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The BBC’s Russia editor has been able to live and work in Moscow and report on events since the invasion of Ukraine.

Steve Rosenberg, who has lived in Russia since 1991 and reported from there for the BBC for 27 years, told The Times why he believes he’s permitted to remain reporting from the country when other journalists have been expelled or their visas revoked.

Rosenberg speculated that the Kremlin sees allowing his, and the BBC’s, continued freedom is their way of indicating their indifference. He cited a recent interview with foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. “He came up with an incredible phrase, ‘Russia is what it is, and we’re not ashamed to show it.’”

The journalist said he was used to being followed and that had not changed since the invasion of Ukraine. Nevertheless, he acknowledged that “they can pull the plug any time.

“You’re always having to risk-assess the situation,...

Russian President Vladimir Putin is Belarus for talks with one of his few remaining allies, autocratic President Alexander Lukashenko, as his war effort in Ukraine falters badly. The visit comes as talk of coup have been been building in Moscow, according to multiple top Russian journalists.

According to new reports, some of the Russian leader’s most trusted aides may be the very ones conspiring to overthrow him. Sergei Lavrov, Putin’s foreign minister, is said to be despondent over the state of the war.

Putin in Belarus for "talks" with Lukashenko, along with Lavrov and Shoigu. This will be interesting.

— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) December 19, 2022

Numerous reports have claimed that Putin is suffering from ill health. Some observers believe the strongman has a form of cancer which has caused him to look bloated in recent months.

Evgeny Progozhin, an oligarch sometimes called “Putin’s Chef” and founder of a mercenary group,...

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President Joe Biden says WNBA star Brittney Griner is safe in American custody and on her way home after being released from Russia in an extraordinary prisoner swap.

Biden said in an address from the White House on Thursday that these “past few months have been hell for Brittney” but that she was in good spirits.

Griner was freed in an exchange in which the United States released convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Russia freed Griner in a dramatic high-level prisoner exchange, with the U.S. releasing notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, American and Russian officials said. The swap, at a time of heightened tensions over Ukraine, achieved a top goal for President Biden, but carried a heavy price — and left behind an American jailed for nearly four years in Russia.

The deal, the second such exchange in eight months with Russia,...

WNBA star Brittney Griner has been released from a Russian penal colony in a prisoner exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout, according to a senior administration official.

Griner is now in the custody of U.S. officials, President Joe Biden announced, and is on a plane heading back to the U.S. Her wife Cherelle was photographed in the Oval Office with the president.

Moments ago I spoke to Brittney Griner.

She is safe.

She is on a plane.

She is on her way home. pic.twitter.com/FmHgfzrcDT

— President Biden (@Potus) December 8, 2022

Griner was first arrested back in February after Russian customs officials found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage. She pleaded guilty to drug charges in July and was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony.

Griner, a two-time Olympic champion and one of the biggest stars of the WNBA, was the most prominent American...

Brittney Griner’s nine-year prison sentence on drug smuggling charges was upheld in Russian court Tuesday, Oct. 25, The Associated Press reports.

The ruling, though disheartening for Griner and her supporters, was largely expected, as Russian courts rarely overturn verdicts. Prior to the appeal, Griner’s lawyers said in a statement that she did not expect “any miracles to happen,” according to the New York Times.

Though the court upheld Griner’s sentence, it did decide to recalculate her time served. Though her original sentence was nine years, the court decided...

Brittney Griner has been found guilty of smuggling illegal narcotics into Russia, the New York Times reports. The judge sentenced the WNBA star to nine years in prison and issued a fine of 1 million rubles, or about 16,300.

While the guilty verdict was expected, as the Russian legal system rarely acquits defendants, the trial garnered national attention throughout the weeks-long trial.

Shortly after the verdict was announced, President Joe Biden released a statement demanding Griner’s release.

“Today, American citizen Brittney Griner received a prison sentence that is one more reminder...

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The U.S. has offered a deal to Russia aimed at bringing home WNBA star Brittney Griner and another jailed American, Paul Whelan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday.

In a sharp reversal of previous policy, Blinken also said he expects to speak with his Kremlin counterpart for the first time since before Russia invaded Ukraine to discuss the deal and other matters.

Blinken’s comments marked the first time the U.S. government has publicly revealed any concrete action it has taken to secure the release of Griner, who was arrested on drug-related charges at a Moscow airport in February and testified Wednesday at her trial. He did not offer details on the proposed deal outlined to the Russians, though a person familiar with the matter said the U.S. government has offered to trade convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for Whelan and Griner.

Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, has gone on record to deny rumors that his country’s President, Vladimir Putin, has been seriously ill from cancer. The diplomat argued to French outlet TF1 that Putin “appears in public every day. You can see him on the screens, read his speeches, listen to his speeches. I don’t think […]

The post Kremlin Denies Rumors Of Putin Being Seriously Sick With Cancer appeared first on uInterview.

Ameenah Sawwan was up late on Aug. 21, 2013, scrolling through Facebook on her phone, when she saw the first report that a town not far from hers had been hit by a chemical attack. She watched footage from Eastern Ghouta, then saw another post that said that her hometown, Moadamiyat al-Sham, had been hit as well. She started tapping out a reply in the comments: “This is wrong. This is fake news. I’m in Moadamiyat and we were not hit by chemicals.” Then she started hearing screams.

Sawwan and her...

President Joe Biden, addressing the dire crisis in Ukraine, today said that he is imposing a series of new sanctions on Russia, the latest move in a geopolitical crisis over the widespread belief that Vladimir Putin is poised to launch a widespread move into the Eastern European country.

“This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine,” Biden bluntly said, promising that “if Russia goes further with this invasion, we stand prepared to go further as with sanctions.” The speech by President Biden comes Tuesday as Russian President Putin officially called the 2014 Minsk Agreement dead and pulled his own diplomats out of Ukraine.

“Who in...

Don’t forget about Russia.

President Trump’s scheme to hold 800,000 federal employees hostage over border wall funding has dominated news coverage since the government began operating under a partial shutdown on December 21st, but Special Counsel Robert Mueller is still busy looking into his campaign’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin. So is the media. On Friday, the New York Times reported that after Trump fired James Comey in May 2017, the FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation to determine whether the president was working on behalf of Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested there may have been additional meetings between President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit earlier this month.

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin were cordial as they exchanged pleasantries and posed for photos on Friday just before their highly anticipated first official meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.

Trump addressed the press first, saying, “President Putin and I have been discussing various things and I think it’s going very well. We’ve had some very, very good talks.”

“We’re going to have a talk now and obviously that will continue. But we look forward to a lot of very positive things happening for Russia, for the United States and for everybody concerned,...

Donald Trump attempts to make a deal with former FBI director James Comey and is visited by Richard Nixon's ghost in The Simpsons' latest biting look into the Trump White House.

The "125 Days" short opens with scandal surrounding the administration, as Trump's closest advisors – Steve Bannon, Jared Kushner and Kellyanne Conway – all hang from the White House ceiling as Vice President Mike Pence erases the "Vice" from his desk's name plate.

Inside the presidential bedroom, Trump asks the ousted Comey to turn over all evidence that the FBI has against him,...

Another day, another White House scandal… Or two. During his closed-door meeting with Russian officials in the Oval Office this month, President Trump said that firing F.B.I. Director James Comey had relieved “great pressure” on him, the New York Times reports. “I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job,” Trump told Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, according to a document which was read to the Times by an American official. “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.” Also Read: Latest Trump Bombshell:...

President Donald Trump has responded to reports that he revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador during their visit to the White House last week using his favorite method of communication: Twitter.

On Tuesday morning, Trump defended his meeting and said he shared “facts” about terrorist threats and airline safety.

“As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety,” he wrote is a series of tweets. “Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly...

Multiple news outlets are reporting that President Donald Trump revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador during their visit to the White House last week.

The Washington Post was the first to report the news, citing current and former U.S. officials who said Trump’s comments to the Russians “jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State.”

Two U.S. officials who were briefed on Trump’s disclosures confirmed to BuzzFeed News that the president disclosed classified national security information to Russia’s ambassador, Sergei Kislyak, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during the visit.

President Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian officials during a White House meeting last week, the Washington Post reports. The information, which was provided by a U.S. partner, was apparently so sensitive, some details have been withheld from allies and restricted even within the U.S. government. The post quotes former and current U.S. officials, who said Trump’s disclosures “jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State.” Also Read: National Security Advisor Denies Trump Leaked Classified Intel: 'It Didn't Happen' Last week’s meeting, which included Trump, Russia’s ambassador Sergei Kislyak and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov,...

An “angry” White House official told CNN’s Jim Acosta that the Trump administration was “tricked” into allowing a Russian photographer to publish images from Wednesday’s meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. “That’s the problem with the Russians — they lie,” the unnamed White House official told Acosta. American press members were shut out of the meeting from which the only images released were by Russia’s news agency, Tass. And, according to CNN’s source, the White House was blindsided, and didn’t anticipate the photos would go public. Also Read: 'Morning Joe...

Photos of President Donald Trump‘s meeting with Russian diplomats in the Oval Office on Wednesday raised eyebrows as well as security concerns when the pictures were released by the Russian government rather than the White House.

The images show the president laughing and looking chummy with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak. U.S. reporters and photographers were shut out. The meeting, Politico reports, occurred at the request of Russian President Vladimir Putin during a recent phone call with Trump.

“He chose to receive him because Putin asked him to,” a...

President Donald Trump held a meeting Wednesday with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, a key figure in the FBI’s probe into the administration’s possible collusion with Russia — but American journalists were kept at arm’s length. The visit by Russian officials — Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also joined in — was particularly noteworthy because it came just hours after Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey, who was leading the agency’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential race. But the only images of the meeting were released by a Russian photographer. Also Read: Trump Blasts James Comey, 'Cryin' Chuck Schumer...

The word “Watergate” was on many minds on Wednesday as critics compared President Trump‘s abrupt firing of FBI Director James Comey to the scandal that brought down former President Richard Nixon in 1972.

Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward — who along with colleague Carl Bernstein famously broke the story of the Nixon-sanctioned break-in at the Democratic campaign headquarters in the Watergate building — weighed in on the Watergate comparisons in an interview with MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

“Indeed there are comparisons,” he said Wednesday. “This is a remarkable moment. It’s not something to take lightly.”

Woodward cited “many, many inconsistencies” in...

This article originally appeared on Time.com.

(Moscow) — U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Moscow Tuesday with an ultimatum for Russia: Side with the U.S. and likeminded countries on Syria, or embrace Iran, militant group Hezbollah and embattled Syrian leader Bashar Assad.

It wasn’t clear what the punishment would be for a Russian government that has used its military might to help Assad and his array of allies score a series of battlefield successes in their six-year war with Syrian opposition groups.

Russian President Vladimir Putin immediately showed that he wouldn’t back down, saying...

An unprecedented show of solidarity took place Sunday in Paris at a “unity rally” against the terror attacks that claimed 17 lives in France this week.

An estimated one million people marched from the Place de la Republique in central Paris to the Place de La Nation. The massive rally came in the aftermath of a tragic week that saw journalists, cartoonists, police officers, and other civilians killed after terrorists attacked the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo Wednesday, and a gunman killed a female police officer and civilians Thursday and Friday.

An unprecedented number of police and security officials covered the rally...