The United States and European Union imposed sanctions on Malofeev in 2014 over accusations that he funded pro-Moscow separatists fighting in Ukraine, which he denies. Russia considers such Western sanctions illegal.
Lvova-Belova said earlier this week that her commission acted on humanitarian grounds to protect the interests of children in an area where military action was taking place and had not moved anyone against their will or that of their parents or legal guardians, whose consent was always sought unless they were missing.
The 40-year-old Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, was accorded military honours including a gun salute and an army band at the funeral at Moscow’s Troyekurovskoye cemetery due to his past participation in military operations in eastern Ukraine alongside Moscow-backed separatists battling Kyiv’s forces.
Prigozhin is also known for his sharp criticism of Russia’s top brass over their performance in Ukraine. The Wagner group has been spearheading efforts in recent months to capture the city of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
“Vladlen has proven that today the front line passes everywhere: in the zone of military action, in the rear, and in cities, hearts and minds,” said Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on the Telegram messaging app, noting he had died “in the centre of peaceful St Petersburg at terrorists’ hands”.
The three children said they had been separated from their parents who were pressured by Russian authorities to send their children to Russian summer camps for what was billed as two weeks, from occupied parts of Kherson and Kharkiv regions.
Moscow has not concealed a programme under which it has taken thousands of Ukrainian children from occupied areas, but presents this it as a humanitarian campaign to protect orphans and children abandoned in the conflict zone.
KYIV, April 8 (Reuters) – More than 30 children were reunited with their families in Ukraine this week after a long operation to bring them back from Russia, where they had been taken from occupied areas during the war, a humanitarian group said on Saturday.
Three children – two boys and a girl – were present at the media briefing in Kyiv.
Save Ukraine said they were returned to Ukraine on a previous rescue mission last month that returned 18 children in total.
March 17 (Reuters) – The television channel of a sanctioned Russian businessman on Thursday said Alphabet Inc’s Google had lost a court appeal against a 2021 ruling that the company pay a compounding fine for blocking access to the channel’s YouTube account.
“Currently, writs of execution have been issued, enforcement orders have been initiated and funds sufficient to fulfil the court acts have been seized from Google’s accounts,” Tsargrad said in a statement.
The Wagner Group has taken an increasingly visible role in the war in Ukraine as regular Russian troops suffered heavy attrition and lost control over some previously captured territory in a series of humiliating setbacks.
A grandmother who had been due to reunite with two of her grandchildren died suddenly on the trip and the children had to remain in Russia, Kuleba, Ukraine’s former commissioner for children’s rights, told a media briefing in Kyiv.
MOSCOW, April 8 (Reuters) – Hundreds of mourners, including the leader of Russia’s Wagner private algebra tutor militia group, attended the funeral on Saturday of pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, who was killed on April 2 in a cafe bomb blast that Moscow has blamed on Ukraine.
Google was disputing a daily 100,000 rouble ($1,050) fine it was ordered to pay in April 2021 after failing to unblock Tsargrad TV’s YouTube account, a Christian Orthodox channel owned by businessman Konstantin Malofeev.
“Now the fifth rescue mission is nearing its completion. It was special regarding the number of children we managed to return and also because of its complexity,” said Mykola Kuleba, the founder of the Save Ukraine humanitarian organisation.
“Thank God Google exists in India, China, Brazil and other countries. We will collect the money there until the court decision is fully realised.” ($1 = 95.2500 roubles) (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Lvova-Belova told a news conference earlier this week that her commission acted on humanitarian grounds to protect the interests of children in an area where military action was taking place and had not moved anyone against their will or that of their parents or legal guardians, whose consent was always sought unless they were missing.
A simmering confrontation between Moscow and foreign tech firms has escalated in light of the crisis in Ukraine, and Russia has blocked access to Meta Platforms Inc’s flagship social media, Facebook and Instagram.
The terrifying group went viral in 2022 after a video of members beating a deserter to death with a sledgehammer spread online, has allegedly offered to help Haiti’s embattled government take on violent gangs, the documents detailed.