SpaceX founder Elon Musk ordered restrictions on Ukraineâs use of Starshield, the military version of the Starlink satellite communications system, sources told The Wall Street Journal.
The sources said Muskâs decision caused âpanic in Kyivâ and âconfusion inside the Trump administration.â
As the uproar grew, SpaceX representatives contacted their White House counterparts to agree on a statement saying the company and the Trump administration had coordinated their actions.
Musk and Trump discussed the decision by phone shortly after the Starlink restrictions became public, two sources told The Wall Street Journal. One source said Musk and Trump had also discussed the issue before the decision to impose restrictions.
Some officials say Musk acted unilaterally and Trump gave no specific order. But a source familiar with the situation said Musk had spoken with several senior administration officials, including Trump, before imposing the restrictions.
On October 14, Ukrainian forces reported restrictions on their Starlink satellite communications terminals â specifically, the military version, Starshield. The restrictions disrupted Ukrainian military missions, among other things.
Two days later, Trump said he had not ordered restrictions on Starshield in Ukraine and did not know who could have done so. But The Telegraph, citing four sources, reported that Musk had approached Trump with a proposal to limit Starlink speeds in Ukraine. One of the newspaperâs sources said Trump agreed.
At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story youâre reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.
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Donald Trumpâs special envoy Steve Witkoff could âpave the way for a meeting at leadersâ levelâ during talks with Vladimir Putin, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said at a news conference in Oslo.
âSteve Witkoff will fly tomorrow to St. Petersburg where he will be meeting with Russian leadership and exchange ideas from this meeting and the proposals that have been worked on by European and American colleagues, and possibly pave the way for a meeting at leadersâ level,â Støre said.
Politico reported, without quoting Støre directly, that Witkoff would offer Putin direct talks with Trump and Zelensky.
Zelensky said after meeting Witkoff in Oslo that âone of the important ideas is to move to a potential trilateral meeting of the leaders to address the issues that only the leaders can do.â âSteve is going to Russia tomorrow, and letâs see what Putin has to say,â Zelensky added.
When reporters asked Trump whether Putin and Zelensky needed to âbe in the same roomâ to reach a peace agreement, he said: âI mean, [it] depends. They donât have to be in the same room. I guess I can do it another way. Itâs hard for them to be in the same room. I donât care how itâs done.â
At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story youâre reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.
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Polish Border Guard officers detained 15 Russian and Belarusian citizens who apparently intended to compete in the world karate championships for youth, junior, and under-21 athletes in Bielsko-BiaĹa.
The detainees â 11 Belarusians and four Russians â entered Poland on tourist visas, which, according to Border Guard spokesperson Szymon MoĹcicki, âdid not match the stated purpose of their stay.â All were ordered to leave the country within eight days.
The karate championships took place from September 14 to 18. Polish authorities had barred Russian athletes from the outset. The Russian Karate Federation said it âhad anticipated this situation and therefore had not recommended that anyone take part in this tournament,â but also âcould not stand in the way of the athletesâ own wishesâ to compete in the event.
The organizers said no Russian athletes had registered by the deadline. As early as October 8, the Polish Karate Union said the Russians would not be coming. Piotr Borys, Polandâs deputy minister of sport and tourism, said Poland had a firm policy of barring Russian athletes from competitions in the country.
The organizers nevertheless expected Russians to try to take part in the tournament. âThatâs why we warned them in advance through our contacts in the sport not to come,â said Polish Karate Union President PaweĹ PoĹtorzecki.
The Russian Karate Federation said it knew about the ban and that the athletes had been expelled because they âentered on visas that did not cover the purpose of their visit.â âWe knew this was how it would turn out. Thatâs why no one from the federation went,â it said.
The Russians being expelled from Poland have not been named. The news outlet Vot Tak reported that students at the Oryol-Karat school were among those who wanted to attend the competition. The schoolâs administrators send aid to Russian troops and organize meetings between children and people who have taken part in the war.
At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story youâre reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.
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Moscowâs first generation of post-Soviet clubs and independent establishments was largely short-lived, with most closing within 15 years. Those that made it into the 2020s, however, achieved cult status. For those who have left Moscow in the past four years, the city still conjures memories of Propaganda, Saigon and newer favorites like Entuziast. But these cherished institutions are now disappearing, too. Rents and other expenses are climbing, and more and more of the sites these establishments once occupied are being redeveloped. Meduza revisits some of the capitalâs cultural and commercial landmarks that vanished with the prewar era. The photographs accompanying this article were taken in early fall.
Khokhlovka arts district
2007â2025
In the 2000s, renting space in a legal gray area could be a particularly good deal. That was the case at the former sheet-music printing house and the Ukraintsev Chambers in the Khokhlovka arts quarter of Moscowâs Kitay-Gorod neighborhood. Federal and local authorities spent years disputing ownership of these properties in court, while the spaces were rented out cheaply on short leases. All sorts of small shops and workshops took advantage.
The restaurant Moscow-Delhi operated in Khokhlovka for several years before moving to Patriarchâs Ponds in 2016, where it remains open. Another longtime tenant, the independent bookstore Hyperion, spent about a decade here but moved to Bolshoy Tryokhsvyatitelsky Lane in 2022, when the 17th-century stone chambers closed for major renovations. The bookstore is now moving again.
The remaining tenants left the arts district at the end of 2025 for the same reason, sources told Meduza. A fence now surrounds the district. Under a plan by the Moscow firm Ginzburg Architects, the site will be redeveloped as a commercial quarter with cafes and galleries once construction is complete.
Khodasevich bookstore
2012â2026
The bookstore opened near Khokhlovka, in a tiny basement-level storefront at 6 Pokrovka Street. Its stock included rare editions and samizdat publications.
The stated reason for the closure was renovations: âTheyâre closing our basement for major renovations, and they wonât let us back in,â Khodasevich wrote on Telegram on April 5, 2026. It said it was looking for a new space.
The shopâs founder, writer Stas Gaivoronsky, said an independent bookstore should take a stand, and that Khodasevich âtried to speak out, but over time that became dangerous, and we had to get quieter and quieter.â One employee said censorship had forced them to keep pulling books from sale in recent months. Independent bookstores in other Russian cities face similar problems.
Powerhouse club
2013â2026
By the early 2010s, a former merchantâs mansion in Taganka had lost almost all its historic interiors. During the Soviet era, it housed communal apartments, followed by small offices. Then a team led by Andrey Algoritmik, Powerhouseâs future founder and artistic director, rented the entire building, restored it, and opened a recording studio, bar, and club. Debt forced the club to close. Since the pandemic, it had been âmore or less breaking even,â Powerhouse wrote on social media.
The farewell party took place on March 14, 2026. Guests were advised to bring cash: âYou know what the internet situation is like in central MoscowâŚâ The mansion still houses a live music venue, now a club called Mesto Zangezi.
Propaganda club
1997â2024
One of Moscowâs oldest clubs, Propaganda was founded by Kirill Saldadze and Alexander Ovsyannikov, who found the space through a classified ad in the newspaper Iz Ruk v Ruki and rented it. A cafe by day and a club by night, it hosted DJs including Francesca Canty, who later became head of arts at the British Council in Russia.
The interior, with its mahogany and exposed brick, was designed by artist and designer Pyotr Pasternak, Boris Pasternakâs grandson. âBack then [in the 1990s], that approach you saw in small European cafes â stripping away the Euro-style renovations and leaving the brick exposed â was something people in Moscow found interesting,â he said.
In May 2023, Propaganda canceled its Sanchez Thursdays house music parties, which had run for 25 consecutive years. A year later, the club itself closed. No official reason was given; the announcement said only that âthe story has come to an end.â Promoter and resident DJ Sergey Timoshov said there had been no reason to close. âI guess it was time,â he said.
Lyudi kak Lyudi cafe
2002â2024
The team behind Propaganda also opened this cafe serving pies and sandwiches near Kitay-Gorod metro station. Both venues announced their closures on the same day.
The owners made the cafeâs mosaic floor themselves. Neither the prices nor the interior had changed since it opened. Some of the furnishings â âa few tables, chairs, lights, and assorted little thingsâ â were donated to the Museum of Moscow. Although a tobacco and alcohol shop has replaced the cafe, the new owners have kept its sign.
One employee said the cafe closed because it was unprofitable.
Entuziast motorcycle cafe
2013â2025
This was one of Moscowâs first venues to combine a bicycle repair shop, cafe-bar, and vinyl record store. The owners bought the annex tucked behind Stoleshnikov Lane, in the heart of the city, from the clothing store Fott.
Last year, the cafe closed for âextensive, lengthy renovations.â Other accounts attributed the closure to âbeing burned out on both the place and each other.â It is unclear whether it will reopen.
Ryumochnaya v Zyuzino
2013 â âŚ
This shot bar occupies a typical two-story Soviet glass-fronted building in a residential neighborhood in southern Moscow. The building previously housed an ordinary wine shop.
The bar serves beer in three-liter jars and has a wall made of beer crates, built when there wasnât enough money for a regular glass partition. Its main draw is its lineup of cultural events: concerts by Billy Novik, performances by young independent bands, exhibitions, and drawing classes.
The bar was slated to close as early as spring 2026 after its building was included in Moscowâs housing renovation program. But the closure was repeatedly postponed. Sources familiar with the situation told Meduza it would close by New Yearâs.
Saigon cafe on Bolshaya Gruzinskaya Street
Late 1990s â 2024
East and Southeast Asian restaurants were especially common among new openings in 1990s Moscow. Saigon opened on Bolshaya Gruzinskaya Street, near Barrikadnaya metro station, toward the end of the decade. The exact date is unknown.
The interior remained fairly simple and unremarkable, but customers valued the place for its authenticity and low prices. After it closed, a wine bar called Praktika took its place.
For now, Saigonâs owners still run a second cafe of the same name at Savyolovsky Market. But that area, too, faces major changes in the near future.
Markets
Moscow authorities have been trying to rein in informal market trading since the late 1990s. By 2008, fewer than 100 of the roughly 240 markets remained, and Federal Law No. 271-FZ, adopted that year, required the remaining markets to move entirely into permanent buildings. But the last of these old-style markets are only now disappearing.
Land has become much more expensive, and cities have learned how to redevelop entire neighborhoods with help from both Moscowâs housing renovation program and the law on comprehensive area development. Clothing and electronics markets are also becoming less popular: Sales have moved to online marketplaces, while mandatory product labeling and internet-connected cash registers have made cash sales unprofitable.
Koptevsky Market
Together, these factors have led to the closure of several major markets in the 2020s. The oldest was Koptevsky Market in the north of the city, which dated back to the mid-20th century. There are plans to demolish its market halls and build almost 60,000 square meters of housing on the site. The original intention was to renovate the market: A proposal for a food hall with restaurants and farm shops emerged in 2020, but Moscow authorities abandoned it in 2025.
Koptevsky MarketKoptevsky Market
Demolition of Elektronika na Presne began in 2024. Housing is also planned for that marketâs site.
Another electronics market, Savyolovsky, which opened in 1998, was included in a comprehensive area development project in March 2025. Office complexes are planned for the site. No demolition date has been announced, however, and the market remains open for now.
At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story youâre reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.
If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at reports@meduza.io.
Late on October 19, Moscow time, the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) spacecraft, developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), launched toward Mars. Its mission is to study the Red Planetâs moons, Phobos and Deimos, and bring back a soil sample from one of them. The mission could mark a major milestone in space exploration: Scientists have never recovered a soil sample from a Martian moon. Samples from Phobos could contain a substantial proportion of material from the Red Planet itself. Roscosmos planned a similar mission in 2011, but a launch error thwarted Russian scientistsâ ambitious plans, and the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft burned up in the atmosphere.
The biggest mystery about Phobos and Deimos (Fear and Terror) is their origin. Astronomers once thought they were alien spacecraft
Jonathan Swift is often credited with being the first to write about Marsâ moons, 150 years before scientists actually discovered them. This is also often cited as the reason craters and other features on Phobos are named after characters in âGulliverâs Travels.â In the book, published in 1726, Swift writes of astronomers in the flying city of Laputa:
They have likewise discovered two lesser stars, or satellites, which revolve about Mars; whereof the innermost is distant from the centre of the primary planet exactly three of his diameters, and the outermost, five [âŚ].
Galileo has also been credited with discovering Phobos and Deimos. In 1610, he observed Saturn through a telescope and discovered its rings. To avoid revealing his discovery prematurely, he published this coded anagram:
smaismrmielmepoetaleumibuvnenugttaviras
When Johannes Kepler tried to crack the code, he came up with salve umbistineum geminatum martia proles â Latin for âGreetings, twins, offspring of Mars.â But Kepler had gotten it wrong, both in deciphering the message and in identifying the âtwins.â What Galileo had actually written was altissimum planetam tergeminum observavi â âI observed the most distant planet in triple form.â
It wasnât until 1877 that American astronomer Asaph Hall identified Phobos and Deimos as moons of Mars. British educator Henry Madan suggested naming the moons after Phobos and Deimos, the sons of Ares and Aphrodite, whose names mean Fear and Terror.
Hi, Iâm N.
I report for Meduza from inside Russia. I could go to prison for my work. To stay safe, I have to follow strict security protocols. I know my lawyerâs phone number by heart. And, of course, my articles are published anonymously.Â
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What I do is journalism in exile, even though Iâm not in exile myself. I have the rare opportunity to do uncensored, on-the-ground reporting in Russia. Please support Meduza so I can continue this work.
For a long time, little was known about Phobos and Deimos. But in the late 1950s, Soviet astronomer Iosif Shklovsky unexpectedly brought them to public attention. He was trying to explain why Phobosâ orbit, for reasons no one understood, was decaying noticeably over time. After considering every possibility, Shklovsky concluded that friction with Marsâ atmosphere was the only possible explanation. This seemingly reasonable hypothesis posed an even bigger problem: For the Red Planetâs thin atmosphere to slow the moon so noticeably, the moonâs mass would have to be exceptionally small. That would require a density so low that the observations could be explained only by assuming Phobos was completely hollow.
This reasoning led Shklovsky to suggest that Marsâ moons were artificial objects built by aliens. He first proposed the hypothesis in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda, and in 1966 it appeared in âIntelligent Life in the Universe,â the book he co-wrote with Carl Sagan.
Further research showed that the orbits of Marsâ moons were changing far more slowly than early observations had suggested. But the idea of enormous, hollow objects built by aliens so captured the public imagination that it spread widely through science fiction. For example, a character in the Strugatsky brothersâ short story âNoch na Marseâ (âNight on Marsâ) mentions âtwo giant satellites.â
Phobos, photographed by the Soviet research spacecraft Phobos 2 in 1988
Today, the biggest mystery about the âsatellitesâ is their origin. Their relatively small size (Phobos is 13 kilometers in diameter and Deimos 7), irregular shapes, and Marsâ proximity to the main asteroid belt led astronomers in the 1960s to suggest that they had formed very differently from Earthâs moon. The hypothesis was that they were former asteroids captured by the Red Planetâs gravity, rather than bodies ejected from a protoplanet by a collision.
Even then, however, there were objections to this idea. Both bodies had nearly circular orbits that lay almost in the planetâs equatorial plane. This was more consistent with the hypothesis that the moons had formed through accretion, as debris from proto-Mars clumped together. Captured asteroids would surely have had much more elongated and tilted orbits.
Soviet and Russian scientists have a long history of studying Phobos and Deimos. In July 1988, the Soviet Union launched Phobos 1 and Phobos 2 to study the moon as part of its final interplanetary mission.
The first spacecraft was lost just two months later, in September. The probe first lost attitude control, leaving its solar panels unable to recharge its batteries. Eventually, contact was lost. The cause, it later emerged, was a software error: A single character had been changed in the control program transmitted to the spacecraft.
The second spacecraft fared better. It reached Mars, entered a circular orbit, and made a series of close approaches to Phobos. Phobos 2 took 37 pictures of the moon but also lost contact shortly before it was scheduled to deploy a lander designed for extended operations and a rover onto Phobos.
The next attempt to explore Phobos came in post-Soviet Russia, when Phobos-Grunt launched toward Mars in 2011. It was an extremely ambitious project, especially considering that it was Roscosmosâ first interplanetary program in 15 years.
Phobos-Grunt was meant to put a lander on the moonâs surface, collect about 200 grams of soil, and bring it back to Earth. The mission failed: Shortly after launch, the probe suffered a malfunction that left it in low Earth orbit. Scientists and engineers around the world tried to establish contact with the spacecraft but never succeeded. A few months later, Phobos-Grunt burned up in the atmosphere. The failure forced Roscosmos to rethink its entire interplanetary program and, in particular, led to cooperation with the European Space Agency.
In Japan, the idea of sending a probe to Phobos emerged in the mid-2010s. Masaki Fujimoto, director of ISAS/JAXA and the driving force behind MMX, recalled how the project began:
During one of our informal Friday discussions, someone asked, âWhat kind of solar system research could we do with an Epsilon launch vehicle?â And Phobos was suggested as a destination. The project then began to gather momentum, largely driven by questions about what would come after Hayabusa2 (which at that point hadnât even reached its target, the asteroid Ryugu), as well as discussions about how to approach a Mars landing mission. And all this was happening at a time when many people feared Japan might abandon such ambitious plans altogether.
From the outset, Japanese engineers understood that landing on Mars would require extensive research and new engineering solutions. A soft landing, for example, would be impossible without them. But JAXA wasnât starting from scratch. The agency had successfully explored asteroids with its Hayabusa and Hayabusa2 missions, and Phobos resembles an asteroid in some respects. JAXA also believed that operating spacecraft and conducting research in orbit around Mars would provide valuable experience for a larger mission to the planet. The agency therefore saw MMX as a bridge between asteroid exploration and the study of the Red Planet.
The MMX spacecraft in an assembly building at Tanegashima Space Center
Like FC Barcelonaâs crest, Phobos has blue and red sections. But no one knows where these stripes came from
Scientists are still asking whether Phobos and Deimos are asteroids captured by Mars or formed from debris thrown into orbit after the planet collided with another object in space. That second scenario â the giant-impact hypothesis â is now considered the most plausible explanation for the formation of Earthâs moon.
There are variations on these hypotheses, too. Some researchers, for example, suggest that the moons may have broken apart under tidal forces and then reassembled from the debris. It is also possible that Phobos and Deimos formed in different ways.
To determine which explanation is correct, or at least narrow the possibilities, scientists need to analyze soil samples from Phobos. This will allow them to determine its mineral composition, establish whether it contains water or ice, assess its porosity, and look for organic matter. It will also help them study its overall geological structure: Many asteroids are more like piles of rubble than solid bodies.
Scientists also hope to understand why Phobos has distinct âblueâ and âredâ regions. These are the names scientists have given to two areas of the moonâs surface with very different spectral properties. The âredâ region covers most of the surface, while the âblueâ region lies around Stickney crater. The blue region extends across both the floor and rim of Stickney crater. The spectral differences suggest that Phobos is composed of different kinds of material, rather than having distinct surface and subsurface layers.
One of Phobosâ most striking features is the long, parallel grooves that cover much of its surface. To understand the moonâs geological history, scientists need to determine what caused them. Cracks? Marks left by falling debris? Something else? Finding the answer will require detailed imaging from orbit.
The mission will also help scientists learn more about Mars. They believe the samples from Phobos may contain a significant share of Martian material thrown onto the moon by events such as meteorite impacts. Calculations suggest this material could account for up to 1% of the samplesâ total volume.
If so, the samples from Phobos will be the first Martian material available to scientists on Earth. They might even contain traces of Martian life. Among those who have raised this possibility is the missionâs lead scientist, Kiyoshi Kuramoto, a planetary scientist at Hokkaido University: âI do think thereâs a possibility that chemical traces of biological activity might be contained within that sand sample.â
An H3 rocket carrying the MMX spacecraft on the launchpad at Japanâs Tanegashima Space Center on October 19, 2026
The Martian Moons eXploration spacecraft has three modules. The mission includes a microwave-sized rover
The MMX spacecraft consists of three separate modules:
A propulsion module: It will control the spacecraft and adjust its orbit during the journey to Mars and subsequent maneuvers
A return module: It is intended to leave the surface of Phobos and fly back to Earth
Most of the scientific instruments are aboard the lander. The most important are the samplers, which are intended to collect about 10 grams of soil for scientists on Earth to study.
One of these instruments, the P-sampler, is designed to collect particles directly from the surface. It works much like a vacuum cleaner: First, a jet of nitrogen lifts the soil, and then the instrument sucks it inside. The second sampler, the C-sampler, is a miniature drill intended to obtain a sample from a depth of several centimeters.
The module also carries infrared and gamma-ray spectrometers to study the Martian moonsâ mineral composition and search for ice and organic matter, along with high-resolution and wide-angle cameras to investigate the âredâ and âblueâ regions. MMX also carries a laser altimeter and cameras designed to capture images of Mars and its moons in 4K and even 8K.
A radiation monitor and instruments for studying dust will operate during the flight. The dust instruments will search for traces of comets and dust rings around the Red Planet.
Another important part of the mission is IDEFIX, a French-German four-wheeled mini-rover the size of a small microwave, weighing about 25 kilograms (55 pounds). Its job is to scout the landing area. It has its own instruments for this: a spectrometer to identify minerals, a radiometer to measure temperature and thermal properties, and stereo navigation cameras.
Phobos against the backdrop of Mars, photographed by ESAâs Mars Express orbiter. Olympus Mons, Marsâ largest volcano, is visible in the upper right
The mission is expected to last several years. If it succeeds, the return to Earth is scheduled for 2031
The spacecraft launched aboard an H3-24L rocket from Japanâs Tanegashima Space Center at 4:41 a.m. local time on October 20 (10:41 p.m. October 19 in Moscow).
The rest of the mission is expected to follow this schedule:
August 2027: Arrival in the Mars system. MMX is to enter orbit around Mars, after which the propulsion module will separate. The spacecraft will then approach Phobos, enter its orbit, and begin imaging. At the same time, it will map spectral properties and study mineral composition to find a safe, scientifically interesting landing site.
December 2028: Landing of the IDEFIX rover. This will be followed by about 100 Earth days of operations, including imaging and studies of minerals, temperature, and the soilâs mechanical properties. These data will help prepare for the larger spacecraftâs landing. Once mission planners select and assess a landing site, MMX will begin its descent. After touching down, it will collect samples from the surface and below it, then transfer them to a container in the return capsule. A second landing is planned to collect material from a different location. However, if the first sampling succeeds, the second landing may be canceled to avoid exposing the spacecraft and the samples already collected to further risk. After the landing operations, MMX will continue studying Phobos, Mars, and the surrounding space. It will then raise its orbit and make a series of flybys of Deimos.
November 2030: Departure of the return module for Earth, carrying the sample capsule.
July 2031: Arrival at Earth and landing in Australia.
Before arrival, the sample return capsule (SRC) will separate from the return module, enter the atmosphere, and descend by parachute. The spacecraft itself will fly past Earth.
At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story youâre reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.
If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at reports@meduza.io.
Moscowâs Presnensky District Court sentenced Andrei Melnikov, the former head of Russiaâs Deposit Insurance Agency, to 4.5 years in prison and fined him 900,000 rubles.
Melnikov was convicted of large-scale fraud. The court found that he stole 4 billion rubles through schemes involving the assets of Aquamir, a Novosibirsk water park in receivership administered by the agency.
The court also ruled in favor of Aquamirâs former owners in a civil claim against Melnikov, ordering him to pay about 4.2 billion rubles.
Melnikov pleaded guilty during the proceedings, and his case was heard under an expedited procedure. With credit for time spent in custody, he will be eligible to apply for parole as early as July 2027.
Melnikov was arrested in October 2025. His former deputy, Alexander Popelyukh, who was also under investigation at the time, testified against him. On the day Melnikov was sentenced, Popelyukh received a four-year sentence in a penal colony in a related case involving the theft of 200 million rubles.
Melnikov became head of the Deposit Insurance Agency in 2022 and was still leading it when he was arrested.
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President Donald Trumpâs envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner plan to meet with Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on October 21, The New York Times reported.
Witkoff and Kushner are expected to take the next step in their efforts to âshow the benefits of deal-making with Mr. Putinâ by securing the release of âa long-held American.â
The report does not identify the American. The Times reported that the only American the U.S. State Department categorizes as âwrongfully detainedâ in Russia is Stephen Hubbard, who fought for the Ukrainian armed forces and was sentenced to six years and 10 months in a penal colony.
On October 20, Trumpâs negotiators met with Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo. No details of the meeting were available at the time of writing. Witkoff attended in person, while Kushner participated remotely because he had the flu. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb also joined the meeting.
Stephen Hubbard is 72. In October 2024, a Russian court sentenced him to six years and 10 months in a standard-security penal colony on mercenary charges. Investigators alleged that Hubbard joined the territorial defense forces in Izium, in Ukraineâs Kharkiv region, in February 2022 (he had lived there since 2014), but was captured by Russian forces in April and later put on trial.
In April 2025, while the previous U.S. presidential administration was still in office, the State Department called on Russia to release Hubbard.
At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story youâre reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.
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Federal Air Transport Agency head Dmitry Yadrov, Transport Minister Andrey Nikitin, First Deputy Finance Minister Irina Okladnikova, and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov in the State Duma on October 20, 2026
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced a cabinet reshuffle on October 19. The government will have four new deputy prime ministers and a new transport minister. The State Duma is expected to approve the appointments shortly, after which the Russian president will sign decrees formalizing them. Meduza has compiled the key takeaways from Russian journalists and news outlets covering the reshuffle.
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov will become one of the new deputy prime ministers while retaining his current post. Siluanov, who has led the Finance Ministry since 2011, has served as a deputy prime minister before: From 2018 to 2020, he was first deputy prime minister in Dmitry Medvedevâs cabinet.
Mishustinâs government previously had no deputy prime minister overseeing finance. Experts unanimously see the appointment as strengthening Siluanovâs position. Yet according to Faridaily, Mishustin has long wanted to replace Siluanov as finance minister with someone from his own team, such as Federal Tax Service head Daniil Yegorov.
Commenting on Siluanovâs appointment as deputy prime minister, Mishustinâs spokesman Boris Belyakov said that âas external pressure intensifies, ensuring financial stability, a balanced budget, and efficient spending takes on particular importance.â Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov linked Siluanovâs new post to the need to âcontinue ensuring macroeconomic stability.â
The Bell reported that it remains unclear which agencies will fall under Siluanovâs authority as deputy prime minister. But as one source wryly told Vedomosti, Deputy Prime Minister Siluanov will now certainly be issuing instructions to the Finance Ministry â which will make his job easier.
Alexandra Prokopenko, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin, wrote that making Siluanov a deputy prime minister represents âa return to a familiar arrangement, not preparation for a moveâ toward replacing the prime minister. She wrote that Alexey Kudrin also served as deputy prime minister and finance minister simultaneously. âThe more interesting question is how responsibilities will be divided,â she wrote. If Siluanov oversees the economy as a whole â currently Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novakâs responsibility â âthatâs a real power gain. If not, itâs a title on top of the authority he already has.â
Other appointments are also being linked to Siluanovâs growing influence. His first deputy at the Finance Ministry, 41-year-old Irina Okladnikova, will become the governmentâs chief of staff, also with the rank of deputy prime minister. At the Finance Ministry, Okladnikova was responsible for drafting and implementing the federal budget. According to Kommersant, she will now oversee how efficiently budget funds are spent, manage the national debt, and build up the National Wealth Fund. The Bell reported that these were previously all tools âthat Mishustinâs team could use to keep an eye on the Finance Ministry.â
The Bell linked these personnel decisions to the fact that Russiaâs war against Ukraine is costing far more than budgeted. Kommersant noted that recent federal budgets looked relatively balanced on paper, but spending rose in practice. The outlet suggested that expanded powers might allow Siluanov to rein in spending.
Anton Siluanov and Irina Okladnikova
As government chief of staff, Okladnikova will replace Dmitry Grigorenko, who is considered one of the officials closest to Mishustin. At the time of publication, there had been no official announcement about Grigorenkoâs next job. Sources who spoke to Vedomosti and RBC said he could be headed to Sber. Experts see Grigorenkoâs departure as weakening Mishustinâs position. The chief of staff decides which proposals reach the prime minister. Previously, business representatives had a chance to secure changes to Finance Ministry proposals before they reached the prime ministerâs desk for signature, The Bell reported. Now the post will go to someone âwho personally drafted the current budget and argued in the Duma for the right to spend and borrow beyond what the law allows.â
Faridaily wrote, however, that Grigorenkoâs departure and the appointment of new deputy prime ministers do not make Mishustin a âlame duck.â The Russian president has long tried to keep Mishustin from becoming too powerful, the outlet wrote, but âthe prime minister will certainly have somewhat fewer opportunities to push through his decisions, including on funding and personnel.â
Prokopenko wrote that Grigorenko âhad strained relations with virtually every cabinet member.â In her view, his departure from the government âmay be part of a deal Mishustin agreed to.â
Another new deputy prime minister is Primorsky Krai Governor Oleg Kozhemyako. He will replace Yuri Trutnev, who has served as deputy prime minister and presidential envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District for 13 years. Kozhemyako is not considered close to Mishustin, Faridaily reported. According to RBC, Trutnev, 70, decided to leave the government on his own. The outletâs sources said the envoyâs job requires frequent flights to the Far East, and Trutnev now âneeds to recover.â RBCâs sources expect him to take a job in the presidential administration as an aide to the president.
The fourth new deputy prime minister is Andrey Nikitin, who has led the Transport Ministry since July 2025. Nikitin replaced Vitaly Savelyev as deputy prime minister. Savelyev became a deputy speaker of the newly elected State Duma. Nikitin will continue to oversee transport in his new post. Dmitry Yadrov, who has headed the Federal Air Transport Agency since September 2023, has been nominated as transport minister. Yadrovâs replacement has not yet been announced. Sources reported as early as September that Nikitin would be named deputy prime minister for transport.
State Duma committees have already endorsed the nominees for deputy prime minister. Commenting on Siluanovâs new post, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said, in part: âThe Finance Ministry is doing a fairly effective job handling the issues before it.â
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Scientists and university faculty in Russia are increasingly facing prosecution for financing âextremismâ through donations to the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), Mediazona reported.
More than 10 such cases have reached Moscow courts in the past six months, the outlet found. The 4th Department of Directorate P within the Fourth Service of the Federal Security Service (FSB) initiated at least three cases against scientists.
The Fourth Service is also known as the Economic Security Service. The Dossier Center previously reported that officers in Directorate P provide âcounterintelligence support for industryâ and oversee state technology corporations including Rostec, Rusnano, and Roscosmos. One scientist who spoke to Mediazona said the FSBâs Fourth Service also oversees Skoltech and HSE University.
Among the scientists sentenced to prison is Sofya Rozenfeld, who holds a Doctor of Sciences degree in biology, Russiaâs highest academic degree, and specializes in Arctic birds. Mediazona reported that her case file includes testimony from an officer with the Center E anti-extremism unit. The officer said he had received âpreliminary inquiry materialsâ concerning Rozenfeld from the 4th Department of Directorate P within the FSBâs Fourth Service. The materials said the scientist âmay be involved in financing the FBK.â This FSB unit is also mentioned in other cases against scientists over donations to the FBK.
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European Parliament Vice President Pina Picierno announced a hunger strike to âdraw international attentionâ to the situation in Oleshky, a city in the occupied part of Ukraineâs Kherson region.
Picierno called on humanitarian organizations and governments to take notice of her protest.
âWe must demand an immediate humanitarian truce, the entry of food and medicines, and the possibility of safely evacuating civilians who wish to leave the city,â she said.
Oleshky is under Russian control. For months, its residents have been without electricity, food, and adequate medical care amid relentless shelling from both sides. Leaving the city is nearly impossible because most roads out are mined.
Several days ago, Pope Leo XIV called Russian President Vladimir Putin to ask him to ensure that humanitarian aid could reach the city and residents could be evacuated. Soon afterward, Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliamentâs human rights commissioner, confirmed that Kyiv and Moscow were working to resolve the situation. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov later confirmed this as well.
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The building where Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko owns an apartment is exempt from the scheduled power outages that affect most city residents, the news outlet Slidstvo.Info reported.
Klitschkoâs apartment is in central Kyiv, in a building constructed in 1901 at 30/10 Bohdan Khmelnytsky Street.
In response to an inquiry from Slidstvo.Info, DTEK Kyiv Grids said the building and 10 other residential buildings are connected to a critical infrastructure facility. The company receives its list of critical infrastructure facilities from the Kyiv City Military Administration.
âUnder this connection arrangement, the residential buildings are an additional load on the facility and therefore cannot be disconnected separately from it during scheduled power outages,â DTEK said in its response.
In 2013, Klitschko said he had decided to buy the 225-square-meter (2,420-square-foot) apartment in the building after winning a fight in 1999.
Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities have introduced scheduled power outages due to constant Russian strikes on energy infrastructure. These attacks have intensified as colder weather approaches â Russian forces strike Kyiv almost every night.
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Lawmakers have submitted a bill to Russiaâs State Duma that would increase criminal penalties for calls to mass riots, one of its authors, Vasily Piskarev, said.
Under current Russian law, inciting riots carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison. The bill would raise that to four years.
Calls to riot made online would become a separate criminal offense carrying a sentence of up to six years in prison.
âOur adversaries â the collective West and the fugitive criminals, relocants, and foreign agents under its control â are not giving up their attempts to provoke our citizens into taking part in various provocations and dragging them into committing crimes,â Piskarev said, explaining the need for the legislative changes.
The bill has already received favorable reviews from the government and Russiaâs Supreme Court.
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European leaders are rethinking their approach to the Kremlin, Financial Times foreign affairs columnist Gideon Rachman writes. More politicians in the European Union now agree that negotiations with Vladimir Putin should not remain the exclusive prerogative of the United States. European countries could soon open their own talks with the Kremlin. Channels of communication are already in place, he says.
EU policy toward Russia has rested on two main pillars until now: support for Ukraine and sanctions. European leaders have tried to shape the negotiations by influencing Donald Trumpâs position, but those efforts are growing less effective. Europe also fears Trump is more interested in business deals with Moscow than in security issues.
In any direct talks, Putin could be offered two options for ending the war, Rachman writes: freezing the conflict along the front line in exchange for a guarantee that Ukraine will not join NATO, or ceding all of the Donbas to Moscowâs control, after which Kyiv could join the alliance.
Meanwhile, relations between Kyiv and Washington are going through a new crisis, triggered by an energy crisis and Trumpâs push to lower diesel prices ahead of the midterm elections to Congress.
Trump has repeatedly urged Ukraine to stop striking Russian oil refineries and declare an energy truce. After diplomatic failure, he struck a deal with Moscow on diesel supplies. Volodymyr Zelensky said the United States had âchosen the sideâ of Russia. Trump responded that it was easier for him to reach an agreement with Putin than with Zelensky, adding that Ukraine needs to hold elections.
Relations between the two leaders are at their âlowest pointâ since the clash in the Oval Office in 2025, the WSJ writes. The latest exchange took place a day earlier: Trump accused Zelensky of not wanting to end the war, while Zelensky said Ukraine is being pressured to capitulate.
Amid this, U.S. Vice President JD Vance has spoken out against Ukraine joining NATO: âWe donât have a formal alliance as far as I know with Ukraine. Theyâre not in NATO. I donât think that they should be in NATO,â he said. Vance also refused to call Kyiv an ally of Washington, saying they have âdivergent interests from time to time.â
War in photographs. Komyshuvakha.
Residents of Komyshuvakha, a front-line village in the Zaporizhzhia region, are being evacuated because of the threat of Russian drone strikes. These photos were taken October 19, 2026.
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On October 20, 2014, Meduza went live from Riga. Earlier that year, Russia illegally annexed Crimea, and our co-founder Galina Timchenko was fired as editor-in-chief of the popular news portal Lenta.ru, prompting mass resignations in the newsroom. Starting a news organization abroad may have seemed like a drastic way to keep reporting independently on Russia, but Meduza was never timid. Also, in retrospect, it was a prescient move.
Twelve years is an awkward age for anyone, and itâs not so different for a newsroom. Weâre no longer a startup, but weâre not exactly an institution that can take its future for granted. Weâve also acquired a collection of official Russian designations that no one would put on a birthday card.
For years, Meduza reported on Russia from outside the country while building an audience inside its borders. Then came the Kremlinâs discriminatory labels. In 2021, the Russian authorities designated us a âforeign agentâ driving away advertisers and forcing us to rely on readers for financial support. In 2022, after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the government blocked our website outright, and our remaining staff in Russia were forced to leave. In 2023, the authorities went a step further and declared Meduza an âundesirable organizationâ effectively outlawing our work in the country we cover most closely.
âForeign agent.â âUndesirable.â These are bureaucratic phrases for something simple: The Kremlin would prefer that people not learn what we report, and itâs made it dangerous for people in Russia to help sustain our work.
But millions of people in Russia still read Meduza, despite the fear, and we keep giving them ways to do it by circumventing the Kremlinâs censorship. We owe them more than a story about our own resilience. We owe them journalism that helps explain the decisions made in their name, the lives changed by those decisions, and the war Russia has inflicted on Ukraine and spread across Europe.
We also owe readers a picture of the world that isnât composed entirely of dictators, disasters, and prison sentences. We cover politics and war, but also science, books, music, and ordinary people trying to make sense of extraordinary circumstances. Sometimes the news is monstrous. Sometimes itâs funny. Sometimes itâs both, which isnât always convenient for those of us writing the headlines.
If youâre reading us in English, most of what you see began as reporting in Russian. Making that work available to a wider audience matters to us. You shouldnât need to know Russian to follow what is happening in Russia or understand how its decisions affect people far beyond its borders.
So what do we wish for on our 12th birthday? We could ask for an end to censorship, a free press in Russia, and peace in Ukraine. Those would all be good and long overdue, and we encourage anyone reading to deliver them immediately if itâs within your power. Assuming not, however, thereâs something more immediate you can help us with: getting to our next birthday.
Our readers in Russia cannot donate to an outlawed organization. Thatâs why we depend on those of you elsewhere who can. If our reporting has helped you understand this part of the world, please consider a donation â ideally a recurring one. It helps us pay our journalists, keep the news accessible, and plan beyond the next funding emergency.
Meduza is 12, and we arenât planning on stopping any time soon.
South Korea will recall part of its diplomatic staff from Ukraine amid a scandal over the transfer of North Korean prisoners of war to Seoul, Yonhap reported.
South Koreaâs Foreign Ministry said it made the decision because Kyiv had not taken âpositive stepsâ to resolve the diplomatic conflict.
It also said ongoing Russian airstrikes are complicating efforts to protect its diplomatic staff.
The diplomatic scandal between South Korea and Ukraine began after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said publicly that Kyiv had handed over two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea. Seoul said the arrangement had been private, and that Ukraine itself had initiated it.
After the incident, Seoul demanded an official apology. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha offered it only during diplomatic consultations, not publicly, which South Korea considered insufficient. In early October, Seoul recalled its ambassador from Ukraine.
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Russian rapper Navai Bakirov, known as Navai, has been released from a pretrial detention center in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstani police told the Russian state news agency TASS that the criminal case against him on drug smuggling charges was dropped in light of his âactive repentance.â The prosecutorâs office has already approved the decision to drop the case.
Bakirov was detained on October 14 at a checkpoint on the border with Kyrgyzstan as he entered Kazakhstan, after drugs were found in his car. Baza, a Russian security services-linked Telegram channel, reported that 10 grams (0.35 ounces) of marijuana were found in the car, while other sources cited 2.5 grams (0.09 ounces) of drugs. During questioning, the outlet reported, the rapper said he had bought the drugs in Bishkek.
Bakirov was traveling to Kazakhstan to perform a concert in Astana on October 14.
The Kordai District Court on October 15 authorized the arrest of Bakirov for two months.
Navai Bakirov is best known primarily as a member of the duo HammAli & Navai, which performed hookah rap and existed from 2016 to 2025. After the duo broke up, Bakirov began a solo career.
At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story youâre reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.
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Ukrainian drones struck Russiaâs Tambov region overnight on October 20, sparking a fire at one of the facilities, the regionâs governor, Yevgeny Pervyshev, said. He declined to elaborate, saying only that no one was injured.
Ukraineâs Exilenova+ monitoring project and OSINT analysts from the independent Telegram channel Astra believe the drones struck the Nikolskoye linear production and dispatching station (LPDS) in Michurinsky District.
The Nikolskoye LPDS is a key node in the Druzhba trunk oil pipeline system. The station receives, stores, pumps, and transits oil and petroleum products, with a capacity of up to 300,000 tons of oil per day.
Ukrainian drones struck the Nikolskoye LPDS at least twice during the summer of 2025.
Ukrainian forces have struck Russian oil refineries repeatedly over the past several months, a campaign that has become one of the main drivers of the countryâs fuel crisis.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the United States of deliberately delaying deliveries of interceptor missiles that NATO countries have already paid for, Axios reported, citing a transcript of a video call between Zelensky and American senators.
According to Zelensky, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has deliberately withheld approval for deliveries of Patriot interceptors and AIM-9X missiles for NASAMS air defense systems. Kyiv, he said, has almost no American missiles left.
All of this suggests that some political decision has been made to slow down support for us. We want to understand what is happening, why itâs happening, and where all of this is heading.
He also reiterated that Ukraine failed on three occasions over the past week to receive U.S. warnings about Russian ballistic missile strikes, and that the American satellite systems Starlink and its military version, Starshield, have been partially restricted.
Axios reported that representatives of both parties took part in the meeting with Zelensky. Republican Senator Thom Tillis said Congress âremains committed to standing with Ukraine and our European allies to end Russiaâs brutal aggression and secure lasting peace.â
Democrat Richard Blumenthal also stressed that âbipartisan support for Ukraine was clear and unequivocal,â He assured that senators would express it through their âupcoming action.â
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Russian retailers want a special legal regime that would take effect during mass outages in state information systems, known as GIS, according to the Russian business daily Kommersant. The proposal appears in a letter that the Association of Internet Trade Companies, or AKIT, sent to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
AKIT proposes letting retailers record data they cannot transmit promptly and send it once the infrastructure is restored. The letterâs authors also argue for backup methods of data transmission and say sellers should not be penalized for missed deadlines during the âemergency mode.â
AKIT also believes Russia could temporarily allow the storage and processing of Russiansâ personal data in âfriendlyâ countries. Currently, personal data can only be processed and stored inside Russia.
AKIT drafted the letter after Ukrainian drones struck data centers belonging to Yandex and Sberbank. The association said the attacks did not cause major disruptions in retail at the time, but argued that a special regime should be established in case of force majeure. Rusprodsoyuz, which represents major food producers, said isolated outages did occur, forcing some companies to halt operations and switch to paper records. The letter includes several other proposals that AKIT did not disclose.
The Economy Ministry and the Finance Ministry told Kommersant that AKITâs letter âwill be reviewed in accordance with the established procedure.â
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Donald Trumpâs special envoy Steve Witkoff plans to meet soon with Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin, Reuters and Axios correspondent Barak Ravid reported, citing sources.
Witkoff will travel to Oslo this week (October 19 to 25) for another round of talks on ending the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported. Zelensky will also attend, along with representatives of Norway, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Poland, the European Union, and NATO.
Sources told Reuters and Ravid that Witkoff plans to visit Russia afterward to meet with Putin. The timing of that visit is unknown.
Witkoff plans to present Putin with ideas for ending the war developed jointly with Ukraine and European partners, Ravid reported. The talks may also address the release of 73-year-old American Stephen Hubbard from a Russian penal colony. In October 2024, a Russian court sentenced Hubbard to six years and 10 months in a medium-security prison on charges of serving as a mercenary.
Trumpâs negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with a Ukrainian delegation in Miami on October 9. That same day, Trump spoke with Putin by phone. Afterward, Trump said Russia would supply diesel fuel to the U.S. and global markets under a âdiesel deal.â The U.S.âUkraine talks were scheduled for October 9 and 10 but ended early, after the first day. Witkoff and Kushner were expected to travel to Moscow afterward, but the visit was postponed.
At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story youâre reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.
If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at reports@meduza.io.
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