The sanctioned oil tankers have transported over $24 billion in cargo since 2024, according to Downing Street. The U.K. has now sanctioned more shadow fleet vessels than any other country.
Washington and its partners are considering additional sanctions if the parties do not observe a ceasefire, with political and technical negotiations between Europe and the U.S. intensifying since last week, Reuters' source said.
The Kyiv Independent’s contributor Ignatius Ivlev-Yorke spent a day with a mobile team from the State Emergency Service in Nikopol in the south of Ukraine as they responded to relentless drone, artillery, and mortar strikes from Russian forces just across the Dnipro River. Nikopol is located across from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the city of Enerhodar.
Peter Szijjarto's announcement came after Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) allegedly dismantled a Hungarian military intelligence network operating in Zakarpattia Oblast.
Moscow and Washington discuss the potential resumption of Russian gas supplies to Europe, among other issues related to the peaceful settlement of Russia's war in Ukraine, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov confirmed to the Russian state-run Interfax news agency.
"This is a historic decision, as weapons for Ukraine will be purchased at the expense of the proceeds from frozen Russian assets through the European Peace Fund," Denys Shmyhal said.
Russian anti-war politician Boris Nadezhdin in Moscow, Russia, on Dec. 23, 2023. (Boris Aleksiev/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Igor Krasnov, the head of the short-lived presidential campaign of Russian anti-war politician Boris Nadezhdin, was arrested in the Russian city of Vladivostok on March 13 and sentenced to six days in prison for "propagating extremist LGBT," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported.
Nadezhdin was the only potential candidate planning to compete in Russia's upcoming presidential election to openly speak out against Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine.
He had his hopes to be registered on the ballot dashed earlier in February when Russia's Central Election Commission ruled that too many of the signatures he collected in support of his candidacy were invalid.
Nadezhdin's team posted pictures of the court ruling on Telegram, which said that the charge stemmed from a message Krasnov sent on the messaging app that contained the rainbow flag emoji.
Krasnov's colleagues told RFE/RL that other former members of the team were also arrested.
Russia tightened its already restrictive laws on LGBT people in November 2023 when the Supreme Court labeled the "LGBT movement" an "extremist organization" and banned its activities.
It is not clear how Russian authorities define the "international LGBT movement" and its symbols. The six-color rainbow flag has been a global symbol of LGBT rights since the 1970s, but Russian lawmaker Alexander Khinstein told the state news outlet Kommersant that the law did not ban rainbows outright.
Khinstein claimed a "classic" seven-color rainbow was permissible under the new law.
Russian courts have nonetheless charged individuals with violating the law for displaying a rainbow flag.
Laws in Russia are often enforced arbitrarily or used to target perceived opponents of the regime.
Oleg Sukhov
