The Latest Breaking News from VKontakte

The Russian government doesn’t need to do anything to encourage the spread of extremism ‘because it’s already cooking,’ Neil Johnson tells Gustaf Kilander

The online postings of far-right extremists keep turning up on Russia's loosely moderated social media platforms.

The timing couldn’t have been worse. Turkey had already threatened to derail Sweden’s NATO aspirations when a far-right extremist set fire to a Koran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. On Friday, Ankara issued its verdict on Sweden and Finland’s joint NATO bid: For now, Turkey would only start ratifying…

A video posted in early January 2023 showed the leader of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner with a mercenary who was described as Ivorian. By analysing posts shared on social networks and talking to people who knew him at different times in his life, the FRANCE 24 Observers team managed…

Social media users have noted that the same blonde woman has appeared behind Russian President Vladimir Putin on three different occasions – proof, they say, that he used “paid extras” during his address marking the start of 2023. However, it turns out that these images do featuredifferent women. One is…

Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Monday he had interfered in US elections and would continue doing so in future, the first such admission from a figure implicated by Washington in efforts to influence American politics. In comments posted by the press service of his Concord catering firm on Russia's…

Apple on Wednesday confirmed that it removed popular Russian social network VKontakte from its App Store globally due to sanctions imposed by Britain. The British government on Monday sanctioned 92 Russian individuals and entities after President Vladimir Putin's regime held referendums in Moscow-controlled areas of Ukraine -- denounced by Kyiv…

Company says British sanctions compel it to remove the social media app from its store globally

In a video that emerged Tuesday, the de facto leader of a Russian mercenary outfit known as the Wagner Group is seen promising convicts release from prison in return for a six-month combat tour in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

As the government tightens its grip, some social media stars are speaking out, while others are pivoting to propaganda

Large convoys of military equipment have been filmed in Russia and Belarus in recent days. Amateur videos analysed and verified by the FRANCE 24 Observers team show that some of these military reinforcements are heading for the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, towards the pro-Russian self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and…