A Russian man was detained after trying to knock down a monument of the letter “Z” — a symbol of support for Russia’s military operation in Ukraine — in a city near Moscow, local police reported Tuesday.

The two-meter-tall, illuminated “Z” was installed in Kostroma, a city 500 kilometers southeast of Moscow, on March 18. Beside the monument stands a

President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday condemned measures taken against Russian gas giant Gazprom in Europe over the conflict in Ukraine and warned of potential reprisals.

"The situation in the energy sector is worsening as a result of non-market, brute measures, including administrative pressure on our company Gazprom in some European countries,"

Russia’s second-largest bank VTB said Tuesday that it was considering starting up operations in Crimea after many years of shunning the annexed territory. 

“We’re now considering different options,” the head of state-owned VTB, Andrei Kostin, told reporters Tuesday. “Of course, Crimea is our territory, and we will work there.”

Russia’s banking s

The United States starting Tuesday will bar Russia from making debt payments using funds held at American banks, ramping up the economic pain on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. Treasury said.

The latest move increases the risk the country will not be able to pay its obligations.

"Beginning today, the U.S. Treasury will not permit any