In a Siberian penal colony, Nika Novak has experienced the Russian prison system’s harsh treatment of journalists firsthand.

Russia added 341 minors to its national register of “terrorists and extremists” in 2025, marking the highest annual figure in at least seven years, the exiled news outlet Vyorstka reported.

#OpEd Forget geopolitics — Russia is furious about a pop star who lost her apartment, writes Mikhail Zygar.

A Russian-backed court in occupied Ukraine on Wednesday sentenced a Colombian man to 19 years in prison for fighting for Kyiv's army.

The latest numbers represent a decline from 2024, when Medvedev said roughly 450,000 people signed military contracts.

From stalled peace efforts to mobile internet blackouts and the blocking of the gaming platform Roblox, 2025 has been yet another eventful and turbulent year in Russia. We look back at six of the most important stories that shaped the year:

Chubais and other former managers at Rosnano are accused of making “unreasonable and irresponsible” decisions in a failed memory chip project.

Zelensky said the document would be supplemented by additional bilateral agreements between the United States and Ukraine on security guarantees and post-war reconstruction.

A bomb went off after the traffic police officers approached a “suspicious individual,” investigators said.

The move marks the first known case of a Russian journalist being stripped of their citizenship for their reporting on the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

At least 34 people have faced criminal charges over failures to fulfill state defense contracts since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from the eastern town of Siversk, the General Staff said, as Russia doubled down on its recent advances across the lengthy front line.

The 42 plaintiffs argue that state restrictions on the two messaging apps violate their constitutional rights.

The aides allegedly offered paid participation in State Duma roundtables to outside individuals and business groups, effectively selling access to parliamentary events that are meant to be free and regulated.

Authorities say the measures are intended to disrupt Ukrainian drone operations.

The recent deaths of two women who fled abusive homes in Chechnya highlight the danger that victims still face outside Russia.

The extension, set to last until March 31, comes after Serbia’s previous three-year agreement with Moscow expired this summer.

Opinion: “The Other Side of the Coin,” a comedy series combining military propaganda with jokes, has upset Russians who feel it makes fun of their dead family members, writes Anton Starikov.

The court also said that criticism of political, ideological or religious beliefs, as well as ethnic or religious customs, does not meet the legal definition of hate speech.

A judge in the city of Saransk fined a man $63 for urging his then-girlfriend to terminate her pregnancy, according to an anti-abortion group.

The move follows Rosobrnadzor’s decision last month to strip accreditation from several of Shaninka’s degree programs.

Officials in Moscow dismissed the reports but did not address whether the families of diplomats had been relocated.

National power operator Ukrenergo said the “large-scale missile and drone attack” sparked fires in several areas as temperatures across much of the country hovered near freezing.

Putin said Russian law enforcement officials would keep their Tajik counterparts informed of developments in the ongoing investigation into the killing of a 10-year-old Tajik student.

Russian carriers will face a 10% increase in fees, while foreign airlines will see their service fees increase by 3%.

The recent deaths of two women who fled abusive homes in Chechnya highlight the danger that victims still face outside Russia.

#OpEd A series combining military propaganda with jokes upset Russians who felt it made fun of their dead family members, writes Anton Starikov.

Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova on Monday confirmed the exchange, which took place last week.

Russians are planning to spend about half as much on celebrations for New Year's, the country's most festive holiday, than they did last year.

Putin welcomed leaders from seven other member states at the Hermitage Museum, where they reviewed cooperation in 2025 and discussed plans for the coming year.

Education officials say the move is aimed at curbing an oversupply of graduates in around 40 fields with low demand.

Several Russian generals, pro-war bloggers, occupying officials and others have been assassinated since the invasion of Ukraine. We've rounded up some of the highest-profile cases:

Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov is the third senior defense official to have been killed in such an attack since last December.

Ukrainian and U.S. officials described the days of discussions as “productive and constructive.”

Zelensky said earlier that the White House had floated the idea, but he expressed skepticism that direct talks would yield progress.

Ukrainian and European teams were also in the southern American city for the negotiations mediated by Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and the U.S. president's son-in-law Jared Kushner. www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/12/20/r...

Turkey said a drone that crashed on Friday in a rural area of northwestern Turkey following a series of incidents linked to the Russia-Ukraine war was of Russian origin.

Espanola, an ultranationalist paramilitary group made up of far-right soccer hooligans fighting on Russia’s side in Ukraine, confirmed on Friday the death of its leader, Stanislav Orlov, under unclear circumstances.

Rap Platoon is one of a handful of musical acts in Russia that have been producing patriotic, pro-war music. Its new album has failed to win many fans.

The loan falls short of proposals to tap roughly 200 billion euros in Russian central bank assets frozen within the bloc.

President Vladimir Putin said Friday that he would look into the case of French researcher Laurent Vinatier, jailed in Russia for failing to register as a “foreign agent” and facing 20 years on fresh espionage charges.

Ukraine said Friday that it had struck a Russian “shadow fleet” tanker with aerial drones in international waters of the Mediterranean Sea, the first such strike in the Mediterranean in the nearly four-year war.

Policymakers said inflationary risks remain elevated and have risen slightly in recent months, prompting the more modest 0.5% rate cut.

"Mr. Nobody Against Putin," which documents the militarization of a Russian school using footage shot by the school's event coordinator and videographer Pavel Talankin, has been shortlisted for an Academy Award. MT spoke to Talankin and director David Borenstein about the film earlier this year:

At Putin’s annual press conference, journalists and state media correspondents often employ creative methods to boost their chances of asking the president a question. This year, some journalists were seen wearing kokoshniks, the traditional Russian headdress. Photos: TASS

Russia returned the bodies of 1,003 Ukrainian soldiers and received the remains of 26 Russian soldiers Friday under a deal reached during peace talks in Istanbul in June, Kremlin adviser and chief peace negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said.

The Defense Ministry said its air defense systems destroyed nearly 100 Ukrainian drones across Russia overnight.

Ahead of the broadcast, state media reported over two million messages had been submitted for Putin to address during the call-in segment.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to hold his annual Direct Line call-in show and press conference with Russian citizens and journalists Friday. To help you watch it as it unfolds, The Moscow Times has created our own version of “Putin Bingo,” with some of the tropes and phrases we expect.

Under the legislation, financial monitoring of officials and their close relatives would instead be carried out through a closed state information system known as Poseidon.