News
- FSB searches home of Communist activist who sends aid to Russian troopsFederal Security Service officers searched the home of Angela Donskaya, a Communist Party official in the Leningrad Region who publicly supports the Russian military, seizing her phone and drawing up a protocol.
- Russia Adds Alexander Nevzorov to 'Extremists and Terrorists' RegistryRussia's financial monitoring agency has added journalist and former lawmaker Alexander Nevzorov to its registry of 'extremists and terrorists', a listing that freezes bank accounts and restricts property rights.
- Russian Prosecutors Drop Bid to Seize FIDE President's AssetsThe Russian Prosecutor General's Office has withdrawn its lawsuit seeking to seize hundreds of millions of dollars in assets from Freedom Holding founder and FIDE president Timur Turlov, a Moscow court approved the request.
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
- EU leaders to urge Zelensky to soften Trump criticismEuropean Union leaders plan to call on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to tone down his public criticism of Donald Trump at a summit in Brussels on October 16, according to the Financial Times.
- Ukraine says Starshield satellite limits lifted after drones lost signal at speedRestrictions on Starshield, the military version of SpaceX's Starlink satellite system, have been lifted and service in moving vehicles has resumed, according to a source in Ukraine's Defense Ministry.
- Russia builds jet-drone launch base near Millerovo in six weeks, satellite images showRussia has nearly completed a large new launch base for jet-powered drones near the town of Millerovo in the Rostov region, built on what was an empty field six weeks earlier, according to an analysis of satellite imagery.
- All three Yandex supercomputers knocked out after drone strikes on data centersDrone attacks on Yandex data centers disabled all three of the company's supercomputers — Chervonenkis, Lyapunov and Galushkin — according to T-invariant, cited by Meduza.
- Russia Resumes Diesel Exports From Primorsk After Trump-Putin DealRussia has resumed diesel shipments from the Baltic port of Primorsk after Washington suspended sanctions on Russian diesel imports and Moscow lifted its export ban, following an agreement between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
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
- Kostroma Court Fines Ex-Yabloko Candidate Over 'Party of Crooks and Thieves' T-ShirtA district court in Kostroma fined environmental activist and former Yabloko parliamentary candidate Andrei Tarasov 1,000 rubles over a photograph of him wearing a T-shirt reading 'I am against the party of crooks and thieves.'
- Police Search Editor-in-Chief of Novaya Gazeta Sergei Sokolov in Personal Data CaseInvestigators searched the home of Novaya Gazeta editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov as part of a criminal case opened in the spring over the illegal use and storage of personal data by a group of individuals.
- Russia's Central Bank Bans Direct Crypto P2P Trading From July 2027Russia's Central Bank has barred individuals from buying and selling cryptocurrency directly with each other starting July 1, 2027, restricting digital currency transactions to regulated intermediaries.
- Two tankers ablaze off Romania as eight sailors go missingA fire broke out on a chemical tanker in the Sulina Canal on the Danube, and Romanian maritime authorities say eight of the vessel's 12 crew members are missing.
- FSB Says Swedish Citizen Who Fought for Ukraine Detained in Pskov RegionRussia's Federal Security Service said it detained a Swedish national in the Pskov Region who allegedly served in a Ukrainian assault battalion and was heading into Russia to carry out sabotage.
- US proposed unfreezing Russian assets under Washington's control, Europe refusedThe United States proposed that European countries unblock part of Russia's frozen assets and place them in a structure under Washington's control, but European officials rejected the plan at talks in Miami on October 9, according to four sources cited by the Financial Times.
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
- Ukrainian drones hit Ryazan oil refinery; fire reported at plantUkrainian drones attacked the Ryazan oil refinery, causing a fire, while a military airfield in Borisoglebsk was also targeted the same night, according to Russian and Ukrainian monitoring sources.
- Zelensky Says Ukraine Will Resume Strikes on Russian Oil Refineries After Three-Day PauseUkraine's president told the Financial Times that a US-imposed ban on hitting Russian oil refineries has been lifted, saying "we've had enough."
- Drone Attack on Kirovohrad Region Lasts 10 Hours, Killing ThreeRussian drones struck the Kirovohrad region and its administrative center, Kropyvnytskyi, overnight into October 15, killing three people and wounding six, according to the head of the regional military administration, Andrii Raikovych.
- US Weighs Easing Sanctions on Shadow Fleet Tankers to Cut Freight RatesWashington is discussing allowing sanctioned shadow fleet vessels to carry "legal" fuel in a bid to lower freight rates and move more crude out of the Persian Gulf, according to Reuters.
- Russia Declares Tbilisi's Frame Space 'Undesirable'Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated the Frame space in Tbilisi as an 'undesirable organization', adding it to the Justice Ministry's registry without a public announcement.
- Rapper Navai detained in Kazakhstan after 10 grams of marijuana found in his carRussian rapper Navai, whose real name is Navai Bakirov, was detained at the Kordai border crossing into Kazakhstan after police found marijuana in his car, according to the Zhambyl Region police department.
- Russian Deputy PM Claims Two Refineries Attacked as Kyiv Calls It a FakeRussian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Ukrainian forces attacked two oil refineries in the Saratov and Ryazan regions, a claim Kyiv dismissed as fabricated and that regional authorities did not confirm.
- Ukraine Charges Five Russian Archaeologists in Absentia Over Crimea ExcavationsUkraine's Prosecutor General's Office has filed in-absentia war crimes suspicions against five Russian archaeologists for excavations at a medieval site in annexed Crimea, with potential sentences of 8 to 12 years.
- Five Ukrainian Soldiers Shot Dead Near Kharkiv; Prosecutors Probe Russian Sabotage Unit LinkFive Ukrainian service members were shot dead near Kharkiv, and prosecutors are investigating whether the attacker was part of a Russian sabotage and reconnaissance group.
- Russian Drones Hit Eurogurt Warehouse in Lutsk, Killing SixRussian drone strikes on an Eurogurt wholesale warehouse in Lutsk killed six people and injured at least ten, according to the head of the Volyn regional administration.
- Rostelecom Proposes 'Doomsday' Data Center After Drone Strikes on Yandex and Sber FacilitiesRostelecom's deputy board chairman, Valery Ermakov, has proposed creating a 'doomsday' data center in Russia to hold backup copies for restoring services after attacks, speaking at the RBC Tech forum.
- Political Prisoner Rustam Khalikov Dies in Penza Region Prison ColonyRustam Khalikov, sentenced to 12 years on terrorism charges tied to the banned group Hizb ut-Tahrir, has died in a prison colony in the Penza region, according to the rights project Free120.
- Russia's Supreme Court Bans Batalkhadzhi Community as Terrorist OrganizationRussia's Supreme Court has granted a Prosecutor General's Office petition to designate the Batalkhadzhi community, a Sufi religious brotherhood in Ingushetia, as a terrorist organization, banning its activities across the country.
- Moscow Court Hands Meduza Editor-in-Chief Smirnov a One-Year Prison Term in AbsentiaA Moscow magistrate has sentenced Meduza editor-in-chief Sergei Smirnov to one year in a general-regime penal colony in absentia for violating Russia's "foreign agent" labeling law.
- Ingushetia Investigators Answer Complaint With Dzerzhinsky Quote: 'The Fact That You Are Free Is Not Your Merit, but Our Failure'A resident of Ingushetia received a letter from the republic's Investigative Committee quoting the founder of the Soviet secret police after he complained that an investigator had failed to act on his torture allegations.
- Latvia formally notifies journalist Leonid Ragozin of expulsionRussian journalist Leonid Ragozin has received official notification from Latvian authorities of his expulsion, a move he links to political motives and a 2019 investigation.
- Russia strikes three Kyiv power plants, leaving 600,000 without electricityA combined Russian strike on Ukrainian energy infrastructure hit three combined heat and power plants in Kyiv and the surrounding region overnight, cutting power to 600,000 people, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
- Russian Business Lobby Proposes Scrapping Simplified Tax Regimes for Small Firms and Introducing Inheritance TaxDelovaya Rossiya has drafted a 52-point economic reform plan that would abolish the simplified tax system and patents for small business while introducing an inheritance tax and new levies on individuals.
- Krasnodar Governor Declares State of High Alert Over Black Sea Oil SpillKrasnodar Krai Governor Veniamin Kondratyev has declared a state of high alert across Gelendzhik and Novorossiysk over the risk of an emergency caused by an oil product spill in the Black Sea.
- Yandex Metrica and Webmaster Go Dark After Drone Strikes Hit Three Data CentersYandex's Metrica analytics and Webmaster services remained unavailable on October 13, days after drone attacks damaged three of the company's data centers, with no timeline given for full restoration.
- Yandex Metrica and Webmaster Still Down After Drone Strikes on Three Data CentersYandex's analytics and webmaster dashboards remain inaccessible after drone strikes on its data centers. Website owners face uncertainty over traffic records and search indexing.
- Jailed Historian Yuri Dmitriev Returned to Prison Colony From Hospital Without a DiagnosisYuri Dmitriev, a historian serving 15 years in a strict-regime colony, was sent back to his prison facility after two weeks in a prison hospital where doctors never established a diagnosis, a rights group says.
- Trump Says US Still Sharing Intelligence With Ukraine After Deadly Kyiv StrikePresident Donald Trump said the United States is continuing to share intelligence with Ukraine, speaking after a Russian ballistic missile attack on Kyiv that Ukrainian officials said came without the usual advance warning from partners.
- FSB Detains Japanese Journalist on Sakhalin on Espionage Charges, Court Orders ArrestRussia's Federal Security Service detained a correspondent for the Japanese newspaper Hokkaido Shimbun in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on suspicion of espionage, and Moscow's Lefortovsky District Court ordered him held in custody.
- EU paid Russia €197bn for energy since 2022The European Commission says Russia supplied the EU with €197bn worth of energy between March 2022 and July 2026, a figure €112bn below Moscow's own estimate.
- Russian bailiffs flood banks with 12.8 million debtor inquiries in a single dayRussia's Federal Bailiff Service sent millions of unscheduled inquiries about debtors' accounts to banks between September 18 and 21, with one regional bank receiving 12.8 million requests in a single day.
- Moscow Court Sentences Ornithologist Sofya Rosenfeld to 3.5 Years for Two Donations to Navalny's Anti-Corruption FoundationThe Gagarinsky District Court of Moscow sentenced 50-year-old ornithologist Sofya Rosenfeld to three and a half years in a penal colony for donating a total of 2,000 rubles to the Anti-Corruption Foundation, which is designated as an extremist organization.
- IMF cuts Russia's 2026-2027 growth forecast to 0.9%The International Monetary Fund lowered its forecast for Russian economic growth in 2026 and 2027 to 0.9% a year, down from 1.1%, in its updated World Economic Outlook.
- Russia's Education Ministry proposes five-year ban on expelled students returning to same universityRussia's Ministry of Science and Higher Education has proposed barring students expelled as a disciplinary measure from re-enrolling at the same university for five years.
- EU Prepares 23rd Sanctions Package Targeting Russia's Oil RevenueThe European Commission has begun drafting a 23rd sanctions package against Russia, aimed at further reducing Moscow's oil export revenue, according to Politico.
- US, Ukraine and Europe Draft Peace Plan With Pipeline and Profit SplitA four-part US-backed peace framework discussed at a Florida meeting would offer Ukraine NATO-style security guarantees while leaving Russia in control of occupied territory and splitting pipeline profits between Moscow and Kyiv.
- Penza Blogger Gets Two Years of Forced Labor for Video on Draft RaidsThe Leninsky District Court of Penza sentenced blogger Stanislav Morozov to two years of forced labor on charges of publicly calling for extremism online, two sources involved in the proceedings told Agentstvo.
- Zelensky says Kyiv had no warning before Russian ballistic strikeUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv received no advance warning from its partners before five Russian ballistic missiles struck the capital's civilian infrastructure.
- Russian Strike on Kharkiv Apartment Block Kills at Least ThreeA Russian missile hit a four-story apartment building in Kharkiv's Kholodnohirskyi district, killing at least three people and injuring 15, as strikes hit five other Ukrainian regions overnight.
- Russia's Interior Ministry Puts Ex-Meduza Investigations Chief Alexei Kovalev on Wanted ListThe Russian Interior Ministry has placed journalist Alexei Kovalev, who led Meduza's investigations department from 2019 to 2022, on its wanted list, Mediazona reported.
- Moscow court sentences blogger Michael Naki to 14 years in absentia over second caseThe Basmanny District Court of Moscow sentenced blogger and journalist Michael Naki to 14 years in a general-security colony in absentia, combining a new five-year term with an earlier 11-year sentence.
- Drones Strike Two Merchant Ships Off Bulgaria, One SinksBulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said two civilian vessels were attacked in the Black Sea overnight on October 13, with one sinking and one crew member rescued from it.
- Rostelecom and TransTeleCom Offer Small ISPs a Deal: Hand Over Your Subscribers, Skip the SORM BillRostelecom and TransTeleCom have sent service contracts to small regional internet providers proposing they surrender their subscriber base, network lines and technical support in exchange for a share of revenue and relief from surveillance-related costs, Kommersant reported.
- Trump Says Putin More Interested in a Deal Than ZelenskyUS President Donald Trump said Vladimir Putin does not need persuading to reach an agreement while Volodymyr Zelensky does, as both sides traded accusations over a newly announced energy ceasefire.
- France Seizes DF Peak Tanker From Russia's Shadow Fleet in Indian OceanFrench naval forces boarded and detained the oil tanker DF Peak, suspected of sailing under a false flag, more than 450 nautical miles south of Réunion in the Indian Ocean, President Emmanuel Macron said.
- 417 Drones Target Moscow as School Damaged in Kaluga RegionMoscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 417 drones flew toward the Moscow region overnight, with air defenses neutralizing most of them, as a school building was damaged in the Kaluga region.
- Drone strikes knock out three Yandex data centers, crippling taxi, payments and cloud servicesDrone strikes damaged three of Yandex's five largest data centers in four days, disabling the company's taxi, payment, cloud and file-storage services and disrupting dozens of outside businesses that rely on its infrastructure.
- When an Outage in Russia Disrupts Taxi Service in KazakhstanDrone 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.
- Oil-coated birds wash up on Krasnodar coast after Aframax Rio tanker fireA rehabilitation center in Anapa has taken in three oil-coated grebes and expects about ten more, after a tanker fire off the Black Sea coast that Russian authorities say caused no spill.
- PepsiCo and Multon Partners Warn Retailers of Supply Disruptions After Drone Strikes on Yandex Data CentersPepsiCo Holdings and Multon Partners have warned Russian retailers of possible disruptions to soft drink deliveries after Yandex data centers were knocked offline by drone strikes.
- Meduza counts at least 940 children killed since Russia's full-scale invasion of UkraineAt least 940 children have been killed since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to a Meduza investigation drawing on data from international organizations, Ukrainian and Russian authorities and open sources.