Russia carried out live-fire exercises in the Black Sea as Moscow and Kyiv both said they could consider vessels in the waterway potential military targets. Follow DW for the latest.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
The Russian Navy conducted a live-fire "exercise" in the northwest part of the Black Sea on Friday, Russian state news agency RIA reported, citing the Russian Defense Ministry.
Moscow's exercises in the region come days after the Kremlin said it would consider blowing up ships traveling to Ukraine through the Black Sea. Separately, Russia's ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov seemed to deny that Russia was preparing to attack civilian ships, dismissing claims to that effect as "pure falsification."
In response to Moscow's announcement, Kyiv said ships bound for Russia or Russian-occupied ports in Ukraine could be considered military targets.
Russian officials detain Igor Girkin, ex-FSB official involved in Crimea annexation — wife
Prominent Russian nationalist Igor Girkin, who first came into the public eye by helping Russia annex Crimea and leading rebel forces in eastern Ukraine, has been detained by Russian federal investigators, his wife said on social media.
On her husband's Telegram channel, Miroslava Reginskaya said members of Russia's Federal Investigative Committee "came to our house" while she was out.
"Soon, according to the concierge, they took my husband out by his arms and in an unknown direction," she wrote.
According to unconfirmed information, her husband has been charged with extremism.
"I do not know anything about my husband's whereabouts, he has not contacted me," she said.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year, Girkin, a former FSB agent also known as Igor Strelkov, has grown increasingly critical of what he saw as the Kremlin's mismanagement of the war. He openly questioned the goals and capabilities of Russia's government and its military and highlighted Ukraine's achievements on the battlefield.
Earlier this year, he said he would enter politics.
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