Page 17 - Current Time News Today

With Russia's war against Ukraine turning into a prolonged conflict, the EU and Western institutions need to think creatively on how to integrate countries desperate to join and bravely fighting for democratic values. 

Russia has stopped prisoner of war swaps since August, a Ukrainian official said.It wants Ukrainian families to think their country has left loved ones behind,

A Russian court on Friday ordered American Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva to remain in custody until February 5. The editor for the Tatar-Bashkir Ser

A growing number of Russian soldiers have deserted their military units in Ukraine. Independent news outlet Mediazone has reported that 2,076 criminal cases were opened in the first half of 2023 against Russian soldiers accused of abandoning their units without leave.

Russia is refusing to swap POWs so relatives of Ukrainian soldiers believe Ukraine isn't "doing anything to return the soldiers," an official said.

In September, U.S. elder statesman Henry Kissinger endorsed NATO membership for Ukraine, saying “the idea of a neutral Ukraine under these conditions no longer makes sense.” It was the culmination of his evolving views on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Europe's changing security situation. 

The head of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is calling on the U.S. government to do more to help secure the release of one of the outlet's journalists, who is detained in Russia. Speaking about Alsu Kurmasheva's case in Washington on Monday, Jeffrey Gedmin, RFE/RL acting president, said the State Department had been "opaque" in how…

The man, 35-year-old Yevgeny Kazantsev, had lived in Ukraine for a long period of time and allegedly joined the militia in 2015 to fight against Russian proxy forces in Donbas, local Russian media said.

As the war to the West rages on, an anonymous contributor argues policy in Russia's Far East should be to inspire equal attention.

RFE/RL’s Alsu Kurmasheva has now spent more than a month in a Russian jail on suspicion that she failed to voluntarily register under the country's "foreign agent" laws. In her first messages from jail, Kurmasheva describes her conditions and expresses gratitude for the support she has received.