News
- Russia designates comedian Alexander Nezlobin as 'foreign agent'Russia's Justice Ministry added comedian Alexander Nezlobin, a former municipal deputy from the Pskov region, and a journalist to its 'foreign agents' registry on August 28.
- Georgia's president pardons Russian who smashed police car window; deportation loomsGeorgia's President Mikheil Kavelashvili pardoned 226 convicts for the Marian feast day, including a Russian citizen convicted of damaging a police car during an anti-government protest, who now faces deportation.
- Russian strike burns 4 million bottles of vodka at Ukraine's Khortytsia plantA Russian strike destroyed the Khortytsia distillery in Zaporizhzhia, burning up to four million bottles of vodka, owner Global Spirits said.
Persecution
- Pavel Syutkin: Six Years in Prison Over a Post About Bucha
A Moscow court sentenced culinary historian Pavel Syutkin to six years in a penal colony over posts about Bucha. The case involved raids, a closed trial and a disputed expert report. His defense has appealed.
- Alexander Skobov: From Soviet Psychiatric Hospitals to a 16-Year Prison Sentence
A Soviet-era dissident twice subjected to compulsory psychiatric treatment, Alexander Skobov is now serving a 16-year sentence in Russia. His case spans decades of opposition activism, terrorism-related charges and renewed punishment behind bars.
- Pavel Syutkin: Six Years in Prison Over a Post About Bucha
- Russian strikes destroyed about 90% of Ukraine's grocery warehouse capacityUkrainian Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyi said Russian strikes have destroyed about 90% of the warehouse space used by Ukrainian grocery chains to store food products.
- Russia tells schools to invite war veterans to Sept. 1 ceremoniesRussia's Education Ministry has recommended that schools invite participants of the war in Ukraine to September 1 ceremonies.
- Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries hit record in August, crude processing at 20-year lowUkrainian forces struck Russian oil refineries at least 21 times in August, the most in any month of the war, pushing crude processing to its lowest level in over two decades.
- Russian regions refuse to print Yabloko campaign program with words 'peace' and 'ceasefire'At least seven Russian regions refused to publish the Yabloko party's campaign program, which calls for 'peace' and a 'ceasefire agreement,' the party's press service said.
- Court removes Yabloko from Sverdlovsk regional election ballot at LDPR's requestThe Sverdlovsk Regional Court disqualified the Yabloko party's regional list from the legislative assembly election, marking the first time in the current campaign that a party with factions in the State Duma and regional parliament filed such a lawsuit.
Editor's Column
- When an Outage in Russia Disrupts Taxi Service in Kazakhstan
Drone strikes damaged three Yandex data centers in four days. The disruption reached Kazakhstan, where users' personal data is stored locally, according to officials. The episode exposed the difference between keeping data inside national borders and keeping a digital service running independently.
- Peskov Says Russia Has No Political Prisoners. What the Cases and Numbers Show
On September 30, Dmitry Peskov said Russia “categorically denies” that it holds political prisoners. FACTUM’s political persecution database listed 6,794 people at the latest count; 2,163 were imprisoned, while 1,404 had been recognized as political prisoners by human rights organizations. This column looks at what those figures mean and at several criminal cases behind them.
- When an Outage in Russia Disrupts Taxi Service in Kazakhstan
- Russian court sentences ex-Ukrainian official to 11 years in absentiaA Moscow military court sentenced former Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych to 11 years in prison in absentia on charges of spreading 'fakes' about the Russian military and calling for terrorism.
- Russia plans fuel price caps as shortages hit regionsThe Russian government is preparing a package of measures to cap fuel prices, testing the system in Tuva, as shortages and price spikes spread across regions.
- Ozon sold over 25 billion rubles in dual-use and military goods in a year, Verstka findsRussian marketplace Ozon sold more than 25 billion rubles ($280 million) worth of dual-use and military goods over the past year, according to an investigation by independent outlet Verstka.
- Wikipedia stops opening in Russia as access anomalies hit 100%Users across Russia reported mass failures accessing Wikipedia overnight, with monitoring data showing anomalies reaching 100% for the Russian-language version.
- Russian strike on Nova Poshta warehouses in Kyiv region; woman killed in Kharkiv regionRussian forces attacked Nova Poshta warehouses in the Kyiv region overnight, with a woman killed in a separate strike on residential buildings in the Kharkiv region.
- Ukrainian drones strike Yaroslavl refinery, closing kindergartens and blocking exit roadUkrainian drones attacked the Slavneft-YANOS oil refinery in Yaroslavl, prompting road closures and the shutdown of two kindergartens, according to Astra and monitoring Telegram channels.
Analytics
- Yandex After the Drone Strikes: What Is Back Online, What Was Damaged and How Long Recovery Could Take
By October 16, Yandex had brought most everyday services back online, but cloud operations and advertising tools remained restricted. What is known about the three damaged data centers, the fate of its supercomputers and the competing timelines for a full recovery?
- Vladislav Surkov: From Managed Politics to the Kremlin's Donbas Liaison
Vladislav Surkov began his career in advertising and some of Russia's largest businesses before spending almost two decades helping shape the Kremlin's domestic political system. His name is associated with the emergence of the ruling party, pro-Kremlin youth movements and the doctrine of “sovereign democracy.” From 2013 onward, he became an important intermediary in Moscow's dealings with the conflict in Ukraine. FACTUM.press examined his career, political decisions, leaked office correspondence and intercepted conversations presented in the MH17 investigation, asking what these records establish—and what they do not—about his personal responsibility.
- Yandex After the Drone Strikes: What Is Back Online, What Was Damaged and How Long Recovery Could Take
- Putin's acquaintance Traber released from custody due to healthRussian investigators released businessman Ilya Traber, a longtime acquaintance of Vladimir Putin, from a Moscow pretrial detention center on August 27 due to a sharp deterioration in his health.
- Drone attack damages five-story building in Sevastopol, two injuredA Ukrainian drone attack on Sevastopol damaged a five-story residential building, injured two people and wounded two others, Russia's appointed governor said.
- Russian military to gain access to citizens' bank accounts, health dataRussia's Defense Ministry has drafted an order that would let military enlistment offices obtain confidential data on citizens and their relatives, including bank accounts, health records and criminal histories.
- Russia Cuts Non-War Budget Spending by 35% as Liquidity Crisis BitesRussian authorities have slashed funding for non-war budget items by 35% since April amid a liquidity crunch, Bloomberg reports, citing sources close to the government.
- Vatican's top diplomat meets Putin aide in Moscow as papal peace push continuesVatican Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Paul Gallagher met with Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov in Moscow, the Holy See's Secretariat of State said on X.
- Sochi mayor congratulates parents on son killed in Ukraine, then edits videoSochi Mayor Andrei Proshunin presented a posthumous Order of Courage to the parents of a soldier killed in Ukraine and told them 'Congratulations' before the video was edited to remove the remark.
- Russian outlet fined for relaying governor's drone attack postRussian authorities have drawn up an administrative protocol against the Vladimir-based outlet Zebra TV for republishing the regional governor's emergency message about a drone strike that caused a fire in an apartment building.
- Russian nuclear physicist already sentenced for sharing data with US faces new treason caseA Russian nuclear physicist from Obninsk who was sentenced to four years in 2025 for illegally transferring export-controlled data to a US laboratory now faces a new treason charge.
- Penza police say residents increasingly 'rescue' men from detentionPenza region police deny detaining men for military service but admit locals are increasingly interfering with arrests.
- FBK: Putin ally Timchenko controls 34% of Ozon via shell company chainThe Anti-Corruption Foundation says a company owned by billionaire Gennady Timchenko, a close associate of Vladimir Putin, financed the purchase of about 34% of Ozon shares.
- MGIMO vice-rector and son wanted in Moscow real estate fraud caseNatalia Kuzmina, a vice-rector at MGIMO, and her son Enver have been placed on a wanted list in connection with a fraud case involving elite Moscow apartments.
- Car bomb kills Russian lieutenant colonel in St. Petersburg suburbA car bomb killed a Russian lieutenant colonel and seriously injured his wife in the Pushkin district of St. Petersburg on the morning of August 27.
- Woman killed, five wounded in Russian overnight strikes on UkraineA 66-year-old woman was killed and five people were wounded in Russian overnight strikes on Ukraine, with attacks lasting over seven hours in the Odesa region.
- Ukrainian drones hit Ozon warehouses in Orenburg and UfaUkrainian drones attacked Ozon logistics facilities in Orenburg and Ufa overnight, the company said, with staff evacuated beforehand and no casualties reported.
- Drone strikes halt all major Lukoil refineries except oneA Ukrainian drone attack on a refinery in Nizhny Novgorod region has halted operations at Lukoil's fourth-largest Russian plant, leaving only one of the company's major refineries active.
- World's largest container line halts Novorossiysk bookings after drone attack on its shipMSC Mediterranean Shipping Co suspended bookings for cargo to and from the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk after one of its vessels was attacked by a drone, Bloomberg reported.
- Vladivostok residents warned of mobile outages during Eastern Economic ForumAuthorities in Primorsky Krai have warned residents and visitors of Vladivostok about possible disruptions to mobile and landline communications during the Eastern Economic Forum, scheduled for September 1-4.
- Cyprus to issue residence permits to Belarusians with expired passportsCyprus will continue accepting residence permit applications from Belarusian citizens with expired passports, the island's migration department announced.
- LDPR seeks to bar Yabloko from Sverdlovsk regional election, citing Meta posts and Sberbank trademarksRussia's LDPR party has filed a lawsuit to cancel Yabloko's candidate list for the Sverdlovsk regional parliament, with a hearing set for August 28.
- Ukrainian strike on Donetsk kills 10, hits abandoned building, sources divergeA Ukrainian missile and drone attack on central Donetsk on August 26 killed at least 10 people and wounded three, including a child, according to conflicting reports from Russian and Ukrainian sources.
- Bloomberg: Putin sees talks as dead end, prepares escalation of strikes on KyivMoscow considers peace talks on Ukraine to be at a dead end and is preparing to escalate hostilities, Bloomberg reported, citing four sources close to the Kremlin.
- Kanye West's St. Petersburg concerts postponedGazprom Arena says Kanye West's two St. Petersburg concerts will likely be postponed by up to 6-9 days, despite earlier denying the shows were confirmed.
- Nine killed in strike on bus in occupied LuhanskA strike on a passenger bus in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine killed nine people, according to Leonid Pasechnik, the Moscow-installed head of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic.
- Court reinstates Russian Communist lawmaker in election race after font disputeA Russian appeals court on August 26 overturned a lower court's decision to remove Communist Party lawmaker Mikhail Matveev from the September parliamentary ballot over a font copyright claim.
- US detains Russian anti-war activist Artem Kosolapov, faces deportationRussian citizen Artem Kosolapov was detained in Arkansas on August 23 and faces possible deportation, according to the Russian Refugee Foundation.
- Moscow court upholds blogger's detention in 'fake' military caseThe Moscow City Court has upheld the arrest of blogger Ilya Remeslo, who will remain in pre-trial detention until at least September 16 in a case over alleged 'fakes' about the Russian military.
- Hawking books and a princess comic land in Russian library's 'destructive literature' vaultA Russian state library's restricted collection of 'destructive literature' includes a children's book by Stephen Hawking and a comic about two princesses, both freely sold in Russia in Russian.
- Russian military history society to publish 'truthful' textbook on Ukraine's history for schoolchildrenThe Russian Military Historical Society is preparing a textbook on Ukraine's history that will explain the origins of the term 'Ukrainianism' and how the 'Kyiv regime' reached its current state, its scientific director said.
- Moscow court arrests German journalist in absentia over Zelensky questionA Moscow court ordered the arrest in absentia of a German journalist for asking Volodymyr Zelensky how Europeans could help Ukraine 'kill more Russians.'
- Gazprombank Luxembourg managers earned €9M on bond swap after sanctions chaosFour top managers at Gazprombank's Luxembourg unit made over €9 million by buying discounted Gazprom bonds and swapping them for new rouble-denominated ones after 2022 sanctions.
- Pensioner in occupied Berdyansk gets 14 years for sending $34 to Ukraine's militaryA Russian-occupied Berdyansk court sentenced a pensioner to 14 years in prison for transferring 1,500 hryvnias ($34) to Ukraine's armed forces.
- Zelensky awards Elon Musk Ukraine's Order of LibertyUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has awarded Elon Musk the Order of Liberty, one of Ukraine's highest state honors, for his role in protecting lives and freedom.
- Russians queue 11 hours as second fuel shortage wave hits regionsRussia is experiencing its second fuel crisis of the summer, with at least ten regions imposing fuel sales limits by August 17 and queues stretching for kilometers at some stations.
- Ukrainian pensioner, 70, gets 15 years in Russian prison for sending $700 to Kyiv's forcesA 70-year-old woman from Russian-occupied Tokmak in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region was sentenced to 15 years in a general-regime colony for high treason after transferring money to support the Ukrainian military.
- Wildberries warehouse fire in Kotovsk forces residents indoors for two daysThe mayor of Kotovsk urged residents to stay indoors for two days as smoke from a fire at a Wildberries logistics center, sparked by a Ukrainian drone attack, spread across the city.
- Ukrainian drones hit Wildberries warehouse again, Lukoil refineryUkrainian drones struck a Wildberries logistics center in Kotovsk, Tambov region, and a Lukoil refinery in Kstovo overnight, with the warehouse fire covering over 100,000 square meters.
- Aurus linked to Slutsky hits motorcycle in central Moscow; aide says no injuriesA car linked to Russian politician Leonid Slutsky collided with a motorcycle at a central Moscow intersection; his aide said no one was injured.
- Ex-Ukraine defense minister says country is 'slowly losing' the warFormer Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said in a Reuters interview that Ukraine is 'gradually, slowly losing' its war with Russia, calling the current moment a 'turning point' that will determine the conflict's trajectory.
- Russian fuel retailers ask to extend diesel export banRussia's fuel retailers have asked the government to extend the full ban on diesel exports beyond September 1, citing supply risks ahead of the high-demand season.
- Armenia says it will welcome Russians fleeing possible new mobilizationArmenia's Security Council secretary said Yerevan will not block Russians arriving over fears of a new mobilization wave and will help those who need it.
- Ukraine got 'a few' Patriot missiles, Zelensky says, urging morePresident Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine received a small number of missiles for its Patriot air-defense systems, adding that more are needed.
- Russia tests 'enemies of the people' registry for emigresRussia's Justice Ministry has launched a test version of a registry of Russians subject to restrictive measures, effectively a list of 'enemies of the people' for those convicted abroad.
- Putin signs decree allowing temporary external management of critical infrastructureRussian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on August 24 allowing authorities to introduce temporary external management at critical infrastructure facilities if owners fail to ensure their security, including against drone attacks.
- Russian universities push students into military contracts, investigation findsAn investigation by Novaya Gazeta Europe found that 47 of Russia's top 50 universities are actively recruiting students to sign contracts with the Defense Ministry.
- Court removes Yabloko from Pskov regional election ballot after Rodina lawsuitThe Pskov Regional Court has removed the Yabloko party list from the regional legislative election after a lawsuit filed by the local branch of the Rodina party.