Category Archives: Russia

Long before the first shot was fired, diplomats the world over have been trying to find a way to broker some sort of peace between Ukraine and Russia.

After two grueling weeks of bitter combat, that goal is more elusive than ever.

With the war seemingly poised to drag on, ABC News spoke to foreign policy experts about Russian President Vladimir Putin's next strategic steps, the fine line the West is walking to support Ukraine, and how the conflict could ripple beyond its borders.

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the government via teleconference in Moscow, March 10, 2022.

'A cornered beast, if you will, can be dangerous'

Putin's invasion into Ukraine has been met by expectedly punishing sanctions from the U.S. and its allies, as well as unexpectedly effective resistance from Ukrainian fighters. At least for now, both seem unlikely to change the Kremlin's calculations or diminish Putin's determination.

While it will take time for Russia to feel the full impact of economic restrictions levied against it and Ukraine's ability to withstand a prolonged assault is an open question, Dan Hamilton, a former high-level State Department official and now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said pushing Putin to the brink could have unpredictable consequences.

"In his mind, he doesn't want to go down in history as the leader who 'lost Ukraine,'" he said. "A cornered beast, if you will, can be dangerous."

But despite setbacks, Andrew Lohsen, a Russia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says Putin is undaunted.

"We've heard from Vladimir Putin himself that he thinks that this war is still winnable. He hasn't given up on his objectives. And his he seems still very determined to press on," said Lohsen. "The indications that we have so far is that he is still really doubling down and pressing further with his invasion rather than taking a step back."

Explosions are seen during shelling in a residential district in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 10, 2022.

Just as they made clear what the consequences of an incursion would be before Russia advanced into Ukraine, Lohsen says world leaders will ultimately need to identify an "off-ramp" for Putin by indicating exactly how de-escalation will yield sanctions relief.

"We need to give the sanctions time to bite," he said. "Once we start to see some sort of concern among the top levels of leadership, then I think it would be appropriate to start a conversation about the conditionality of these sanctions. What would we remove in exchange for a withdrawal of Russian forces?"

But whether Putin will elect to take that off-ramp is another question entirely.

"My concern is that Putin has painted this conflict in such hyperbolic terms, I think it's going to be really hard for him to step back from the brink. He said that Ukrainians have committed genocide, he said Ukraine has a desire to acquire nuclear weapons," Lohsen said, referencing the lies Putin used to justify military action. "So when you're engaging in a war with a state with such supposedly nefarious aims, them how do you reach a negotiated solution where you leave that leadership in place and you don't completely stop that country from pressing on with the objectives you've ascribed to it?"

And for Putin, negotiating an end to the conflict he started wouldn't mean an end to its consequences.

"They want to bring Putin up on was crimes -- take him to The Hague. Those things don't go away," said Hamilton. "It's very hard to see how Putin would sign an agreement when he's being prosecuted."

This image taken from video issued by Mariupol City Council shows the aftermath of the Mariupol Hospital after an attack, in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 9, 2022. A Russian attack severely damaged the children's hospital and maternity ward in the besieged port city of Mariupol, Ukrainian officials said.

Should the US and allies do more?

Amid an onslaught of grim reports and haunting images from the streets of Ukraine, a "wait and see" kind of approach can feel frustratingly futile. While the crisis has prompted a rare bipartisan outpouring of support in the U.S., funneling assistance to the country remains a delicate dance.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly called for establishing a no-fly zone over Ukraine to protect civilians, but the Biden administration and NATO have made it clear it's a nonstarter because enforcing airspace restrictions would almost certainly mean direct conflict with Russia.

"The fear of nuclear escalation is the number one consideration here," said Clint Reach, a former Russian linguist with the Department of Defense and a policy analyst at RAND. "That's the elephant in the room when it comes to direct military intervention."

As made evident by the Pentagon rejecting Poland's plan to send fighter jets to Ukraine via a U.S.-NATO airbase in Germany, there's significant concern that roundabout assistance could also spur significant blowback.

"We don't have a full understanding of Russian red lines and how much intervention they're willing to accept," said Reach.

Zelenskyy and Republicans on Capitol Hill have argued that funneling more military equipment into Ukraine sooner would have made a difference in the conflict. Experts aren't so certain.

"We could have just sped up the invasion timeline," countered Reach. "No Russian president is ever going to allow Ukraine to become a U.S. aircraft carriermeaning Ukraine becomes a platform for military capability that could threaten Russia. If they felt that scenario was playing out, they probably would have intervened."

"Until Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, I think there was adequate caution in trying not to engage in anything that might provoke this scenario," said Lohsen. "What we got wrong collectively was the belief that Putin could be deterred."

A U.S. Army MIM-104 Patriot anti-missile defense launcher stands pointing east at Rzeszow Jasionska airport, currently being used by the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division, on March 08, 2022 near Rzeszow, Poland.

Could the conflict spiral beyond Ukraine?

Despite the great pains taken to avoid escalation, many predict it's only a matter of time before the discord metastasizes further into Europe -- and perhaps even beyond the continent.

Hamilton points out that while Moldova -- a small country abutting Ukraine's southern border -- has already seen a surge of refugees fleeing the fighting, it could also become a launching pad for Russian troops closing in on Odesa.

"Moldova is one of the poorest countries in Europe," Hamilton said. "We already have a humanitarian crisis, and we could have a next crisis of military escalation involving troops coming not just from Belarus and Russia, but also from Moldova. That's very problematic."

And while Western powers attempt to walk a tightrope while supplying aid to Ukraine, whether they are ultimately drawn into the fight depends in part on Russia's reaction.

"The question has been would Russia try to preempt some arm transfers at the point of originlike firing missiles into Poland at bases where they thought this military equipment was housed," said Reach, noting that while that would be at the severe end of the spectrum, the Kremlin could also retaliate with asymmetric attacks, like cyberstrikes.

While escalatory, Reach believes it's a move Moscow could ultimately make.

"There are potentially large tradeoffs for Russia that they'd have to think long and hard about," he said.

Read more:

What is the threat of a 'cornered' Putin as the Russia-Ukraine conflict drags on? - ABC News

Honeywell's decision to halt business activities in Russia following the country's invasion of Ukraine is unlikely to cause problems for the company's balance sheet, CEO Darius Adamczyk told CNBC on Monday.

"It has some implications, but it's the right thing to do, it's a little bit north of 1% of our overall shares, and our manufacturing presence there is relatively small," Adamczyk said in an interview on "Mad Money."

"We'll see what happens. We're monitoring the situation," he added.

The technology firm is one of hundreds of companies that have stopped or curtailed operations in Russia including Adidas, McDonald's and Apple. The company announced its decision to "substantially" suspend its activities on March 8.

As for the company's other possible headwinds, Adamczyk said that Honeywell's supply chain and raw material costs have been manageable. Honeywell's fourth quarter revenue fell short of expectations last month due to supply chain issues, among other factors.

"We've actually done a good job of protecting that business. Titanium is something we watch very closely and some of the components there, but we've been a little bit ahead of the game and secured sources of supply, so we're in pretty good shape there."

Honeywell stock was up 0.53% at the end of Monday's trading session.

When asked about future plans, Adamczyk said that the company plans to buy $4 billion worth of shares, which he considers to currently be a "bargain," and look toward making acquisitions.

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Honeywell CEO says suspending business in Russia wont be a major headwind - CNBC

The 1930s tariffs were crafted to charge high levies on imports of manufactured goods and farm products but low rates on imports of raw materials a design that would limit costs for U.S. factories, Mr. Gresser wrote in a blog post.

The U.S. tariff on palladium, for example, which is used in catalytic converters, would remain at 0 percent after the change, according to Mr. Gressers research. Tariffs on other significant exports from Russia, like king crab, uranium and urea, which is used in fertilizer, would also remain at 0 percent.

Tariffs would be somewhat higher for other products, like unwrought aluminum alloy, birch-faced plywood, bullets and certain steel products.

Energy imports from Russia which accounted for about 60 percent of what the United States imported from the country last year would face slightly higher tariffs. But Mr. Biden already announced this week that the United States would stop all shipments of Russian oil, gas and coal, a far more sweeping measure.

Mr. Gresser wrote that revoking Russias preferential trading status would impose some penalties, but in most cases not very significant ones.

It may nonetheless be an appropriate symbolic and moral gesture, in particular if many W.T.O. members join in it, he wrote. But as a policy measure meant specifically to impose economic cost, the energy import ban is the one with practical real-world impact.

Russia or another country, such as China, could challenge the decision to strip Russia of its trade status by bringing a case against the United States, the European Union or other countries at the World Trade Organization. But the global trade body offers large exceptions for actions taken to protect national security, and the United States and Europe could cite that rationale in their defense.

Reporting was contributed by Catie Edmondson, Katie Rogers, Alan Rappeport and Liz Alderman.

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US and Allies Will Strip Russia of Favored Trade Status - The New York Times

WASHINGTON Top U.S. intelligence officials said on Tuesday that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had been surprised and unsettled by the problems that have hampered his military in Ukraine, issues that will make it more difficult for Russian forces to control the country.

But Mr. Putin is determined to succeed in Ukraine, and will try to double down and use ever more brutal tactics, the officials said during an appearance before the House Intelligence Committee.

Americas intelligence agencies, which before the attack released information on Russias troop buildup and war plans, will work to highlight Russian atrocities and crimes, a continuation of the information war that helped rally the West to impose tough sanctions on the country, the officials said.

Before the invasion, Mr. Putin thought the war would be relatively quick, allowing him to rapidly seize Kyiv and overwhelm Ukrainian forces, Avril D. Haines, the director of national intelligence, told lawmakers.

Moscow underestimated the strength of Ukraines resistance and the degree of internal military challenges we are observing, which include an ill-constructed plan, morale issues and considerable logistical issues, Ms. Haines said.

Controlling all of Ukraine will necessitate even more forces than Russia has committed to the fight, she said.

Some allied intelligence services believe that Mr. Putins early military problems could cause him to readjust his plans to take control of the whole country, and stop his advance after he captures Kyiv, particularly if military officers highlight how many additional forces it will require to secure Ukraine.

But diplomats are also quick to add that they are not sure how rationally Mr. Putin is viewing the situation. At the hearing, Ms. Haines said Mr. Putin appeared intent on intensifying his campaign, despite his militarys logistical problems.

Our analysts assess that Putin is unlikely to be deterred by such setbacks, Ms. Haines said, and instead may escalate, essentially doubling down to achieve Ukrainian disarmament, neutrality, to prevent it from further integrating with the U.S. and NATO.

Given the problems the Russian military has faced, and the rising will of Ukraine to fight, intelligence officials predicted the war would intensify. William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director, is anticipating an ugly next few weeks.

I think Putin is angry and frustrated right now, Mr. Burns said. He is likely to try to grind down the Ukrainian military with no regard for civilian casualties, he added.

Lt. Gen. Scott D. Berrier, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said there was a limit to how long Kyiv could hold on as Russian forces encircled Ukraine and tightened the vise. With supplies being cut off, it will become somewhat desperate in, I would say, 10 days to two weeks, General Berrier said.

Other estimates are similar. Some allied governments believe Russia will finish encircling Kyiv in a week and, given the strength of Ukraines resistance, the city may be able to hold out for another month, a European diplomat said on Tuesday.

March 15, 2022, 5:21 a.m. ET

While the intelligence chiefs said Mr. Putin felt aggrieved, Mr. Burns said it would be incorrect to view his actions as crazy.

The Russian leaders increasing isolation and insulation from conflicting views make him extremely difficult to deal with, Mr. Burns said. Without aides willing to push back, Mr. Putin entered the war misunderstanding the will of Ukraine to fight back and the West to take action.

Germany, for example, suspended the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which would have allowed imported Russian natural gas to bypass Ukraine; sent weapons directly to Ukraine; and expanded its defense budget.

Hes been unsettled by Western reaction and allied resolve, particularly some of the decisions that the German government has taken, Mr. Burns said. I think hes been unsettled by the performance of his own military.

American journalist killed. Brent Renaud, an award-winning American filmmaker and journalist who drew attention to human suffering, was fatally shot while reporting in a suburb of Kyiv. Mr. Renaud, 50, had contributed to The New York Times in previous years, most recently in 2015.

General Berrier said he had low confidence in reports of Russian casualties, but put Moscows losses at 2,000 to 4,000.

Mr. Burns said the American government was keeping a close eye on Mr. Putins domestic support. With state-controlled media dominating what the Russian public hears and independent reporting on the invasion essentially being made illegal, it will take time for Russians to absorb the consequences of Mr. Putins actions.

But, over time, funerals of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine will have an impact, Mr. Burns said.

You also see, in relatively small numbers, a lot of very courageous Russians out on the street protesting, Mr. Burns said. Something like 13 or 14,000 have been arrested since then, which is not a small thing in a deeply repressive society like Russia.

Other governments said another crucial factor is whether Mr. Putins support within the military erodes. Before the invasion, Russian officers complained about the plan, according to intercepts obtained by Western intelligence. The discontent with the Kremlins planning now continues, the European diplomat said.

The intelligence community will expand its information war with Russia, working to expose Moscows war crimes and atrocities in Ukraine, Ms. Haines said. American spy agencies were working with other agencies to document Russian actions in Ukraine, including war crimes, and to hold the perpetrators accountable.

Russian forces are at the very least operating with reckless disregard for the safety of noncombatants, as Russian units launch artillery and airstrikes into urban areas as they have done in cities across Ukraine, Ms. Haines said.

Such an information campaign to expose Russias attacks on civilians and other missteps would build on the intelligence released before the invasion, which sought to expose Russias war plans, rally allied support for tough financial sanctions and deny Moscow the chance to create a false pretext for an attack.

Gen. Paul M. Nakasone, the director of the National Security Agency, said that the United States had closely tracked three or four Russian cyberattacks on Ukraine, and that reinforced Ukrainian defenses had helped blunt wider Russian cyberattacks.

In terms of why they havent done more, I think thats obviously some of the work that the Ukrainians have done, some of the challenges that the Russians have encountered and some of the work that others have been able to do to prevent their actions, General Nakasone said.

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U.S. Intelligence Tells Congress Putin Is Unlikely to Be Deterred - The New York Times

Russia (Russian: ), officially called the Russian Federation (Russian: )[12] is a country in Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with a population of about 146.7 million people. It is the most populous country in Europe, and Moscow is its capital city, which is also Yekaterinburg is its the largest city in Europe. Russia's official language is Russian, the most spoken language in Europe, as well as the most widely spoken Slavic language. This is the largest country in the world, covering most of its inhabitable landmass, followed by Canada, the United States, and China.

Russian Federation

(2010)

Total

Water(%)

2021 estimate

Density

Total

Per capita

Total

Per capita

Russia shares land borders with 16 countries, in both Europe and Asia: Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both via Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It has links with 16 seas, and 3 oceans; and is the country the most land borders in the world.

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the largest religion in Russia.

Russia is a very large and diverse country. From 1922 to 1991, it used to be the main part of the Soviet Union. It was a country based on Communism, but today its government is a federal semi-presidential republic. It has elements of democracy. The President is chosen by direct election, but challenging candidates do not have access to the mass media, although they have full access to social media, internet news websites, and international media, and election results match domestic, international, and exit polling. Its current President is Vladimir Putin. The President rules the country, and the Russian Parliament plays a secondary role.

At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800sqmi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the world's eighth most populous nation with 140million people as of 2022. Russia produces a lot of energy made from oil and natural gas.[13]

Extending from eastern Europe across the whole of northern Asia, Russia spans eleven time zones and has a wide range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world's largest reserves of mineral and energy resources,[14] and is the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world.[15][16] Russia has the world's largest forest reserves,[17][18] and its lakes contain about one-quarter of the world's fresh water.[19]

Russia is a federal semi-presidential republic. It has a president and a parliament.[20] Russia consists of 85 federal subjects (territorial units). All subjects of the federation shall be equal. All entities are subject to uniform federal law. Subjects of the federation have two representatives in the parliament. Subjects of the Russian Federation do not have a right to secession from it. Important issues are decided by the Federation President; lesser powers are given to the member republics.

At the end of the twentieth century, Russia experienced many political changes. Some people fought to leave the federation.

Elections are held at all levels. According Steve White, the present government made it clear that they had no plans of making a "second edition" of the American or British political system, but rather a system that was closer to Russia's own traditions.[21] Richard Sakwa wrote that the Russian government is considered legitimate by the majority of the Russian people. It seeks to deliver a set of public goods without trying to fit to extra-democratic logic to achieve them. Whether the system is becoming less autocratic (dictatorial) is debatable.[22]

There are four big political parties in Russia. United Russia ( ) is the biggest party.

The United Russia is the ruling party, which supports the government. The other parties in the Duma (Russian parliament) do not criticize the government strongly, for fear of losing their places in the Duma. Many opposition parties, such as the People's Freedom Party and the Other Russia, have been unable to register due to the strict rules. In the 2000s the government led a war in Chechnya, and in the process, civil liberties and independent media were restricted. Corruption is widespread and human rights, especially in the North Caucasus, are frequently violated. In 2008 Putin's government was in a war with Georgia in a dispute over a region with many ethnic Russians.

The roots of Russia's history began when the East Slavs formed a group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD.[23] The Vikings and their descendants founded the first East Slavic state of Kievan Rus' in the 9th century. They adopted Christianity from the Byzantine Empire in 988.[24] This form of Christianity influenced Russian culture greatly.[24] Kievan Rus' eventually broke up and the lands were divided into many small feudal states. The most powerful successor state to Kievan Rus' was the Grand Duchy of Moscow. This area served as the main force in later Russian unification and the fight against the Golden Horde from Asia. Moscow slowly gained control of the regions around it and took over the cultural and political life of Kievan Rus'.

In the 18th century, the nation had expanded through conquest, annexation and exploration to become the Russian Empire, the third-largest empire in history. It stretched from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth eastward to the Pacific Ocean and Alaska. The empire was ruled by an emperor called the Tsar.

Peter the Great ruled Russia from 1689 until 1725. Peter moved the capital from Moscow to a new city named Saint Petersburg. He made Russian society more modern in many ways. The government began building ships for the Russian navy.

The Russo-Japanese War started in 1904 and ended in 1905 with Japan winning the war. The Russian defeat was one of the reasons for later revolutions.

In October 1917, the Bolsheviks (later called "Communists"), influenced by the ideas of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, took over the country and murdered the Tsar and other people who stood against them. Once they took power, the Bolsheviks, under Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky, created the first Marxist Communist State.

From the 1920s to the 1950s, Josef Stalin ruled as an absolute dictator of Soviet Russia, and destroyed anything and anyone that was against his rule, including taking the property of farmers and shopkeepers. Many millions of people starved and died in the resulting famines. Stalin also removed, or "purged", all military personnel who were not loyal to him, and many were killed or sent to prison camps, or gulags, for many years. Even in the gulags, many prisoners died.

Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany agreed not to attack each other in 1939. In June 1941, Germany broke the agreement and attacked in Operation Barbarossa. The attack was part of World War II. The war lasted in Europe until May 1945, and Russia lost more than 20 million people during that time. In spite of this large loss, Russia was one of the winners of the war and became a world superpower.

From 1922 to 1991, Russia was the largest part of the Soviet Union, or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). People sometimes used the name "Russia" for the whole Soviet Union, or sometimes "Soviet Russia". Russia was only one of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics. The republic was in fact named the "Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic" (RSFSR).

The Soviet Union fell apart in the early 1990s. Russia took over the place of the USSR in the United Nations (UN).

Boris Yeltsin was made the President of Russia in June 1991, in the first direct presidential election in Russian history. Wide-ranging reforms took place, including privatization and free trade laws.[25] Radical changes "(shock therapy) were recommended by the United States and International Monetary Fund.[26] A major economic crisis followed. There was 50% decline in GDP and industrial output between 199095.[25][27]

The privatization largely shifted control of enterprises from state agencies to individuals with inside connections in the government system. Many of the newly rich businesspeople took billions in cash and assets outside of the country .[28] The depression of state and economy led to the collapse of social services. Millions went into poverty, from 1.5% level of poverty in the late Soviet era to 3949% by mid-1993.[29] The 1990s saw extreme corruption and lawlessness, the rise of criminal gangs and violent crime.[30]

The 1990s had many armed conflicts in the North Caucasus. There were both local ethnic battles and separatist Islamist insurrections. Since the Chechen separatists declared independence in the early 1990s, a Chechen War was fought between the rebel groups and the Russian military. Terrorist attacks against civilians caused hundreds of deaths. The most notable of these were the Moscow theater hostage crisis and Beslan school siege.

Russia took responsibility for settling the USSR's external debts, even though its population made up just half of the population of the USSR at the time of its dissolution.[31] High budget deficits caused the 1998 Russian financial crisis[32] and resulted in further GDP decline.[25]

On 31 December 1999 President Yeltsin resigned, or quit being the president. The job of president was given to the recently appointed Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin. Putin then won the 2000 presidential election. Putin stopped the Chechen rebellion quickly, but violence still occurs in the Northern Caucasus at times.

High oil prices and initially weak currency followed by increasing domestic demand, consumption and investments has helped the economy grow for nine straight years. This improved the standard of living and increasing Russia's influence on the world stage. While many reforms made during the Putin presidency have been criticized by Western nations as un-democratic,[33] Putin's leadership led to stability, and progress. This won him widespread popularity in Russia.[34]

On 2 March 2008, Dmitry Medvedev was elected President of Russia, whilst Putin became Prime Minister. Putin returned to the presidency following the 2012 presidential elections, and Medvedev was appointed Prime Minister.

Russia's capital and biggest city is Moscow. The second biggest city is Saint Petersburg, which was the capital of Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Cities in Russia with more than one million people are, in order:

The most western point of Russia is near Kaliningrad, formerly named Knigsberg. The most eastern point of Russia is Diomid island, 35km from Chukotka (Russia) and 35 kilometres (22mi) from Alaska (USA). The most southern point is in Caucasus, on the border with Azerbaijan. The most northern point is on Franz Josef Land archipelago in Arctic Ocean, 900 kilometres (560mi) from the North Pole.

Russia has a population of 142 million citizens. Most people (73.7%) live in cities. The population decreased by 5 million people since the fall of the Soviet Union. The current population growth is close to zero, and the population went down by 0.085% in 2008.

Russia's area is about 17 million square kilometers (6.5 million sq. mi.). It is the largest country in the world.[35] Its population density is about 8.3 people per square kilometer (21.5 per sq. mi.). This is among the lowest country densities in the world. The population is most dense in the European part of the country, centering around Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Siberia has a very low density.

The main religion in Russia is the Russian Orthodox Church. It is one of the Eastern Orthodox Churches.

World-renowned composers of the 20th century included Alexander Scriabin, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Prokofiev, and Dmitri Shostakovich. Russia has produced some of the greatest pianists: Anton Rubinstein, Vladimir Horowitz and Vladimir Ashkenazy are among the all-time greats.

Russian composer Tchaikovsky created famous ballets such as The Nutcracker. The impressario Sergei Diaghilev was responsible for the development of ballet in the early 20th century with the Ballets Russes. Dance companies at the Mariinsky Theatre and the Bolshoi Ballet produced many famous dancers.[36]

Russians have contributed many famous works of literature.[37] Alexander Pushkin is considered a founder of modern Russian literature. He was a poet from the 19th century.[38]

Other famous poets and writers of the 19th century were Anton Chekhov, Mikhail Lermontov, Leo Tolstoy, Nikolai Gogol (he was born in what is now Ukraine, but during his lifetime Ukraine was a part of Russia), Ivan Turgenev and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky are considered by many people to be two of the greatest novelists ever.[39][40] Three Russians won the Nobel Prize for Literature in the 20th century: Boris Pasternak (1958), Mikhail Sholokhov (1965) and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1980). Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita was also a novel of the highest quality.

Soccer, ice hockey and basketball are among the most popular sports. Boxing, gymnastics, weightlifting, and tennis are also popular sports. Track suits are popular clothing items for many Russians. Sports people to gain world fame include former tennis world number one Maria Sharapova, who has won three Grand Slam titles, and was the world's highest paid female athlete in 2008.[41]

Since the 1952 Olympic Games, Soviet and later Russian athletes are in the three in gold medals collected at the Summer Olympics. The 1980 Summer Olympic Games were held in Moscow while the 2014 Winter Olympics were hosted in Sochi.

For the 2018 Winter Olympics which were held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, a lot of athletes could not compete because the International Olympic Committee found out they had been doping. Those who were not caught doping were able to play in the 2018 Olympics under the title of "Olympic Athletes from Russia", and they took home two gold medals, including one in ice hockey.[42][43]

Chess is the main intellectual sport in Russia. In the 20th century there were nine Russian World Chess Champions, more than all other nations combined.

Notes

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Russia - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Russia gains ground in Ukraine after seizing Europes largest nuclear plant. It comes as NBC News learns about 92% of amassed Russian military is now inside Ukraine. Meantime, the U.N. confirms at least 1.2 million people have fled the country, worsening the humanitarian crisis. Plus, President Zelenskyy plans to hold a virtual meeting with the U.S. Senate on Saturday.March 5, 2022

UP NEXT

Ukrainian Parliament member describes the 'unimaginable pain' of the invasion04:47

TikTok suspends livestreams, uploads from Russia04:53

Zelenskyy urges Western leaders for most support01:28

U.S. in talks to boost Ukrainian defenses and ban Russian oil02:09

Senior defense official: 95% of Russian forces amassed at border now inside Ukraine01:41

NYT photojournalist describes moment Russian mortar hit family in front of her05:15

Read more:

Russia seizes Ukraine nuclear plant - msnbc.com

It was chilly in Geneva on Thursday morning, and there was no reason to think the talks between the top diplomats from the U.S. and Russia the following day would be any warmer. Tension between the two global powers continues to rise, with President Biden saying on Wednesday that it was his "guess" Russian President Vladimir Putin would use the roughly 100,000 forces he has massed along the border to "move in" to Ukraine.

"He has to do something," Mr. Biden said during a White House news conference, warning that if Putin did decide to invade his neighbor, Russia would suffer "consequential" loss of life. The president didn't elaborate on the level of military assistance the U.S. might offer Ukraine in the face of an invasion, but it came as his administration worked with NATO allies to bolster Ukraine's forces and quickly.

U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News that the Biden administration had given permission to several NATO allies to send emergency shipments of U.S.-made weapons including anti-tank missiles to Ukraine to reinforce the country's defenses. State Department sources said allies including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the U.K. were cleared to make "Third Party Transfers" of U.S.-made and supplied equipment to Ukraine, which one official described as part of a race "to get as much gear to the Ukrainians as quickly as possible."

Russia, meanwhile, was moving military hardware and troops into Belarus a close Russian ally that borders not only Ukraine, but also Lithuania, Latvia and Poland for military exercises set to take place in February. American officials have voiced concern that Russia could use its troop presence in Belarus as another route to stage an overt invasion of Ukraine, or a so-called "false-flag" operation to create a "pretext for invasion."

Russia's defense ministry also announced on Thursday that it would conduct naval exercises "in all areas of responsibility of its fleets," including the Mediterranean, the northern Arctic seas, the northeastern Atlantic and in the Pacific Ocean. The drills, to take place in January and February, will involve more than 140 ships, 60 aircraft and about 10,000 forces, the ministry said.

The ministry said the drills would cover regions of seas and oceans adjacent to Russian territory, as well as what the Russian military called "operationally important areas" of other bodies of water.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Germany on Thursday, where he met with allies who, by President Biden's own admission, are not all on the "same page" about the level of sanctions to impose on Russia should Putin choose to invade his neighbor again. Russian forces last openly invaded Ukraine in 2014, when Putin unilaterally annexed the Crimean Peninsula.

American officials have played down divisions within NATO over how much pressure to exert on Russia. The U.S. and Britain, for instance, have extended direct military aid to Ukraine, while Germany has declined to do so.

There was scant immediate reaction from EU capitals to President Biden's tough rhetoric on Thursday, but French President Emmanuel Macron said Europe should have its own negotiations with Russia and not rely on the U.S. to speak for it.

Asked about the divisions among allies, a senior State Department official insisted to CBS News on Thursday that there was "universal agreement on the steep costs" Russia must be forced to pay if it does invade, and the U.S. and its allies were "in the process of finalizing the mechanics" on how to ensure that could be done.

Blinken, asked on Thursday to clarify Mr. Biden's remarks from the previous day, when he indicated that any U.S. response to a Russian invasion may be adjusted depending on the scale of Russia's actions, said the administration had been "very clear throughout: If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border and commit new acts of aggression against Ukraine, that will be met with a swift, severe response from the United States and our allies and partners."

After Blinken's meetings on Thursday with French, German and British officials in Berlin, the State Department said the diplomats had discussed "joint efforts to deter further Russian aggression against Ukraine, including Allies' and partners' readiness to impose massive consequences and severe economic costs on Russia for such actions."

The biggest outstanding question, from the perspective of U.S. officials and their allies, had not changed as Blinken prepared for his Friday meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov: What does Putin really want?

Kremlin officials have insisted that Russia has no plans or intentions to invade Ukraine, and Putin and his top aides insist it is the U.S. and NATO fueling animosity by threatening sanctions and moving military hardware and personnel close to Russia's western borders. But Moscow also issues continual warnings of military action if Putin's demands are not met chiefly his insistence that NATO reject Ukraine's bid for membership.

The Biden administration has called that demand a non-starter, but both sides have shown a willingness to at least keep talking, most notably with the Friday meeting between Blinken and Lavrov on the neutral ground in Geneva.

Despite President Biden's "guess" on Wednesday, American officials say they still don't know for certain if Putin has decided to launch an invasion of Ukraine, on any scale, or whether the brinkmanship is merely intended to extract concessions from the U.S. and NATO as Moscow seeks what it calls "security guarantees."

Mr. Biden said on Wednesday that he didn't believe Putin wanted a "full-blown war," but that he expected the Russian leader to test the U.S. and NATO's resolve as much as possible.

State Department officials have said they still don't know what Putin is thinking, but they're planning for all eventualities. A large part of Blinken's mission when he meets Lavrov on Friday will no doubt be to assess, to the extent possible, Moscow's intentions.

CBS News' Margaret Brennan in Washington and Mary Ilyushina in Moscow contributed to this report.

Read the rest here:

As Biden predicts Russia will invade, U.S. rushes weapons ...

Here are the latest updates:

48 mins ago (01:48 GMT)

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the chamber is exploring legislation to ban import of Russian oil and that Congress intends to enact this week $10bn in aid for Ukraine in response to Russias military invasion of its neighbour.

The House is currently exploring strong legislation that will further isolate Russia from the global economy, Pelosi said in a letter.

Our bill would ban the import of Russian oil and energy products into the United States, repeal normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus, and take the first step to deny Russia access to the World Trade Organisation.

1 hour ago (01:20 GMT)

Sasha and Nastia slowly inhale the smoke from their cigarettes. Their paths have never crossed before, but they exchange knowing glances in wordless understanding when they realise they are both from Ukraines Donbas region.

The women, who only gave their first names, are standing in front of the main train station in Przemysl, a Polish border city, where hundreds of refugees arrive daily on trains from the Ukrainian city of Lviv.

Both had fled Ukraine following the Russian invasion of February 24. But there is more that they have in common.

Read more here.

2 hours ago (00:33 GMT)

Two of the so-called Big Four accounting firms KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers are pulling out of Russia over its war in Ukraine.

Both the firms said they would end their relationships with their Russia-based member firms. KPMG said it was also pulling out of Belarus.

KPMG International said in a statement it would be incredibly difficult to have its Russia and Belarus firms leave the network. KPMG has more than 4,500 employees in the two countries.

PricewaterhouseCoopers said it has 3,700 employees at its PwC Russia firm and is working on an orderly transition for the business.

3 hours ago (23:53 GMT)

Russian forces have stepped up their shelling of Ukrainian cities in the centre, north and south of the country, presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich says.

The latest wave of missile strikes came as darkness fell, he said on Ukrainian television.

He said the areas that came under heavy shelling include the outskirts of Kyiv, Chernihiv in the north, Mykolaiv in the south, and Kharkiv, the countrys second-largest city.

Arestovich described a catastrophic situation in the Kyiv suburbs of Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin, where efforts to evacuate residents failed. Evacuations also failed in Mariupol in the south and Volnovakha in the east because of the shelling.

4 hours ago (22:44 GMT)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed to the West to strengthen sanctions on Russia.

In a video statement, Zelenskyy criticised Western leaders for not responding to the Russian defence ministrys earlier announcement that it would attack Ukraines military-industrial complex.

I didnt hear even a single world leader react to this, Zelenskyy said. The audacity of the aggressor is a clear signal to the West that the sanctions imposed on Russia are not sufficient.

Zelenskyy also called for organising a tribunal to bring to justice those who order and carry out such crimes. Think about the sense of impunity of the occupiers that they can announce such planned atrocities, he said.

The Russian defence ministry had said its forces intend to attack Ukraines military-industrial complex with what it said were precision weapons and urged staff to leave, in a statement carried by the Russian state news agency Tass.

4 hours ago (22:13 GMT)

The United States does not believe a Russian amphibious assault in or near the Ukrainian city of Odesa is imminent, a senior US defence official has said, amid growing concern about a potential attack on the city.

The official, who spoke to the Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity, estimated Russia had launched about 600 missiles since the start of its invasion and deployed into Ukraine about 95 percent of combat forces it had pre-staged outside of the country.

Russian forces continued to try to advance and isolate Kyiv, Kharkiv and Chernihiv and are meeting strong Ukrainian resistance, the official said.

4 hours ago (22:07 GMT)

Streaming giant Netflix has suspended its service in Russia.

A statement from the company cited circumstances on the ground for its decision to suspend its Russian service but did not offer any additional details.

The US-based platform had already halted its acquisitions in Russia, as well as its production of original programmes.

Earlier, social media giant TikTok announced it was suspending the posting of all video content from Russia in order to keep its employees safe and comply with new regulations in the country.

Moscow on Friday signed into law a bill introducing jail terms of up to 15 years for what is deemed fake news about the Russian army.

5 hours ago (21:58 GMT)

Tugan Sokhiev, the music director and principal conductor at Moscows prestigious Bolshoi Theatre, has announced his resignation, saying he came under pressure to condemn Russias invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian said in a statement that he was resigning with immediate effect from his post at the Moscow theatre as well as his equivalent position at Frances Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse.

Read the full story here.

5 hours ago (21:45 GMT)

Russian forces have tightened their control on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant since seizing it on Friday, the United Nations nuclear watchdog has warned.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said he was extremely concerned after Ukraines nuclear regulator informed the agency that staff members at the plant, the largest in Ukraine, are now required to seek approval from Russian forces for any operation, even maintenance.

Read more about this story here.

5 hours ago (21:38 GMT)

More than a million refugees have crossed the border from Ukraine into Poland since Russia launched its invasion, Polish border guards have said.

Today at 8:00 pm [19:00 GMT] the number of people from Ukraine into Poland exceeded a million. This is a million human tragedies, the border guard service wrote on Twitter.

5 hours ago (21:19 GMT)

The US government is consulting with its European allies on a potential import ban of oil from Russia.

We are now talking to our European partners and allies to look in a coordinated way at the prospect of banning the import of Russian oil, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN.

The debate also revolved around making sure that there is still an appropriate supply of oil on world markets, Blinken said. Thats a very active discussion as we speak.

US President Joe Biden has not explicitly ruled out such a move.

There are more details on this development here.

Welcome to Al Jazeeras continuing coverage of the Ukraine-Russia crisis.

Read all the updates from Sunday, March 6, here.

See original here:

Russia-Ukraine live news: Zelenskyy says sanctions not sufficient - Al Jazeera English

All of us have been tremendously impressed by how effectively the Ukrainian armed forces have been using the equipment that weve provided them, Laura Cooper, the Pentagons top Russia policy official, said. Kremlin watchers have also been surprised by this, and how they have slowed the Russian advance and performed extremely well on the battlefield.

Even the elements have sided with the Ukrainian military in the wars early days. Bad weather in northern Ukraine has grounded some Russian attack planes and helicopters, a senior Pentagon official said. Many Russian vehicles that have driven off the main roads to avoid the stalled convoy have gotten stuck in the mud, making them more vulnerable to attack, officials said.

Protests in Russia. Amid antiwar rallies across Russia, the police said more than 3,000 people were arrested Sunday, the highest nationwide total in any single day of protest in recent memory. An activist group that tracks arrests reported detentions in 49 different Russian cities.

But the U.S. intelligence also has its limits. Mr. Bidens ground rules forbid flying surveillance aircraft over Ukraine, so they have to peer in over the border, much as surveillance is often conducted over North Korea. There is reliance on new, small satellites providing images similar to those that commercial firms like Maxar and Planet Labs are providing.

One of the odd features of the conflict so far is that it runs the gamut of old and modern warfare. The trenches dug by Ukrainian soldiers in the south and east look like scenes from 1914. The Russian tanks rolling through the cities evoke Budapest in 1956. But the battle of the present day that most strategists expected to mark the opening days of the war over computer networks and the power grids and communications systems they control has barely begun.

American officials say that is partly because of extensive work done to harden Ukraines networks after Russian attacks on its electric grid in 2015 and 2016. But experts say that cannot explain it all. Perhaps the Russians did not try very hard at the outset, or are holding their assets in reserve. Perhaps an American-led counteroffensive part of what Gen. Paul M. Nakasone, the head of Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, calls a doctrine of persistent engagement in global networks explains at least some of the absence.

Government officials are understandably tight-lipped, saying the cyberoperations underway, which have been moved in recent days from an operations center in Kyiv to one outside the country, are some of the most classified elements of the conflict. But it is clear that the cybermission teams have tracked some familiar targets, including the activities of the G.R.U., Russias military intelligence operations, to try to neutralize their activity. Microsoft has helped, turning out patches in hours to kill off malware it detects in unclassified systems.

All of this is new territory when it comes to the question of whether the United States is a co-combatant. By the American interpretation of the laws of cyberconflict, the United States can temporarily interrupt Russian capability without conducting an act of war; permanent disablement is more problematic. But as experts acknowledge, when a Russian system goes down, the Russian units dont know whether it is temporary or permanent, or even whether the United States is responsible.

View original post here:

Inside the U.S. Race to Arm Ukraine Against Russia - The New York Times

LVIV, Ukraine Four days after Russia began dropping artillery shells on Kyiv, Misha Katsiurin, a Ukrainian restaurateur, was wondering why his father, a church custodian living in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, hadnt called to check on him.

There is a war, Im his son, and he just doesnt call, Mr. Katsiurin, who is 33, said in an interview. So, Mr. Katsiurin picked up the phone and let his father know that Ukraine was under attack by Russia.

Im trying to evacuate my children and my wife everything is extremely scary, Mr. Katsiurin told him.

He did not get the response he expected. His father, Andrei, didnt believe him.

No, no, no, no stop, Mr. Katsiurin said of his fathers initial response.

He started to tell me how the things in my country are going, said Mr. Katsiurin, who converted his restaurants into volunteer centers and is temporarily staying near the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil. He started to yell at me and told me, Look, everything is going like this. They are Nazis.

As Ukrainians deal with the devastation of the Russian attacks in their homeland, many are also encountering a confounding and almost surreal backlash from family members in Russia, who refuse to believe that Russian soldiers could bomb innocent people, or even that a war is taking place at all.

These relatives have essentially bought into the official Kremlin position: that President Vladimir V. Putins army is conducting a limited special military operation with the honorable mission of de-Nazifying Ukraine. Mr. Putin has referred to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a native Russian speaker with a Jewish background, as a drug-addled Nazi in his attempts to justify the invasion.

Those narratives are emerging amid a wave of disinformation emanating from the Russian state as the Kremlin moves to clamp down on independent news reporting while shaping the messages most Russians are receiving.

An estimated 11 million people in Russia have Ukrainian relatives. Many Ukrainian citizens are ethnic Russians, and those living in the southern and eastern parts of the country largely speak Russian as their native language.

Russian television channels do not show the bombardment of Kyiv, Ukraines capital, and its suburbs, or the devastating attacks on Kharkiv, Mariupol, Chernihiv and other Ukrainian cities. They also do not show the peaceful resistance evident in places like Kherson, a major city in the south that Russian troops captured several days ago, and certainly not the protests against the war that have cropped up across Russia.

Instead they focus on the Russian militarys successes, without discussing the casualties among Russian soldiers. Many state television correspondents are embedded in eastern Ukraine, and not in the cities being pummeled by missiles and mortars. Recent news reports made no mention of the 40-mile-long Russian convoy on a roadway north of Kyiv.

On Friday, Russia also banned Facebook and Twitter to try to stem uncontrolled information.

All this, Mr. Katsiurin said, explains why his father told him: There are Russian soldiers there helping people. They give them warm clothes and food.

Mr. Katsiurin is not alone in his frustration. When Valentyna V. Kremyr wrote to her brother and sister in Russia to tell them that her son had spent days in a bomb shelter in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha because of the intensive fighting there, she was also met with disbelief.

They believe that everything is calm in Kyiv, that no one is shelling Kyiv, Ms. Kremyr said in a phone interview. She said her siblings think the Russians are striking military infrastructure with precision, and thats it.

She said her sister Lyubov, who lives in Perm, wished her a happy birthday on Feb. 25, the second day of the invasion. When Ms. Kremyr wrote back about the situation on the ground, her sisters answer via direct message was simple: No one is bombing Kyiv, and you should actually be afraid of the Nazis, whom your father fought against. Your children will be alive and healthy. We love the Ukrainian people, but you need to think hard about who you elected as president.

March 6, 2022, 9:33 p.m. ET

Ms. Kremyr said she sent photos from trusted media sites of mangled tanks and a destroyed building in Bucha to her brother, in Krasnoyarsk, but was met with a jarring response. He said that this site is fake news, she said, and that essentially the Ukrainian Army was doing the damage being blamed on Russians.

It is impossible to convince them of what they have done, Ms. Kremyr said, referring to Russian forces.

Anastasia Belomytseva and her husband, Vladimir, have been encountering the same problem. They are residents of Kharkiv, in Ukraines north near the Russian border, which has been hit hard by Russian bombs. But they said in an interview that it was easier to explain the invasion to their 7-year-old daughter than to some of their relatives.

They totally dont understand what is happening here, they dont understand that they just attacked us for no reason, Ms. Belomytseva said. Her grandmother, and Mr. Belomytsevs father, are in Russia.

Asked whether they believe that an attack is happening, Ms. Belomytseva responded NO!

Parts of Kharkiv have been reduced to rubble, and its city hall is a burnt-out shell. Ms. Belomytseva said she was sending videos of the bombings to her relatives on Instagram, but they just responded with the Kremlins oft-repeated claims that the invasion is just a special military operation and that no civilians would be targeted.

In reality, more than 350 civilians had died as of Saturday night, according to the United Nations. The real toll is probably much higher.

For Svetlana, a 60-year-old woman living in Cherkasy, the hardest thing to accept is the advice she has received from her sister, who lives in Belarus, and her cousins in Tomsk, Russia: that she and other Ukrainians should not concern themselves with what is going on.

Protests in Russia. Amid antiwar rallies across Russia, the police said more than 3,000 people were arrested Sunday, the highest nationwide total in any single day of protest in recent memory. An activist group that tracks arrests reported detentions in 49 different Russian cities.

Its not that they dont believe it is happening, but they think that the high-level politicians should figure it out, said Svetlana, who was uncomfortable providing her last name.

I tell them that we are people too, and this has affected us, she said. I asked them not to hide their heads in the sand, I asked the mothers to think about not sending their sons to the army. The response was amazing to me. That is, that politicians are to blame for everything.

She displayed a WhatsApp exchange with her cousin showing that her cousin had also been swayed by a narrative being pushed by Russian state TV: that the West fomented this war, was thrilled to see two brotherly nations fighting each other and was expecting to reap a significant profit from it.

Her cousin sent a string of messages asserting that Western defense companies were raising their profits, and that alternate sources of energy were being procured for the West.

It was not the response she had hoped for no recognition of the gravity of the situation for Ukrainians or sympathy for the loss of human life.

Every day I send them the necessary information, but the response is that This is some kind of fake information, that this cannot be the case at all, that no one can or will shoot at civilians, she said.

Ms. Belomytseva, from Kharkiv, said that while her husband was still trying to communicate with his family in Russia, she had cut off most of her relatives there eight years ago, after the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of eastern Ukraine.

But Mr. Katsiurin said he could not push his closest family members out of his life.

They are our relatives, theyre the closest people we have, and this is not about them, he said. I am not angry at my father I am angry at the Kremlin. Im angry about the Russian propaganda. Im not angry at these people. I understand that I cannot blame them in this situation.

He said he thought about cutting his father off but decided that was the wrong response. The easiest thing to do would be to say, OK, now I dont have a father, he said. But I believe that I need to do this because it is my father.

He said that if everyone worked to explain the truth to their families, the narrative could change. After a post on Instagram complaining about his fathers disbelief went viral, he launched a website, papapover.com, which means Papa, believe, with instructions for Ukrainians about how to speak to their family members about the war.

There are 11 million Russians who have relatives in Ukraine, he said. With 11 million people, everything can happen from revolution to at least some resistance.

Nataliia Yermak contributed reporting.

View post:

Ukrainians Find That Relatives in Russia Dont Believe Its a War - The New York Times