Page 2 - Solovetsky Stone News Today

A Russian priest who suffered a stroke after being detained as he went to hold a service for Alexei Navalny has praised the Kremlin critic.

"The Catholic church in Russia doesn't speak out on sensitive issues, we still feel like we're in a ghetto, keeping quiet so no one will notice us."

Ecuador's foreign minister on February 19 said the small Latin American country didn't plan to send Soviet-era weapons to Ukraine after the president's vow to do so sparked a spat with Moscow over banana and flower exports.

Adding to the anguish felt by the family of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, his mother and his entourage have reportedly been denied access

A host of European governments on February 19 summoned Russian diplomats following the prison death of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny.

The Supreme Court of Russia's Republic of Tatarstan ruled on February 20 that RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who has been held in Russian custody for more than four months on charges that she, her employer, and her supporters reject, will remain in pretrial detention. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin's critic Alexei Navalny's family has claimed his body will not be handed over for the next two weeks.

Russia's FSB security service on February 20 said it had arrested a woman with dual U.S.-Russian citizenship on suspicion of treason for funding the Ukrainian Army, Russian state media reported.

Ukrainian air-defense forces shot down all 23 drones launched by Russia at Ukraine's territory on February 20, the military said on Telegram.

More than 67,000 Russian citizens have sent official notes to the country's Investigative Committee demanding that Aleksei Navalny's body be returned to his family, the Meduza news outlet reported, as anger grows over the Russian authorities' refusal to release the Kremlin opponent's body.