Iran admitted for the first time on Saturday that it has sent drones to Russia, but insisted they were supplied to its ally before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"We supplied Russia with a limited number of drones months before the war in Ukraine," Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said, quoted by the official news agency IRNA.

Ukraine and

Moscow's crackdown on Memorial has only intensified since the rights group won the Nobel Peace Prize last month, but its executive director says members are pushing on despite the dangers.

"Of course it is very difficult," Elena Zhemkova told AFP in an interview, stressing though that there had never been any question about whether or not to carry

A fire Saturday killed at least 15 people at a bar in the Russian city of Kostroma, Russian news agencies reported. 

The night-time fire at the popular bar could have been started after a drunk man fired a "flare gun" on the dance floor, the TASS news agency reported. 

State television showed images of the bar -- called "Poligon" and housed in a

ST. PETERSBURG – The until-recently highly secretive Wagner mercenary organization continued to grow its public profile on Friday as it opened a new headquarters and technology center in Russia’s second city.

The glass-fronted multistory building in St. Petersburg will not only function as administrative hub for the military group, whose public