by Aishvarya Kavi “This is deadly stuff,” President Donald Trump said of the coronavirus in a February 7 interview with journalist Bob Woodward for his upcoming book, “Rage.” But it was a vastly different story than he was telling the public at the time. Trump would later admit to Woodward that publicly, he “wanted to … Read more
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny with his wife and supporters in Moscow in February. Photo: kirill kudryavtsev/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images BERLIN—Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok, was woken up from a medically induced coma and is responsive, Berlin’s Charité hospital said Monday. Mr. Navalny, who was flown to Berlin … Read more
MOSCOW— Alexander Cherevach, a software engineer in Belarus, said he was returning from work when police stopped him on the street in Minsk and accused him of participating in mass demonstrations against the country’s authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko. Mr. Cherevach, 26, said that when he wouldn’t unlock his computer and phone, the officers shoved him into a … Read more
MOSCOW—In April, as Covid-19 cases surged across Russia, President Vladimir Putin called a meeting of the country’s top scientists and health officials over video link to deliver an urgent directive: Do whatever you need to create a national vaccine as soon as possible. Four weeks later, Alexander Gintsburg, director of the state-run Gamaleya Institute for … Read more
The long rule of Alexander Lukashenko, the embattled president of Belarus, has left his country economically depleted and reliant on Russia, largely trapped in its Soviet-era past and likely bound to Moscow for many years to come. Mr. Lukashenko, Belarus’s president for 26 years and a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has presided … Read more
MOSCOW: The mayor of Moscow invited residents Wednesday to join trials of a coronavirus vaccine that Russia approved for use earlier this month, in what officials described as a breakthrough on par with the Soviet Union’s launch of the world’s first satellite in 1957. The world’s first vaccine against the coronavirus to receive a government … Read more
MOSCOW—Russia has assembled a law-enforcement team to help shore up Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko if protests against him spiral out of control, President Vladimir Putin said, giving the first indications of how Moscow might intervene to help its longstanding ally. Mr. Putin said the special unit had been requested by Mr. Lukashenko, who for the … Read more
MOSCOW—Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin and Moscow’s political elite, was admitted to the intensive-care unit at a Siberian hospital after a suspected poisoning left him unconscious, his spokeswoman said. Mr. Navalny started to feel ill on a flight to Moscow nearly an hour after drinking tea in the … Read more
Mindful of Russia’s warning against interfering in Belarus, European Union leaders have taken a nuanced approach to the unfolding crisis, preparing sanctions against officials they say are responsible for rigging this month’s presidential election and violently dispersing protesters, while emphasizing that only Belarusians can resolve the turmoil there. The EU’s 27 heads of state and … Read more
MOSCOW—Russian President Vladimir Putin warned top European leaders against interfering in the political crisis engulfing Russia’s longtime ally, Belarus, as protests against its leader continued to swell. Mr. Putin spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in separate calls Tuesday, a day before an emergency European Union summit was scheduled to … Read more