Sergei Ivanov, a former defense minister and the man who came closer than anyone else to the Russian presidency before the end of Vladimir Putin’s second term, died on June 26. After Putin chose Dmitry Medvedev over Ivanov as his successor, Ivanov served as deputy prime minister in the 2008–2011 cabinet and later as the president’s chief of staff. In 2016, however, he moved to the post of presidential envoy for environmental affairs and transportation, which he held until February 2026.
Russia imported 5,170 metric tons of jet fuel from Belarus in May, nearly four times the volume recorded in May 2025, according to RBC, citing data from the Price Index Center (PIC).
The St. Petersburg International Legal Forum (SPILF) took place in St. Petersburg this week for its 14th annual session, running from June 24 to 26.
Russians’ trust in President Vladimir Putin has fallen to 69%, the lowest figure recorded since the start of the full-scale war, according to a survey by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) conducted June 19–21 — shortly after the largest Ukrainian attack on Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree appointing Vyacheslav Gladkov, the former governor of the Belgorod region, as Russia’s ambassador to the partially recognized republic of Abkhazia.
Sergey Aksyonov, the Russian-installed head of occupied Crimea, announced that a state of emergency would take effect across Crimea and Sevastopol at 1:00 p.m. on June 26.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov shook hands with a humanoid robot at a medical equipment exhibition in Grozny, footage released June 26 by the press service of the head and government of Chechnya showed.
Zabaykalsky Krai imposed a heightened readiness regime on June 25 to manage fuel market conditions, the regional government announced.
Russian searches on Yandex for anti-drone devices hit a three-year high in late June, iStories, an independent Russian investigative outlet, reported.
Italy and France have expressed reservations about the European Commission’s proposal to ban former Russian military personnel from entering the European Union, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has approved a “40-day influence operation” by the SBU against Russia “aimed at securing an end to the war.” He announced this on his Telegram channel after a meeting with the security service’s chief, Yevhen Khmara.
A soldier from the Voronezh region who took part in the invasion of Ukraine and runs a blog on Instagram and other platforms, Alexander Lunin, has recorded a video message addressed to Vladimir Putin.
Russian schools will double the share of class time devoted to basic military training starting September 1, Education Minister Sergey Kravtsov announced.
Russia’s Presidential Administration has issued “recommendations” to media outlets on how to cover the country’s fuel shortage, a source at one state media outlet told Meduza. A second source at a separate pro-government outlet confirmed the information.
Russia’s Federal Security Service hacked the phone of Andrei Pivovarov, a politician and former director of Open Russia, using equipment from the Israeli company Cellebrite, Pivovarov said on his Telegram channel on June 25. The digital forensics organization Citizen Lab, which found the spyware on Pivovarov’s iPhone, provided additional details.
The Max messenger has blocked chats in at least four Russian regions where users were tracking gas availability and sharing information about lines at filling stations, the outlet 7×7 reported.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced that French naval forces had detained the oil tanker Deliver off the coast of Sicily for violating international maritime law.
Russians designated as “foreign agents” by the Justice Ministry face new restrictions on their rights, The Bell reports.
Several apps belonging to the VK holding company vanished from the App Store, the Russian business news outlet RBC reported on June 25. The affected apps include Dzen, VK Video, VK Messenger, VK Music, and VK Dating.
Russia is going through an acute phase of its gasoline crisis. We’ve written before that several indicators — among them a drop in refining volumes to multiyear lows alongside high crude exports — point indirectly to a serious collapse in refining. All of this is unfolding against a campaign of long-range Ukrainian strikes on refineries and other targets deep inside the country.
European Ombudsman Teresa Anjinho has opened an investigation into European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen over a secret chat that included Volodymyr Zelensky and several European leaders, the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung reported.
In early 2023, teenagers in Russia were permitted to sign military contracts immediately upon turning 18 without any restrictions. Around the same time, “veterans of the SVO” began making regular visits to schools and colleges, urging schoolchildren and college students to go to the front. Then, in late 2025, a mass drive to recruit for drone units swept through vocational colleges and universities: students were promised they would earn good money, serve only a year, and be stationed far from the front — none of which turned out to be true.
Russian comedian Semyon Slepakov has released a musical parody, “A Little War,” set to the tune of Natasha Korolyova’s hit “A Little Country.”
Lithuania has deported a Chechen man to Russia who had lived in the country for more than 20 years, human-rights activist Roza Dunayeva reported. The independent Russian investigative outlet The Insider identified the man as Beslan Estemirov, citing a source in Lithuania’s government.
The relay stations on the Ukraine–Belarus border that had been helping guide Russian drones went offline on June 22, Volodymyr Zelensky told journalists.
A Moscow court has sentenced Maxim Kruglov, deputy chair of the Russian liberal party Yabloko, to seven years in prison on charges of spreading “fake” information about the Russian military.
German prosecutors conducted a series of searches as part of an investigation into a suspected attempt to “disrupt gas supplies” to the country during a change of ownership at Gazprom Germania, a former subsidiary of Gazprom, the Associated Press reported.
A fuel crisis is unfolding in Russia. Ukrainian drones have struck oil refineries across the country in a sustained campaign, forcing facilities to suspend or cut production. Fuel shortages have appeared at gas stations across various parts of the country, though authorities have repeatedly blamed the lines at pumps on “panic buying” rather than an actual shortage.
On June 23, 2023, one of the most extraordinary episodes in wartime Russia began — the mutiny of Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner private military company. It grew out of a protracted feud between Prigozhin and Sergei Shoigu, then the defense minister. The Wagner leader accused Shoigu of inadequately supplying the front, where Wagner’s fighters were bearing the brunt of the combat.
Hungary has blocked a letter representing the shared position of all 27 EU member states to the European Council and the European Commission on Ukraine’s and Moldova’s accession to the bloc, the news outlet Politico reported, citing two sources.
Satellite imagery from Planet Labs shows at least two buildings at the Sborka semiconductor devices plant in Voronezh were damaged in a Ukrainian missile strike, according to RFE/RL’s investigative project Schemes.
Vladimir Putin chaired a government meeting where officials briefed him on fuel shortages spreading across Russia’s regions and occupied Crimea.
A Moscow court has arrested Mikhail Poluboyarinov, the former CEO of Aeroflot, on charges of abuse of office, the independent Russian news outlet Mediazona reports.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, who stepped down as governor of Russia’s Belgorod region in May, is set to become Russia’s ambassador to Georgia’s Kremlin-backed separatist region of Abkhazia. The State Duma’s committee on CIS affairs has approved his candidacy for the post.
Russia’s gasoline production dropped about 25% in the week of June 15–21 compared to average daily output for June 2025, Reuters reported on June 23, citing industry sources.
A domestic violence law could discourage men from getting married, the chair of Russia’s State Duma committee on family protection, paternity, maternity, and childhood, Nina Ostanina, said.
Russia’s government is weighing a package of measures to tighten controls on SIM cards used in the Internet of Things and on eSims, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported on June 23, citing sources.
A tornado struck the Sverdlovsk region on the evening of June 22, first touching down in the village of Malaya Laya. “Everything was ripped away. It’s heading for us!” witnesses say in one video posted on social media.
A Telegram channel where Penza residents shared accounts of raids and roundups of men being pressured into signing military service contracts has been blocked. The channel was called “Novosti Proiskhodiashchego” — “News of What’s Happening.”
A storm tore through the Sverdlovsk region on the evening of June 22, damaging homes and power line poles. Kushva was hit hardest; the city has since been placed under a state of emergency.
The war in Ukraine is entering a new phase: while the Russian military’s offensive is bogged down at the front, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have pulled ahead in the drone race. Meduza has already written about how this Ukrainian success led to a fuel collapse in Crimea, how drones broke through Moscow’s layered air defenses, and how strikes on oil refineries have plunged entire regions into a gasoline crisis. These were all scattered episodes.
The Moscow Exchange index (IMOEX) closed down 4.23% on June 22, settling at 2,318.28 points — its steepest single-day drop since September 26, 2022, the Russian business outlet RBC reported.
Avito, Ozon, and Wildberries banned fuel sales on their platforms at the request of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing a statement from the antimonopoly service.
A local resident mowing grass in the Estonian town of Rõuge found a drone in a field, with an explosive device weighing about five kilograms (roughly 11 pounds) attached to it, said Harris Puusepp, a bureau chief in Estonia’s Security Police.
On the afternoon of June 22, Ukraine’s armed forces launched a missile strike on Voronezh. Alexander Gusev, the governor of the Voronezh region, said that Russian air-defense forces had shot down “several high-speed aerial targets” over the city. The attack damaged “the production facilities of one of Voronezh’s enterprises,” the facades of several apartment buildings, and vehicles, Gusev said.
Russia’s government has circulated a revised version of its artificial intelligence regulation bill — a document that has been cut nearly in half, from 21 articles to 13, the Russian business news outlet RBC, Izvestia, and the Russian business daily Kommersant reported.
Vladimir region Governor Alexander Avdeyev has urged residents to limit personal car travel and buy gasoline “only in the amounts immediately necessary” — a statement he made after an emergency meeting of the regional government on fuel shortages at gas stations.
Russia’s unified school history textbook will be updated to include North Korean troops’ participation in fighting in the Kursk region, Mikhail Myagkov, scientific director of the Russian Military Historical Society, told RBC.
Ukrainian forces struck the Dubna Satellite Communications Center in the Moscow region overnight on June 22, the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ General Staff reported.
Sessions at the children’s camp “Artek” in occupied Crimea have been canceled, according to the Telegram channel Krovavaya Barynya (“Bloody Lady”), run by Ksenia Sobchak, which cited messages from parents posted on social media.