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What Russia's push to ban Telegram means for its economy — and war effort

by Olena Goncharova

“Why do you block the internet?” reads one of the comments under the latest post on Roskomnadzor’s official VKontakte social media page — a bland Women’s Day greeting from the very censorship agency leading Russia’s harshest crackdown on online communication in years. Russian authorities have set April as the target for finally blocking Telegram, one of the last popular international messenger apps still accessible in the country, and force users toward the Kremlin’s glitchy “national messenger

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Zelensky appoints new heads of SBU counterintelligence departments

President Volodymyr Zelensky on March 25 appointed Serhii Hunkovskyi as head of the Counterintelligence Department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), and Viktor Zaiets as head of the agency’s Military Counterintelligence Department. Decrees published on the Presidential Office website confirmed the latest appointments. The two positions had remained vacant since Jan. 5, when Zelensky dismissed Andrii Tupikov and Oleksandr Dubrovin. The dismissals in January came amid a wider government

US envoy details Belarus 'big deal' talks in interview with Kyiv Independent

A potential "big deal" between Belarus and the United States would effectively normalize relations between Washington and Minsk, U.S. Special Envoy for Belarus John Coale told the Kyiv Independent in a phone interview. The remarks follow growing outreach from Washington to Minsk and come days after Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko said that the U.S. had proposed a "big deal," claiming the initiative came from U.S. President Donald Trump. Coale confirmed that normalization is part of the b

About Russia

The Kyiv Independent’s coverage of news on Russia. Spanning eleven time zones across Eastern Europe and Asia, Russia has an estimated population of 146 million people. Russia’s capital city is Moscow, which is home to almost one in 10 Russians. Russia’s official currency is the Russian Ruble.

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