Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

2022-05-26 13:37:31 In the early 1990s, Russian President Vladimir Putin was handpicked to lead St. Petersburg's External Relations Committee.

The committee is where lawyer Aleksei Leonardov began his career. By the time he left, it was ensnared in one of its first bribery scandals under Putin's watch, and Leonardov was accused in a scheme to funnel $2 million out of Russia through a company linked to Putin's committee.

He soon found himself in jail.

This is the second part of our investigation into the corruption scandals swirling around Putin and his close associates at the start of his political career.

https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-bribe-scandal/31867449.html Open / Comment

2022-05-25 14:16:49 Veronika from Ukraine's Donetsk Region lost her family in an attack on the high-rise residential building where she lived. Hit by shrapnel, she was left in a coma.

Kira from Kharkiv was hit by shelling when she was walking in a park. Her friend was killed. Open / Comment

2022-05-19 12:19:31 It was the largest cocaine haul in Russian history. Putin’s close associate, Viktor Cherkesov, oversaw the investigation. And then the cocaine seemingly disappeared without a trace. 
 
A convicted Israeli smuggler suggested in an exclusive interview with RFE/RL that the drug bust ended up as one of Putin’s early sources of wealth.  

This is the first story in a new series by Current Time & Radio Svoboda that examines the beginnings of Vladimir Putin’s political career, marred by corruption scandals and scams even before it took off.  Open / Comment

2022-05-19 11:57:17 We will discuss the significance of these revelations in our weekly Twitter Spaces podcast with our Russia correspondent Mike Eckel on Monday, May 23.
Google: http://t.ly/bTvb
Apple: http://t.ly/CXJs Open / Comment

2022-05-18 14:33:33 In 1992, an unremarkable 39-year-old ex-KGB officer found himself leading a municipal committee in his native St. Petersburg.

His name was Vladimir Putin. Thirty years later, he rules an increasingly closed Russia that most recently shocked the world by invading Ukraine.

Putin and his associates featured in various corruption scandals that frequently swirled around the committee.

Putin’s committee men later went on to become key allies to the president and occupy influential government posts.

One of them runs Gazprom, the country’s state-owned gas giant, another is in charge of the organization of elections, another heads Russia’s largest oil company.

A new investigative series by by Current Time & Radio Svoboda examines how it all started for Putin and his associates, including details never seen before by the public eye.

One scheme involved what was called at the time the largest single seizure of cocaine in history.

If you want to be notified when the next story comes out, sign up to our Story Alerts, which include insights by the authors: https://www.rferl.org/p/7943.html Open / Comment

2022-05-14 13:41:52 "The Ukrainians might be able to beat back Russian forces that are operating in villages and in the environs immediately outside of the big cities. [It's particularly useful for] the Ukrainians to be able to have intelligence scouting, it allows them to be able to identify where the Russian units are, [and then] use artillery and rockets against them. But as soon as you get into these densely urban populated areas, the pace of fighting and the rate of advance for either side decreases significantly, and the Ukrainians have not yet demonstrated a capability to be able to go into an enemy-controlled urban environment and repel those forces.

I don't want to say that the Ukrainians can’t do it, but that's simply just a capability that we've not yet observed on the battlefield."

We interviewed an expert from the Institute for the Study of War about Ukraine's prospects for mounting a counteroffensive in the Donbas:

https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-donbas-counterattack-standish-barros/31849366.html Open / Comment

2022-05-13 18:25:30 Nine-year-old Sofia Hurmaza is in hospital in Lviv, western Ukraine, after sustaining a shrapnel wound to the head that her doctor says would normally leave her in a "vegetative state."

But after two days in a coma and a complex operation, her doctor says she's making a "miracle" recovery. Open / Comment

2022-05-10 23:43:09 At least 112 soldiers from Russia's Buryatia region have been killed in Ukraine since February, according to the Free Buryatia Foundation. Current Time reports on some of those who have died and spoke to people in the region. (WARNING: Viewers may find the content of this video disturbing.) Open / Comment

2022-05-06 13:34:21 Russian troops have been stepping up their offensive in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. Constant shelling is destroying civil infrastructure and local residents are forced to hide in basements.

RFE/RL correspondent Serhiy Horbatenko was there on May 3 and came under shellfire on the outskirts of the city of Siversk. Open / Comment

2022-05-04 10:59:44 In Photos: Mariupol before the war and now.

https://www.rferl.org/a/mariupol-then-now-photos-ukraine-war/31832359.html Open / Comment