U.K.-sanctioned Russian businessman Oleg Tinkov said the Kremlin had forced him to sell his stake in a major bank he had founded after he criticized the Ukraine war.

Tinkov told The New York Times the Kremlin told the Tinkoff Bank’s senior executives to cut ties with him the day after his explosive April 19 Instagram post denouncing the war as a

At least two “large explosions” were heard in the early hours of Monday in the Belgorod region 30 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, the region’s governor said.

“I awoke to two strong explosions,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on the Telegram messaging app without disclosing the location of the blasts.

He said there were no injuries or damage.

Dozens of activists, journalists and anti-war protesters have been detained across Russia as the country celebrated May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, an independent watchdog said Sunday.

Police apprehended seven people in Moscow and St. Petersburg each, six people in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk and six others the Urals city of

Russia is not looking to end its war in Ukraine by Victory Day on May 9, its foreign minister said, as the country looks set to mark the key anniversary under the cloud of a deadly conflict. 

Speaking with Italian outlet Mediaset, Sergei Lavrov insisted Moscow would not rush to wrap up its so-called "special military operation" in time for the