Russia

    Leading human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has been detained in Russia, after staging a one man protest against Putin’s response to the torture of gay people in Chechnya. The LGBT rights activist was arrested near Moscow’s Red Square. He had been standing beside a statue of Marshal Zhukov, near the Kremlin, holding a placard which read: Putin fails to act against Chechnya torture of gay people. Cops soon approached him and walked him to a police care where he was questioned, and then driven off to a police station. Tatchell’s official Twitter account has confirmed the news, posting: Confirmed. Peter has been detained by Moscow Police and taken to Tverskaya Police Station. #RainbowRussians and #WorldCup2018. His account also posted a video of Tatchell speaking ...

    Arkady Babchenko, the Russian journalist reportedly murdered in Kiev, faked his death as part of a sting operation, Ukrainian officials have said. The 41-year-old, appeared at a Press conference alongside the head of the Ukrainian security service on Wednesday afternoon. Mr Babchenko, who was visibly tearful, said: Special apologies to my wife. Olechka, I am sorry, but there were no options here. The operation took two months to prepare. I was told a month ago. As a result of the operation, one person has been captured, he is being held. Vasily Gritsak, head of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said the sting had been set up in order to thwart a genuine plot against Mr Babchenko's life. I can now reveal details of the SBU special operation, thanks to which we ...

    Russian President Vladimir Putin bragged earlier this year that his country had a new nuclear-powered missile with unlimited range but it has yet to perform a successful test over multiple attempts, according to sources with direct knowledge of a U.S. intelligence report on the weapons program. The cruise missile was tested four times between November and February, each resulting in a crash, according to sources who spoke to CNBC on the condition of anonymity. The U.S. assessed that the longest test flight lasted just more than two minutes, with the missile flying 22 miles before losing control and crashing. The shortest test lasted four seconds and flew for five miles. One report, according to the sources, did not mention health or environmental risks posed by dam...

    A Russian weapon the U.S. is currently unable to defend against will be ready for war by 2020, according to sources with direct knowledge of American intelligence reports. The latest revelations come more than two months after Russian President Vladimir Putin touted his nation's growing hypersonic arsenal as invincible. The hypersonic glide vehicle, dubbed Avangard, is designed to sit atop of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Once launched, it uses aerodynamic forces to sail on top of the atmosphere. Devastation even without explosives While it is unclear whether Avangard will be outfitted with explosives, the precision and speed of the weapon is believed to pack enough force to obliterate targets. These kinds of boost glide vehicles attack the gaps in our...

    The head of MI5 has accused the Russian government of bare-faced lying and criminal thuggery in a blistering attack on Vladimir Putin's regime. In a speech to European intelligence agencies in Berlin, Andrew Parker said Moscow was using its spies and military to carry out flagrant breaches of international rules. Bare-faced lying seems to be the default mode, coupled with ridicule of critics, he said. The Russian state's now well-practised doctrine of blending media manipulation, social media disinformation and distortion, along with new and old forms of espionage and high-levels of cyber attacks, military force and criminal thuggery is what is meant these days by the term 'hybrid threats'. Mr Parker said the Russian government was the chief protagonist in trying ...

    Russian intelligence foiled a terror attack on this week’s massive Victory Day memorial march in Moscow, a top Russian diplomat has said. Around a million people marched through central Moscow on Wednesday in the annual Immortal Regiment rally, carrying pictures of family members killed during the Second World War. President Vladimir Putin and visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined the march on May 9, the day when Russia marks the end of the war. Twenty people have been detained and 17 homes were searched as part of the investigation, he said. The announcement came as Russia prepares to host the World Cup next month. The FSB agency said four members of the suspected IS sleeper cell were detained in the Moscow region after they travelled from No...

    Vladimir Putin has been sworn in for his fourth term as president of Russia at a ceremony in the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow. Video footage released by Russian television showed Mr Putin's distinctive walk along the Great Kremlin Palace's long corridors, thanking supporters as they applauded him. Mr Putin has been in power in Russia since 1999, whether as prime minister or president, and is Russia's longest-serving leader since Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Supporters see Mr Putin as a father-of-the-nation figure who has restored national pride and expanded Moscow's global power. The Kremlin has planned a low-key inauguration ceremony that will not include a lavish Kremlin reception in an apparent effort to eschew any bad publicity. The ceremony is being watc...

    Britain was braced for a Russian cyber attack last night as officials warned of swift retaliation for the military strikes on Syria. Intelligence officers at GCHQ and the Ministry of Defence are on standby to hit back if the Kremlin wages cyber warfare. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson acknowledged the threat yesterday, saying the UK had to take ‘every possible precaution’. It is feared vital transport systems, water supplies, gas networks, banks, hospitals and even air traffic control could be hacked by Russia in response to the assault on Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons facilities. Intelligence sources also fear the retaliation could involve the online release of so-called kompromat compromising information on MPs or other public figures. Last night, the Pent...

    A Russian request for a meeting with Boris Johnson to discuss the nerve agent attack on former double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia has been dismissed as a diversionary tactic by the UK. The Foreign Office confirmed that it had received a request from the Russian Embassy for a meeting with Mr Johnson, one of the most vocal Government critics of Vladimir Putin’s regime over the attempted assassination. The Russian government said it hoped the UK would engage constructively with the request for ambassador Alexander Yakovenko to have face-to-face talks with Mr Johnson. In a statement posted on its website on Saturday, the Russian Embassy said interaction between it and the Foreign Office was utterly unsatisfactory. They added: We believe that it is high...

    Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Security services located the source of the nerve agent used to poison Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, it has been claimed. According to reports, officials found the Russian laboratory where the novichik poison was made in the days after the attack on March 4. This comes after the chief of the Ministry of Defence's Porton Down laboratory said it had 'not verified the precise source' of the Novichok nerve agent - prompting a furious backlash from Russia. A Whitehall source told The Times: We knew pretty much by the time of the first Cobra [the emergency co-ordination briefing that took place the same week] that it was overwhelmingly likely to come from Russia. Brussels issued a strong statement in support of ...