Finland begins building 10-foot-high razor-wire wall along Russian border
Finnish authorities are chopping down trees along the country’s snowy Russian border, making way for a 124-mile-long fence, 10 feet high and topped with barbed wire, that the government has started installing because it says it “cannot rely” on Moscow to maintain border security.
The construction is part of a colossal effort by Finland and four other nations to fence off the European Union from Russia and its ally Belarus that has accelerated since the invasion of Ukraine a year ago.
The prospect of a physical border dividing the European continent is evocative of the Iron Curtain, the 4,300-mile-long collection of barriers, including the Berlin Wall, that divided the communist East and capitalist West during the Cold War.
Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have each cited concerns that foreign governments are permitting immigrants to illegally cross their borders, or could do so in the future.
Read the full story here.
Finnish authorities are chopping down trees along the country’s snowy Russian border, making way for a 124-mile-long fence, 10 feet high and topped with barbed wire, that the government has started installing because it says it “cannot rely” on Moscow to maintain border security.
The construction is part of a colossal effort by Finland and four other nations to fence off the European Union from Russia and its ally Belarus that has accelerated since the invasion of Ukraine a year ago.
The prospect of a physical border dividing the European continent is evocative of the Iron Curtain, the 4,300-mile-long collection of barriers, including the Berlin Wall, that divided the communist East and capitalist West during the Cold War.
Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have each cited concerns that foreign governments are permitting immigrants to illegally cross their borders, or could do so in the future.
Read the full story here.
A girl drew an antiwar picture in school. Russia detained her dad.
The father of a 12-year-old girl who drew an antiwar picture in her art class in Russia is facing criminal charges and a potential three-year prison sentence, and his daughter has been placed temporarily in an orphanage.
The father, Alexei Moskalyov, 53, was detained Wednesday in Yefremov, about 150 miles south of Moscow. He was charged with repeat offenses of “discrediting the Russian army,” following searches of his home and a review of social media posts that began after his daughter made the drawing in her sixth-grade class last April.
Masha’s teacher had asked the students to make patriotic drawings to celebrate soldiers fighting on the front lines. Instead, Masha drew a picture of a woman standing in front of a Ukrainian flag, shielding a child from Russian missiles, along with an antiwar slogan: “No to war.”
Masha’s teacher informed the school principal, who reported the incident to authorities.
Read the full story here.
The father of a 12-year-old girl who drew an antiwar picture in her art class in Russia is facing criminal charges and a potential three-year prison sentence, and his daughter has been placed temporarily in an orphanage.
The father, Alexei Moskalyov, 53, was detained Wednesday in Yefremov, about 150 miles south of Moscow. He was charged with repeat offenses of “discrediting the Russian army,” following searches of his home and a review of social media posts that began after his daughter made the drawing in her sixth-grade class last April.
Masha’s teacher had asked the students to make patriotic drawings to celebrate soldiers fighting on the front lines. Instead, Masha drew a picture of a woman standing in front of a Ukrainian flag, shielding a child from Russian missiles, along with an antiwar slogan: “No to war.”
Masha’s teacher informed the school principal, who reported the incident to authorities.
Read the full story here.
Sakharov Center forced to close as wartime Russia purges human rights groups
MOSCOW — The yellowing notebooks, manuscripts and letters of the great Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov have been packed up into boxes and cases, stacked in a pile in his old apartment, their future uncertain.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s wartime purge of liberals and human rights activists has forced the Sakharov Center, a museum and cultural space in Moscow, to close as the Kremlin rips up the legacy of rights defenders like Sakharov, who died in 1989, and destroys organizations dedicated to justice and freedom.
The center held its final public event last month and now has until the end of April to dismantle its museum exhibition focused on the repressions of the Soviet gulag, and to remove the dissident’s archives and his bust.
Read the full story here.
MOSCOW — The yellowing notebooks, manuscripts and letters of the great Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov have been packed up into boxes and cases, stacked in a pile in his old apartment, their future uncertain.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s wartime purge of liberals and human rights activists has forced the Sakharov Center, a museum and cultural space in Moscow, to close as the Kremlin rips up the legacy of rights defenders like Sakharov, who died in 1989, and destroys organizations dedicated to justice and freedom.
The center held its final public event last month and now has until the end of April to dismantle its museum exhibition focused on the repressions of the Soviet gulag, and to remove the dissident’s archives and his bust.
Read the full story here.
Anti-Putin group claims attack on Russian territory
The Russian Volunteer Corps, a group of anti-Kremlin fighters, claimed responsibility for an attack on their country on Thursday. The claim comes after Russia’s federal police force said that “armed Ukrainian nationalists” had entered Bryansk after unconfirmed reports suggested that Russian civilians were being held hostage while others were shot. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, called the Russian report a “classic deliberate provocation.”
The Russian Volunteer Corps called itself a “liberation army that came to its own land” and urged Russians to “take up arms and fight Putin’s bloody regime” in a video posted to social media. It also said that the Russian claim that Ukrainians entered Bryansk was “a lie of the Kremlin propagandists.”
More live updates here.
The Russian Volunteer Corps, a group of anti-Kremlin fighters, claimed responsibility for an attack on their country on Thursday. The claim comes after Russia’s federal police force said that “armed Ukrainian nationalists” had entered Bryansk after unconfirmed reports suggested that Russian civilians were being held hostage while others were shot. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, called the Russian report a “classic deliberate provocation.”
The Russian Volunteer Corps called itself a “liberation army that came to its own land” and urged Russians to “take up arms and fight Putin’s bloody regime” in a video posted to social media. It also said that the Russian claim that Ukrainians entered Bryansk was “a lie of the Kremlin propagandists.”
More live updates here.
Blinken has rare encounter with Russia’s Lavrov at G-20 meeting in India
NEW DELHI — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a brief encounter with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of a G-20 meeting in India’s capital in the first face-to-face meeting between the two diplomats since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
During the less-than-10-minute exchange, Blinken urged Russia to reverse its decision to suspend cooperation in the New START nuclear arms treaty and accept a U.S. proposal for the release of U.S. citizen Paul Whelan, said a senior State Department official familiar with the discussion.
Blinken also reaffirmed Washington’s support for Ukraine’s peace proposal that maintains the country’s territorial integrity, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss conversations.
The official declined to discuss Lavrov’s response but said Washington did not suspect that Russia has changed its position about the war in Ukraine.
Read the full story here.
NEW DELHI — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a brief encounter with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of a G-20 meeting in India’s capital in the first face-to-face meeting between the two diplomats since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
During the less-than-10-minute exchange, Blinken urged Russia to reverse its decision to suspend cooperation in the New START nuclear arms treaty and accept a U.S. proposal for the release of U.S. citizen Paul Whelan, said a senior State Department official familiar with the discussion.
Blinken also reaffirmed Washington’s support for Ukraine’s peace proposal that maintains the country’s territorial integrity, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss conversations.
The official declined to discuss Lavrov’s response but said Washington did not suspect that Russia has changed its position about the war in Ukraine.
Read the full story here.
Kremlin accuses Ukraine of violent attack in western Russia
RIGA, Latvia — The Kremlin on Thursday blamed Ukraine for an attack in two villages in the Bryansk region of western Russia, in which President Vladimir Putin said assailants had “opened fire on civilians” and the Bryansk governor said two people were killed and hostages were taken.
An aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denied that Kyiv was involved in the incident, which Putin called a “terrorist attack.” Details of the incident were extremely sketchy, and, in an age of ubiquitous cellphone videos, no footage or photos of an attack were circulating on social media, even hours afterward.
Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB, initially issued a statement saying that “measures are being taken to eliminate armed Ukrainian nationalists who violated the state border.”
Read the full story here.
RIGA, Latvia — The Kremlin on Thursday blamed Ukraine for an attack in two villages in the Bryansk region of western Russia, in which President Vladimir Putin said assailants had “opened fire on civilians” and the Bryansk governor said two people were killed and hostages were taken.
An aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denied that Kyiv was involved in the incident, which Putin called a “terrorist attack.” Details of the incident were extremely sketchy, and, in an age of ubiquitous cellphone videos, no footage or photos of an attack were circulating on social media, even hours afterward.
Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB, initially issued a statement saying that “measures are being taken to eliminate armed Ukrainian nationalists who violated the state border.”
Read the full story here.
Ukraine uncovers new grave near Bucha, site of alleged Russian atrocities
BORODYANKA, Ukraine — Ukrainian authorities exhumed a communal grave near the city of Bucha on Thursday, suggesting further killings by Russian forces in an area where evidence of alleged atrocities against civilians spurred global outrage.
The unmarked grave containing the remains of three men was identified near the town of Borodyanka, officials said, after a local man who had buried the bodies there almost a year ago returned to the area and informed local authorities about it.
The body of one of the slain men was recovered from a burned-out car shortly after Russian forces took control of the area just north of Kyiv and buried on March 8, 2022, officials said. The other two men appeared to have been shot around the same time.
Read the full story here.
BORODYANKA, Ukraine — Ukrainian authorities exhumed a communal grave near the city of Bucha on Thursday, suggesting further killings by Russian forces in an area where evidence of alleged atrocities against civilians spurred global outrage.
The unmarked grave containing the remains of three men was identified near the town of Borodyanka, officials said, after a local man who had buried the bodies there almost a year ago returned to the area and informed local authorities about it.
The body of one of the slain men was recovered from a burned-out car shortly after Russian forces took control of the area just north of Kyiv and buried on March 8, 2022, officials said. The other two men appeared to have been shot around the same time.
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest in Ukraine:
- The Kremlin blamed Ukraine for an attack in two villages in the Bryansk region of western Russia, in which Putin said assailants had “opened fire on civilians” and the Bryansk governor said two people were killed and hostages were taken.
- Ukrainian authorities exhumed the remains of three men from a newly discovered communal grave near Bucha, the area near Kyiv where alleged atrocities last spring set off worldwide outrage and were condemned by world leaders as evidence of Russian war crimes.
- A document summarizing the G-20 meeting said: “most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy.”
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s encounter lasted less than 10 minutes, during which Blinken urged Russia to reverse its decision to suspend cooperation in the New START nuclear arms accord.
More live updates here.
- The Kremlin blamed Ukraine for an attack in two villages in the Bryansk region of western Russia, in which Putin said assailants had “opened fire on civilians” and the Bryansk governor said two people were killed and hostages were taken.
- Ukrainian authorities exhumed the remains of three men from a newly discovered communal grave near Bucha, the area near Kyiv where alleged atrocities last spring set off worldwide outrage and were condemned by world leaders as evidence of Russian war crimes.
- A document summarizing the G-20 meeting said: “most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy.”
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s encounter lasted less than 10 minutes, during which Blinken urged Russia to reverse its decision to suspend cooperation in the New START nuclear arms accord.
More live updates here.
Here's the latest from Ukraine.
- President Biden will welcome German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Washington for a working visit Friday. The two leaders may discuss China’s potential to supply lethal aid to Russian forces in Ukraine.
- In New Delhi, where the foreign ministers of the Group of 20 nations gathered this week, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell said Friday that kicking Russia out of the club would be a mistake.
- The Russian Volunteer Corps, an anti-Putin group fighting on Ukraine’s side, claimed responsibility for an attack in the Bryansk region that Russian officials said had left two people dead.
- Pro-Russia forces have made gains in the areas near Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian town at the center of heavy fighting in recent weeks, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
More live updates here.
- President Biden will welcome German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Washington for a working visit Friday. The two leaders may discuss China’s potential to supply lethal aid to Russian forces in Ukraine.
- In New Delhi, where the foreign ministers of the Group of 20 nations gathered this week, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell said Friday that kicking Russia out of the club would be a mistake.
- The Russian Volunteer Corps, an anti-Putin group fighting on Ukraine’s side, claimed responsibility for an attack in the Bryansk region that Russian officials said had left two people dead.
- Pro-Russia forces have made gains in the areas near Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian town at the center of heavy fighting in recent weeks, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
More live updates here.
Pregnant Russians are streaming into Argentina. Officials are suspicious.
BUENOS AIRES — The young couple was determined to leave Russia.
Alex Slepenkov, 36, knew he could be forced to join the military and fight in a war he had tried to protest. He and his wife, Natasha Slepenkova, 30, feared the country would turn into North Korea, closing its borders to the world.
After they learned in September they were expecting their first child, they began looking up alternatives. The couple settled on a destination about as far from Moscow as possible, with a culture and language vastly different from their own.
Argentina, unlike many countries, still allowed Russians to enter. And it’s a country that grants citizenship to children born on its soil — allowing the baby’s parents to apply, too. For Russians, an Argentine passport is something of a golden ticket, granting visa-free access to more than 170 countries.
Read the full story here.
BUENOS AIRES — The young couple was determined to leave Russia.
Alex Slepenkov, 36, knew he could be forced to join the military and fight in a war he had tried to protest. He and his wife, Natasha Slepenkova, 30, feared the country would turn into North Korea, closing its borders to the world.
After they learned in September they were expecting their first child, they began looking up alternatives. The couple settled on a destination about as far from Moscow as possible, with a culture and language vastly different from their own.
Argentina, unlike many countries, still allowed Russians to enter. And it’s a country that grants citizenship to children born on its soil — allowing the baby’s parents to apply, too. For Russians, an Argentine passport is something of a golden ticket, granting visa-free access to more than 170 countries.
Read the full story here.
Russia’s Lavrov elicits cheers and groans at Indian political dialogue
NEW DELHI — A boisterous international audience of academics, diplomats and business executives both cheered and groaned as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov presented Russia’s view of the Ukraine war, reflecting global splits on the crisis.
To loud applause, Lavrov emphasized what he called a “double standard” in questions directed to him about the war in Ukraine, especially when contrasted with the United States’ own military interventions in past decades.
“Have you been interested in these years [in] what is going on in Iraq, what is going on in Afghanistan?” he asked his interviewer, pausing to a round of applause. “[You] believe that the United States has the right to declare a threat to its national interest … and you don’t ask them any questions?”
His assertion that Moscow was the victim, not the aggressor, elicited a collective eye roll from the audience.
Read the full story here.
NEW DELHI — A boisterous international audience of academics, diplomats and business executives both cheered and groaned as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov presented Russia’s view of the Ukraine war, reflecting global splits on the crisis.
To loud applause, Lavrov emphasized what he called a “double standard” in questions directed to him about the war in Ukraine, especially when contrasted with the United States’ own military interventions in past decades.
“Have you been interested in these years [in] what is going on in Iraq, what is going on in Afghanistan?” he asked his interviewer, pausing to a round of applause. “[You] believe that the United States has the right to declare a threat to its national interest … and you don’t ask them any questions?”
His assertion that Moscow was the victim, not the aggressor, elicited a collective eye roll from the audience.
Read the full story here.
Heavy fighting as Russians advance in Bakhmut but Ukrainian units hold on
DONETSK REGION, Ukraine — The battle for Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine continued to rage on Friday, with Russian forces “constantly hitting the city randomly with artillery, grads and mortars,” a Ukrainian soldier Yuriy Syrotyuk, 46, who is stationed in the north of the city with Ukraine’s Fifth Independent Assault Brigade, said by phone.
But Ukrainian forces were still in control of some parts of Bakhmut, and have not been ordered to retreat, Syrotyuk said, despite new claims on Friday from Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the leader of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, that Russian forces had “practically surrounded” the city.
Other Ukrainian solders said that further reinforcements were being deployed to Bakhmut, even as some specialized units were told to redeploy to long-planned fallback positions.
Read the full story here.
DONETSK REGION, Ukraine — The battle for Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine continued to rage on Friday, with Russian forces “constantly hitting the city randomly with artillery, grads and mortars,” a Ukrainian soldier Yuriy Syrotyuk, 46, who is stationed in the north of the city with Ukraine’s Fifth Independent Assault Brigade, said by phone.
But Ukrainian forces were still in control of some parts of Bakhmut, and have not been ordered to retreat, Syrotyuk said, despite new claims on Friday from Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the leader of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, that Russian forces had “practically surrounded” the city.
Other Ukrainian solders said that further reinforcements were being deployed to Bakhmut, even as some specialized units were told to redeploy to long-planned fallback positions.
Read the full story here.
Belarus sentences Nobel Peace laureate Ales Bialiatski to 10 years in jail
A Belarusian court on Friday sentenced one of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize winners, the human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, to 10 years in prison — continuing a brutal crackdown on dissent that began in response to pro-democracy protests in 2020.
Bialiatski, 60, a veteran human rights defender, founded the Viasna Human Rights Centre in 1996. He shared the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize with Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties (CCL), which is working to document alleged war crimes by Russia, and the Russian human rights group Memorial, in a pointed rebuke to Russian President Vladimir Putin for his invasion of Ukraine.
In bestowing the award in October, the Nobel Committee specifically called on Belarus to free Bialiatski, who had been arrested on charges of financial crimes widely viewed as politically motivated.
Read the full story here.
A Belarusian court on Friday sentenced one of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize winners, the human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, to 10 years in prison — continuing a brutal crackdown on dissent that began in response to pro-democracy protests in 2020.
Bialiatski, 60, a veteran human rights defender, founded the Viasna Human Rights Centre in 1996. He shared the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize with Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties (CCL), which is working to document alleged war crimes by Russia, and the Russian human rights group Memorial, in a pointed rebuke to Russian President Vladimir Putin for his invasion of Ukraine.
In bestowing the award in October, the Nobel Committee specifically called on Belarus to free Bialiatski, who had been arrested on charges of financial crimes widely viewed as politically motivated.
Read the full story here.
Why Russia and Ukraine are fighting over Bakhmut
If there’s one city that has come to symbolize the grinding war of attrition in Ukraine, it’s Bakhmut.
Russia has pummeled the city for more than seven months, reducing it to a charred and mutilated ghost town. Moscow has sent wave after wave of soldiers and Wagner Group mercenaries toward Ukrainian positions, sustaining heavy casualties. At several points, as Russian forces close in, the city has appeared on the verge of falling. But for months, Ukrainian fighters have stood their ground.
Before the war, Bakhmut was mostly known as a center of the salt industry. But the relentless, intensifying fight for control of the city — which analysts say holds little strategic importance — has made it a rallying cry and political battleground for both sides.
Here’s what to know about the battle for the city.
If there’s one city that has come to symbolize the grinding war of attrition in Ukraine, it’s Bakhmut.
Russia has pummeled the city for more than seven months, reducing it to a charred and mutilated ghost town. Moscow has sent wave after wave of soldiers and Wagner Group mercenaries toward Ukrainian positions, sustaining heavy casualties. At several points, as Russian forces close in, the city has appeared on the verge of falling. But for months, Ukrainian fighters have stood their ground.
Before the war, Bakhmut was mostly known as a center of the salt industry. But the relentless, intensifying fight for control of the city — which analysts say holds little strategic importance — has made it a rallying cry and political battleground for both sides.
Here’s what to know about the battle for the city.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- President Biden told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that his country’s support for Ukraine has been “profound” at the outset of a meeting Friday in the Oval Office of the White House.
- Wagner Group boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin said that “the pincers are closing” on Bakhmut, in a video posted Friday on Telegram in which he claimed to be speaking from a rooftop in the city.
- The United States announced an additional $400 million in military aid for Ukraine on Friday.
- A Russian anti-Putin group fighting on Ukraine’s side claimed responsibility for an attack in Russia’s western Bryansk region, which Russian officials said killed two people.
- Kicking Russia out of the Group of 20 nations would be a mistake, Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said Friday as a high-level meeting of G-20 foreign ministers drew to a close in New Delhi.
More live updates here.
- President Biden told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that his country’s support for Ukraine has been “profound” at the outset of a meeting Friday in the Oval Office of the White House.
- Wagner Group boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin said that “the pincers are closing” on Bakhmut, in a video posted Friday on Telegram in which he claimed to be speaking from a rooftop in the city.
- The United States announced an additional $400 million in military aid for Ukraine on Friday.
- A Russian anti-Putin group fighting on Ukraine’s side claimed responsibility for an attack in Russia’s western Bryansk region, which Russian officials said killed two people.
- Kicking Russia out of the Group of 20 nations would be a mistake, Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said Friday as a high-level meeting of G-20 foreign ministers drew to a close in New Delhi.
More live updates here.