#soviet-union
#soviet-union

London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

3 weeks ago

Kuleba warns Russia will 'definitely attack NATO on one condition'

Russia may attack NATO under specific conditions.

Russia's strategic goal is to restore the Soviet Union and depends on Ukraine. [ more ]

www.dw.com

1 month ago

What's behind Transnistria's call for Russian 'protection'? DW 03/01/2024

Transnistria seeks Russian protection amidst tensions with Moldova

Long-standing conflict risks reignition with Transnistria's appeal for Russian support [ more ]

The New Yorker

1 month ago

Russia After Alexei Navalny

Gorbachev initiated political reform in the Soviet Union by liberating prisoners like Sakharov.

Putin ordered Navalny's poisoning, leading to his survival and continued defiance against the Russian regime. [ more ]

RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

5 months ago

Leaked Documents Indicate Abramovich Had Financial Ties To Putin

A resident of Siberia has been sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison for criticizing Stalin and the invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has outlawed criticism of the invasion of Ukraine and the Russian armed forces, leading to the arrest and imprisonment of many citizens.

Experts believe that Russia bombed a theater in Mariupol during the war in Ukraine, which resulted in the deaths of civilians. [ more ]

www.npr.org

Ukraine war is hurting Africa, South African President Ramaphosa tells Putin

In this handout photo provided by Photo host Agency RIA Novosti, Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa pose for a photo during a meeting with a delegation of African leaders and senior officials in St. Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, June 17, 2023.Evgeny Biyatov/AP KYIV, Ukraine Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday met with a group of leaders of African countries who traveled to Russia on a self-styled "peace mission" the day after they went to Ukraine, but the meeting ended with no visible progress.

www.nytimes.com

Germany's security strategy aims to set priorities after Russia's invasion, but offers few hard commitments.

Haunted by its responsibility for World War II and Nazi tyranny, Germany embraced the pursuit of peace with the fervor of a convert.But on Wednesday, its government took an important step toward shedding that legacy as war once again transforms the European continent.For the first time since the world war ended, the government introduced a comprehensive national security strategy meant to confront Germany's vulnerability to new military, economic and geopolitical threats, including climate change.

moreEurope news

The Art Newspaper - International art news and events

1 month ago

Design

Behind the curtain: Art Dubai looks at the Middle Eastern artists who forged links with the Soviet Union

The Soviet Union's cultural links with the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia are explored at Art Dubai Modern.

Artists from diverse backgrounds share common experiences and aspirations due to their time in the Soviet context. [ more ]

www.npr.org

Germany will pay more than $1.4 billion next year to survivors of Nazi atrocities

In this 2020 photo, survivors walk below a gate with the inscription "Work sets you free" after a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial site of the former German Nazi death camp Auschwitz during ceremonies marking the 75th anniversary of the camp's liberation in Oswiecim, Poland.Janek Skarzynski/AFP via Getty Images The German government will pay more than $1.4 billion next year to Holocaust survivors, in the latest compensation for atrocities and persecution inflicted by the Nazis.

immediately

www.independent.co.uk

France news

Canadian quits Chinese-founded development bank, complains 'Communist Party hacks' dominate it

A Canadian public relations manager for a Chinese-founded development bank announced his resignation Wednesday in a statement that accused it of being dominated by Communist Party hacks and said Canada's interests weren't served by being a member.The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank confirmed in an email that Bob Pickard resigned as its director general of global communications and rejected his criticism as unfounded.

www.nytimes.com

Journalist Resigns From Board After PEN America Cancels Russian Writers Panel

The journalist Masha Gessen has resigned from the board of the free expression group PEN America, after a panel at the organization's World Voices Festival featuring Russian writers was canceled in response to objections by Ukrainian writers.The concerns were raised by Artem Chapeye and Artem Chekh, Ukrainian writers who are also active-duty soldiers in the Ukrainian army and who were set to appear on a panel about writers as combatants on May 13.

www.nytimes.com

The U.S. ambassador to South Africa accused the country of providing weapons to Russia.

JOHANNESBURG The United States ambassador to South Africa has accused the country's government of providing weapons and ammunition to Russia during its invasion of Ukraine, escalating the friction between the two countries over Russia and the war.The ambassador, Reuben E. Brigety II, told reporters on Thursday that Washington has reason to believe that a Russian ship that docked near Cape Town at a South African naval base last December, the Lady R, uploaded weapons and ammunition.

Gay City News

Brooklyn

Trans Brooklynite endures frustrating quest for accountability in Coney Island

A non-binary transgender southern Brooklyn resident who said they were assaulted in the bathroom of a Coney Island restaurant and bar in October of last year has spent months trying to address the issue, but they have been frustrated by the restaurant's response and the bureaucratic legal system - which has ultimately discouraged them from pressing the case further.

Washington Post

Kremlin says Ukraine sent two drones to attack Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a ceremony for nuclear fuel loading at the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, which is under construction in Turkey, on April 27.(Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via Reuters)RIGA, Latvia - Russia on Wednesday accused Ukraine of staging a drone attack intended to hit the Kremlin residence and kill President Vladimir Putin, an electric allegation that could create justification for Russia to escalate its war in Ukraine.

moreimmediately

www.npr.org

Books

5 new mysteries and thrillers for the start of summer

1. Summer is a great time to pick up a new mystery or thriller novel â there are many great options available this season.

2. Whether youâre looking for a psychological thriller, a legal thriller, a detective novel, or a historical mystery, thereâs something to suit your tastes.

3. Authors such as A.J. Finn, Riley Sager, and Deanna Raybourn have crafted thrilling stories that are sure to keep you entertained [ more ]

www.nytimes.com

Fear and Mayhem as Russia's War Comes Home

Abandoned cats and dogs roam vacant streets lined with blasted apartment buildings, rubble and crumpled cars in Shebekino, a Russian border town pounded by shelling from Ukraine.A hair salon still smoldered last week.Every window in the blackened carcass of the police headquarters was blown out.Almost all of the 40,000 inhabitants had fled, officials said.

www.nytimes.com

Everything Will Die': A Dam Blast Imperils Ukraine's Vital Lifeline

The view from villagers' gardens on the northern shore of Kakhovka Reservoir has changed significantly in the four days since an explosion destroyed the nearby dam and the waters receded.Mud flats stretch for hundreds of yards, and a long sandbar has emerged from the water reaching out across the bay.

www.nytimes.com

Ukraine's counteroffensive promises to be deadly. These recruits signed up anyway.

As Ukrainian commanders gear up for a pivotal counteroffensive to push Russian forces back in Ukraine's war, 23-year-old Vadym, a military recruit from Kyiv, says he wants to be on its front lines, even if it means losing his life.We're going to die, probably, Vadym said bluntly, as he trained on Friday at a military camp in Yorkshire, England.

www.nytimes.com

China Announces Plan to Land Astronauts on Moon by 2030

China plans to complete a mission to land a person on the moon by 2030, a government official announced on Monday, in the highest-level confirmation of China's ambitions for a crewed lunar landing.Chinese scientists have previously nodded at a 2030 goal in a less formal capacity; for example, the chief designer of China's lunar exploration program said last month that a 2030 landing would be no problem.

www.nytimes.com

As the U.S. Attends the G7, China Hosts a Summit of Its Own

China's leader, Xi Jinping, is kicking off a summit on Thursday that the country is heralding as a historic milestone, rolling out the red carpet for five Central Asian countries that are critical to China's regional ambitions.The inaugural China-Central Asia summit is part of China's broader aim to strengthen economic and political partnerships with like-minded countries, to counter what it sees as a U.S.-dominated world order that is trying to contain and suppress China.

www.nytimes.com

Victory Day, the battle for Bakhmut, and NATO: What to watch for this week.

Russia will celebrate its most important annual military holiday this week, amid mounting anxiety following a series of attacks and over a looming Ukrainian counteroffensive.The May 9 holiday, Victory Day, marks the triumph of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany.It falls this year just a week after two explosions over the Kremlin, which Russia said was a Ukrainian attempt to use drones to assassinate President Vladimir V. Putin.

www.nytimes.com

The Final Blocks: Inside Ukraine's Bloody Stand for Bakhmut

After 10 months of one of the longest and bloodiest battles in Russia's war in Ukraine, Ukrainian soldiers are now defending a shrinking half-circle of ruins in a western neighborhood of Bakhmut, only about 20 blocks wide and continually pounded with artillery.Pushed into this ever-smaller corner of the 16-square-mile city, the Ukrainian army is determined to hunker down and hold out, even as allies have quietly questioned the rationale for fighting block by block, sustaining significant casualties, in a city that is a devastating panorama of damaged buildings and rubble.

moreWorld politics

www.npr.org

Relationships are the true heart of 1940s dystopian novel 'Kallocain'

There is nothing new about dystopian fiction it's been around since the early 20th century or late 19th century, depending on who you ask but discovering a classic of the genre can be thrilling nonetheless.Kallocain is a lesser-known work of 20th century dystopia, authored by Swedish poet Karin Boye and published in 1940 in Sweden, a nation that maintained its neutrality throughout World War II.

www.npr.org

'The Red Hotel': Trying to cover World War II from a 'gilded cage' in Moscow

A downed Nazi war plane is displayed outside the Metropol Hotel in Moscow in 1941, after Germany invaded the Soviet Union.During World War II, Western journalists covering the Soviet side of the war were largely confined to the hotel and were not permitted to go near the frontlines.Margaret Bourke-White/The LIFE P 'The Red Hotel' tells the story of Western journalists who were largely confined to Moscow's Metropol Hotel as they attempted to cover the Soviet side of World War II.

www.winemag.com

Wine

Move Over, Osetra: California Caviar Is on the Rise

European caviar is Champagne, and U.S. caviar is sparkling wine, explains Ali Bolourchi, president of caviar producer Tsar Nicolai, located in Wilton, California, near Sacramento.It's an apt comparison: As demand for buttery, briny caviar soars, many Americans are looking to domestic producers of fish roe, seeking local and sustainable options.

www.nytimes.com

What It's Like to Play Putin in Patriots'

On a recent evening, the British actor Will Keen was onstage at the Noel Coward Theater in London playing one of the world's most divisive men: President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.For much of the first half of Patriots, which is largely set in the 1990s after the Soviet Union's collapse, Keen portrays the character sympathetically as a minor politician who could only afford cheap suits and whose success was dependent on a friend's largess.

www.npr.org

Durable and enduring, blue jeans turn 150

Pedestrians pass the Levi's store in in New York's Times Square.An immigrant and tailor named Jacob Davis teamed up with dry goods merchant Levi Strauss to patent the first riveted blue jeans in 1873.Richard Drew/AP There's bootcut, skinny, flare, ripped, low-rise, high-rise even blue jean look-alikes called jeggings impersonating the classic denim piece.

www.npr.org

Durable and enduring, blue jeans turn 150 this week

www.theguardian.com

We knew in 2011 Putin would attack Ukraine, says Bill Clinton

Vladimir Putin told Bill Clinton three years before his 2014 attack on Ukraine that he was not bound by the Budapest Memorandum guaranteeing the country's territorial integrity, according to the former US president.The revelation raises questions about whether the US and its European allies should have been more prepared for the 2014 attack, when Russia annexed Crimea and attacked the Donbas.

time.com

Just say NO and Veto Putin From Taking Over U.N. Security Council

It seems like the worst April Fools' joke in history, but an indicted war criminal, Vladimir Putin, is about to take control of the U.N. Security Councilwith the implicit blessing of the United States, France, and the U.Kjust weeks after his global criminal indictment.On top of this, the man just designated as Putin's emissary to address this session of the Security Council is his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovwho stormed out of the Security Council this fall when confronted with evidence of Russia atrocities against Ukraine.

www.nytimes.com

Tech industry

Don Bateman, Trailblazer in Airline Safety, Dies at 91

Don Bateman, an engineer who invented a cockpit device that warns airplane pilots with colorful screen displays and dire audible alerts like Caution Terrain! and Pull Up! when they are in danger of crashing into mountains, buildings or water an innovation that has likely saved thousands of lives died on May 21 at his home in Bellevue, Wash.

www.independent.co.uk

UK news

Latvia's Parliament elects new head of state from 3 candidates in unpredictable vote

Latvian lawmakers are set to elect a new head of state on Wednesday from a field of three candidates with no clear favorite.The Baltic nation's 100-seat Saeima legislature will choose a president to serve for a four-year term.Entrepreneur and businessman Uldis Pilens, civil society activist Elina Pinto and Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics are registered by parties to run in the race.

www.aljazeera.com

Armenia and Azerbaijan trade gunfire along border

Incident comes days before the European Council hosts Armenia's Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan's Ilham Aliyev for talks in Brussels.Armenia and Azerbaijan have blamed each other for gunfire along their restive border days in advance of EU-hosted talks aimed at resolving their three-decade territorial dispute.

www.aljazeera.com

To achieve peace, both Ukraine and Russia must feel secure

It may be difficult to reconcile Kyiv and Moscow's security concerns, but it is not impossible.It has been more than a year since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.The war has killed and wounded hundreds of thousands of civilians and troops and devastated the country.In recent months, however, there has been little movement in the front line and observers are increasingly talking about a stalemate and the need to move towards talks between Moscow and Kyiv.

Slate Magazine

Why Did Xi Jinping Suddenly Call Zelensky?

Earlier this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping called up Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time since Russia invaded last year.Is Xi's peace overture to Ukraine for real?He has several reasons for sincerely hoping that the war between Ukraine and Russia ends soon.Is his overture likely to achieve the goal?

www.theguardian.com

UK company set up in name of top Putin official in Ukraine

A UK company has been set up in the name of one of Vladimir Putin's top officials in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine despite him being under sanctions.Volodymyr Saldo, a notorious puppet of the Kremlin in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, is listed as the owner of a UK company registered in November, five months after his name was added to the sanctions list.

www.nytimes.com

The Ukrainians hold on with old tanks, but relish the idea of advancing with modern Western battle tanks.

Commander Poltava, right, directing members of his tank battalion, which is equipped with Soviet-era tanks.Credit...Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times Members of the tank unit before heading toward the front line.Credit...Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times OUTSKIRTS OF BAKHMUT, Ukraine Large snowflakes drifted silently through the trees as two Soviet-era tanks roared to life and churned through the mud up the hill.

time.com

OMG science

China Launches New Manned Spacecraft in Race to Put Astronauts on Moon

1. China has launched its first manned mission to the moon, becoming the first country to do so since the 1970s.
2. The mission, called Changâe 5, is a major milestone for Chinaâs space program and marks a significant step towards its ambitions of establishing a permanent

IndieWire

Independent films

How the 'A Spy Among Friends' Score Creates Audible Paranoia for Its Spy Characters

The story of Kim Philby, the high-ranking British intelligence official who turned out to be one of the biggest double agents in U.K. history (and a hero of the Soviet Union, if you take the Russian point of view), is well known at this point.Dozens of books, fiction and nonfiction, have been written about how Philby took in the great and the good of MI6 and the CIA for decades before he finally had to flee across the Iron Curtain in 1963.

www.npr.org

President Zelenskyy has said that Bakhmut is destroyed as Russia claims victory there

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gestures during a meeting with President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday, May 21, 2023.Susan Walsh/AP KYIV, Ukraine Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Bakhmut was "only in our hearts," hours after Russia's defense ministry reported that forces of the Wagner private army, with the support of Russian troops, had seized the city in eastern Ukraine.

www.theguardian.com

It's like the USSR': residents on life in Mariupol a year since Russian occupation

The mood in Mariupol has changed dramatically, according to residents who thought Russia would stay forever but are now expecting a swift Ukrainian military offensive to recapture the city.In a series of anonymous interviews with the Guardian, people said Mariupol had been transformed into a gloomy version of the Soviet Union since the last Ukrainian defenders holed up in the Azovstal steelworks surrendered to Russian troops a year ago.

www.france24.com

France news

Africa's Cannes moment' opens with tribute to Malian great Souleymane Cisse

CANNES FILM FESTIVAL Malian director Souleymane Cisse pictured on the beach in Cannes ahead of the film festival's opening on May 16, 2023.Stefano Rellandini, AFP The record number of African films at the 76th Cannes Film Festival has fuelled talk of a moviemaking revival on the continent, powered by a new generation of female directors.

www.independent.co.uk

France news

EU, Ukraine together on Europe Day, but Kyiv remains outside

For the first time, Ukraine and the European Union are marking Europe Day, that celebration of peace and unity, together.Don't let anyone be fooled too much, though.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the EU's executive branch, made a special trip to Kyiv on Tuesday to deliver the warm words of common destiny after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that his nation would from now on celebrate Europe Day together with all of free Europe."

www.theguardian.com

Germany news

Germany FA vice-president apologises for post mocking Volodymyr Zelenskiy

The German Football Association (DFB) vice-president Hermann Winkler apologised on Monday for a social media post mocking the visit of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to Berlin.Zelenskiy had talks with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, on Sunday, with many parts of central Berlin locked down for security reasons during his visit.

www.aljazeera.com

Top Chinese envoy heads to Ukraine, Russia in Europe peace' tour

Fluent Russian speaker Li Hui is the most senior Chinese official to visit Ukraine since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.A top Chinese envoy is beginning a tour of Europe that will take him first to Ukraine and lastly to Russia, in a trip Beijing says is aimed at discussing a political settlement to the Ukraine crisis.

www.dw.com

Putin claims 'real war' being waged against Russia DW 05/09/2023

In a speech from Red Square to mark Victory Day, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the world is again at a "turning point.""Today, civilization is again at a decisive turning point.A real war has been unleashed against our Motherland," he said during a parade in Moscow on Tuesday.

www.dw.com

Putin claims 'real war' being waged against Russia DW 05/09/2023

www.dw.com

Russia marks World War II Victory Day amid war in Ukraine DW 05/09/2023

Russia, on Tuesday, celebrates the anniversary of the Soviet's victory over Nazi Germany during World War II, overshadowed by battlefield failures in Ukraine, growing tensions with the West and tighter security for the Kremlin at home.Dubbed Victory Day, this is one of the biggest national holidays in Russia where people commemorate the sacrifices of the Soviet Union and over 20 million Soviet lives that were lost during World War II.

www.dw.com

Ukraine switches World War II victory date to May 8 DW 05/08/2023

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday said Ukraine would stop celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany on May 9, instead marking the event a day earlier.The announcement, on the day May 8 that most of Europe celebrates victory over Nazism, cements a break with Ukraine's history as part of the Soviet Union.

www.theguardian.com

Compare Iraq with Ukraine. It's clear the era of US global supremacy is over | Jonathan Steele

It's a useful coincidence that the 20th anniversary of George W Bush and Tony Blair's illegal attack on Iraq falls only a matter of weeks after the anniversary of Vladimir Putin's illegal attack on Ukraine.Neither war was authorised by the UN.Both are marked by massive destruction and huge loss of life.

english.elpais.com

@florissnuif 11 months ago

China seeks to boost middleman status by sending special envoy to Kyiv and Moscow

Vladimir Putin and Li Hui in Moscow in May 2019.Xinhua / Zuma Press / ContactoPhoto As it attempts to act as a mediator over the war in Ukraine, China has confirmed that it will next week send a high-ranking Chinese official to visit the country for the first time since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022.

...

Opinion | In Ukraine, Putin Is Fighting, and Losing, His Last War

www.nytimes.com

Opinion | We Forget Nuclear Powers Have Lost Wars

In the Brezhnev era of Vladimir Putin's youth, May 9 was an occasion for Soviet militarism, a celebration of weapons and might.It could be forgotten, at least for a moment, that Leonid Brezhnev's war of choice would be fought and lost in Afghanistan less than two decades after he began the May 9 celebrations, much as what is likely Mr. Putin's last war is today being fought and lost in Ukraine.

www.independent.co.uk

UK news

Liverpool will host greatest Eurovision', says Ukrainian past winner Jamala

Ukrainian former Eurovision winner Jamala, set to perform alongside the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra on the song contest's fan stage, said she thinks the Liverpool show will be the greatest Eurovision ever.The 39-year-old won the contest for Ukraine in Stockholm in 2016 with her song 1944, which is about the deportation of the Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union.

Washington Post

French expert in Russian history wins Spanish award

MADRID - Ninety-three-year-old French historian Hélène Carrère d'Encausse, an eminence in Russian and Central Asian history, has won Spain's Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences, prize organizers said Wednesday.Are you on Telegram?Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia's war in Ukraine.

www.dw.com

Germany's Baerbock says China can help end Ukraine war DW 05/09/2023

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday said China could play an influential role in ending the war in Ukraine "if it decides to do so."Baerbock was speaking to reporters after a meeting with her Chinese counterpart in Beijing, saying that "as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, China can play a significant role in ending the war, if it decides to do so."

english.elpais.com

Moscow ramps up security as Putin presides over low-key Victory Day parade

Vladimir Putin has converted the annual May 9 Victory Day celebrations into his great ideological pillar, but that symbolism has now become an inconvenience for the Kremlin against the backdrop of battlefield reverses in its invasion of Ukraine.The Soviet Union, which sacrificed nearly 27 million lives during the Nazi onslaught in World War II and eventually cornered Adolf Hitler in Berlin, forcing him to kill himself, held only four parades in Red Square to mark the defeat of the Third Reich throughout in its entire history in 1945, 1965, 1985 and 1990.

www.npr.org

Russia marks Victory Day although celebrations are scaled back

The annual event commemorates the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two.But it's hard to watch without thinking about that other war Russia's invasion of Ukraine.STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Russia held its Victory Day celebrations.Soldiers in dress uniforms marched with arms swinging across Red Square outside the Kremlin.

www.independent.co.uk

Berlin

China says it won't seek to benefit from war in Ukraine

China's foreign minister said Tuesday that his country has no intention of benefiting from the war in Ukraine and hopes for further discussions on a peace plan Beijing proposed earlier this year.Speaking after a meeting with his German counterpart in Berlin, Foreign Minister Qin Gang noted the recent talks the government in Beijing had with both Moscow and Kyiv, and said China's special envoy for Europe was expected to visit Ukraine again soon.

www.independent.co.uk

Berlin

War shadows Victory Day, Russia's integral holiday

Victory Day, Russia's most important secular holiday, lauds two tenets that are central to the country's identity: military might and moral rectitude.But the war in Ukraine undermines both this year.The holiday falling on Tuesday marks the 78th anniversary of Germany's capitulation in World War II after a relentless Red Army offensive pushed German forces from Stalingrad, deep inside Russia, all the way to Berlin, about 2,200 kilometers (1,300 miles).

www.aljazeera.com

This Victory Day, Putin has no victory to celebrate

Putin is losing two wars: the one in Ukraine and the one over the World War II narrative.Victory Day was one of the most important celebrations across the Soviet Union.Moscow chose to celebrate the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 on May 9, a day later than the West, because it was already past midnight in the Soviet capital when the instrument of surrender was signed in defeated Berlin.

Washington Post

EU, Ukraine together on Europe Day, but Kyiv remains outside

FILE - From left, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Council President Charles Michel walk together during an EU summit in Brussels on Feb. 9, 2023.Over a year into its war with invading Russia, Ukraine wants to badly join the bloc as an essential part to anchor its future in the Western world.

New York Daily News

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy moves World War II Victory Day to match Europe's in Russia snub

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday he will change his country's World War II victory day celebration from May 9 to May 8, in alignment with the rest of Europe - thumbing his nose at Russia."It is on May 8 that most nations of the world remember the greatness of the victory over the Nazis," Zelenskyy posted on social media.

www.7x7.com

San Francisco

San Francisco Ballet takes a look at love in two iconic productions this spring

Frankly, it's not only been a long winter here in San Francisco, but a decidedly cold and wet one as well.But while many of us have been making do with cranky radiator-based heating systems or buying galoshes instead of playing tennis, the SF Ballet has been in the studio tuning up their glorious in-house machinery to prepare for stagings of Cinderella and Romeo & Juliet.

Washington Post

EU slams prison term for Russian father in antiwar art case

Alexei Moskalyov sits in a courtroom in Yefremov, Tula region, some 300 kilometers (186 miles) south of Moscow, Russia, Monday, March 27, 2023.A court in Russia on Tuesday convicted a single father over social media posts criticizing the war in Ukraine and sentenced him to two years in prison - a case brought to the attention of authorities by his daughter's drawings against the invasion at school, according to the man's lawyer and local activists.

www.aljazeera.com

Air raid alerts for Kyiv, two-thirds of Ukraine

Russia has stepped up night time aerial attacks over the past week ahead of a renewed Ukrainian counteroffensive.Air raid sirens have been heard in the capital Kyiv and across two-thirds of Ukraine continuing more than a week of a renewed Russian air campaign.Ukrainian emergency services issued air raid alerts for Kyiv and most of central and eastern Ukraine early on Tuesday, extending from Vynnitsya in the west to all eastern regions and south to Kherson and the Odesa region on the Black Sea, the Reuters news agency reported.

www.nytimes.com

US politics

Ronald Steel, Critic of American Cold War Policies, Dies at 92

Ronald Steel, a historian who derided America's Cold War foreign policies as a succession of misguided adventures and wrote a definitive biography of Walter Lippmann, the dean of 20th-century foreign policy realism, died on Sunday in Washington.He was 92.The death, at a nursing home, was caused by complications of dementia, said his longtime physician and friend, Michael Newman.

www.cnn.com

US politics

How Xi and Putin's new friendship could test the US

As two autocrats traded tributes over a feast of quail, venison, Siberian white salmon and pomegranate sorbet, China and Russia seemed to conjure the anti-Western compact the US has long feared.Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit this week to his friend, President Vladimir Putin, came at a critical moment of Russia's quagmire war in Ukraine and of Beijing's emergence as a great power whose influence now stretches far beyond Asia.

www.nytimes.com

Fearing Attacks, and Perhaps Unrest, Russia Plans Muted Victory Day

The war in Ukraine has prompted officials across Russia to scale back annual celebrations of Victory Day, the country's most important national holiday, with more than 20 cities forgoing military parades and organizers calling off a popular nationwide march to honor veterans.Security concerns were most often cited for the rash of cancellations of Tuesday's events, but some analysts suggested that the unease had as much to do with fears about domestic disturbances.

www.nytimes.com

Opinion | Is Mr. Putin's Russia Worse Than the Soviet State?

It has become commonplace to perceive Vladimir Putin as reverting to Soviet ways.So it seemed natural, shortly after the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested in Russia, that when I ran into a woman I'd known in Moscow back in the Soviet days, I lamented that things were more and more as they had been in those bad old days.

www.nytimes.com

Dorothy Bohm, a Roving and Enduring Photographer, Dies at 98

For more than seven decades, the click of a camera shutter was the soundtrack to Dorothy Bohm's life.She was a teenager in Lithuania when her father gave her a Leica as she boarded a train to flee the Nazis.She studied photography in Manchester, England, after the Blitzkrieg drove her from London.Her camera was a steadfast companion when she traveled the world, chronicling her travels and the people she saw with an empathetic eye.

www.dw.com

Ukrainian soldiers find remains of German WWII soldiers DW 05/01/2023

The tip-off came from the pastor of the local church in the small town of Sopiv, western Ukraine: A German medical plane was said to have crashed near the village in the Ivanko-Frankivsk oblast (region) during World War II, he told the German War Graves Commission."The inhabitants would have recovered the bodies scattered all over the field and buried them behind the church," the pastor said, according to a commission statement.

www.nytimes.com

Sports

Ralph Boston, Olympian Who Soared Into the Record Books, Dies at 83

Ralph Boston, the Olympic long jump champion who, in August 1960, broke the track star Jesse Owens's 25-year-old world record in the event, and a year later became the first jumper to break the 27-foot mark, died on Sunday at his home in Peachtree City, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta.He was 83.The cause was complications of a stroke, his son Todd said.

www.nytimes.com

Sports

Ding Liren of China Wins World Chess Championship

Ding Liren of China won the world chess championship in a tiebreaker on Sunday, defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia to become the first Chinese man to hold the world title.Ding's victory is the latest high point in chess for China, a rising power in the game.The country, which once banned chess as a symbol of a decadent West, now holds both the men's and women's world championships.

www.theguardian.com

The Russo-Ukrainian War by Serhii Plokhy review deeply personal study of an old-fashioned imperial war'

On 23 February 2022, Serhii Plokhy was in Vienna on sabbatical from his teaching job at Harvard.He went to bed hoping the disturbing news on CNN was somehow wrong.Like many others, including his country's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian historian was reluctant to believe Russia was about to launch a full-scale assault on his homeland.

www.nytimes.com

Right-wing politics

Opinion | In Defense of Nostalgia

The Columbia University professor Mark Lilla, a perspicacious liberal critic of the contemporary right and left, has an essay in the latest issue of Liberties Journal analyzing the appeal and perils of nostalgia.The appeal is universal, he argues: Like late-middle-aged adults flipping through vacation pictures that remind us, or delude us into thinking, that family relations were once simpler and happier than they are now, almost every society finds itself mythologizing and romanticizing its own origin or past.

www.dw.com

Ukraine war: What do Russian speakers in Germany think? DW 04/28/2023

Russia is to blame for the war in Ukraine.That's the opinion of just under 40% of Russian speakers in Germany surveyed by the dimap research institute on behalf of DW; 15% believe Ukraine is to blame, while 27% think both are responsible.For the purposes of the survey, "Russian speakers" refers to native speakers with a migration history in Russia or another former republic of the Soviet Union.

www.france24.com

Russia detains US journalist on suspicion of spying

A vehicle carrying The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, detained on suspicion of espionage, drives away from a court building in Moscow, Russia March 30, 2023.Evgenia Novozhenina, Reuters A Moscow court ruled that a US journalist for the Wall Street Journal newspaper should be detained for nearly two months on suspicion of spying for Washington, the most serious move against a foreign journalist since Russia invaded Ukraine.

New York Daily News

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich arrested in Russia on espionage charges

An American reporter for the Wall Street Journal has been detained in Russia on espionage charges, marking the latest escalation in tensions between the United States and the Kremlin since it launched its invasion of Ukraine.Evan Gershkovich - who covers Russia, Ukraine and the former Soviet Union for the outlet - was detained in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg on suspicion of "espionage in the interests of the American government," the Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement, which was reported by state media.

www.france24.com

Live: FSB security service detains US reporter on spying charges, Russian news agencies say

Hour by Hour A view of the Kremlin's Spasskaya tower in central Moscow on September 28, 2022.Natalia Kolesnikova, AFP A US reporter for the Wall Street Journal has been detained in Russia on spying charges, Russian news agencies reported on Thursday.Russia's FSB security service said the journalist, 31-year-old Evan Gershkovich, is suspected of spying in the interests of the American government, agencies reported.

www.aljazeera.com

Russia detains WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich on espionage charges

The Wall Street Journal reporter was arrested in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg while allegedly trying to obtain classified information.Russian authorities have detained an American reporter for the Wall Street Journal on espionage charges, Russia's top security agency has said.The Federal Security Service (FSB), the top KGB successor agency, said on Thursday that Evan Gershkovich was arrested in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg while allegedly trying to obtain classified information.

www.npr.org

Health

A rehab center revives traumatized Ukrainian troops before their return to battle

Soldiers relax at a rehabilitation course in between tours in northeastern Ukraine.Claire Harbage/NPR KHARKIV REGION, Ukraine Vlad is one of four soldiers in his unit who survived a tour of duty defending Bakhmut, the city in eastern Ukraine that Russia has tried to capture for months."Bakhmut," he says, his voice breaking.

www.nytimes.com

The Latest: War in Ukraine: Russia's Push in Eastern Ukraine Leaves Avdiivka in Ruins

AVDIIVKA, Ukraine When the shelling starts, the people who have remained in this town in eastern Ukraine hardly flinch.In truth, the shelling barely stops.Russian efforts to capture Avdiivka began over a year ago and in recent weeks have escalated.On Monday, as a Ukrainian police evacuation team went from basement to basement to try again to persuade people to leave, the thud of artillery could be heard every minute or two from Russian forces that have sometimes been stationed no more than a mile away.

www.vice.com

Russia Will Station Nukes in Another Country for First Time Since Soviet Era

Nuclear weapons are returning to Belarus after decades as the war in Ukraine drags on.During a speech on Saturday night, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a plan to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, a country that borders both Russia and Ukraine.Putin pointed out that the U.S. has its own nuclear weapons stationed in partner countries around Europe.

www.aljazeera.com

History Illustrated: Russia and Ukraine, a history of violence

By Danylo Hawaleshka Published On 27 Mar 202327 Mar 2023 History Illustrated is a weekly series that explains the backstory of the news and features graphics generated with artificial intelligence.This thing between Russia and Ukraine didn't start with Putin's invasion.This thing goes back a thousand years, to the grand prince of Kyiv, Vladimir I, when he was baptised an Orthodox Christian.

Washington Post

West warns Putin against 'dangerous' nuclear rhetoric but downplays threat

Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with his transport minister in Moscow on March 25.(Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)The United States and its European allies warned Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday against what they said was "dangerous" nuclear rhetoric after he announced plans to store tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, a close ally of Moscow that shares a border with northern Ukraine.

Truthout

Left-wing politics

Putin to Station Russian Nukes in Belarus in "Dangerous Escalation"

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 25, 2023.Gavriil GRIGOROV / SPUTNIK / AFP via Getty Images Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on state television Saturday plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus - an escalation anti-war campaigners had been warning about and that alarmed disarmament advocates and experts.

www.theguardian.com

Putin's timeline for storing tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus is hard to believe

Like a lot of what Vladimir Putin says about nuclear weapons, his suggestion that Russia would start storing its bombs in Belarus may add up to less than it appears.In February last year, Putin said he was putting Russia's nuclear arsenal on high alert, but there was no perceptible change in the country's nuclear posture, or any unusual movements of its weapons.

www.theguardian.com

Russia accused of taking Belarus nuclear hostage' with deal to station missiles there

Ukraine has accused Russia of destabilising Belarus and making its smaller neighbour into a nuclear hostage following Vladimir Putin's announcement that Moscow has made a deal to station tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory.The Russian president's suggestions that the move would not breach non-proliferation agreements and that it was consistent with similar arrangements the US had with several of its European allies was given short shrift in Kyiv.

www.france24.com

Russia accuses Azerbaijan of violating ceasefire agreement with Armenia

Issued on: 25/03/2023 - 18:32Modified: 25/03/2023 - 18:38 A checkpoint of the Russia peacekeeping force is seen on a road towards the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh in Armenia, Tuesday, March 14, 2023.Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday accused the Moscow-dominated security alliance of leaving his country in the cold in the face of a threat of renewed hostilities with neighboring Azerbaijan.

www.aljazeera.com

Austrian FM: Russia's war in Ukraine is not black and white'

Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg discusses Austria's military non-alignment policy.Russia's invasion of Ukraine has prompted countries such as Finland and Sweden to apply for NATO membership.Austria, however, has shown no interest in joining the alliance.It has been neutral since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1955.

www.aljazeera.com

Zelenskyy calls on EU to give jets, missiles or expect a long war

The Ukrainian president's pointed comments on the need for modern weapons represented an unusually open display of frustration with EU leaders.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had told European leaders to rapidly increase the supply of modern weapons to his forces, particularly jet fighters and long-range missile systems, otherwise, they should prepare for the war dragging on for years.

Washington Post

Russia is shipping very old tanks west, signaling shortage in Ukraine

A Soviet-made T-55 tank aboard a train that journeyed across Russia in 2019.(Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)Open-source researchers have found evidence that Moscow is dusting off Stalin-era tanks - some first deployed more than 70 years ago - and shipping them west, possibly a sign that battlefield losses have led to a shortage of armor for Moscow's forces on the front in Ukraine.

Gay City News

Brooklyn

RUSA LGBTQ+ to host seventh annual Brighton Beach Pride in May

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Pride is returning to southern Brooklyn for yet another year.RUSA LGBTQ+, a network of Russian-speaking individuals and immigrants from parts of the former Soviet Union, will march along the Riegelmann Boardwalk on May 21 to mark the seventh annual edition of Brighton Beach Pride.

www.nytimes.com

Give Me an Abrams!' Ukrainian Tank Commanders Grow Impatient.

OUTSKIRTS OF BAKHMUT, Ukraine Large snowflakes drifted silently through the trees as two Soviet-era tanks roared to life and churned through the mud up the hill.It was daybreak on one of the last days of winter, and the tank commander and his deputy tramped through the snow checking on the men as they readied for battle.

Washington Post

DC food

Review | 'Tetris': A heady Cold War thriller about the fight over a video game

Taron Egerton, left, and Nikita Efremov in "Tetris."(Apple TV Plus)StarOutline (2.5 stars) For a movie about a video game - especially one as popular and as elegant in its simplicity as "Tetris" - Apple TV Plus's new docudrama by that name certainly involves a heck of a lot of lawyers, contractual licenses, bankers, accountants, software engineers, business moguls, KGB agents and Communist Party apparatchiks.

www.theguardian.com

UK politics

There's a realignment of power emerging between Russia, China and the west | Rafael Behr

Once again the world is divided into competing spheres of eastern and western power, but is it a new cold war or reheated leftovers from the last one?The answer is a bit of both.For Vladimir Putin, the superpower rivalry of the 20th century never ended, although in economic and military terms there was a clear winner and it wasn't the Soviet Union.

www.aljazeera.com

Police raid on Russian human rights group draws condemnation

International human rights experts denounce witch hunt' against Nobel Prize-winning group Memorial on Tuesday.Russian security forces have raided the homes of former employees of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights group Memorial on Tuesday, taking some of its members in for questioning, the group said.

www.dw.com

Russia targets Nobel Prize-winning rights group in raids DW 03/21/2023

Russian police searched several apartments belonging to former employees of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning group Memorial on Tuesday.The human rights group said some of the former employees were also apprehended for questioning.One opposition party condemned the move as an assault on dissent.Memorial, one of Russia's most renowned rights groups, was founded in 1987 to document cases of political repression in the Soviet Union.

Independent

Russian raids target Nobel Peace Prize-winning rights group Memorial

Russian authorities have raided the homes and offices of human rights advocates and historians with the prominent rights group Memorial which won the Nobel Peace Prize last year.he wave of searches, after which police took Memorial activists in for questioning, is part of a sweeping crackdown unleashed by the Kremlin against dissent in recent years, which has intensified after Moscow invaded Ukraine more than a year ago.

www.theguardian.com

How Xi Jinping plans to use his meeting with war crimes suspect Vladimir Putin | Observer editorial

The welcome and overdue indictment of Vladimir Putin for war crimes allegedly committed in Ukraine confirms his position as a global outlaw.The decision by the international criminal court (ICC) is unlikely to lead to his arrest and trial in the foreseeable future.But it does ensure that, from now on, Russia's president will be a criminal suspect and wanted man, liable to arrest in the ICC's 123 member states and a huge embarrassment to his country.

www.nytimes.com