Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a bill that, with a few rare exceptions, bans sex change surgeries and gender reassignment-related hormone therapies. Mr. Putin signed the measure on July 24, with the law officially published in Russia’s federal law register later in the day. The act, which passed both of Russia’s houses…

The State Duma (the lower house of Russia’s parliament) on July 14 ratified the third and final reading of draft legislation banning medical procedures carried out for the purpose of gender reassignment. Once parliament’s upper house endorses the bill, it will be referred to President Vladimir Putin for final approval, after which it will become…

Russia will emerge from the turmoil caused by last week’s aborted mutiny “stronger,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. “Russia has always emerged stronger from difficulties,” Moscow’s top diplomat said at a June 30 online press briefing.  “This will be the case this time,” he added. “We already feel that this has begun.” On…

Commentary A suspect deal between Russian President Vladimir Putin and mercenary commander Yevgeny Prigozhin ended the short-lived but stunning Wagner Revolt. Revolt it was. The Wagner force took Rostov, a major city and the site of the Russian Army’s headquarters for the Ukraine War. A Wagner flying column with tanks and mechanized infantry rolled toward…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has broken his silence for the first time since the Wagner mutiny ended in an uncertain truce on Saturday, with the Russian leader pledging in a televised address that the leaders of the Wagner rebellion would be brought to justice. Putin’s remarks on Monday were his first since a fiery speech…

Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged in a televised address that the leaders of the Wagner rebellion would be brought to justice, in Putin’s first public comments since the mutiny by the mercenary group ended in an uncertain truce on June 24. Putin’s remarks on June 26 were his first since a fiery speech several days…

Former President Donald Trump revealed what he told Russian President Vladimir Putin in what he says was an attempt to delay Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by several years. During an interview on Monday night with Fox News, Trump said that he told Putin several years ago that a potential invasion would be a “catastrophe” and…

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Moscow will start deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus when the necessary special storage facilities in the former Soviet republic are completed early next month. The announcement comes several months after Putin first described plans to move tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus in March, pointing to U.S….

Commentary Vladimir Putin is desperate, which is good and bad. The bad—the really bad—is that cornered animals tend to lash out. In Putin’s case, that could include the use of tactical nuclear weapons or a “stray” artillery shell hitting Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Either act would escalate the war and might…

Recent Russian barrages near Kyiv included a successful strike on the headquarters of Ukraine’s military intelligence apparatus, Russian officials—including President Vladimir Putin—have said. “We have already mentioned the possibility of strikes targeting decision-making headquarters and centers,” Putin said on the evening of May 30. “The Ukrainian military intelligence headquarters, which was hit two or three…