🇷🇺 Russia · Energy, Crime & justice
108 storiesGermany detains ex-BND chief Hanning on suspicion of espionage
August Hanning, who headed Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND) from 1998 to 2005, has been detained on suspicion of espionage, obtaining state secrets and attempted high treason, according to German and Russian outlets. His former …
Russia drops “fake army news” case against hospice founder Moniava
Russia's Investigative Committee has closed the criminal case against Lida Moniava, founder of the Dom s Mayakom children's hospice and charity fund, for lack of corpus delicti, her lawyer and support group said on 6 October. She had been c…
Vitol CEO says Western countries have exhausted available oil stocks
Russell Hardy, CEO of Vitol, the world’s largest independent oil trader, said at the Energy Intelligence Forum in London that Western countries have exhausted the oil stocks available to them. He said the oil products market remains very de…
Moscow court orders in absentia arrest of journalist Andrei Loshak in terrorism case
A Moscow court on 29 September ordered the in absentia arrest of journalist and documentary filmmaker Andrei Loshak in a case of justifying terrorism, according to court records and state agencies. He has also been placed on a wanted list, …
Book with Salvador Dalí cover stolen from French art centre in Issoudun
A single-copy book, “Apocalypse” by Joseph Foret with a bronze cover made by Salvador Dalí, was stolen from a contemporary art centre in Issoudun, France, overnight into 5 October 2026. Kommersant says the work weighs more than 200 kg, RBC …
Von der Leyen says EU to cut Russian gas imports to zero; target date disputed
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU will bring Russian gas imports to zero, down from a 45% share before the conflict in Ukraine to 12% now. Vedomosti reported the goal as the end of this year, while Kommersant an…
Moscow court cuts blogger Ayaz Shabutdinov's fraud sentence to six years
The Moscow City Court's appeals instance reduced blogger and business coach Ayaz Shabutdinov's sentence by one year, from seven years to six years in a general-regime colony, Kommersant and vc.ru reported. He was convicted of fraud in Octob…
Moldova–Romania power line to be named Trump Liberty Line with $130m US funding
A new 400 kV high-voltage power line between Moldova and Romania will be named the “Trump liberty line”, the US embassy in Moldova said. Washington is financing the $130m Strășeni–Gutinaș project on a grant basis, and a working group involv…
Kazakhstan detains former navy chief over deaths of 14 servicemen in Caspian exercise
Kazakhstan's Interior Ministry said the former commander-in-chief of its navy has been detained and placed in a temporary detention facility over negligence in a case concerning the deaths of 14 servicemen during exercises in the Caspian Se…
Novak urges stable fuel supplies, faster rules to meet Russian demand
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, after a regular meeting on the petroleum products market, called on ministries and vertically integrated oil companies to keep ensuring stable fuel supplies to the domestic market. The governme…
Director of Russia's Patriot Park detained on suspicion of taking bribes
Igor Vasilyev, general director of the Patriot Park, has been detained on suspicion of accepting a bribe on an especially large scale, according to TASS and Kommersant. The Investigative Committee's Main Military Investigative Directorate p…
St Petersburg police detain two over robbery of courier carrying scam money
Police in St Petersburg detained two suspects accused of robbing a woman who was acting as a courier for phone scammers. A 76-year-old resident had handed the courier more than 3.1 million rubles after callers persuaded her to “declare” her…
Novak chairs fuel market meeting as officials report reserves, regional price measures
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak chaired a meeting on the fuel market, where the Energy Ministry reported on accumulated fuel reserves and regional authorities presented measures to regulate fuel prices. Novak said there is no diesel s…
Ex-RZD employees in Irkutsk region get 5-9 years for 88 mln ruble bribes
A court in the Irkutsk region convicted four former employees of Russian Railways (RZD) structural divisions in a bribery case. They were sentenced to five to nine years in a strict regime colony, with various fines and confiscation of prop…
Charles III bars former Prince Andrew from using his funds to pay police lawsuit
King Charles III and Buckingham Palace have made clear that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Prince Andrew, cannot use the funds provided for his upkeep as the king's brother to pay for his lawsuit against police. The case concerns Fe…
Russia's Investigative Committee reports fall in crimes by migrants in 2026
Russia's Investigative Committee said migrants committed about 18,000 offences in the first eight months of 2026, 39% fewer than a year earlier, with their share of all crimes falling from 5% to 3%. The same release reported a 13% rise in c…
Mishustin says cybercrime in Russia fell almost a third over eight months
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said the number of cybercrimes in Russia fell by almost a third in the first eight months of 2026, referring to common types of online crime. Vedomosti reported that the interior ministry earlier put the dro…
Putin holds meeting on energy storage systems, Kremlin says
President Vladimir Putin is holding a meeting on the development of energy storage systems, state agencies reported, after the Kremlin announced it earlier in the day. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin would …
EU Commission warns of “very difficult winter” over energy prices
A European Commission spokesperson, Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, said the EU is heading into a very difficult winter because of energy prices, despite G7 measures to stabilise the market. The G7 agreed on 2 October to release up to 100 million barre…
St Petersburg Exchange halts publication of fuel trade data under decree
The St Petersburg Exchange has stopped publishing a range of data in its Oil Products section, citing a presidential decree on control of information and statistics in the fuel and energy sector. Interfax says the withheld items include con…