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A judge in St. Petersburg has jailed Alexander Arsenyev on misdemeanor charges of “politically motivated” vandalism and felony charges of “discrediting” the Russian army. Though the court has not revealed what Arsenyev allegedly spraypainted on a public fence, reporting by Fontanka , Bumaga, and Mediazona indicates that it was the pacifist phrase: “I don’t want to get used to war.” Police reportedly arrested Alexander Arsenyev, 38, at his home in Moscow, where officers say they found spray paint cans and a gray acrylic marker in a plastic bag.…

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Russian State Duma speaker threatens to confiscate British property in retaliation for frozen asset revenue transfers to Ukraine

7 hours ago

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State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin warned on Friday that the Russian authorities “have every reason to respond in kind and confiscate British property,” following Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal’s announcement earlier in the day that Kyiv has received roughly $971 million from the U.K., funded by revenues from frozen Russian assets. “The transfer of funds belonging to Russia by England to Ukraine is a blatant violation of international law. They will have to return to Russia what they are now so generously distributing,” Volodin stated, arguing that the transfers “will permanently undermine trust in the British financial system.”…

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Film review: Vera Krichevskaya’s ‘Connected’. Anton Dolin on the ‘unmistakable hope’ of a new documentary on businessman, scientist, and philanthropist Dmitry Zimin

7 hours ago

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The 2025 Artdocfest documentary film festival concludes in Riga this weekend. The pictures in the main competition program include Vera Krichevskaya’s “ Connected ,” which tells the story of entrepreneur Dmitry Zimin, the founder of VimpelCom (which operated the Beeline brand) and the Dynasty Foundation (which supported science and education efforts until its “foreign agent” designation in 2015). Krichevskaya filmed “Connected” shortly before Zimin’s death in December 2021, “capturing the closing scenes of a life and a time of peace.” Anton Dolin reviews this last look at one of Russia’s great philanthropists. Krichevskaya’s film, which describes the life of businessman, scientist, and philanthropist Dmitry Zimin, uses familiar techniques to achieve something that’s neither a biopic nor a “ceremonial portrait.” There’s the typical series of interviews with the main character and his associates, the archival footage, old photographs, and narration with biographical details, but the film’s unconventional nature (whether planned from the start or crafted in the editing process) is evident even in the title, which doesn’t name Zimin. In Russian, it’s called Blizkie (which means “Close Ones”), while in English (the film is officially a U.K. production), it’s titled Connected . “Close ones” in this case refers to business partners and friends, namely Zimin, who transformed during Perestroika from an engineer and researcher into an extraordinarily successful entrepreneur, and his American partner at VimpelCom, Augie Fabela. Their partnership symbolized the Iron Curtain’s collapse and the beginning of a new era in U.S.-Russia relations — an era that, unfortunately, ended much sooner than the film’s protagonists had hoped. Fabela remained a close friend even after Zimin left the business world and devoted himself entirely to philanthropy, supporting science and the arts. In Krichevskaya’s film, Augie becomes the narrator — a simple but clever choice that broadens the story’s potential audience, offering an outsider perspective on Zimin’s remarkable career for those who don’t know him. Fabela, a man from a different world and yet still “close,” was among those with whom Mr. Zimin (“Dim’” to his friends) shared the final weeks of his life. Connected also explores others in Zimin’s life, focusing first and foremost on his family — his wife, Maya, and his son Boris, who continues his legacy. There’s also the filmmaking team, which was granted access to document Zimin’s last days. Alongside Krichevskaya are cinematographer Heiko Gilberto and sound designer Daniel Goldan, who also served as the second cameraman. The scene unfolds on a yacht, where Zimin gathered friends for a farewell voyage. We know from the start of the film that he is preparing for an assisted death. You might even say the title includes all of us — everyone for whom the film is meant. We are “connected” through the thoughts, words, and ideals of a man who modeled his business strategy on bringing people together. This message is especially vital in today’s dreary times of atomization and division. The details of Zimin’s biography come into focus only by the film’s end. The 88-year-old complains about his memory, which seems to cause him more pain than the cancer eating him away. As if mimicking the selective nature of memory itself, Krichevskaya first focuses on Fabela, the energetic and accomplished son of American emigrants, and their shared journey through Russia’s new business landscape before exploring Zimin’s past. We learn about his ancestors, from the Pale of Settlement to his father, who was branded an “enemy of the people.” We get his childhood and education, his academic interests, and his transformation into a researcher. There’s Zimin’s gutsy move to “reset” his life, and then his gradual disillusionment with the hopes of the 1990s and disappointment in the 21st century. On screen, we see Gorbachev and Reagan, Yeltsin and Clinton, Nemtsov, and then Putin-Putin-Putin. “He seems like a decent guy, but isn’t he a Chekist?” Zimin muses in one archival recording. Told alternately by Augie and Dim’ himself, the story of how the “American dream meets Russian fate” unfolds in under two hours into a family chronicle — a snapshot or cast of the entire 20th century. Albeit in broad strokes, the film finds time for the century’s most defining events: revolution and war, repressions, the Thaw, tanks in Prague, dissidents, and Perestroika. It’s an unexpectedly inspiring spectacle about the significance of a single life amid the devastating purges of Grand History. Zimin’s strategy was not mere survival but defending his dignity with every step and every word. The main twist is revealed in the opening credits: This is not a film about life but about death. Zimin’s magnificent voyage, surrounded by friends and like-minded people, is a final farewell before heading to a Swiss clinic to end his life on his own terms. “Live long? How much longer? For what? Why?” Zimin asks with a good-natured bewilderment. He requests to be buried in ski boots, with an epitaph that reads: “The person you are calling is currently outside the coverage area.” A self-described native of Moscow’s storied Arbat alleys who liked to quote the poet Sergey Yesenin, Zimin could not bear the humiliation of seeing his Dynasty Foundation declared a “foreign agent.” In the film, he predicts a major war, which ultimately unfolds in Ukraine two months after his death. The overused cliché “the end of an era” becomes literal with Zimin — an entirely accurate description of his passing. The film opens with an epigraph — a passage from a letter written by Alexey Navalny from prison, where he calls Dmitry Zimin a role model. Both these men are gone today, yet seeing their names together on screen evokes an illogical, irrational, yet unmistakable sense of hope. Review by Anton Dolin Translated by Kevin Rothrock…

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Putin willing to discuss temporary truce in Ukraine — Bloomberg

14 hours ago

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Russia is ready to discuss a temporary truce in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing sources familiar with the situation in Moscow. According to the sources, the Kremlin wants to have a clear understanding of the key principles of a final peace agreement before halting hostilities. Moscow will insist on defining the parameters of a potential peacekeeping mission in advance, including a list of countries that could potentially send peacekeepers to Ukraine, one source told Bloomberg. U.S. and Ukrainian delegations are set to meet in Saudi Arabia next week to discuss a potential ceasefire deal between Kyiv and Moscow. Earlier on Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened “large scale” sanctions against Russia if Moscow doesn’t agree to take part in ceasefire negotiations.…

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Back in Russian hands. Photos from a Kursk region village that spent more than six months under Ukrainian control

15 hours ago

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On February 28, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that its troops had retaken the villages of Orlovka and Pogrebki in the Kursk region. These settlements, located in the Sudzha district, had been under Ukrainian forces’ control since their initial incursion into the region in August 2024. Russian authorities have accused Ukrainian troops of committing crimes against civilians in Pogrebki. Meduza shares photos published by Russian state media that were reportedly taken in Pogrebki on March 2 — just days after the village returned to Russian control. Meduza has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from the very start, and we are committed to reporting objectively on a war we firmly oppose. Join Meduza in its mission to challenge the Kremlin’s censorship with the truth. Donate today .…

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Trump threatens Russia with ‘large scale’ sanctions in response to latest attacks on Ukraine

16 hours ago

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U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Russia with “large-scale” sanctions if Moscow refuses to halt military operations in Ukraine and engage in talks with Kyiv. Trump wrote the following on his social network, Truth Social: Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely “pounding” Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED. To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late. Thank you!!! Immediately after Trump’s post, the Moscow Exchange index dropped by almost 1.5 percent. A day earlier, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington was willing to go “all in” on sanctions against Moscow if necessary, warning that they would “be used explicitly and aggressively for immediate maximum impact.”…

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Bulgarian museum visitors drive Russian ambassador out of exhibit with shouts of ‘Murderer!’

17 hours ago

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Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria Eleonora Mitrofanova was forced to leave an exhibition at the country’s National Gallery in Sofia when other attendees began shouting phrases including “Murderer!” and “This is not Moscow — this is Europe!” at her. A video of the incident, which occurred on March 6 at an exhibition by the New York-based feminist art group Guerrilla Girls, was published by RFE/RL’s Bulgarian service, Svobodna Evropa. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Свободна Европа (@svobodnaevropa) (function () { function processInstagramEmbeds() { if (!window.instgrm) { setTimeout(processInstagramEmbeds, 300); } else { instgrm.Embeds.process(); } } function loadInstagramScriptIfNeeded() { if (window.MdzInstagramLoaded) { processInstagramEmbeds(); } else { window.MdzInstagramLoaded = true; var script = document.createElement('script'); script.src = 'https://www.instagram.com/embed.js'; script.onload = function () { processInstagramEmbeds(); }; document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(script); } } loadInstagramScriptIfNeeded(); })();…

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Russian disinformation network flooded training data to manipulate Western AI chatbots, study finds

17 hours ago

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A Russian disinformation network called Pravda (“Truth”) has influenced leading AI chatbots’ output by publishing numerous articles that made their way into the bots’ training data, a new report from the analysis group NewsGuard reveals. According to researchers, this wasn’t just a side effect of Moscow flooding the web with false narratives — it was the initiative’s main goal. Here’s how the scheme worked. A “well-funded” online Russian disinformation network called Pravda put out 3.6 million articles last year, many of which were processed by popular chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4o, Claude (Anthropic), Meta AI, Gemini (Google), and Copilot (Microsoft), according to a new report from the watchdog group NewsGuard. These chatbots reportedly reproduced narratives spread by Pravda in 33 percent of their responses. The researchers’ findings align with a February report from the American nonprofit organization American Sunlight Project (ASP), which found that manipulating AI technologies, rather than reaching human users, was likely the Russian network’s primary goal. This method of influencing large language models (LLMs) has been termed “LLM grooming.” According to NewsGuard, Pravda “is pursuing an ambitious strategy by deliberately infiltrating the retrieved data of artificial intelligence chatbots, publishing false claims and propaganda for the purpose of affecting the responses of AI models on topics in the news rather than by targeting human readers.” The bitter truth is that events in Russia affect your life, too. Help Meduza continue to bring news from Russia to readers around the world by setting up a monthly donation . Pravda does not produce original content but amplifies material from pro-Kremlin sources, including Russian state media, through a network of various websites. The NewsGuard study identified 150 sites in this network, around 40 of which publish content targeting Ukraine, 70 focus on Europe, and 30 target audiences in Africa, the Pacific region, the Middle East, North America, the Caucasus, and Asia. The rest are divided by topic. The sites in the Pravda network publish content in a range of languages. Many of their domain names include names of cities and regions in Ukraine, such as News-Kiev.ru, Kherson-News.ru, and Donetsk-News.ru. Over the three years of Russia’s invasion, Pravda has spread at least 207 disinformation narratives, including claims about “secret U.S. biolabs in Ukraine” and accusations of “Zelensky’s misuse of U.S. military aid,” according to NewsGuard. ASP experts have warned of serious long-term risks associated with attempts to manipulate artificial intelligence. The more false narratives circulate in online media, the greater the likelihood that language models will begin to treat them as credible and incorporate them into their responses. Axios noted that NewsGuard’s study comes just as Washington has reportedly halted the U.S. Cyber Command’s activities against Russia. How Moscow uses influencers in occupied Ukraine ‘Thanks, Uncle Vova’ Moscow invests in pro-Russian influencers to spread propaganda in occupied Ukraine…

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Dispatch from Perloja. How the shattering of empires after WWI turned one tiny Lithuanian village into a ‘republic’

17 hours ago

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Story by Will Mawhood for The Beet . Edited by Eilish Hart . This story first appeared in The Beet , a monthly email dispatch from Meduza covering Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Sign up here to get the next issue delivered directly to your inbox. Among the quirkier sights in Lithuania’s capital is the tiny self-declared Republic of Užupis, located in a historically bohemian, though now increasingly gentrified, neighborhood caught in a meander in the River Vilnelė. Established in 1997 by a group of artists , the republic marks its independence on April Fools’ Day and boasts an absurdist 41-clause constitution posted on a public wall. Translated into many languages, it reminds citizens that “everyone has the right to appreciate their unimportance” and “a cat is not obliged to love its owner, but must help in times of need.” The surrounding region has a reputation for small, eccentric “republics” seemingly held together by nothing more than the force of an appealing idea. Not far from Vilnius are the ruins of the 18th-century Republic of Paulava . Created by an idealistic Polish nobleman on his estate, this republic gained state recognition and lasted for 26 years (motivated by utopian principles, the nobleman set up a peasants’ parliament for his serfs, who duly elected him president for life). The Republic of Užupis in Vilnius The constitution of the Republic of Užupis And just off the main highway running southwest from the capital, where the roadside patches of forest start to turn deeper and darker, you’ll find another erstwhile republic: the small settlement of Perloja. A carved wooden sculpture in the UNESCO-recognized Lithuanian traditional style marks the entrance to the village, which is home to a little under 500 souls today. Notched into the sculpture’s spindly but sturdy frame are scalloped shapes resembling ears of corn, an open book, and a miniature gable roof. A short walk away is the central square, lined with timber-framed and brick houses, most in gentle shades of yellow. Here, a redbrick Neo-Gothic church faces a sword-brandishing statue of the medieval ruler Vytautas the Great , under whose reign the Grand Duchy of Lithuania came to reach as far as the Black Sea. The text below declares: “You will live as long as at least one Lithuanian is alive.” Sleepy Perloja certainly doesn’t look like a capital, and with its deep-Lithuania signifiers, it doesn’t seem like it ever could have aspired to a separate status, even by happenstance. But the story of the so-called Republic of Perloja is perhaps even more peculiar (and certainly more action-packed) than its equivalents in and around Vilnius. The wooden sculpture at the entrance to Perloja The Perloja Church of Holy Mary and Francis of Assisi Perloja’s statue of medieval ruler Vytautas the Great ‘Let them guard the gates’ Perloja lies somewhere in the center of the loosely defined ethnographic region of Dzūkija: a thickly forested and deeply impoverished stretch of land with few natural borders, where speakers of Lithuanian, Polish, and Belarusian had lived alongside one another for centuries. Though never a large settlement, Perloja found itself in a significant location, on a road that could lead travellers from Vilnius to Prussia, the now-Belarusian city of Hrodno, or even to Kraków, the then-capital of Poland, which formed a union with Lithuania in 1385. The village has a history of proud intransigence. According to 15th-century records, the people of Perloja made a direct appeal to Alexander Jagiellon , Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, against the local administrator’s high-handed treatment and expectation of hitherto undemanded services — namely, transporting wood and grain to the nearby town of Trakai, and demanding food — and invoking historic privileges. The monarch upheld their complaint, ruling, “Let them serve us in road service, let them guard the gates, and let them give tribute according to the old customs, as they used to serve and give tribute before.” The Republic of Perloja — or, perhaps more accurately, the self-governing territory of Perloja — was declared on November 13, 1918, two days after the armistice that ended World War I. Asserting the need to protect themselves, leaders from the village and surrounding hamlets elected a five-member autonomous parish committee and chose local lad Jonas Česnulevičius as their leader, a 21-year-old veteran of the Russian military who served on the Galician and Romanian fronts during the war. But who were they seeking protection from, exactly? As the months that followed would show, more or less everyone. The Republic of Perloja’s coat of arms on display at the Perloja History Museum A Perlojan’s passport on display at the Perloja History Museum Timber floating on the River Merkys In the aftermath of the armistice on the Western front, the immediate danger came primarily from German troops streaming westward from Vilnius and other cities in the region they had occupied since 1915. With the loose discipline of the defeated, some behaved like marauding bands, terrorizing the rural population and stealing animals as they went. On a trip to Vilnius earlier that month, Česnulevičius had spotted heavily armed members of the Samoobrona — paramilitary “self-defense” formations loyal to the Polish state only just resurrected in Warsaw — and observed increasing communist agitation. The collapse of the central government in a part of the world with overlapping national aspirations and growing ideological ferment was sure to lead to very complicated conflicts. In many places, it simply led to chaos. Governing the parish Despite Česnulevičius’s military experience, a man named Juozas Lukoševičius was appointed head of both Perloja’s army and police force. A local, Jokūbas Vasieta , had buried a cache of weapons and ammunition during the war years — and duly equipped, the Perlojan armed forces came to consist of around 80 men, some only teenagers. At this point, Perloja’s military strength outnumbered the country it seemed to identify with. At the tail end of 1918, Lithuania had no army of its own, and its very existence as a state was amorphous and questionable. A body of local notables known as the Taryba (Council) had declared independence in Vilnius that February, but strict wartime censorship meant that few people were even aware of this. Moreover, it was unclear what territory, if any, this revived Lithuanian state realistically controlled and what it laid claim to: Though medieval Lithuania had been vast, the area predominantly populated by native Lithuanian speakers was much smaller. Perlojan soldiers, 1920 The leader of the first national government, Prime Minister Augustinas Voldemaras , initially held that as Lithuania would be a neutral state, it had no need for military capabilities — although he did call for the formation of militias in the countryside. Meanwhile, Perloja got on with the business of governing the parish, with locals taking up not only military posts but also other official positions, indicating aspirations to something like a civilian administration. Česnulevičius became head of the local courts, which began to hear cases, including a murder that was never solved and an adultery case that reportedly saw a defendant threatened with a pistol brandished from the bench. The local hospital’s basement served as a prison for wrongdoers. The tiny Perloja cabinet also boasted a sanitation minister, a title that had never existed in any Lithuanian government. Its bearer, Zigmas Krivas , was tasked with ensuring general cleanliness. The Perlojan government also paid special attention to securing the surrounding woodland’s safety (and productivity), with two officials assigned to forestry. ‘The Perlojan people never trusted strangers’ Fifty-odd miles away, multiple countries and aspiring state formations were laying claim to Vilnius; by one calculation, the city changed hands seven times in the years immediately after World War I. Perloja generally experienced these shifts in power with a short delay, as the new order filtered out slowly to the forests of Dzūkija. In December 1918, local communist Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas declared Lithuania a Soviet Socialist Republic. The Red Army entered the city early the next month, granting the revolutionary government muscle and authority. A backwoods town in a country with a tiny industrial working class could hardly have seemed a hotbed of Marxist revolution. And yet, when they arrived in Perloja, the Bolshevik revolutionaries faced little resistance (apparently due to the fact that they were fighting the Perlojans’ stated enemies, the Poles and Germans). READ MORE FROM THE BEET Disappearing coast As the Baltic Sea erodes Latvia’s shoreline, locals grapple with what’s lost to the advancing tide The Reds, in turn, did remarkably little to interfere with Perloja’s de facto autonomy, demanding only that the parish administration change its name to revkom (short for “revolutionary committee”). Perlojan officials complied, though the army hid their weapons. Of all the multiple factions feuding for control of the region, the Perlojans seem to have been partisan towards independent Lithuania. According to Marija Lūžytė , the director of the Perloja History Museum, this was because the area was Lithuanian-speaking and “there were no noblemen” (Polish language and identity in Lithuania was disproportionately associated with the landed classes); memories of the ancient privileges granted by the Grand Duke may have played a role, too. Nonetheless, Vladas Aravičius , a Lithuanian rifleman from elsewhere who worked with the Perlojan defence forces in the early 1920s, observed in his memoirs that “the Perlojan people never trusted strangers, even if they were Lithuanians.” This spiky suspiciousness may have proved their undoing. Jonas Česnulevičius By April 1919, the Bolsheviks had withdrawn from the district, and the freshly constituted Lithuanian army was marching along the nearby highway when they came under fire from Perloja, which received no notice of the troop movements. Taken by surprise, the army retreated to the town of Varėna a few miles away, then returned and shelled Perloja. Česnulevičius and Lukoševičius were captured and taken to the temporary capital of Kaunas, 50 miles to the north, where they were interrogated and released a month later. These events marked the end of Perloja as a fully autonomous entity. ‘A separate state at every railway station’ The shattering of empires across Europe in 1918 produced some shards that were very small indeed. Some were even slightly comical: in western Germany, the so-called Free State of Bottleneck ( Freistaat Flaschenhals ) emerged due to the literal spheres of French and American occupation failing to meet up completely. (Bottleneck based its economy largely on smuggling, at one point hijacking a French coal train to provide heating for its isolated population.) But micro-states and quasi-states were overwhelmingly a phenomenon of the continent’s eastern half. “As many municipalities as there were, that’s how many republics there were in Poland; indeed, a separate state at every railway station,” remembered the country’s second prime minister, Jędrzej Moraczewski . Within this context of uncertain governance and widespread chaos, what was so remarkable about Perloja? “The case of paramilitary self-rule in Perloja is exceptional for its longevity. From November 1918 to May 1919, the armed Perloja band (made up of local Lithuanian Catholics) was totally independent and autonomous,” explains Tomas Balkelis , a researcher at the Lithuanian Institute of History in Vilnius, who has written about the variety of quasi-states that popped up across Lithuania after World War I. As for Perloja’s legacy today, it continues to be a source of intrigue among Lithuanians. It’s been the subject of many newspaper articles, one novel (written by a Lithuanian living in exile in the U.S. after World War II), and an hour-long documentary by the state broadcaster LRT. In a cheeky touch, one 2009 article pointedly mentions that Perloja declared its independence several days before neighboring Latvia. Perlojan riflemen pose at the grave of Vinco Kaminsko, who died during the attack on the Polish side of the village The Perloja cemetery Perloja comes up frequently in compendiums of weird and wonderful worldwide statelets, too, although the relative lack of information about the village in languages other than Lithuanian has bred mistakes and myths. For instance, many English-language sources wrongly claim that it had its own currency, the Perloja litas . According to Lūžytė, it’s not even entirely clear that Perlojans ever used the word “republic” to describe their de facto government: initially, it was merely thought of as a parish committee. The museum director says that outsiders were the first to apply this term. In the interwar period, nationally minded journalists saw Perloja’s defiant stance against Lithuania’s enemies as fodder for a patriotic narrative, although they usually glossed over the village’s clash with the Lithuanian army. ‘For Perloja and all Lithuania’ Shortly after Perloja’s effective absorption into Lithuania in 1919, the entire village came under Polish control. Though the two militaries had collaborated to drive the Soviets from Lithuania, they soon clashed over overlapping territorial claims (Česnulevičius would be arrested again, this time by the new authorities, after Perlojans looted a Polish weapons store). Even after the uneasy peace reached in 1920, the de facto border followed the shallow River Merkys that flows off-center through Perloja, leaving a few houses and outlying farms in Poland. Locals referred to the slice of the village across the border as anošalis , meaning “the other land.” A border checkpoint on the bridge over the River Merkys The River Merkys A bridge over the River Merkys So bitter was the interwar dispute between Lithuania and Poland (primarily over Vilnius) that there was no postal service across the border, and railway tracks were torn up. But in Perloja, locals were allowed to cross the river, usually to attend mass at the church on the Lithuanian side — and some took the opportunity to smuggle in their underclothes information about Polish troop movements. If their attack on Lithuanian troops cast doubt over their patriotism, Perlojans made up for it in the following years. In 1920, the Perloja self-defense forces were converted into a unit of the šauliai (riflemen), a state-sponsored paramilitary force akin to a home guard. Nevertheless, they still seemed to march to the beat of their own drum: After several Perlojans returned from a successful covert mission in 1923 to extend Lithuanian sovereignty over the League of Nations-administered port city of Klaipėda, they mounted a unilateral attack on the Polish side of Perloja that left two villagers dead. Despite the troubles of the decades that followed, Perloja managed to maintain a strong Lithuanian identity. Beginning at the outset of World War II, the Soviet occupation of the Baltic countries saw symbols of their previous independence banned throughout the region. Perloja’s statue of Vytautas, however, was the only one of its kind to survive the occupation, despite attempts to destroy it. The colorful frescos in the local church, painted during the war and prominently featuring Lithuanian flags and national symbols, somehow evaded removal, too. As did the village’s unofficial but enduring motto, Už Perloją ir visą Lietuvą —“For Perloja and all Lithuania.” A fresco in the Perloja Church that reads, “For Perloja and all Lithuania” The Perlojans’ pugnacious reputation seems to have stood the test of time, as well. Balkelis, the historian, grew up in nearby Varėna and says he remembers hearing residents of Perloja referred to as “people who carry knives in their pockets.” It’s not hard to understand why Česnulevičius’s daughter, Petronėlė Česnulevičiūtė , penned a non-fiction work in the 1990s titled, Fighting Perloja . Hello, I’m Eilish Hart, the editor of The Beet. Thanks for taking the time to read our work! Our newsletter delivers underreported stories like this one to subscribers once a month. Like all of Meduza’s reporting, it’s free to read but relies on support from readers like you. Please consider donating to our crowdfunding campaign . Story by Will Mawhood for The Beet Edited by Eilish Hart…

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‘We won’t apologize for a mistake that didn’t happen’: Zelensky advisor Podolyak on Oval Office incident

18 hours ago

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The Ukrainian authorities “will not apologize” for the contentious exchange between Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office last week, senior Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in an interview with Le Point that published on Friday. In Podolyak’s view, Zelensky was “absolutely right, both in terms of form and substance,” in trying to convey to Ukraine’s American partners the “key message” that “without pressuring Russia, nothing will work.” “It’s impossible to achieve positive results by counting on voluntary concessions from Moscow. Without pressuring Russia, no peace talks are possible,” Podolyak said. “Our president tirelessly explains to our partners what this war is and who provoked it… So we won’t apologize for a mistake that didn’t happen.” Podolyak denied that the incident was a “humiliation” for Zelensky, saying instead that it was an “emotional discussion between political leaders.” “As paradoxical as it may sound, this meeting was useful in some ways. By emphasizing our differences, we can clarify our views. Unlike us, the U.S. still believes that Russia is a country with which negotiations are possible,” Podolyak added. Read more about Trump and Zelensky Behind the president’s back Trump team reportedly holding talks with Zelensky’s political rivals to discuss possible early elections in Ukraine Trump wants to tie Ukraine minerals deal to demand for quick ceasefire — Bloomberg Trump administration held backchannel talks with Zelensky’s team in effort to resume negotiations after Oval Office meeting — CNN ‘You’re gambling with World War III!’ Trump and Vance ambush Zelensky in shouting Oval Office meeting…

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Russia’s ruling party gifts actual meat grinders to mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine

19 hours ago

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March 8 is International Women’s Day, and in the Far Northern town of Polyarnye Zori, members of Russia’s ruling party marked the holiday by gifting local mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine an unusual present: actual meat grinders. The move sparked a predictable backlash, but the party members defended it, claiming the women had specifically requested the appliances and accusing critics of spreading “provocative interpretations.” Here’s how the scandal unfolded. In the town of Polyarnye Zori in Russia’s Murmansk region, members of the country’s ruling United Russia party marked International Women’s Day by giving flowers and meat grinders to the mothers of soldiers killed in the war against Ukraine. According to the local party branch’s social media account, the gifts were part of a campaign called “Flowers for the Mothers of Heroes.” The gifts were presented by Anna Makhunova, the local party branch secretary, and the town’s mayor, Maksim Chengayev. Activist Violetta Grudina noted that after social media users criticized the gifts as inappropriate, the party disabled comments on the post. Shortly afterward, United Russia’s Murmansk regional branch published a video of one of the mothers thanking the party for the meat grinder, saying she “actually needed one.” Chengayev said that the campaign included a variety of household appliances. “The meat grinder wasn’t part of the standard set, but the woman requested it, and of course, we couldn’t refuse. We provide full support and individual assistance to the families of participants in the special military operation with great respect and understanding,” he said. The party claimed its gesture was being misrepresented and urged the public “not to support inhumane and provocative interpretations.” In 2023, Miroslava Reginskaya, the wife of former Russian intelligence officer and internationally convicted war criminal Igor Strelkov, posted a video that appeared to show 21 military widows from the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” receiving fur coats from Moscow. After the video shoot, however, at least three of the women reportedly had to return the coats and were told they had received them by mistake.…

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Russia carries out massive missile and drone attack on energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine

22 hours ago

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Russian forces launched a massive missile and drone attack on Ukraine’s energy and gas infrastructure on Friday morning, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko reported. “Russia continues its energy terror,” Halushchenko wrote on Facebook. “Where possible, emergency services and energy workers are working to mitigate the consequences — all necessary measures are being taken to stabilize electricity and gas supplies,” the minister added, urging citizens to remain in shelters and follow official updates. Air raid alerts were declared in all of Ukraine’s regions. The Ukrainian Air Force Command reported the launch of Kalibr cruise missiles from the Black Sea and the deployment of Tu-95 strategic bombers from the Olenya air base on the Kola Peninsula. At the time of this writing, a civilian infrastructure facility in Kharkiv had been hit, with five people injured , according to city and regional authorities. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported that a residential building near the infrastructure site was damaged, and all residents were evacuated. Authorities in the Ternopil region reported a strike on a “critical industrial facility” and warned of potential disruptions to gas supplies. No casualties were reported, according to the regional military administration, as cited by RBC-Ukraine. In the Poltava region’s Myrhorod district, a gas pipeline and two private homes were damaged, injuring one child and one adult. Regional authorities said they were still determining the number of households left without gas supply. In the Odesa region’s Podilsk district, debris from a downed cruise missile ignited a fire in a private residential house, and four other houses were damaged, regional administration head Oleh Kiper reported . He added that the fire had been extinguished.…

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Trump wants to tie Ukraine minerals deal to demand for quick ceasefire — Bloomberg

23 hours ago

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U.S. President Donald Trump wants to link his proposed minerals deal with Kyiv to a demand that Ukraine commit to swiftly reaching a ceasefire with Russia, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the situation. Washington has indicated that Trump is prepared to finalize the minerals agreement on the condition that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky agrees to “a tangible path for a truce and talks with Moscow,” Bloomberg wrote. Some of the outlet’s sources said the deal could progress next week, when U.S. and Ukrainian delegations plan to meet for talks in Saudi Arabia. However, others noted that the U.S. position could shift, as Trump is known for frequently changing his mind. Trump’s Ukraine policy Behind the president’s back Trump team reportedly holding talks with Zelensky’s political rivals to discuss possible early elections in Ukraine Trump administration held backchannel talks with Zelensky’s team in effort to resume negotiations after Oval Office meeting — CNN Minerals agreement with Ukraine still not finalized because Trump is seeking ‘bigger, better deal’ — CBS News In speech to Congress, Trump says he’s received ‘strong signals’ that Russia is ready for peace…

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‘Thanks, Uncle Vova’. Moscow invests in pro-Russian influencers to spread propaganda in occupied Ukraine

1 day ago

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The Russian government has been investing in a powerful propaganda tool in Ukraine’s occupied territories: video bloggers. These pro-Russian influencers film upbeat reviews of cafes in the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic,” praise “Uncle Vova” (Vladimir Putin) for “saving the locals,” and produce travel TV shows in war-torn Mariupol. They portray life under Russian rule as steadily improving — and they’re training young content creators to spread the message even further. The independent outlet DOXA recently explored what these vloggers are producing and which Russia-backed organizations are helping them grow. Meduza shares an abridged translation of the report. Normalizing occupation A man in a dark gray hoodie and sweatpants sits on a bench painted in the colors of the Russian flag. Off-camera, a voice asks, “What would you do if Vladimir Putin were standing in front of you right now instead of me?” The man replies, “I’d kiss his hands. For all the years we lived in Ukraine, we were always just… existing. There was no pride. But today, when you watch his [Putin’s] speech, your hands start shaking and tears come to your eyes.” The man featured in this TikTok clip is 28-year-old Maksim Stadnik from Melitopol. He runs a Telegram channel with over 27,000 subscribers, and his TikTok account has more than 100,000 followers. On social media, Stadnik posts about politics, calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “a tiny drug Führer,” shares content from Russian pro-war channels, and claims that occupied Melitopol is thriving under Russian control. In one video, Stadnik praises the reconstruction of buildings at Melitopol University. “Strength and power! Everything is being repaired, guys — everything! It’s beautiful,” he says. In another, he showcases a renovated medical center and a newly paved sidewalk in front of it, calling it an example of “rich Russian life,” and emphasizes the social benefits that local residents enjoy. Meduza has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from the very start, and we are committed to reporting objectively on a war we firmly oppose. Join Meduza in its mission to challenge the Kremlin’s censorship with the truth. Donate today . Stadnik says the greatest benefit of living under Russian rule isn’t any material possession — it’s “freedom; a normal, measured life; the children’s future.” He also dismisses reports of repression against locals as fake. Stadnik isn’t the only blogger promoting the idea that life in the occupied territories is improving. Kirill Sazonov, known online as “Kirill Sirius,” is a popular blogger from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR). He describes Putin as “just a straightforward guy,” shares videos showcasing locals’ supposed satisfaction with Donetsk’s reconstruction efforts, and reviews newly opened shops and cafes. He also uses his platform to advertise apartments for rent in Donetsk, which is fitting, given his day job as a realtor. Even while promoting local real estate, Sazonov can’t fully ignore the realities of living under occupation. In one video, he shows an apartment fitted with water storage — a necessity since water is supplied only every other day. Nevertheless, this doesn’t prevent him from urging Russians to invest in Donbas properties. Although Sazonov’s content primarily focuses on real estate and lifestyle reviews, his social media also features interviews with other pro-Russian bloggers. One of these bloggers, Yevgeny Vasilyev from the DNR, has had his accounts blocked several times, yet he still has hundreds of thousands of followers. Unlike Stadnik and Sazonov, Vasilyev focuses more on his personal life and charity work. He also sells personalized video greetings (charging 3,000 rubles a pop — about $30), though he offers them for free to Russian soldiers. A former separatist fighter, Vasilyev insists that “the war was started by the Ukrainian side” and credits Putin with “saving the local residents.” “Uncle Vova — thanks to him for not staying on the sidelines,” he adds. Vasilyev supports Russian troops in more active ways, as well. Once, when another blogger donated 4.5 million rubles ($50,000) for his dental treatment, Vasilyev chose instead to use the money to purchase vehicles for the Russian army. The destruction that Russian occupation brings Avdiivka, one year later Looking back on the battle that left a longtime Ukrainian stronghold in ruins and under Russian occupation Follow the money The Russian authorities are actively rolling out initiatives in the so-called “new regions” through their “autonomous nonprofit organization” (ANO) named “Russia Is a Country of Opportunities.” The ANO oversees at least two projects focused on developing blogging activities. The first, the “New Media Workshop,” is intended for “media specialists, journalists, bloggers, content creators, and social media professionals who want to launch impactful projects in new media.” Workshop alumna Kristel Nean says she created the website Donbas Insider to “bring the voice of Donbas to a French-speaking audience.” The site publishes articles with headlines like “ FBK, Navalny’s Corrupt Anti-Corruption Foundation ” and “ Just as There Are No Nazis in Ukraine, There Are No Pedophiles in the West. ” Vladimir Putin has expressed support for the project. The second blogging-focused project funded by “Russia Is a Country of Opportunities” is called “TOPBlog.” This initiative targets residents seeking to “unleash their potential in the media industry and master modern tools for self-realization.” It features a competition for aspiring bloggers and offers free online courses on content creation. One of the winners of the 2023 TOPBlog competition was Darya Verba, a 16-year-old from the DNR who was recognized for having the “best blog about the new regions.” Verba has said she started her blog “to showcase Russia’s cities, promote activism, and highlight the many opportunities available to young people for self-realization.” In practice, her content serves as a PR platform for Moscow-sponsored youth initiatives — from a summer camp in annexed Crimea to the World Festival of Youth in Sochi. At the local level Blogging support projects exist not only at the Russian federal level but also locally. In August 2024, the Donbas Media Center (DMC) opened in Luhansk, providing a platform for young people, 16–25, who “want to get involved in blogging.” Similar centers subsequently opened in Mariupol, Donetsk, and Melitopol . According to the DMC, more than 200 individuals have already completed its training. The DMC is a project of Donbas Media, a network of regional social media pages with tens of thousands of followers and a large Telegram channel . These platforms publish both pro-Russian political posts and entertainment content . The instructors at the media center include Donbas Media staff and pro-Russian bloggers. Among the latter are the aforementioned Kirill Sazonov , as well as Yevgeny Lebedev and Pavel Karbovsky , both of whom have been featured on Myrotvorets , a controversial and unofficial Ukrainian online database of individuals accused of colluding with Russia or participating in pro-Russian separatist movements. Russia’s ‘reconstruction’ of occupied Russia’s eastern Ukraine reconstruction work relies on sketchy job recruitment and exploitative labor practices In addition to claiming on social media that “Russia is the best country” because “Putin protects the whole world in the Kremlin,” Karbovsky has also helped create a knockoff version of the popular Ukrainian show Oryol i Reshka (“Heads or Tails”). While the original highlights travel destinations around the world, Karbovsky’s version focuses on occupied Ukraine. He and his fellow DMC instructor, Alina Bannikova, have filmed episodes, visiting Berdyansk , Mariupol , Yalta, the Belosaraisk Spit, and Urzuf and promoting the narrative that life in the “new regions” is improving. In the Mariupol episode, Bannikova says locals continue to be “joyful” and listen to music at the beach “despite everything.” Karbovsky encourages viewers “not to think of this as a completely destroyed place.” In a video about Berdyansk, the bloggers argue that “everything is being restored” and invite people to vacation there. “Girls, why go to Turkey and the Maldives? It’s better at home,” Bannikova says. On the Donbas Media Center’s social media, Karbovsky shares tips for aspiring content creators. He advises them to “hook” viewers in the first three seconds — for example, “by falling into water or getting hit by a car.” He suggests sparking controversy to encourage comments: “Say ]the iPhone is better than other brands, and Android users will attack. Call the Donbas “Russian,” and the armchair warriors from the neighboring country [Ukraine] will come for you.”…

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U.S. and Ukrainian delegations to meet for talks next week, Zelensky says

1 day ago