Heavy rainfall led to the collapse of a reservoir dam in the Ural Mountains region of Chelyabinsk on Friday night, Russian authorities said, forcing residents of nearby villages to evacuate their homes. A dam at the Kialimskoye reservoir, measuring around 500 meters long, was unable to hold back rising waters and broke, unleashing a flood torrent toward four villages in the Karabash district of the Chelyabinsk region. A video shared on social media showed the dam being washed away by a powerful current of water, which poured into the surrounding area. Another video, filmed by someone who sought safety on the roof of a building, showed fast-flowing water engulfing homes, cars and trees. According to state media reports, four villages lie directly in the path of the flooding: the villages of Kialim, Mukhametovo, Baydashevo and Karasevo. A local official cited by the RIA Novosti news agency said around 200 people live in those...

The head of a research institute that supplies communication systems to the Russian military set himself ablaze on Red Square Friday, media outlets reported, citing anonymous sources. Mash, a Telegram news channel with purported links to Russian law enforcement, said eyewitnesses saw a man douse himself with a flammable liquid and then ignite in flames. “Police officers promptly intervened by throwing the man to the ground and extinguishing the fire,” Mash wrote.  The Moscow-based broadcaster 360.ru, citing an anonymous source, reported that police managed to stop the self-immolation and took the man for questioning. The tabloid Moskovsky Komsomolets later identified the man as Vladimir Arsenyev, president of the Volna Central Research Institute, which develops communication systems for Russian warships, aviation and infantry. Arsenyev, 74, suffered “minor burns,” according to Moskovsky Komsomolets. The tabloid, without citing sources, reported that Arsenyev previously filed a defamation lawsuit over accusations by the state defense and industrial conglomerate...

Since at least April, the Russian military has been in upheaval, punctuated by arrests of senior Defense Ministry officials on charges including bribery and abuse of power. This turmoil appears to have peaked in May with the dismissal of longtime Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who faced accusations of mishandling the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. While economist Andrei Belousov now heads the Defense Ministry, and the intensity of the purge has subsided, some arrests continue. Here is a timeline of the army purge: April 23, 2024 Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov is charged with bribery. Ivanov, who oversaw construction and housing projects for the Russian military, is accused of accepting a bribe “in the form of services” valued at more than 1 billion rubles ($12.2 million). Former Russian Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov. Sergei Bobylev / TASS May 7, 2024 President Vladimir Putin is sworn into a fifth term in office....

A major state-owned Chinese construction company is prepared to help expand the public rail and road networks in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, the mayor’s office announced Thursday. Novosibirsk Mayor Maxim Kudryavtsev said in a statement that his administration met with representatives from the China Railway Tunnel Group, a subsidiary of the government-owned China Railway Group. The sides discussed “the design and extension of the Novosibirsk metro line, the construction of a new runway at Tolmachevo Airport, as well as the construction of the Southern Transit [highway project].” Kudryavtsev said Novosibirsk would be willing to work with CRTG “if they offer a competitive price and quality.” If a construction deal is approved, the Novosibirsk city administration said it would be CRTG’s first time working on a project in Russia. Beijing and Moscow have grown closer since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, with trade between the two countries surging to record...

One man was killed and two others were injured in a Ukrainian attack on the town of Shebekino in southwestern Russia’s Belgorod region, officials said Thursday. “A tragedy happened,” Belgorod region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. “A man died from his injuries before an ambulance could arrive.” Gladkov said regional defense fighters transported the two wounded civilians to a local hospital, where they received medical care and were later discharged. Photographs shared by Gladkov showed a pock-marked concrete wall ripped open by shelling. He said two apartment buildings were damaged by the attack, including one that was hit directly on the roof. One industrial and one commercial facility were also damaged, the governor added. Gladkov said that Ukrainian drones attacked two more Shebekino district villages, causing damage to property. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defense systems intercepted or destroyed three Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod region overnight. Source link

Russia’s military said Wednesday that it scrambled a Su-27 fighter jet to prevent three British warplanes from entering Russian airspace over the Black Sea. A Su-27 identified the “three air targets” as a U.K. Royal Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft and two Typhoon fighter planes, Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. “As the Russian fighter jet approached, the foreign military aircraft made a U-turn away from the state border of the Russian Federation,” the statement read, adding that the intercept “prevented” the British aircraft from “trespassing” into Russian territory. The Russian military described a nearly identical confrontation of its Su-27 jets with British warplanes over the Black Sea in October of last year. Similar intercepts between Russian military planes and those of NATO member countries have occurred in the airspace surrounding Russia even before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, though the Black Sea has emerged as a key theater...

Authorities in Moscow on Wednesday renamed the capital city’s Square of Europe as the Square of Eurasia amid Russia’s worsening relations with the West over the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Square of Europe, located in front of the bustling Kievsky Railway Station, was unveiled in 2002 as part of a joint Russian-Belgian project symbolizing European unity. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin’s decision to rename the square comes after the flags of 48 European countries were removed from the public space in March 2023, the month after President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into neighboring Ukraine. A decree published on the Moscow Mayor’s Office website does not explain the reason for the name change. However, state-affiliated media reported that “the decision reflects Moscow’s intention to give the square a new name that reflects a broader geographical concept of Eurasia.”  The independent investigative news outlet IStories called it “the first example of the de-Europeanization of place...

French police on Tuesday arrested a Russian man suspected of plotting acts of “destabilization” during the Paris Olympics, prosecutors said. The man, born in 1984, was held in custody and placed under judicial investigation on suspicion of “organizing events likely to lead to destabilization during the Olympic Games,” a source in the state prosecution service, who asked not to be named, told AFP. The source said an investigation was opened into “passing intelligence to a foreign power in order to arouse hostilities in France,” adding that the crime was punishable by up to 30 years in jail. Prosecutors said a visit to the man’s home “at the request of the interior ministry” had uncovered evidence of the suspected plans. They did not give any details of the alleged plot, except to say that it was not terrorist in nature, and that specialist anti-terrorist prosecutors were not following the case. Authorities...

A Moscow court on Tuesday extended the pre-trial detention of a dual Russian-German citizen accused of treason in an ultra-secret criminal case. Russia has arrested a spate of Western citizens amid its offensive on Ukraine, drawing accusations that it is taking “hostages” to use as bargaining chips for prisoner exchanges. According to state-run news agency TASS, German Moyzhes, a migration lawyer who helped Russians apply for residence permits in Europe, was arrested in St. Petersburg in May by Russian security services. He was then transferred to Moscow where he has since been held in pre-trial detention. A case record on the Lefortovo court website states that in a hearing on Tuesday, the pre-trial detention of “G. Moyzhes,” charged with treason, was extended. It provided no other details about his case and treason cases are classified in Russia. State media had not previously covered any details of his arrest or case....

Indonesia’s state-owned oil and natural gas corporation Pertamina is looking to purchase Russian oil for the first time in more than a decade, Reuters reported on Monday, citing three anonymous traders familiar with the matter. As Southeast Asia’s largest economy, Indonesia stepped back from buying Russian oil following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but the country did not join in Western sanctions against Moscow. According to Reuters, Pertamina has added two Russian oil grades — Urals and Sokol — alongside others to its tender lists for purchase in September. One of the tenders reportedly closed last week and another on Monday, with the results yet to be announced. Pertamina last purchased Sokol oil and Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean blend from Russia more than 10 years ago, Reuters reported, citing London Stock Exchange Group data. news Russian Spending on Cemetery Expansion Triples Since Ukraine Invasion Read more Months after Russian troops invaded Ukraine, Indonesian...