Russian

FrankRamspott/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — A Russian and Chinese naval formation patrolled “near Alaska” last week but “was not considered a threat,” U.S. Northern Command said Sunday. “Air and maritime assets under our commands conducted operations to assure the defense of the United States and Canada,” a NORTHCOM statement to ABC News said, adding that […]

belterz/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — A Moscow court has extended the detention of Travis Leake, an American man detained by Russia on drug charges. Heavily armed Russian police arrested Leake in early June at his apartment in Moscow, accusing him of selling narcotics. Leake, 51, had lived in Russia for more than a decade, working […]

omersukrugoksu/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — A Russian fighter jet fired flares directly at an American MQ-9 Reaper drone over Syria on Sunday, damaging its propeller, according to U.S. Air Forces Central — the latest in a string of what military officials have denounced as risky and provocative behavior. The drone was on a counter-terrorism mission […]

omersukrugoksu/Getty Images (LONDON) — A chaotic armed rebellion that threatened the longstanding leadership of Russian President Vladimir Putin began Friday and appeared to have been quelled by Saturday evening. The uprising, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of the paramilitary Wagner Group, began in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. Forces loyal to Prigozhin marched toward […]

Witthaya Prasongsin/Getty Images (LONDON) — A Wall Street Journal reporter detained in Russia on espionage charges had his appeal denied in court on Thursday. Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent with the paper’s Moscow bureau, was arrested in March and stands accused of “acting on the instructions of the American side” and collecting state secrets about the […]

Fuse/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — At a movie theatre in central Moscow this month, people had come to watch an illicit film. It wasn’t a documentary about the war in Ukraine or political persecution under Vladimir Putin’s regime; it was Avatar: Way of Water. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, Russian cinemas were supposed […]

Witthaya Prasongsin/Getty Images (LONDON) — A Russian judge denied the appeal of Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who has been charged with spying, in a Moscow court on Tuesday. The reporter, a correspondent with the paper’s Moscow bureau, stands accused of “acting on the instructions of the American side” and collecting state secrets […]

Darrin Klimek/Getty Images (NEW YORK) — The team of Russia’s top opposition leader, Alexey Navalny, is a sounding the alarm that his health is seriously deteriorating in prison and that an ambulance was called for him last Friday night because of “acute stomach pain.” Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s spokeswoman, tweeted that Navalny had lost 8 kilograms […]

Maxime Popov/AFP via Getty Images (NEW YORK) — Newer generation fighter jets are giving Russia “increasing dominance” in the skies over the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine, according to a senior Ukrainian official. It is a potentially worrying shift for the United States and its allies because Russia’s inability to achieve total air superiority throughout […]

U.S. Air Force, FILE (NEW YORK) — Russian fighter jets collided with the rear propeller of an unmanned U.S. military drone on Tuesday, forcing the U.S. to bring down the drone into the waters. U.S. European Command labeled the incident as “dangerous” and said it could “lead to miscalculation and unintended escalation.” “At approximately 7:03 […]