Russia Orders Bloggers’ Arrests In Absentia Over Ukraine

Published

3 years ago

May 25, 2022

A Moscow court on Tuesday ordered the arrests in absentia of Russian bloggers Michael Nacke and Veronika Belotserkovskaya, accusing them of discrediting the army and its offensive in Ukraine.

Nacke, a 28-year-old Kremlin critic, hosts a YouTube channel with more than 700,000 subscribers where he discusses Russia’s military actions in Ukraine.

A Russian citizen, he is currently in Lithuania, he told AFP, after a Moscow court ordered his detention.

Nacke said he was accused of “calling a war a war” and prosecuted over his updates about the course of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine on his YouTube channel.

He risks up to 10 years in prison if he returns to Russia, he said.

He said his arrest was “part of the massive pressure on journalists and analysts who objectively describe the course of the current war.”

“The goal of the Kremlin and (President Vladimir) Putin personally is to silence everyone,” he said.

He said he would continue with his reports.

“There’s nothing more important right now,” he said.

Nacke creates videos with Ruslan Leviev, the founder of the Conflict Intelligence Team, a team of bloggers investigating the Russian military.

A court has separately ordered the arrest of Leviev, who has also left Russia.

The court in Moscow on Tuesday also ordered the detention in absentia of Belotserkovskaya, a blogger with more than 900,000 followers on Instagram.

Belotserkovskaya, who lives in France, is a popular culinary blogger who has also published comments about Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.

After Putin sent troops to Ukraine on February 24, Russia introduced prison terms of up to 15 years for spreading information about its military deemed false by the government.

In March, Belotserkovskaya became the first target of the new legislation.

Many critics of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine have been arrested and jailed including opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza and artist Aleksandra Skochilenko.

Independent media outlets including Novaya Gazeta have in recent weeks been shut down or suspended operations, and tens of thousands of Russians have left the country.

Welcome Home, Israel Confirms Return Of 20 Hostages From Gaza

Published

21 hours ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Israel said that the last 20 living hostages released by Hamas on Monday had arrived in the country.

“Welcome home,” the foreign ministry wrote in a series of posts on X, hailing the return of Matan Angrest, Gali Berman, Ziv Berman, Elkana Bohbot, Rom Braslavski, Nimrod Cohen, David Cunio, Ariel Cunio, Evyatar David, Guy Gilboa Dalal, Maxim Herkin, Eitan Horn, Segev Kalfon, Bar Kuperstein, Omri Miran, Eitan Mor, Yosef Haim Ohana, Alon Ohel, Avinatan Or and Matan Zangauker.

AFP

Headline

20 Members Of Gang Blacklisted By US Escape Guatemala Prison

Published

1 day ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Twenty members of a gang designated a “foreign terrorist organisation” by the United States have escaped from detention in Guatemala, a prison chief said Sunday.

The members of the Barrio 18 gang “evaded security controls” at the Fraijanes II facility, prison director Ludin Godinez said at a news conference.

He received “an intelligence report” on Friday warning about the “possible escape” from the prison, which is southeast of the capital, Guatemala City.

Godinez said they were investigating possible acts of corruption.

Washington last month blacklisted Barrio 18, an El Salvador-based gang which has a reputation for violence and extortion, as part of its crackdown on drug trafficking.

The US embassy in Guatemala condemned the prison escape as “utterly unacceptable.”

“The United States designated members of this heinous group as the terrorists they are and will hold accountable anyone who has provided, provides, or decides to provide material support to these fugitives or other gang members,” the embassy said on X.

It called on the Guatemalan government to “act immediately and vigorously to recapture these terrorists.”

According to Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez, there are about 12,000 gang members and collaborators in Guatemala, while another 3,000 are in prison.

The country’s homicide rate has increased from 16.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2024 to 17.65 this year, more than double the world average, according to the Centre for National Economic Research.

According to the Salvadoran government, the gangs Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha, better known as MS-13, are responsible for the deaths of about 200,000 people over three decades.

The two gangs once controlled an estimated 80 percent of El Salvador, which had one of the highest homicide rates in the world.

Headline

South Africa Bus Crash Kills 40 Including Malawi, Zimbabwe Nationals

Published

1 day ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

At least 40 people, including nationals of Malawi and Zimbabwe, were killed when a passenger bus rolled down an embankment in South Africa, a provincial transport minister said Monday.

The bus travelling to Zimbabwe crashed around 90 kilometres (55 miles) from the border on Sunday after the driver apparently lost control, Limpopo province transport minister Violet Mathye said.

“They are still working on the scene, but 40 bodies have already been confirmed to date,” Mathye told the Newzroom Afrika channel. The dead included a 10-month-old girl, she said.

Thirty-eight people were in hospital and rescuers were searching for other victims, she told eNCA media.

The bus was travelling from the southern city of Gqeberha, around 1,500 kilometres away, and its passengers included Malawians and Zimbabweans who were working in South Africa. The crash may have been caused by driver fatigue or a mechanical fault, the minister said.

South Africa has a sophisticated and busy road network with a high rate of road deaths, blamed mostly on speeding, reckless driving and unroadworthy vehicles.

AFP