Latest news with #NovayaGazetaEurope
OC Media
23-07-2025
- Politics
- OC Media
Armenia declines to extradite Russian soldier who refused to fight in Ukraine
Sign in or or Become a member to unlock the audio version of this article Join the voices Aliyev wants to silence. For over eight years, OC Media has worked with fearless journalists from Azerbaijan — some of whom now face decades behind bars — to bring you the stories the regime is afraid will get out. Help us fuel Aliyev's fears — become an OC Media member today Become a member Armenia has reportedly refused to extradite a Russian soldier wanted by Moscow for desertion. Independent Russian media outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe reported on the case on Monday, citing human rights activists who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons. The outlet reported that the Russian soldier in question, 25-year-old Semyon Subbotin, served as a radio operator and gunner in Russia's Strategic Missile Forces, and had fled Russia in September 2024 with the help of Go to the Forest, a group of volunteers who aid Russian soldiers in deserting their units and fleeing the country. According to Novaya Gazeta Europe, Russia filed a desertion case against him and placed him on an interstate wanted list. They also reported that Subbotin learned that people had arrived in Russia to either kill him or to pressure him to return. As a result, Subbotin opted to contact the Armenian police for help. The outlet cited anonymous sources as saying that Subbotin was detained for 72 hours by the Armenian police after they had notified Russia about his whereabouts. 'This period is given to the Russian side to transfer materials to decide on a preventive measure', the outlet said, but claimed that the Russian military arrived at the detention centre where Subbotin was being held and attempted to 'take him away, bypassing procedure'. As a result, the activists contacted the Yerevan police and the Prosecutor's Office and warned that Russia might attempt to kidnap Subbotin. Advertisement The man was released 72 hours later, but still awaits a possible extradition decision should Russia make the request. 'The police are acting professionally and their actions are aimed at preventing the illegal removal of Subbotin', the activists told Novaya Gazeta Europe. The activists added that Russia has 40 days to submit an extradition request, and if it fails to do so, Armenia would no longer be obliged to hold Subbotin. Subbotin is the latest Russian national to have faced extradition in Armenia upon Russia's request. In February, rights group Helsinki Citizens' Assembly — Vanadzor reported that members of the Russian police 'broke into' a police station to 'persuade' a Russian national to surrender. The incident was related to a criminal investigation back in Russia. In December 2023, Russia reportedly detained Russian military deserter Dmitry Setrakov in the Armenian city of Gyumri, later transferring him to Rostov-on-Don in Russia, despite the Armenian authorities claiming to have no knowledge of his detention or departure from the country. Two months later, when asked about Setrakov's case, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told France 24 that Setrakov's abduction 'greatly worried' Yerevan. '[We] are also investigating that case, and if it turns out that everything is as you say, it will of course also lead to certain consequences, because, of course, we cannot tolerate illegal actions on the territory of our country', Pashinyan said. Several months later, in April 2024, another Russian deserter, Anatoly Shchetinin, according to the assembly, was kidnapped by Russian military police based in Gyumri. However, shortly after Russian state media agency Sputnik published a video with Shchetinin in the territory of the base, in which he said: 'No one detained me, no one held me by force. Everything was done of my own free will'. The practice of enhanced interrogation techniques by Russian law enforcement to extract forced confessions, including torture and threats of violence, have been widely documented. In March 2024, the assembly also received alerts from Russian citizens who 'had escaped political persecution and sought refuge in Armenia'. They cited the Russian nationals as saying that they noticed people in Russian military uniforms near their places of residence, 'who overtly follow them and seek information as to who resides in apartments they oversee'. At the time, the assembly claimed that the Russian police used 'an unregistered passenger car with an Armenian license plate, which is intended exclusively for operational intelligence operations'.
Novaya Gazeta Europe
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Novaya Gazeta Europe
Individuals posing as Novaya Gazeta Europe reporters attempt interview with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya — Novaya Gazeta Europe
Two individuals, falsely hired through Telegram by individuals posing as journalists from Novaya Gazeta Europe, have been detained in Lithuania attempting to conduct an interview with Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, independent Belarusian news site Zerkalo reported on Wednesday. One of the detained individuals, Ihor — an 18-year-old Ukrainian citizen who has lived in Vilnius since 2022 — told Zerkalo he genuinely believed he was working with Novaya Gazeta Europe's editorial team. Shortly prior to scheduling the interview with Tsikhanouskaya, Ihor says he had posted in a Telegram group that he was looking for freelance work. A few days later, he received a message from a woman calling herself Ilona, who introduced herself as an editor with Novaya Gazeta Europe. 'Ilona' wrote that she was looking for someone to film an interview with Tsikhanouskaya on the publication's behalf. She sent Ihor €100 in advance of the interview, and sent the location where it would take place, as well as contact information for the opposition leader's press secretary. According to Zerkalo, in addition, 'Ilona' sent Ihor a list of questions. They concerned the recent release of Belarusian opposition figure Siarhei Tsikhanouski, his plans for the near future, his position on sanctions, as well as Lithuania's attitude towards Belarusians. To Ihor, there were no red flags. 'I didn't doubt that Ilona really was from Novaya Gazeta Europe,' he told Zerkalo. 'I was fully confident when they sent over press credentials with the publication's logo.' Ihor enlisted his friend, a Lithuanian citizen, to assist with the filming of the interview. He says neither had reason to believe they were being deceived. But Ihor and his associate's behaviour, as well as the documents they submitted for inspection, aroused suspicion in the Tsikhanouskaya camp, and press secretary Anna Krasulina quickly reported her concerns to the opposition leader's chief political advisor, Franak Viačorka, after which they contacted Novaya Gazeta Europe editor-in-chief Kirill Martynov. 'He confirmed that Novaya had indeed planned an interview with Sviatlana — but the two individuals had nothing to do with the outlet,' Viačorka told Zerkalo. After this, the police were quickly called to the interview location. Ihor and his associate had their equipment confiscated and were taken in for questioning. According to Zerkalo, Lithuanian authorities are currently investigating the incident. This is not the first time that unknown individuals have presented themselves as journalists from Novaya Gazeta Europe. As reported at the end of May, several politicians and public figures in Europe have received interview requests from individuals falsely claiming to work with Novaya Europe.
Novaya Gazeta Europe
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Novaya Gazeta Europe
The Starovoyt option. How Russia's dictatorship is making the political elite self-destruct — Novaya Gazeta Europe
Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoyt, who was sacked by Vladimir Putin on Monday, has taken his own life. It is the country's most high-profile political suicide since 1991. Kirill Martynov Editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta Europe In the quarter century of Putinism to date, ministerial officials have usually been honourably discharged and only ended up in prison in exceptional cases, as happened with Alexey Ulyukaev and Mikhail Abyzov. Until recently, the Putin system functioned according to the 'We don't abandon our own' principle, by which he didn't mean soldiers in the trenches in the war in Ukraine, or Russian-speakers in neighbouring countries, but rather high-ranking members of his own team. A certain level of access to the Kremlin combined with loyalty meant you were untouchable, and could protect your family and capital. Even after 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, the political elite preferred active or passive submission to Putin's radical course of action in the hope of preserving the rules of the game. However, any public criticism or attempts to flee the country could quickly turn a member of the political elite into a traitor in the eyes of the dictator. A system of tacit agreements meant such traitors could be destroyed, as evidenced by the cases of Alexander Litvinenko and Sergey Skripal. So even after 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, the political elite preferred active or passive submission to Putin's radical course of action in the hope of preserving the rules of the game. Not a single official of Starovoyt's stature had resigned since the outbreak of the war, partly due, no doubt, to the belief that the dictator does not persecute anyone closely bound up with his system of corrupt relationships. There has been very little 'fighting corruption' within the upper echelons as that would inevitably lead to them fighting themselves. But after the corpse of sacked Minister Starovoyt was found with a gunshot wound to the head, the rest of the players in Putin's game will now have to rethink their personal prospects, regardless of whether Starovoyt shuffled off this mortal coil voluntarily or he was helped or encouraged on his way. Alexey Smirnov and Roman Starovoyt. Photo: Kursk region governor press service The ideal outcome, from a propagandist's point of view, would be to present the case as a minister losing the plot and then to say no more about it. But in Moscow drawing rooms and Signal chat threads, they will be having very different conversations. What threat was the former minister facing exactly? Why did he decide to take his own life, or was the decision made for him, and who might be next? The most plausible version of events so far is that Starovoyt felt unhappy thoughts after Alexey Smirnov, the man who succeeded him as Kursk region governor and who currently finds himself awaiting trial for embezzlement of budget funds due for the construction of fortifications, made statements implicating him in the same crime. But Starovoyt's demise casts a shadow of doubt over that security. And with that, panic will engulf the political elite. Smirnov's career as governor was short-lived. He took office in 2024, just months before Ukraine attacked the region, and was removed six months later, with the Ukrainian army still in control of the town of Sudzha and surrounding areas. Starovoyt, on the other hand, had governed the Kursk region from 2018. At that time, it was a rapidly developing agricultural region with excellent corruption potential. In 2022, the region's fate changed dramatically. Starovoyt's career became a focus of the dictator's attention, and he was appointed Transport Minister in 2024. Starovoyt could have been another Abyzov, Ulyukaev or Timur Ivanov, a lower-ranking official in the former defence minister Sergey Shoigu's circles, and been sentenced to 10 or 12 years in prison, and then, when everyone had forgotten about him, quietly been released early on parole. Roman Starovoyt. Photo: Maxim Shemetov / EPA However, he preferred to avoid the investigators — that is, if others didn't take his life for him — and remain a silent witness to the construction of non-existent fortifications along the border with Ukraine. Starovoyt has thus severed the link from Smirnov to himself and those higher than him, such as the Rotenberg brothers, his old patrons, well-known experts in acquiring budget funds for building infrastructure, and close friends of Putin. Such patrons, as well as the governors and ministers in their pockets, have always seemed completely untouchable in the Putin system. But Starovoyt's demise casts a shadow of doubt over that security. And with that, panic will engulf the political elite. If the hydra can no longer guarantee the right to life, then what have all the sacrifices the elite have made, especially over the past three years, been for? Why give up all that capital and real estate in the West if you're going to end up like Starovoyt anyway? Perhaps the war the Russian political elite has worked so hard for for the last three and a half years has finally caught up with them. The Western press, meanwhile, writes of 'sudden Russian death syndrome', in reference to dozens of high-flying managers of state-owned companies whose lives have been cut short since 2022. The latest example is the 62-year-old vice president of the world's largest pipeline operator Transneft, Andrey Badalov, who fell from the 17th floor of his apartment building on Friday. The last raft of political suicides in Russia occurred in August 1991, when Interior Minister Boris Pugo, Marshal Sergey Akhromeyev and several acolytes took their own lives after the failed putsch. After the death of Starovoyt was announced, a young Transport Ministry employee, Andrey Korneychuk, died at a meeting from a sudden heart attack. Starovoyt doesn't fit the mould of a Soviet officer dishonoured by corruption charges against him. Perhaps the war the Russian political elite has worked so hard for for the last three and a half years has finally caught up with them. In the absence of other ways out of the current geopolitical situation, Starovoyt found his own alternative.
Novaya Gazeta Europe
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Novaya Gazeta Europe
Police raid independent cultural space in northern Russia for alleged ties to ‘undesirable' organisation — Novaya Gazeta Europe
Russian security forces raided independent cultural space Revolt Centre and the registered addresses of its staff in Syktyvkar in northern Russia on Tuesday, Telegram channel New Republic has reported. The Revolt Centre, first opened in 2019, is named after the Soviet scientist and dissident, Revolt Pimenov, who was exiled to the republic of Komi in the 1970s for distributing samizdat. The centre holds various exhibitions and film screenings and offers co-working space and training for local residents. It recently announced an exhibition featuring the work of the late photographer Dmitry Markov, who frequently photographed protests across Russia. A source confirmed the raids to Novaya Gazeta Europe, noting that authorities had targeted Pavel Andreyev, one of the centre's founders, and former director of independent news channel 7x7. the Siberian affiliate of RFE/RL, reported that the searches were conducted under the pretext of 'treason', with security officers interviewing one former 7x7 employee as a witness. However, a Novaya Gazeta Europe source later said the raids were unrelated to treason. The KomiLeaks Telegram Channel reported that the searches were related to the Revolt Centre's alleged financial ties to British human rights organisation Article 19, which has been deemed 'undesirable' and banned in Russia, and German cultural organisation the Goethe-Institut. Across Russia, other journalists and human rights activists, including Karelian journalist Valeria Potashova, SOTAvision journalist Yekaterina Tkachyova, and several human rights activists, were also subject to police raids on Tuesday.
OC Media
30-06-2025
- Politics
- OC Media
Kadyrov's 17-year-old son Adam marries granddaughter of political ally in elaborate wedding
Sign in or or Become a member to unlock the audio version of this article Join the voices Aliyev wants to silence. For over eight years, OC Media has worked with fearless journalists from Azerbaijan — some of whom now face decades behind bars — to bring you the stories the regime is afraid will get out. Help us fuel Aliyev's fears — become an OC Media member today Become a member The 17-year-old son of Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov, Adam, has been married to a local girl named only as Medni, reportedly a relative of Adam Delimkhanov, an MP from Chechnya and close ally of Ramzan Kadyrov. The large-scale wedding took place over three consecutive days, from Thursday to Saturday, in the village of Akhmat-Yurt (formerly Tsentoroy), the ancestral home of the Kadyrov family in Chechnya. According to unconfirmed reports, Adam Kadyrov married the daughter of Chechen Senator Suleiman Geremeev, who is a close ally of Ramzan Kadyrov and is a cousin of Russian MP Adam Delimkhanov. The ceremony was preceded by a Muslim religious marriage (nikah), which allegedly took place a year earlier — on 8 June 2024. Preparations for the official celebration lasted several months, with invitations sent to delegations from Middle Eastern countries, including to the UAE Ambassador to Russia Mohamed Ahmed Al Jaber, who interrupted his vacation in Abu Dhabi to fly to the Chechen capital Grozny on Friday to congratulate Kadyrov's third son, according to Russian independent media outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe, citing a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry. The wedding was reportedly postponed twice — some sources linked this to Ramzan Kadyrov's desire to arrange a private meeting between Adam Kadyrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin. In addition, Ramzan Kadyrov allegedly planned to marry Adam Kadyrov off last summer on the same day as his elder brother Zelimkhan (Eli), but the Kremlin reportedly did not approve due to Adam Kadyrov's age. Ramzan Kadyrov wrote on his Telegram channel that Putin personally congratulated the family on the event. In his message, he expressed his 'sincere gratitude' for Putin's call. During the celebration, unexpected details caught the attention of the media: on Adam Kadyrov's wrist, journalists noticed a Jacob & Co. Billionaire Ashoka watch, encrusted with 320 diamonds, with an estimated value of approximately $27.7 million. According to calculations by Maria Pevchikh, head of investigations at the Russian activist organisation Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), an average local resident would need to work for over 1,500 years without spending anything to accumulate such a sum. Advertisement Among the guests was the commander of the Akhmat special forces unit, Apti Alaudinov, whose watch also drew attention. It is presumed to be a Badollet Observatoire 1872 Chronograph, with a price range from €165,000 ($190,00) to €272,000 ($320,000). In addition, video footage from the celebration shows the underaged Adam Kadyrov behind the wheel of a limited-edition Mercedes-Benz G-Class in Agave Green. Fewer than 500 units of this model have been produced and it has been officially banned from import into Russia. Its estimated price tag is around $190,000. The video also shows Adam Kadyrov firing a golden pistol into the air. The shot was accompanied by applause and security detail. The use of firearms by minors is prohibited in Russia, as is celebratory gunfire with live weapons. Since June 2023, Adam Kadyrov has held several official positions: he heads Ramzan Kadyrov's security service, and in April 2025 he became Secretary of the Security Council of the republic and curator of the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as curator of the special forces university. He has also been awarded a number of state orders and holds the title of Hero of the Chechen Republic.
