The Moscow Times Weekly - Russia hosted the annual BRICS summit in the Tatarstan capital of Kazan this week, the largest international event held in the country since Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

 

Dear reader, Welcome to The Moscow Times’ weekly email digest, where we bring you the best of our reporting, opinion pieces and more. Russia hosted the annual BRICS summit in the Tatarstan capital of Kazan this week, the largest international event held in the country since Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. World leaders from China’s Xi Jinping and India’s Narendra Modi, to South Africa’s Cyril and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the summit. So, too, did UN chief Antonio Guterres travel to Russia for the event, drawing condemnation from Kyiv. Analysts largely viewed the summit as a tool for the Kremlin to shake off its pariah status and strengthen its influence in the Global South.  Here’s what else happened this week: Russia’s Central Bank raised its key interest rate to a historic 21%, taking it higher than the emergency rate introduced after the invasion of Ukraine. Elon Musk has reportedly held secret talks with Vladimir Putin and other senior Russian government officials throughout the war in Ukraine. Police in the Chelyabinsk region clashed with a mob of enraged residents who demanded the arrest of two men suspected of murdering a woman. South Korea may soon deploy military intelligence personnel in Ukraine to monitor North Korean troops reportedly sent to Russia. An elderly man was banned from keeping goats at his home after people complained about the animals running amok on the streets of Moscow. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe to receive our newsletter every Friday. Is Russia’s Wartime Wage Boom Coming to an End? Some say the period of rising wages in Russia, ushered in by increased demand for labor amid the war effort, is a new reality for the country's economy. For others, it is a bubble waiting to burst. Read more. How Russia Courted the Global South at BRICS Summit The Moscow Times recaps everything noteworthy that happened at the BRICS summit, the largest international event held in Russia since it invaded Ukraine. Read more. ‘My Government Doesn’t See Me as a Citizen’: Russian Ex-State Worker Reflects on Being Outed, Forced Into Exile Denis Leontovich, who resigned from his job in the Samara region government earlier this year, said he wanted to share his story “to help others who remain in Russia and fear similar persecution.” Read more. Join Us in Amsterdam for a New Event Women have been at the forefront of resisting the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine and its repression of dissent from the start. Join The Moscow Times for Women Against the Kremlin, an unprecedented event uniting leading women anti-war politicians, activists, artists and journalists from Russia and beyond and showcasing their strength, resilience and commitment to change. Opinion North Koreans Fighting for Russia Put Warm Words into Practice By Anthony V. Rinna Moscow and Pyongyang have pulled closer together since the invasion of Ukraine. But whether it will benefit North Korea is yet to be seen. Read more. Kyiv Has Said What Peace for Ukraine Should Look Like. Will Allies Listen? By Elena Davlikanova Ukraine is caught between a rock and a hard place. It will need more than Western words to secure a safe future for the country. Read more. Before we go... The Moscow Times has been Russia’s leading independent English news source since 1992. Your support can help us launch a news service for political prisoners in Russia. Contribute to independent journalism from $2/month — it takes less than a minute.