LAGOS MARCH 24TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Militant Islamist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for Friday’s rampage but there were indications that Russia was pursuing a Ukrainian link, despite emphatic denials from Ukrainian officials that Kyiv had anything to do with it. In a televised address, Putin said 11 people had been detained, including the four gunmen, adding that…
LAGOS AUGUST 24TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a brief armed rebellion against the Russian military earlier this year, was presumed dead Wednesday after a plane crash north of Moscow that killed all 10 people on board. Prigozhin was on the plane, according to Russia’s civil aviation agency, which cited the airline. The crash…
LAGOS JULY 29TH (NEWSRANGERS)-African leaders pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday to move ahead with their plan to end the Ukraine conflict and to renew a deal crucial to Africa on the safe wartime export of Ukrainian grain, which Moscow tore up last week. While not directly critical of Russia, their interventions on the…
LAGOS JUNE 24TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s plane left Moscow on the afternoon of June 24 amid an ongoing rebellion led by PMC Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Belarusian Hajun monitoring project said on Telegram on June 24, citing data from the Flightradar24 service. The Russian government’s Il-96−300PU aircraft took off from Vnukovo Airport at 14:16…
LAGOS JUNE 12TH (NEWSRANGERS)-An American musician who has lived in Russia for more than a decade has been arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking, Russian news media reported Saturday. The reports said Michael Travis Leake is suspected of selling mephedrone, whose effects are similar to those of cocaine and MDMA. A Moscow court ordered him…
LAGOS APRIL 4TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Mukhtar Gusengadzhiev, 53, also known as “Snake Man”, was convicted of abusing the six underage girls including a relative and the 9-year-old daughter of a former girlfriend. .The Russian circus actor must also undergo compulsory “treatment” for paedophilia, according to reports. .During a search of his flat, police found several videos featuring…