only attacking military targets, a claim contradicted by numerous reports. Speaking in February, Putin had previously warned other countries against interfering with his invasion, saying efforts against Russia would be met with consequences “such as you have never seen in your entire history.” Around that time, he ordered Russia’s nuclear forces be put on high alert. Last week, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres cautioned that “the prospect of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, is now back within the realm of possibility.”
Russia now global economic pariah: US after sanctions
By Lalit K Jha

Russia has become a global economic pariah after it attacked Ukraine and the international community has joined the United States in imposing tough sanctions against Moscow, the Joe Biden administration has claimed. US President Biden termed the package of economic sanctions enforced against Russia "most significant in history" and claimed that it has caused consequential damage to the Russian economy. "It has caused the Russian economy to crater. The Ruble is now down 50 per cent and worth less than one American penny since Putin announced his war," he told reporters at the White House after announcing an immediate ban on import of Russian oil and gas. more...
UK's Truss says Russia becoming a 'global pariah', urges more action
By Emma Farge

GENEVA, March 1 (Reuters) - British foreign minister Liz Truss told a U.N. rights forum on Tuesday that Russia was becoming a "global pariah" and urged countries to isolate it further in response to the invasion of Ukraine launched by Moscow last week.

Ukrainian woman claims invading Russian soldiers killed, raped civilians
By Yaron Steinbuch

Russian soldiers are shooting innocent civilians and raping locals in a campaign of terror in the Ukrainian city of Irpin, according to a report. Anastasia Taran, a 30-year-old waitress who escaped Irpin, described how the invasion by the Russian forces has turned the city into “hell,” Euromaidan Press reported. “There are plenty of Russian soldiers out there who just shoot people, who enter private homes and, at best, just kick people out of their homes,” said Taran, who now provides tips on Instagram on how to get out of the city. “They rape women and the dead are just being dumped. They open the basements where people are hiding and shoot them.” The young woman’s harrowing account follows that of 27-year-old Svetlana Zorina, a resident of Kherson who recently claimed that the occupying troops have sexually assuaulted women.
By Lee Brown

Russian troops “looted and destroyed” a specialist laboratory containing “highly active” radioactive samples from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Ukrainian officials claimed Wednesday. Invading forces had made the now-decommissioned main plant — site of the world’s worst nuclear meltdown in 1986 — an early target, storming and taking control of it on the first day of the war last month. This week they also “illegally seized” a new $6.5 million laboratory that was opened in 2015 with support from the European Commission to improve management of radioactive waste there, according to the Ukrainian agency responsible for the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
Russia's Chubais resigns as Putin's special representative due to war - sources
Reuters

LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) - Anatoly Chubais, the architect of Russia's post-Soviet economic reforms, has quit his post as a Kremlin special envoy and left the country due to the war in Ukraine, two sources told Reuters, the highest profile protest by a Russian figure against the invasion. Chubais, who once served as former President Boris Yeltsin's chief of staff, left his post as Vladimir Putin's special representative for ties with international organisations, one of the sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. He was appointed to the post, which was charged with "achieving goals of sustainable development", in 2020, days after resigning as the head of state technology firm RUSNANO, which he had run since 2008.
Poland expels 45 Russian diplomats, official says
Reuters

WARSAW, March 23 (Reuters) - Poland is expelling 45 Russian diplomats suspected of working for Russian intelligence, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Russia said the accusations were baseless. Relations between Russia and Central European countries that once formed part of its sphere of influence have long been fraught but the invasion of Ukraine has significantly increased fear and suspicion about Moscow's intentions. "In total, 45 people with varying diplomatic status... were ordered to leave the territory of the Republic of Poland within 5 days," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lukasz Jasina told a news conference.
Russia's Putin gets Chinese backing to stay in G20
By Angie Teo and Stanley Widianto

JAKARTA, March 23 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to attend the next G20 summit in Indonesia later this year and received valuable backing from Beijing on Wednesday in a pushback to suggestions by some members that Russia could be barred from the group. The United States and its Western allies are assessing whether Russia should remain within the Group of Twenty major economies following its invasion of Ukraine, sources involved in the discussions told Reuters. But any move to exclude Russia would probably be vetoed by others in the group, raising the prospect of some countries instead skipping G20 meetings, the sources said. Russia's ambassador to Indonesia, which currently holds the rotating G20 chair, said Putin intended to travel to the Indonesian resort island of Bali for the G20 summit in November.
Kremlin lashes out at Poland for siding with Ukraine
Alexander Nazaryan·Senior White House Correspondent | Yahoo News

In a blistering social media post, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now a top Kremlin security adviser, lashed out at Poland for its support of Ukraine, reviving and escalating decades-long tensions between Moscow and Warsaw. Poland’s surprisingly spirited defense of Ukraine would prove “expensive and pointless,” Medvedev predicted, ominously adding that he was confident that Warsaw would “make the right choice” and embrace Russia again. Medvedev is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and served a four-year placeholder presidency when Putin was facing term limits. Medvedev went on to serve as Putin’s prime minister and is now deputy chairman of the Kremlin’s security council. Putin is the chairman.
Russian news website blames hack for report of nearly 10,000 army deaths in Ukraine
By Mark Trevelyan

LONDON, March 22 (Reuters) - A Russian newspaper has accused hackers of planting fake news on its website after a report appeared there for more than six hours saying nearly 10,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in Ukraine. An article on the site of tabloid paper Komsomolskaya Pravda, captured by a web archive tool, quoted the Russian defence ministry as saying 9,861 Russian servicemen have been killed and 16,153 wounded in what Moscow calls its special military operation in Ukraine. Those figures had been removed from a version of the same article visible on the website on Tuesday.
The heads begin to roll in Russia
By Douglas London, opinion contributor

European media report that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the house arrest of two senior Federal Security Service (FSB) officers. Colonel-General Sergei Beseda, Chief of the FSB’s “Fifth Service,” reportedly was detained along with his deputy, Anatoly Bolyuk, charged with providing flawed intelligence about Ukraine and their improper use of operational funds. Separately, Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraine’s national security council chief, claimed that several Russian generals have been fired. The implications portend more suffering yet to come, but likewise opportunities to increase pressure on the Russian leader from within. Perhaps emulating Joseph Stalin, this could be the onset of a purge and Putin’s desperate ploy to provide his domestic audience with a fall guy for self-inflicted wounds. His call to rid Russia of “scum and traitors” as “a necessary self-purification of society” might be Putin’s theatrical unveiling of not merely a further crackdown against the Russian people, but also his version of a “cultural revolution” to bring further to heel those around him on whom he has counted to take and maintain power. If I were one of the oligarchs or “siloviki,” those from Russia’s intelligence services who profiteered on Putin’s kleptocracy, I’d be more than just a little worried.
Reuters

March 23 (Reuters) - Russia on Wednesday condemned what it called a "reckless" Polish proposal to send international peacekeepers into Ukraine and warned that it could lead to a direct clash between Russian and NATO forces. Poland said last Friday it would formally submit a proposal for a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine at the next NATO summit. Asked about the initiative, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "It would be a very reckless and extremely dangerous decision."
By Haley Ott

London — A local journalist working for a French radio station in Ukraine was kidnapped and tortured by Russian soldiers earlier this month, according to the non-profit group Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Nikita, 32, whose name has been changed for his security, was held for nine days and subjected to electric shocks, beatings with an iron bar and mock execution, he told the group. "Nikita has given us a chilling testimony that confirms the intensity of the war crimes perpetrated by the Russian army against journalists," the secretary-general of Reporters Without Borders, Christophe Deloire, said in a statement. "Passing his testimony on to the ICC [International Criminal Court] prosecutor is the least we can do for this courageous young fixer."
By Mark Thompson and James Frater, CNN Business

London (CNN Business) Europe will consider joining a US-led embargo of Russian oil this week as the West looks for new ways to punish President Vladimir Putin for waging his devastating war in Ukraine. EU leaders will discuss whether to dump by far the biggest supplier of oil to the region, having already committed to cutting Russian natural gas use by 66% this year. They will be joined Thursday by US President Joe Biden, who is visiting Europe for EU, NATO and G7 summits. The European Union's top diplomat said that the bloc was ready to impose more sanctions on Russia but that no decision was taken at Monday's meeting of EU foreign ministers on whether to target energy specifically. "Today was not a day to take decisions in that area so no decision was taken but this and other possible measures were subject to analysis by the ministers," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters. The issue of Russian energy imports was raised by various member states and "there was an interesting exchange of views, information on this," he added.
By Stephanie Halasz and George Ramsay, CNN

(CNN) Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has been sentenced to nine years in a maximum-security jail, according to Russian state-owned news agency Tass. A prominent Kremlin critic, Navalny was convicted on fraud charges by Moscow's Lefortovo court over allegations that he stole from his Anti-Corruption Foundation. Navalny, 45, is currently serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence in a detention center east of the Russian capital after being arrested in February 2021 for violating probation terms, a verdict he said was politically motivated. After Tuesday's sentence was announced, Navalny wrote on Twitter: "9 years. Well, as the characters of my favorite TV series 'The Wire' used to say: 'You only do two days. That's the day you go in and the day you come out.'"
By Luke McGee and Claire Calzonetti, CNN

(CNN) Russian President Vladimir Putin's chief spokesman has conceded that Russia has yet to achieve any of its military goals in Ukraine and refused to deny that Moscow could resort to the use of nuclear weapons. In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday, Dmitry Peskov repeatedly refused to rule out that Russia would consider using nuclear weapons against what Moscow saw as an "existential threat." When asked under what conditions Putin would use Russia's nuclear capability, Peskov replied, "if it is an existential threat for our country, then it can be." Putin has previously hinted at using nuclear weapons against nations that he saw as a threat to Russia. Back in February, the Russian President said in a televised statement, "No matter who tries to stand in our way or all the more so create threats for our country and our people, they must know that Russia will respond immediately, and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history."
State of the Union

New Yorker staff writer Masha Gessen tells CNN's Jake Tapper that "people have real fear" of getting prosecuted inside Russia.
By Douglas London, opinion contributor

European media report that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the house arrest of two senior Federal Security Service (FSB) officers. Colonel-General Sergei Beseda, Chief of the FSB’s “Fifth Service,” reportedly was detained along with his deputy, Anatoly Bolyuk, charged with providing flawed intelligence about Ukraine and their improper use of operational funds. Separately, Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraine’s national security council chief, claimed that several Russian generals have been fired. The implications portend more suffering yet to come, but likewise opportunities to increase pressure on the Russian leader from within. Perhaps emulating Joseph Stalin, this could be the onset of a purge and Putin’s desperate ploy to provide his domestic audience with a fall guy for self-inflicted wounds. His call to rid Russia of “scum and traitors” as “a necessary self-purification of society” might be Putin’s theatrical unveiling of not merely a further crackdown against the Russian people, but also his version of a “cultural revolution” to bring further to heel those around him on whom he has counted to take and maintain power. If I were one of the oligarchs or “siloviki,” those from Russia’s intelligence services who profiteered on Putin’s kleptocracy, I’d be more than just a little worried.
By: Stefan Boscia

Vladimir Putin was accused of committing a “real act of genocide” in Ukraine today as Russian troops fired on peaceful protesters and reports swirled of forced deportations from the port city of Mariupol. Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov said during a trip to London that some cities had been “wiped off the face of the Earth” and accused the Kremlin of “state terrorism”. Video emerged today of Russian troops firing on peaceful Ukrainian protesters in the occupied city of Kherson, with several people reported injured.
By Sabine Siebold and Robin Emmott

ON BOARD THE SUPPLY SHIP ELBE, Latvia (Reuters) - Hours after Russian missiles first struck Ukrainian cities on Feb. 24, German naval commander Terje Schmitt-Eliassen received notice to sail five warships under his command to the former Soviet Republic of Latvia to help protect the most vulnerable part of NATO's eastern flank. The hasty dispatch was part of Germany's scramble to send "everything that can swim out to sea," as the navy's top boss phrased it, to defend an area military strategists have long deemed the weakest point for the alliance. The vessels' sudden departure demonstrated how NATO, and Germany, were propelled by Russia's invasion into a new reality and face what officials, diplomats, intelligence officials and security sources agree is the most serious threat to the alliance's collective security since the Cold War.
Christina Wilkie, Dan Mangan

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it summoned U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan on Monday in Moscow to formally protest President Joe Biden’s decision last week to label Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal.” Sullivan was told that Biden’s accusation had put “Russian-American relations on the verge of rupture,” according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry translated by NBC News. Biden said March 16 that he believes Putin “is a war criminal” for ordering Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. It was the first time Biden had publicly branded Putin with that phrase.
By Mark Thompson and James Frater, CNN Business

Europe will consider joining a US-led embargo of Russian oil this week as the West looks for new ways to punish President Vladimir Putin for waging his devastating war in Ukraine. At a series of meetings beginning Monday, EU leaders will discuss whether to dump by far the biggest supplier of oil to the region, having already committed to cutting Russian natural gas use by 66% this year. They'll be joined by US President Joe Biden at a summit on Thursday. "We have to discuss how we can support Ukraine even further, politically, economically, with humanitarian aid, security wise, everything is on the table. So we can ensure that we will do what we can to stop Putin and his aggression against Ukraine," Denmark's foreign minister Jeppe Kofod told reporters. "It's important with economic sanctions to continue along that track." Russia is the world's second biggest exporter of oil, behind Saudi Arabia, and despite the chilling effect of unprecedented Western financial sanctions and an embargo announced by the United States and the United Kingdom, it continues to earn hundreds of millions of dollars a day from energy exports.
Holly Ellyatt

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine now approaching its fourth week, President Vladimir Putin’s forces have exerted brutal force and destruction on the Eastern European nation, forcing people to flee and making millions homeless. Russia’s economy is now creaking under the immense weight of international sanctions and the costs of war, having largely failed to achieve major military victories in Ukraine. Close watchers of Moscow, and Putin, say there are increasing signs of desperation in Russia’s military campaign and siege tactics. “I don’t think Russia can win,” Kurt Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, told CNBC.
Elliot Smith

Some Russian assets returned to trading on Monday after almost a month on the sidelines, with bidding on OFZ government bonds open for limited hours on the Moscow Exchange. The Central Bank of Russia announced on Friday that trading in federal loan bonds would resume on a discrete auction basis between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Moscow time on Monday, and in the usual format between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m (10 a.m. and 2 p.m. GMT). Trading in such instruments had been halted for three weeks.
Xander Landen

Germany said Sunday that it had reached a deal on an energy partnership with Qatar, as the European powerhouse seeks to reduce its dependence on Russia amid the invasion of Ukraine. Robert Habeck, Germany's Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, met with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on Sunday. State-owned QatarEnergy said in a statement that the two countries "would re-engage and progress discussions on long term LNG supplies," Reuters reported. While Qatar didn't say that an agreement had been reached, and a German spokesperson told the news outlet that a deal between the nations had been finalized. "The companies that have come to Qatar with (Habeck) will now enter into contract negotiations with the Qatari side," the German spokesperson said, according to Reuters. The deal with Qatar comes as Germany has taken other steps to reduce its dependence on Russian energy in recent weeks.
Sam Tabahriti

Three of the world's largest oilfield service companies have suspended their operations in Russia in response to US sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine. Reuters and other outlets first reported the story. Schlumberger and Halliburton each announced their decision in news releases on Friday, saying their policies would take immediate effect. Baker Hughes followed on Saturday, noting in a press statement the company would suspend all new investments in Russia. According to Oil Industry Insight, Schlumberger is the world's largest oilfield company service, followed by Baker Hughes and Halliburton, respectively.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says Russia is deliberately targeting population centers as its campaign stalls due to Ukrainian defenses
By Alan Cullison and Isabel Coles

KYIV, Ukraine—Russia’s assault on Ukraine has forced more than 10 million people to abandon their homes, the United Nations said, with the scale of the humanitarian disaster showing little sign of easing as Moscow presses its attack with missile strikes and artillery fire. “The war in Ukraine is so devastating that 10 million have fled—either displaced inside the country, or as refugees abroad,” the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on Sunday. That means almost a quarter of the country’s prewar population has been uprooted.
From economic sanctions to disgust over Ukraine invasion, many vow never to return
Briar Stewart · CBC News

The day that Russia's military began launching strikes across Ukraine, Mikhail Grinberg and his wife, Polina, knew they had to leave. The only question was should they go immediately and just take their passports, or did they have time to pack clothes? They bought tickets for the next day, Feb. 25, filled some suitcases and flew from Moscow to Riga, the capital of Latvia. "I definitely want a better future for my family, definitely," said 35-year-old Mikhail, who works as a product manager for the Russian technology company Yandex. "But also, it's avoiding this feeling of disgust."

Few routes out of Russia
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about purifying Russian society from "traitors" whose minds are aligned with the West, but tens of thousands of people living in Russia have already made the choice to leave.
Resisters are leaving Russia because the country they worked to build is disappearing—and the more people who leave, the faster it vanishes.
Masha Gessen

n the world as it existed before Russia invaded Ukraine, on February 24th, the Vnukovo International Airport, in Moscow, was a point of departure for weekend-holiday destinations south of the border: Yerevan, Istanbul, Baku. In the first week of March, as tens of thousands of President Vladimir Putin’s troops advanced into Ukraine, Vnukovo teemed with anxious travellers, many of them young. The line for excess baggage split the giant departure hall in half. These people weren’t going for the weekend. In a coffee shop, a skinny young man with shoulder-length hair and steel-framed glasses sat at a tall counter. “I haven’t done much in the last day,” he told someone through his headphones, sounding more nervous than apologetic. “I’ve been busy with my move. I am flying to Yerevan today, then overland. I’ll be settled tomorrow and back to work.” The flight to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, was later cancelled. Two of my friends who were also scheduled to go to Armenia that day ended up flying seven hours to Ulaanbaatar, then three hours to Seoul, ten to Dubai, and a final three to Yerevan. My friends, a prominent gay journalist and his partner, were among the Russians—more than a quarter of a million, by some estimates—who have left their country since the invasion of Ukraine.
It is official Fox News is the propaganda wing of the Republican Party and Russia.

By Aaron McDade

In a 35-minute interview aired Friday on Russian state-owned television network RT, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed that Fox News is the only American media outlet that offers "alternative" points of view, and called the removal of former President Donald Trump from Twitter and other social media "censorship." This comes as the latest back-and-forth on media and propaganda between the two countries as the war in Ukraine rages on. "So we know the manners and the tricks which are being used by the Western countries to manipulate media," Lavrov said. "We understood long ago that there is no such thing as an independent Western media. If you take the United States only Fox News is trying to present some alternative points of view." more...
Inflation and “large-scale structural transformation” are ahead, as the bank held interest rates at 20 percent.
By Eshe Nelson

Russia’s central bank governor, Elvira Nabiullina, said on Friday that the country’s economy would decline in the coming quarters and that inflation would jump further as sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine took their toll. Earlier, the bank’s board of directors held interest rates at 20 percent. The bank said the doubling in interest rates on Feb. 28, from 9.5 percent, and capital controls curbing the movement of money had helped sustain financial stability in Russia and stop uncontrolled price increases. But the latest inflation data shows that, as of March 11, prices in Russia had risen 12.5 percent from a year earlier. Russia’s war against Ukraine has led to strict economic sanctions by the United States and Europe, encouraged a large number of Western companies and banks to retreat from the country, and isolated Russia from much of the global financial system. more...
Analysis: Safe in his palace, Syrian leader appears to have given Moscow carte blanche to airlift his army
Martin Chulov Middle East

After 11 years of war, the destruction of towns, cities and much of the Syrian military, Bashar al-Assad’s army has launched a recruitment drive. But the recruits are not fresh from bootcamps and will not fight on the home front. They are the vanguard of what could be the biggest state-backed mercenary force in the world. Within days, Syrian troops could be deployed to reinforce the stalled Russian frontlines in Ukraine, where Vladimir Putin is about to extract a lethal price for Moscow’s rescue of the Syrian leader. The first Syrian troops to join Putin’s ranks – an advance force of 150 – arrived in Russia on Thursday, European intelligence officials claim. Ukrainian military intelligence, echoing a claim by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, believes 40,000 Syrians have signed up to fight – a figure that would represent a sizeable chunk of the battle-ready capacity of the country’s entire military. more...
NBC News

Russia is facing allegations of committing war crimes against Ukrainian civilians as the invasion escalates, with President Biden labelling President Putin as a “war criminal.” Human rights lawyer and head of the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine, Oleksandra Matviychuk, joins News NOW to explain how war crimes compare to conventional warfare and whether the allegations could impact U.S. involvement in the conflict. video...
Monica Buchanan Pitrelli

More than three weeks ago, a popular Twitter account named “Anonymous” declared that the shadowy activist group was waging a “cyber war” against Russia. Since then, the account — which has more than 7.9 million followers, with some 500,000 gained since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — has claimed responsibility for disabling prominent Russian government, news and corporate websites and leaking data from entities such as Roskomnadzor, the federal agency responsible for censoring Russian media. But is any of that true? It appears it is, says Jeremiah Fowler, a co-founder of the cybersecurity company Security Discovery, who worked with researchers at the web company Website Planet to attempt to verify the group’s claims. more...
Rachel Treisman

Apparent Russian strikes have hit the main television and radio tower in Kyiv, as well as a memorial to the site where Nazis killed thousands of Jews during World War II. Ukraine's foreign ministry confirmed the attack in a tweet, in which it equated Russia with barbarism. The State Emergency Service said five people were killed and another five injured in the attack on the Kyiv TV tower, according to Interfax. Citing the Ministry of Internal Affairs, it also reported that the broadcaster's control room was hit and TV channels will not work "for some time."
Drew Tiene

The current wave of attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine should come as no surprise to those familiar with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s record of decimating cities in order to win wars and expand Russian influence. It’s a disturbing history, and here is a brief synopsis of it. In 1999, during the Second Chechen War, Russian troops were stalled in their advance by Chechen fighters on the outskirts of their capital Grozny. Putin’s response was to authorize a missile attack using cluster bombs and thermobaric warheads, which landed in the central bazaar district. Hundreds of civilians were killed. Ultimately, as many as 8,000 were estimated to have been killed in Grozny by the end of the siege. In 2003, a United Nations report described it as the “most destroyed” city on Earth. more...
Amelia Lucas

Burger King is moving to divest its 15% stake in its Russian business, but the burger chain said it can’t legally suspend operations in the market right away. The Restaurant Brands International chain announced last week it was suspending all corporate support for its 800-plus franchised locations in Russia in response to the Kremlin’s ongoing attacks on Ukraine. The suspension includes refusing approvals for further investment or expansion and pausing operations, marketing and its supply chain. But the company’s International President David Shear laid out in an open letter to employees on Thursday that the structure of the company’s Russian business hampers its ability to shutter restaurants in the market like some of its competitors. more...
The Lead

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh reports that many of the Russian tactics in Ukraine are familiar to Syrians who suffered a similar fate when Russia attacked Syria. video...
By Mark Lungariello

Russia has been accused of launching so-called “cluster bombs” in its invasion of Ukraine, unleashing a brutal weapon known to kill and maim civilians when used. Moscow has denied the use of the weapons, which detonate in mid-air and release smaller “bomblets” in order to hit multiple targets over a large area. “We have seen the use of cluster bombs and we have seen reports of other types of weapons which would be in violation of international law,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels on Friday. “This is brutality. This is inhumane.” more...
By Marc Champion

The Russian army’s unexpected struggles in Ukraine are prompting calls for a fresh look at widely shared assumptions about the effectiveness of President Vladimir Putin’s military machine. Putin spent well over a decade modernizing a conscript-based military that proved wanting in Chechnya during the 1990s, and Georgia in 2008. Its first test in a large-scale conflict since the end of the Cold War has raised questions about what that boom in spending achieved. Russian forces have been bogged down for weeks in parts of Ukraine and have failed to take control of key cities. While it is far too early and data are too sparse to draw conclusions, that’s raising many questions, including over the high-end equipment it has not yet deployed in Ukraine. more...
In Syria, it’s been going on for years, with hundreds of attacks on health care facilities
Kareem Shaheen

In 2017, I visited the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhun two days after it was hit by a chemical attack by the Syrian regime. After visiting the site of the attack, I went to a local hospital that had received many of the victims but that was evacuated because it came under sustained aerial bombardment shortly after the attack. Locals and militias, who had endured bombing by both the Assad regime and the Russians over the months since Moscow had intervened in the war, believed Russian jets had carried out the attack on the hospital. The hospital had been built into the side of a hill to shield it from occasional bombing, but it didn’t seem like it made a huge difference. Shattered glass was everywhere, medicines strewn about the floor, equipment destroyed, the hallways darkened. A sanctum of healing had been transformed into a death trap for people who were dying in one of the most painful and horrifying ways known to man. more...
Belkis Wille

The Russian military marked the fifth anniversary of its intervention in the armed conflict in Syria on September 30. The consequences have been devastating for many Syrian civilians, with hundreds of thousands killed and millions more forced to flee their homes. While all sides to the conflict have committed serious laws-of-war violations, Russia’s intervention has been characterized by the indiscriminate bombing of schools, hospitals, and markets – the civilian infrastructure essential to a society’s survival. The cost for Syrians who have lost loves ones and whose entire lives have been uprooted – often for the second, third, or fourth time since the war started – is incalculable. But Russian taxpayers may not realize that they are bankrolling this abuse, to their own detriment. more...
Al Jazeera talks to Syrians who endured Russian air strikes as Moscow tries to advance its invasion of Ukraine.
By Shawn Yuan

The footage of Russian missiles striking Ukrainian cities soon made the rounds in Syria, and Ahmad al-Khatib, a native of  Aleppo, was stunned by what he saw. “He is going to go full Aleppo on Ukraine now, isn’t he?” al-Khatib, having lived through the days when the Syrian city was under intense attack, asked in shock. “It’s crazy that what we experienced a few years ago is being replayed almost frame by frame in Ukraine.” more...
The Russian military intervention in the Syrian civil war began in September 2015, after an official request by the Syrian government for military aid against rebel groups. The intervention initially involved air strikes by Russian aircraft deployed to the Khmeimim base against targets primarily in north-western Syria, and against Syrian opposition militant groups opposed to the Syrian government, including the Syrian National Coalition, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), al-Nusra Front (al-Qaeda in Syria) and the Army of Conquest. In addition, Russian special operations forces and military advisors are deployed to Syria. Prior to the intervention, Russian involvement in the Syrian Civil War had mainly consisted of supplying the Syrian Army with arms and equipment. At the end of December 2017, the Russian government announced its troops would be deployed to Syria permanently. more...
By Charles Riley, CNN Business

London (CNN Business) Russia has sent the clearest signal yet that it will soon default — the first time it will have failed to meet its foreign debt obligations since the Bolshevik revolution more than a century ago. Half of the country's foreign reserves — roughly $315 billion — have been frozen by Western sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine, Russian finance minister Anton Siluanov said on Sunday. As a result, Moscow will repay creditors from "countries that are unfriendly" in rubles until the sanctions are lifted, he said. Credit ratings agencies would likely consider Russia to be in default if Moscow misses payments or repays debt issued in dollars or euros with other currencies such as the ruble or China's yuan. A default could drive the few remaining foreign investors out of Russia and further isolate the country's crumbling economy. more...
The independent OVD-Info human rights group said the woman had been detained and taken into custody.
By Tim Stelloh and Rhoda Kwan

A protester interrupted Russia’s main evening news broadcast Monday, holding a sign saying “No War” and telling viewers not to believe the station’s “propaganda.” The brief protest occurred on the state-owned, widely watched Channel One. The independent OVD-Info human rights group said the woman was named Marina Ovsyannikova and that she had been detained and taken into custody. Her whereabouts and condition were unclear as of Tuesday morning. Ovsyannikova, an employee of the TV station, described the situation in Ukraine as a "true crime" in a video shared by the human rights group after her protest. more...
Stuart Anderson

The invasion of Ukraine has brought sanctions and economic isolation to Russia, halting the era of globalization Russians enjoyed after the end of the Soviet Union. Countries have gone from little integration with the global economy to becoming closely integrated. However, this might be the first time a country’s inhabitants have experienced an abrupt end to globalization after enjoying it for many years. To better understand the impact of this monumental change, I interviewed Brian D. Taylor, a professor of political science at Syracuse University and the author of the highly acclaimed book The Code of Putinism. more...
By John Simpson

Some people are anxious to get out of Russia because there has been a persistent rumour that President Vladimir Putin's government might soon introduce martial law to deal with demonstrations against the invasion of Ukraine. With flights to Europe halted, the only way out of the country is by car - crossing this border - or by train. We spoke to one young Russian woman who was leaving for the West - one of the lucky ones who had an EU visa before the sanctions were announced. She was in despair at what has been happening. more...
Kelsey Vlamis

Prosecutors in Russia have issued stark warnings to Western companies that pull out of the country or criticize its government, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. Companies from various business sectors have been told that their corporate leaders could be arrested if they criticize Russia, and that companies shutting down operations in the country could have their assets seized, sources told The Journal. Russia said last week that it could seize the assets of companies that suspended operations in Russia. Droves of major US and European companies have pulled out of the country after it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Russia has also been hit with crippling economic sanctions by the West. more...
By Steve Holland and Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) - The United States, together with the Group of Seven nations and the European Union, will move on Friday to revoke Russia's "most favored nation" status over its invasion of Ukraine, multiple people familiar with the situation told Reuters. President Joe Biden will announce the plans at the White House at 10:15 a.m. EST (1515 GMT), said one of the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity. The White House said Biden would announce "actions to continue to hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine", but gave no details. more...
By Hindustan News Hub

Ukraine has shattered the myth of the “invincibility” of the Russian army. The enemy suffers serious losses in personnel and equipment. This was announced on Facebook by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny. “We have shattered the myth of the ‘invincibility’ of the Russian army. They expected to conquer us in 48 hours. Stocks of food, fuel, and ammunition were calculated for a maximum of three days. But we stopped them and thwarted the plans of aggression. The enemy suffers serious losses in personnel and equipment, “Zaluzhny stressed. He noted that this war proves how far the Armed Forces have advanced in recent years. “Today, the Russian army is a model of the beginning of 2014 in terms of professionalism,” the Commander-in-Chief said, adding that the story of the “beaten down” Ukrainian “Bayraktar” is an illustrative example of “their military skill.”
Putin has spent eight years trying, and failing, to dominate Ukraine. The commencement of hostilities is an admission of that failure.
Michael A. Cohen

Wednesday night, Russia launched a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. In scenes reminiscent of the Balkan Wars of the 1990s and the American “shock and awe” campaign against Iraq, modern cities across Ukraine were enveloped in explosions and smoke plumes from missile and rocket attacks. It is an unmitigated tragedy and one that will likely cause grievous and needless suffering for the Ukrainian people, who have done nothing to deserve their current fate. It is also an admission of failure by Russian President Vladimir Putin. In going to war against Ukraine, Putin has tacitly acknowledged that Russia’s multiyear policy of coercion and bullying of Kyiv has failed. Russia’s hopes of keeping Ukraine in its sphere of influence without the use of military force have been dashed. The next few days and weeks will be ones of calamity and devastation. Our TV screens will be filled with the images of innocent civilians fleeing a Russian military onslaught and of Ukrainian soldiers who gave their last full measure of devotion. These will be tough to watch, as will images of a “victorious” Putin preening around the Kremlin. But make no mistake—Russia has already lost. more...
By Rich Klein

Anonymous this week released 364,000 files from Roskomnadzor, the Russian agency that monitors and censors media. The hack includes documents from as recent as Saturday, Distributed Denial of Secrets, or DDoSecrets, a whistleblower organization that published the files said Thursday. Some of the documents reveal that Moscow censored all content that referred to Russia's military action as an invasion. "Roskomnadzor has given instructions about what can be said and ordered media outlets to delete stories that call Russia's invasion of Ukraine an Invasion," DDoSecrets posted online.
BEIJING (AP) — Kamila Valieva was back on the Olympic ice at the Beijing Games for the individual competition Tuesday, skating into the lead hours after details of her legal defense in a doping case were revealed. Lawyers for the 15-year-old Russian figure skater argued contamination from the heart medication trimetazidine her grandfather was taking caused the positive test in a sample taken weeks before the Olympics opened. more...
Systematic doping of Russian athletes has resulted in 46 Olympic medals stripped from Russia (and Russian associated teams), four times the number of the next highest, and more than 30% of the total.[1] Russia has the most competitors who have been caught doping at the Olympic Games in the world, with more than 150. Doping among Russian competitors is distinct from doping among nationals of other countries in that, rather than doping being an individual choice it is state-sponsored and systematic, with the Russian state being found to have supplied steroids and other drugs to sportspeople. Due to widespread violations of anti-doping regulations, including an attempt to sabotage ongoing investigations by the manipulation of computer data, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in 2019 banned the Russian Federation from all major sporting events - including the Olympic Games - for four years. In 2020 the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reduced the ban period to two years following an appeal by Russia. Competitors from Russia meanwhile may take part in international competitions under a neutral flag and designation. more...
In 2016, Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov blew the whistle on Russia’s state-run doping program, revealing a deep web of deception and fraud that he had once helped facilitate. This revelation led to the total ban of Russia from the 2018 Winter Olympics and intensified the debate over corruption in sports. After fleeing Russia for fear of retaliation, Dr. Rodchenkov now lives a precarious life in the United States, relying on whistleblower protections and fearful that Russian agents may one day come knocking. This briefing featured Dr. Rodchenkov’s attorney, Jim Walden, for a conversation on combating fraud in sports and the role of whistleblowers in safeguarding the integrity of international competitions. It also included a discussion of Oscar-winning documentary Icarus, which chronicles Dr. Rodchenkov’s journey from complicit head of Russia’s anti-doping laboratory to courageous whistleblower. more...
The Russian military intervention in the Syrian civil war began in September 2015, after an official request by the Syrian government for military aid against rebel groups. The intervention initially involved air strikes by Russian aircraft deployed to the Khmeimim base against targets primarily in north-western Syria, and against Syrian opposition militant groups opposed to the Syrian government, including the Syrian National Coalition, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), al-Nusra Front (al-Qaeda in Syria) and the Army of Conquest. In addition, Russian special operations forces and military advisors are deployed to Syria. Prior to the intervention, Russian involvement in the Syrian Civil War had mainly consisted of supplying the Syrian Army with arms and equipment. At the end of December 2017, the Russian government announced its troops would be deployed to Syria permanently. Shortly after the operation began, Russian officials were cited as saying that, apart from fighting terrorist organisations such as the Islamic State, Russia′s goals include helping the Syrian government retake territory from various anti-government groups that are labelled by the United States and the American-led intervention in Syria as ″moderate opposition″, with a broader geopolitical objective being to roll back U.S. influence. In a televised interview in October 2015, Russian president Vladimir Putin said the military operation had been thoroughly prepared in advance; he defined Russia′s goal in Syria as "stabilising the legitimate power in Syria and creating the conditions for political compromise". more...
Russia has supported the administration of incumbent President Bashar al-Assad of Syria since the beginning of the Syrian conflict in 2011: politically, with military aid, and (since September 2015) through its Mission in Syria (Russian: Миссия в Сирии Missiya v Sirii) with direct military involvement. The 2015 deployment to Syria marked the first time since the end of the Cold War in 1991 that Russia entered an armed conflict outside the borders of the former Soviet Union. From October 2011, Russia, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, repeatedly vetoed Western-sponsored draft resolutions in the UN Security Council that demanded the resignation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and that opened the possibility of United Nations sanctions against his government. The Russian leadership rejects the demands of Western powers and their Arab allies that Bashar al-Assad should not be allowed to be a participant in the Syria settlement. In January and February 2012, the opposition Syrian National Council and the Western powers dismissed Russian peace initiatives. more...
The Russian apartment bombings were a series of explosions that hit four apartment blocks in the Russian cities of Buynaksk, Moscow and Volgodonsk in September 1999, killing more than 300, injuring more than 1,000, and spreading a wave of fear across the country. The bombings, together with the Invasion of Dagestan, triggered the Second Chechen War. Then-prime minister Vladimir Putin's handling of the crisis boosted his popularity greatly and helped him attain the presidency within a few months. Russian courts ruled that the attacks were orchestrated by Chechen-linked militants, while some scholars, journalists, and politicians have argued that Russian security services likely organized the bombings. The blasts hit Buynaksk on 4 September and in Moscow on 9 and 13 September. On 13 September, Russian Duma speaker Gennadiy Seleznyov made an announcement in the Duma about receiving a report that another bombing had just happened in the city of Volgodonsk. A bombing did indeed happen in Volgodonsk, but only three days later, on 16 September. Chechen militants were blamed for the bombings, but denied responsibility, along with Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov.
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