The Moscow Times

The Moscow Times stands out as Russia's top independent English-language news source. Operating from our newsroom in Moscow, we deliver timely updates, captivating stories, and fair reporting about the vast nation of Russia to audiences around the globe.

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Russia's Opposition Fears the Country's Disintegration. If It Happens, It Would Be Their Own Doing.

1 week ago | themoscowtimes.com | Leyla Latypova

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of The Moscow Times’ Regions Calling newsletter, your weekly guide to the key trends and events shaping life and politics in Russia’s regions. This week, MT’s special correspondent Leyla Latypova reflects on a recent Russian opposition event that she attended in a European capital.
Russia and Ukraine Announce Third POW Exchange This Week - The Moscow Times

2 weeks ago | themoscowtimes.com

Ukraine and Russia on Thursday confirmed a new prisoner exchange, the third this week under a deal reached during peace talks in Turkey.
In Russia, Being Openly Gay Is 'Extremist.' But Some People Bend the Rules.

2 weeks ago | themoscowtimes.com | Uliana Pavlova

In Russia, nobody knows what’s gay enough to get you in trouble. In a country where queerness has been legally equated to terrorism, the line between what is acceptable and what is not has blurred. “It is quite difficult to understand what constitutes LGBT propaganda or extremism,” said Valeria Vetoshkina, a lawyer for OVD-Info, Russia’s leading independent human rights watchdog.
Why the Families of Russia’s Regional Elites Still Covet Life in the West

2 weeks ago | themoscowtimes.com | Samantha Berkhead

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of The Moscow Times’ Regions Calling newsletter, where our reporters examine key trends and events shaping life and politics in Russia’s regions. This week, MT’s editor-in-chief Samantha Berkhead and reporter Pyotr Kozlov examine how Russian regional elites’ penchant for educating their children in the West never really ended after the invasion of Ukraine. Subscribe here so you never miss an issue.
‘Boris Godunov’: Kirill Serebrennikov’s Titanic Indictment of the Russia He Loves

2 weeks ago | themoscowtimes.com | Samantha Berkhead

AMSTERDAM — A tsar, who rose to the throne through the murder of a young heir, is asked to stay in power by an impoverished populace for the sake of their nation’s stability. Yet haunted by the ghosts of his past, he descends into paranoid madness as a pretender to the throne marches on Moscow.
Armenia Is Breaking Up With Russia - And Putin Can’t Stop It

2 weeks ago | themoscowtimes.com | Jason Corcoran

For decades, Armenia was one of Russia’s most reliable post-Soviet allies — a small but loyal partner nestled in the volatile South Caucasus. But that marriage of convenience is now rapidly unravelling. Today, Yerevan is no longer whispering discontent. It is shouting it from the rooftops. And Moscow? It is scrambling to salvage the remains of its diminishing influence with soft power schemes and desperate political manoeuvers. The writing is now on the wall.
Russia and Ukraine Trade Blame for Prisoner Swap Delay

2 weeks ago | themoscowtimes.com | Victoria Lukovenko

A large-scale prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine — the only concrete outcome of peace talks — was thrown into doubt Saturday after Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of delaying and thwarting the swap. The hold-up to an exchange that both sides said would take place this weekend came as Moscow's army launched a barrage of missiles, drones and bombs across the country overnight and throughout Saturday, killing at least 10 people.
Police Raids, Arrests Reported in Bashkortostan as Tensions Rise Over State-Backed Mining Project

3 weeks ago | themoscowtimes.com | Leyla Latypova

Authorities in Russia’s republic of Bashkortostan and the neighboring Magnitogorsk region raided homes and detained activists who oppose a government-backed plan to develop copper mining deposits near their communities, local media reported Thursday. Security forces searched the house of prominent Bashkir activist Ural Baybulatov in the early hours of Thursday, RFE/RL’s Volga-Ural service Idel.Realii reported, citing an anonymous source familiar with the matter.
Analyzing New Drone Footage of Ukraine’s Operation Spider’s Web

3 weeks ago | themoscowtimes.com | Charlie Hancock

Ukraine’s SBU Security Service has released four minutes of footage from Sunday’s Operation Spider’s Web drone attacks, which damaged and destroyed aircraft over 4,000 kilometers from Ukraine. While the SBU claims to have destroyed 41 military aircraft valued at over $7 billion, independent verification has not corroborated Ukraine’s figures.
Why Is Bashkortostan Getting a Ukrainian Cultural Center?

3 weeks ago | themoscowtimes.com | Leyla Latypova

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of The Moscow Times’ Regions Calling newsletter, where our reporters examine key trends and events shaping life and politics in Russia’s regions. This week, MT’s Indigenous special correspondent Leyla Latypova unpacks why the leader of her native republic of Bashkortostan, which has suffered some of the highest losses in the invasion of Ukraine, is now ordering the creation of the republic’s first Ukrainian cultural center.