Ivan Krastev for Financial Times on what it means to be Russian now and what the West has to recognize bit.ly/3tWtdje

Three Russian cosmonauts just launched to the International Space Station on a Russian rocket, from Kazakhstan. The color scheme of their space attire as they came aboard the station is rather striking.

Even by the devastating standards of Russia's war in Ukraine, what's going on in Mariupol right now is pure horror. Guy Chazan spoke to survivors – and his story is free to read ft.com/content/af7996…

Russian Ministry of Defense launched a project proving the crimes of Bandera (nationalists) during the Second World War, titled "For Truth." So now they are making sure there is a historical justification of their war crimes, dating back to 1940s. zapravdu.mil.ru

Russian companies & organizations now have to write if they mention Instagram and Facebook that they are extremist organizations and are prohibited in #Russia. For logos and links to accounts posted on the sites, companies may be charged for demonstrating extremist symbols.

Anatoly Chubais resigned from his post of Special Representative of the President for Sustainable Development and left the country. No more sustainability or development for that matter.

Роскомнадзор заблокировал News.Google

"Germany and other EU countries should, without bureaucracy, accept Russian and Belorussian people fleeing military service and grant them permanent residence."

#Putin expelled four scientists who opposed the war from the scientific council

#Russian government allowed parallel imports. Now it will be possible to import goods into Russia without the permission of the copyright holder. Repressions, nationalization, now piracy...

The Prosecutor General's Office of #Russia - on #Bucha: "Everything that happened in Bucha from 3/31 until yesterday is the responsibility of #Ukraine. This is evidenced, in particular, by a video with empty streets, filmed when the Ukrainian military entered the city." Right.

One of the top #Russian Universities, HSE, closed their graduate program 'Human rights and democratic governance.' Guess it won't be relevant for a little while.

One of the editors of the main state #propaganda channels (Channel One), Natalia Peshkova, quit her job. #Russia urgently needs more Natalias.

The United Russia proposed a legislation that would give the Prosecutor General the power to revoke licenses from the Russian media if they reprint the information about the #RussianArmy from foreign media. (Current legislation exempts media from responsibility for reprints).

In an interview to Vesti 24 foreign minister #Lavrov said that "The goal of the 'special operation' is to end the #US dominance in the world." Until February 24, no #Russian official provided this explanation publicly. Continuous reframing of madness is madness.

768 is the number cases of military #censorship the Russian courts have received in past 40 days #RussiaUkraine

Most #RussianArmy dead servicemen fighting in #Ukraine were young and poor. The highest losses are in two republics: Dagestan and Buryatia, where the median salary barely exceeds 20,000 rubles ($267). zona.media/article/2022/0…

Since the offset of #WARINUKRAINE, Russian government have significantly increased spending on state media. According to the stats of the Ministry of Finance, in comparison with the same period last year - three times up, to 17.4 billion rbls. 11.9 billion - was spent in March.