Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who is the president of Russia. Putin has held continuous positions as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime minister from 1999 to 2000 and from 2008 to 2012, and as president from 2000 to 2008 and since 2012. He is the longest-serving Russian or Soviet leader since Joseph Stalin.
Penza is the largest city and administrative center of Penza Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Sura River, 625 kilometers (388 mi) southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Census, Penza had a population of 517,311, making it the 36th-largest city in Russia.
Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov is a Russian diplomat who has served as the foreign minister of Russia since 2004. He is the longest-serving foreign minister since the Tsarist era.
Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu is a Russian politician and military officer who has served as Secretary of the Security Council since 2024. He served as Minister of Defence of Russia from 2012 to 2024. Shoigu has served as the chairman of the Council of Ministers of Defense of the Commonwealth of Independent States since 2012.
Mongolia–Russia relations have been traditionally strong since the Communist era, when the Soviet Union supported the Mongolian People's Republic. Mongolia and Russia remain allies in the post-communist era. Russia has an embassy in Ulaanbaatar and two consulates general. Mongolia has an embassy in Moscow, three consulates general, and a branch in Yekaterinburg. Both countries are full members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
The bilateral relations between Costa Rica and Russia date back to 1872, when Costa Rican president Tomás Guardia and Emperor of Russia Alexander II exchanged correspondence. Relations were not formally established until 1944, at the final stages of World War II, when the Russian Empire was already succeeded by the Soviet Union.
Konstantin Valeryevich Malofeev is a Russian businessman and the chairman of the non-governmental and pro-monarchist organisation called the Society for the Development of Russian Historical Education "Double-Headed Eagle". He is the chairman of the media group Tsargrad, dedicated to Russian Orthodox Christianity and supporting Russian president Vladimir Putin. He is a co-founder of the international investment fund Marshall Capital Partners, member of the board of trustees of the non-profit partnership Safe Internet League and chairman of the Saint Basil the Great Charitable Foundation.
Anna Yuryevna Kuznetsova is a Russian politician serving as Member and Deputy Chair of the State Duma since 2021. Previously, she was Children's Rights Commissioner for the President of the Russian Federation between 2016 and 2021.
Russian war crimes are violations of international criminal law including war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of genocide which the official armed and paramilitary forces of Russia have been committing since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. These include the aiding and abetting of crimes which have been committed by proto-statelets or puppet statelets which are armed and financed by Russia, including the Luhansk People's Republic and the Donetsk People's Republic. These war crimes have included murder, torture, terror, persecution, deportation and forced transfer, enforced disappearance, child abductions, rape, looting, unlawful confinement, inhumane acts, unlawful airstrikes and attacks against civilian objects, use of banned chemical weapons, and wanton destruction.
Isobel Yeung is a British long-form documentary senior correspondent. She has covered a variety of stories concerning major global issues such as ongoing world conflicts, terrorism, mass detention, and genocide. She has also reported on social issues in developing countries such as gender roles, women's rights, mental health and corruption. Her work has earned her two Emmy Awards and a Gracie Award.
Tomoko Akane is a Japanese jurist and a current judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Japan, as well as the president of the court.
The 2021 Penza Oblast gubernatorial election took place on 17–19 September 2021, on common election day, coinciding with election to the State Duma. Acting Governor Oleg Melnichenko was elected for his first term.
On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which started in 2014. The invasion, the largest conflict in Europe since World War II, has caused hundreds of thousands of military casualties and tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilian casualties. As of 2024, Russian troops occupy about 20% of Ukraine. From a population of 41 million, about 8 million Ukrainians had been internally displaced and more than 8.2 million had fled the country by April 2023, creating Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Russian military and authorities have committed war crimes, such as deliberate attacks against civilian targets, including on hospitals, medical facilities and on the energy grid; indiscriminate attacks on densely-populated areas; the abduction, torture and murder of civilians; forced deportations; sexual violence; destruction of cultural heritage; and the killing and torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
The International Criminal Court investigation in Ukraine or the Situation in Ukraine is an ongoing investigation by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) into "any past and present allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide committed on any part of the territory of Ukraine by any person" during the period starting "from 21 November 2013 onwards", on an "open-ended basis", covering the Revolution of Dignity, the Russo-Ukrainian War including the 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia, the war in Donbas and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The ICC prosecutor commenced these investigations on 2 March 2022, after receiving referrals for the situation in Ukraine from 39 ICC State Parties.
During the Russo-Ukrainian War, national parliaments including those of Poland, Ukraine, Canada, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ireland declared that genocide was taking place. Scholars and commentators including Eugene Finkel, Timothy D. Snyder and Gregory Stanton; and legal experts such as Otto Luchterhandt and Zakhar Tropin, have made claims of varying degrees of certainty that Russia is committing genocide in Ukraine. A comprehensive report by the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights concluded that there exists a "very serious risk of genocide" in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
During the Russo-Ukrainian War, Russia has forcibly transferred almost 20 thousand Ukrainian children to areas under its control, assigned them Russian citizenship, forcibly adopted them into Russian families, and created obstacles for their reunification with their parents and homeland. The United Nations has stated that these deportations constitute war crimes. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for their alleged involvement. According to international law, including the 1948 Genocide Convention, such acts constitute genocide if done with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a nation or ethnic group.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Russo-Ukrainian War:
On 17 March 2023, following an investigation of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russian commissioner for children's rights, alleging responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation and transfer of children during the Russo-Ukrainian War. The warrant against Putin is the first against the leader of a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
Sergey Ivanovich Kobylash is a Russian military officer who serves as a lieutenant general and commander of the Long-Range Aviation branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
