INSIDE RUSSIA - WHAT'S HAPPENING IN RUSSIA RIGHT NOW | September 10, 2026
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KREMLIN SAYS THERE WILL BE NO MOBILIZATION IN RUSSIA AND CALLS RUMORS OF IT “LYING PROVOCATION”
The deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia and chairman of Putin’s political party United Russia Dmitry Medvedev said that reports of a possible new wave of mobilization in the country this fall are untrue. In an interview with Vedomosti, he called such rumors a “lying provocation” by Kyiv.
According to Medvedev, the Russian army is currently fully staffed by contract soldiers and volunteers, so there is no need for a new mobilization.
He also said that the spread of rumors about a draft is connected to the upcoming Russian Government elections. In Medvedev’s point of view, the aim is to weaken the country, divide society, and influence the positions of Putin and United Russia.
Earlier, Medvedev had already denied preparations for a new mobilization. In July, he claimed that about 200,000 people had signed contracts with the Defense Ministry to go to the war in the first six months of 2026.
--------------------------------- 2 ---------------------------------
RUSSIAN TAX AUTHORITIES STEP UP AUDITS OF BIG BUSINESSES AMID BUDGET DEFICIT
The Federal Tax Service of Russia has sharply increased the number of audits of the country’s largest companies amid the growing federal budget deficit, which over the first eight months of 2026 reached 5.8 trillion rubles ($68.24 billion).
From January through June, tax authorities conducted 60 on-site audits of major taxpayers — companies with annual revenue exceeding 35 billion rubles ($411.76 million). This is twice as many as during the same period in 2025. Following the audits, the Federal Tax Service assessed an additional 16.3 billion rubles ($191.76 million) in taxes, penalties, and fines — nearly three times last year’s figure of 5.8 billion rubles ($68.24 million).
In Moscow, the average amount claimed in a single on-site audit increased by nearly 60% over the year, reaching 220 million rubles ($2.59 million) in the first quarter of 2026. In some cases, tax authorities’ claims exceed 1 billion rubles ($11.76 million).
Experts link the increased activity of the Federal Tax Service to the need to find additional revenue for the budget. According to expert estimates, the federal budget deficit could reach 7 trillion rubles ($82.35 billion) by the end of the year, while the Central Bank forecasts it at more than 8 trillion rubles ($94.12 billion). Provincial budgets could also face a shortfall of around 2 trillion rubles ($23.53 billion).
At the same time, companies’ attempts to challenge tax authorities’ claims in court most often end unsuccessfully: according to court statistics, about 85% of such cases are decided in favor of the Federal Tax Service.
--------------------------------- 3 ---------------------------------
RUSSIAN JUSTICE MINISTRY ADDS 15 NEW ORGANIZATIONS TO THE LIST OF “UNDESIRABLE”
The Russian Ministry of Justice declared 15 new organizations to be “undesirable.” Many of them are connected to Ukraine and the war.
The list now includes the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), as well as the NGO’s branches and its CABAR.asia project in Central Asia, Mediazona noted.
Also added to the list were:
The Norwegian venture fund Gardar, created to invest in Ukraine’s defense industry;
The Ukrainian project Razom We Stand;
The Ukrainian War Environmental Consequences Work Group (UWEC), a project that compiles reports on the environmental consequences of the war;
Panda Platforma and Dialogue for Understanding, organizations that help Ukrainians in Germany;
The German Stiftung Menschenrechte foundation, which is affiliated with Amnesty International;
The Dutch NGO OSINT for Ukraine;
The Polish project INFO OPS;
and the American volunteer organization U.S. Ukrainian Activists.
--------------------------------- 4 ---------------------------------
MAJOR RUSSIAN AIRPORTS INTRODUCE RESTRICTIONS ON AIRCRAFT REFUELING AMID GASOLINE CRISIS
At least 26 major Russian airports had introduced restrictions on aircraft refueling as of September 7, according to Verstka, which analyzed notices in the aeronautical information system.
The first restrictions were introduced in June, while the second wave came in September. Depending on the airport, they are set to remain in effect for between one and nearly seven months.
For example, from September 2, 2026, to March 16, 2027, St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport introduced refueling only in accordance with the flight plan for all flights, with no additional fuel volumes. A similar notice has been in effect at Kaliningrad’s Khrabrovo Airport from June 8 through December 6 of this year. These measures apply to both Russian and foreign carriers.
At the same time, at 15 of the 26 airports, the restrictions apply only to foreign airlines. “Refueling of aircraft operated by foreign companies is limited to the amount necessary for a single flight,” the NOTAM notices state.
For example, there are currently four airports in the Urals with such notices: Koltsovo (Yekaterinburg), Balandino (Chelyabinsk), Roshchino (Tyumen), as well as Magnitogorsk Airport.
The situation is most severe in southern Russia, where some airports have been closed because of the war with Ukraine. Of the six operating airports, restrictions on refueling have been imposed on both domestic and foreign carriers at three — in the cities of Sochi, Volgograd, and Astrakhan. In Krasnodar, they apply only to foreign companies.
--------------------------------- 5 ---------------------------------
RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH WILL HOLD A PRAYER SERVICE FOR A LOWER CENTRAL BANK RATE AND AFFORDABLE MORTGAGES
Yevgeny, Metropolitan of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye, will pray for a reduction in the key interest rate and improved mortgage conditions for Russian citizens. The services will take place from September 11 to 13 during the stay in the city of Yekaterinburg of the relics of Saint Spyridon, OTV television reports.
“There is a principal prayer that Jesus Christ gave to his disciples; it is called the ‘Our Father.’ In this prayer, God himself said that we should ask for ‘our daily bread.’ Daily bread includes, among other things, the central bank rate and the country’s financial well-being,” the clergyman explained.
According to him, praying about Russia’s economic situation is “not only permissible” but necessary. Yevgeny added that under the current circumstances, “all that remains is to rely on a miracle.” The church official also advised Russians to pray for the normalization of gasoline and food supplies.
The first day of the services will coincide not only with the relics being in Yekaterinburg, but also with the next meeting of the Central Bank’s Board of Directors on the key interest rate, scheduled for September 11.
--------------------------------- 6 ---------------------------------
RUSSIAN UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR IS FORCED TO RESIGN AFTER 30 YEARS OF WORK OVER SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS FEATURING PICTURES OF AN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN
The head of the Department of World History at Herzen University (also known as Russian State Pedagogical University), 65-year-old Tatyana Kudryavtseva, was forced to resign after 30 years of work over old social media posts.
The outlet MR7 wrote about Kudryavtseva’s dismissal yesterday, citing students. According to them, the professor was still at her workplace, and then a consultation scheduled for them was canceled two hours before it was due to begin. “Our entire School of History and Social Sciences was thrown into an uproar,” one student said.
Later, Kudryavtseva described what happened in more detail. According to her, after classes she was summoned for a conversation with the administration and shown screenshots of two Instagram posts. Kudryavtseva noted that she had not logged into Instagram for several years and “certainly had not been looking through my old photos.”
The first post was published in 2020 and featured a photograph of graffiti depicting deceased opposition politician Alexei Navalny. In the second picture, taken in 2021, Kudryavtseva was standing in a courtyard holding a flashlight — a campaign in support of Navalny. The post was accompanied by the Latin phrase Omnia vincit amor (“Love conquers all”).
According to Kudryavtseva, the administration considered the posts a display of prohibited symbols and warned her about a disciplinary commission, as well as possible administrative or criminal liability. “I asked directly: ‘Should I write a resignation letter?’ I received an affirmative answer and the date from which I would be dismissed,” the professor told MR7.
Kudryavtseva stressed that she had not posted anything that could discredit the Russian army. She described herself as someone who “wishes victory for her country” and said that she had donated money to the war.
The professor described the reason for what happened as “someone’s obscurantism,” adding that she had been “practically thrown out of my home university.” Students told Ostorozhno Novosti that they were discussing ways to support Kudryavtseva, including launching a petition, but feared possible expulsion.
--------------------------------- 7 ---------------------------------
RUSSIA ASKS VIETNAM TO LEASE IT AIRCRAFT
Russian authorities are trying to reach an agreement with Vietnam to provide Russian airlines with aircraft from Vietnamese carriers under “wet leases,” meaning leases that include the crew and maintenance. According to Interfax, this was announced by Transport Minister Andrei Nikitin.
“We have sent our colleagues the relevant proposals, and they are considering them,” the minister said after Russian-Vietnamese talks in Moscow.
Nikitin reported “very good momentum” in tourist traffic between the two countries across all modes of transportation, while air travel has seen “growth of nearly three times compared with last year.” The transfer of aircraft from Vietnamese carriers would make it possible to expand cooperation and increase air connections between the two countries, the minister noted.
Russia, which has already lost legal access to foreign aircraft and components because of international sanctions, has previously tried to arrange “wet leasing” with a number of countries, including Central Asian states, as well as Qatar, Kuwait, and Ethiopia. In the summer of 2025, Ethiopian authorities refused Russia’s request, citing a lack of authority to instruct the national carrier Ethiopian Airlines to lease aircraft, as well as the risk of being subjected to U.S. secondary sanctions.
--------------------------------- 8 ---------------------------------
XI JINPING DOES NOT PLAN ON MEETING WITH PUTIN ON THE SIDELINES OF THE BRICS SUMMIT IN INDIA
Chinese President Xi Jinping will not hold a separate bilateral meeting with Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in New Delhi. This was announced by Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, TASS reports.
At the same time, he suggested that Putin and Xi Jinping might “talk on the sidelines.” “They will have what is known as a meeting on the move,” the Russian president’s aide explained.
The latest meeting between Putin and Xi Jinping took place on August 31 in Bishkek at a meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). However, those talks made no progress on the Power of Siberia-2 project, which envisions supplying China with up to 50 billion cubic meters of gas annually. As the South China Morning Post reported, citing sources familiar with the situation, the sides were unable to agree on the price. China expects to pay around $50 per thousand cubic meters — the same as Russian consumers — or $120–130, the price paid by Russian industrial consumers. Russia, meanwhile, proposes basing the price on the cost of gas under Power of Siberia-1 — around $250–260 per thousand cubic meters.
--------------------------------- 2 ---------------------------------
RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT CALLS ON CITIZENS TO GIVE UP IPHONES DUE TO APPLE’S “DIRTY TRICKS”
In an interview with Gazeta.Ru, Andrei Svintsov, deputy chairman of the Russian Government Committee on Information Policy, urged Russians to stop buying Apple products because, according to him, the company could remotely disable a device at any moment.
“Of course, I consider it reckless to pay huge amounts of money for a gadget that Apple could turn into a brick at any moment. It’s simply risky, and you could lose your money. We see how many Western services, and American ones first and foremost, constantly pull some kind of dirty tricks and do nasty things to our citizens,” he said.
Svintsov advised Russians to gradually switch from Apple products to “universal” devices. “It seems to me that it is time for our citizens to switch to some more universal means. And, little by little, probably give up Apple products,” the lawmaker concluded.
Apple halted official sales of its products in Russia shortly after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, while also restricting the operation of Apple Pay and other services. Despite the company’s official withdrawal from the Russian market, new iPhone models continue to enter the country through parallel imports and private suppliers.
On September 1, 2025, a law came into force in Russia requiring manufacturers and suppliers of gadgets sold in the country to install the domestic RuStore app store and the government messaging app Max, but Apple refused to do so. In connection with this, in early August the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) opened a case against the U.S. corporation. According to the FAS website, the agency had previously warned Apple that it needed to eliminate “discriminatory conditions” for Russian search engines and comply with requirements to pre-install the Russian app store along with the Max messenger on devices sold in the country.
ON THAT NOTE, WE END TODAY’S NEWS BROADCAST.
STAY TUNED FOR DAILY UPDATES ON WHAT’S HAPPENING IN RUSSIA.
K
--------------------------------- 1 ---------------------------------
KREMLIN SAYS THERE WILL BE NO MOBILIZATION IN RUSSIA AND CALLS RUMORS OF IT “LYING PROVOCATION”
The deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia and chairman of Putin’s political party United Russia Dmitry Medvedev said that reports of a possible new wave of mobilization in the country this fall are untrue. In an interview with Vedomosti, he called such rumors a “lying provocation” by Kyiv.
According to Medvedev, the Russian army is currently fully staffed by contract soldiers and volunteers, so there is no need for a new mobilization.
He also said that the spread of rumors about a draft is connected to the upcoming Russian Government elections. In Medvedev’s point of view, the aim is to weaken the country, divide society, and influence the positions of Putin and United Russia.
Earlier, Medvedev had already denied preparations for a new mobilization. In July, he claimed that about 200,000 people had signed contracts with the Defense Ministry to go to the war in the first six months of 2026.
--------------------------------- 2 ---------------------------------
RUSSIAN TAX AUTHORITIES STEP UP AUDITS OF BIG BUSINESSES AMID BUDGET DEFICIT
The Federal Tax Service of Russia has sharply increased the number of audits of the country’s largest companies amid the growing federal budget deficit, which over the first eight months of 2026 reached 5.8 trillion rubles ($68.24 billion).
From January through June, tax authorities conducted 60 on-site audits of major taxpayers — companies with annual revenue exceeding 35 billion rubles ($411.76 million). This is twice as many as during the same period in 2025. Following the audits, the Federal Tax Service assessed an additional 16.3 billion rubles ($191.76 million) in taxes, penalties, and fines — nearly three times last year’s figure of 5.8 billion rubles ($68.24 million).
In Moscow, the average amount claimed in a single on-site audit increased by nearly 60% over the year, reaching 220 million rubles ($2.59 million) in the first quarter of 2026. In some cases, tax authorities’ claims exceed 1 billion rubles ($11.76 million).
Experts link the increased activity of the Federal Tax Service to the need to find additional revenue for the budget. According to expert estimates, the federal budget deficit could reach 7 trillion rubles ($82.35 billion) by the end of the year, while the Central Bank forecasts it at more than 8 trillion rubles ($94.12 billion). Provincial budgets could also face a shortfall of around 2 trillion rubles ($23.53 billion).
At the same time, companies’ attempts to challenge tax authorities’ claims in court most often end unsuccessfully: according to court statistics, about 85% of such cases are decided in favor of the Federal Tax Service.
--------------------------------- 3 ---------------------------------
RUSSIAN JUSTICE MINISTRY ADDS 15 NEW ORGANIZATIONS TO THE LIST OF “UNDESIRABLE”
The Russian Ministry of Justice declared 15 new organizations to be “undesirable.” Many of them are connected to Ukraine and the war.
The list now includes the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), as well as the NGO’s branches and its CABAR.asia project in Central Asia, Mediazona noted.
Also added to the list were:
The Norwegian venture fund Gardar, created to invest in Ukraine’s defense industry;
The Ukrainian project Razom We Stand;
The Ukrainian War Environmental Consequences Work Group (UWEC), a project that compiles reports on the environmental consequences of the war;
Panda Platforma and Dialogue for Understanding, organizations that help Ukrainians in Germany;
The German Stiftung Menschenrechte foundation, which is affiliated with Amnesty International;
The Dutch NGO OSINT for Ukraine;
The Polish project INFO OPS;
and the American volunteer organization U.S. Ukrainian Activists.
--------------------------------- 4 ---------------------------------
MAJOR RUSSIAN AIRPORTS INTRODUCE RESTRICTIONS ON AIRCRAFT REFUELING AMID GASOLINE CRISIS
At least 26 major Russian airports had introduced restrictions on aircraft refueling as of September 7, according to Verstka, which analyzed notices in the aeronautical information system.
The first restrictions were introduced in June, while the second wave came in September. Depending on the airport, they are set to remain in effect for between one and nearly seven months.
For example, from September 2, 2026, to March 16, 2027, St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport introduced refueling only in accordance with the flight plan for all flights, with no additional fuel volumes. A similar notice has been in effect at Kaliningrad’s Khrabrovo Airport from June 8 through December 6 of this year. These measures apply to both Russian and foreign carriers.
At the same time, at 15 of the 26 airports, the restrictions apply only to foreign airlines. “Refueling of aircraft operated by foreign companies is limited to the amount necessary for a single flight,” the NOTAM notices state.
For example, there are currently four airports in the Urals with such notices: Koltsovo (Yekaterinburg), Balandino (Chelyabinsk), Roshchino (Tyumen), as well as Magnitogorsk Airport.
The situation is most severe in southern Russia, where some airports have been closed because of the war with Ukraine. Of the six operating airports, restrictions on refueling have been imposed on both domestic and foreign carriers at three — in the cities of Sochi, Volgograd, and Astrakhan. In Krasnodar, they apply only to foreign companies.
--------------------------------- 5 ---------------------------------
RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH WILL HOLD A PRAYER SERVICE FOR A LOWER CENTRAL BANK RATE AND AFFORDABLE MORTGAGES
Yevgeny, Metropolitan of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye, will pray for a reduction in the key interest rate and improved mortgage conditions for Russian citizens. The services will take place from September 11 to 13 during the stay in the city of Yekaterinburg of the relics of Saint Spyridon, OTV television reports.
“There is a principal prayer that Jesus Christ gave to his disciples; it is called the ‘Our Father.’ In this prayer, God himself said that we should ask for ‘our daily bread.’ Daily bread includes, among other things, the central bank rate and the country’s financial well-being,” the clergyman explained.
According to him, praying about Russia’s economic situation is “not only permissible” but necessary. Yevgeny added that under the current circumstances, “all that remains is to rely on a miracle.” The church official also advised Russians to pray for the normalization of gasoline and food supplies.
The first day of the services will coincide not only with the relics being in Yekaterinburg, but also with the next meeting of the Central Bank’s Board of Directors on the key interest rate, scheduled for September 11.
--------------------------------- 6 ---------------------------------
RUSSIAN UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR IS FORCED TO RESIGN AFTER 30 YEARS OF WORK OVER SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS FEATURING PICTURES OF AN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN
The head of the Department of World History at Herzen University (also known as Russian State Pedagogical University), 65-year-old Tatyana Kudryavtseva, was forced to resign after 30 years of work over old social media posts.
The outlet MR7 wrote about Kudryavtseva’s dismissal yesterday, citing students. According to them, the professor was still at her workplace, and then a consultation scheduled for them was canceled two hours before it was due to begin. “Our entire School of History and Social Sciences was thrown into an uproar,” one student said.
Later, Kudryavtseva described what happened in more detail. According to her, after classes she was summoned for a conversation with the administration and shown screenshots of two Instagram posts. Kudryavtseva noted that she had not logged into Instagram for several years and “certainly had not been looking through my old photos.”
The first post was published in 2020 and featured a photograph of graffiti depicting deceased opposition politician Alexei Navalny. In the second picture, taken in 2021, Kudryavtseva was standing in a courtyard holding a flashlight — a campaign in support of Navalny. The post was accompanied by the Latin phrase Omnia vincit amor (“Love conquers all”).
According to Kudryavtseva, the administration considered the posts a display of prohibited symbols and warned her about a disciplinary commission, as well as possible administrative or criminal liability. “I asked directly: ‘Should I write a resignation letter?’ I received an affirmative answer and the date from which I would be dismissed,” the professor told MR7.
Kudryavtseva stressed that she had not posted anything that could discredit the Russian army. She described herself as someone who “wishes victory for her country” and said that she had donated money to the war.
The professor described the reason for what happened as “someone’s obscurantism,” adding that she had been “practically thrown out of my home university.” Students told Ostorozhno Novosti that they were discussing ways to support Kudryavtseva, including launching a petition, but feared possible expulsion.
--------------------------------- 7 ---------------------------------
RUSSIA ASKS VIETNAM TO LEASE IT AIRCRAFT
Russian authorities are trying to reach an agreement with Vietnam to provide Russian airlines with aircraft from Vietnamese carriers under “wet leases,” meaning leases that include the crew and maintenance. According to Interfax, this was announced by Transport Minister Andrei Nikitin.
“We have sent our colleagues the relevant proposals, and they are considering them,” the minister said after Russian-Vietnamese talks in Moscow.
Nikitin reported “very good momentum” in tourist traffic between the two countries across all modes of transportation, while air travel has seen “growth of nearly three times compared with last year.” The transfer of aircraft from Vietnamese carriers would make it possible to expand cooperation and increase air connections between the two countries, the minister noted.
Russia, which has already lost legal access to foreign aircraft and components because of international sanctions, has previously tried to arrange “wet leasing” with a number of countries, including Central Asian states, as well as Qatar, Kuwait, and Ethiopia. In the summer of 2025, Ethiopian authorities refused Russia’s request, citing a lack of authority to instruct the national carrier Ethiopian Airlines to lease aircraft, as well as the risk of being subjected to U.S. secondary sanctions.
--------------------------------- 8 ---------------------------------
XI JINPING DOES NOT PLAN ON MEETING WITH PUTIN ON THE SIDELINES OF THE BRICS SUMMIT IN INDIA
Chinese President Xi Jinping will not hold a separate bilateral meeting with Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in New Delhi. This was announced by Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, TASS reports.
At the same time, he suggested that Putin and Xi Jinping might “talk on the sidelines.” “They will have what is known as a meeting on the move,” the Russian president’s aide explained.
The latest meeting between Putin and Xi Jinping took place on August 31 in Bishkek at a meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). However, those talks made no progress on the Power of Siberia-2 project, which envisions supplying China with up to 50 billion cubic meters of gas annually. As the South China Morning Post reported, citing sources familiar with the situation, the sides were unable to agree on the price. China expects to pay around $50 per thousand cubic meters — the same as Russian consumers — or $120–130, the price paid by Russian industrial consumers. Russia, meanwhile, proposes basing the price on the cost of gas under Power of Siberia-1 — around $250–260 per thousand cubic meters.
--------------------------------- 2 ---------------------------------
RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT CALLS ON CITIZENS TO GIVE UP IPHONES DUE TO APPLE’S “DIRTY TRICKS”
In an interview with Gazeta.Ru, Andrei Svintsov, deputy chairman of the Russian Government Committee on Information Policy, urged Russians to stop buying Apple products because, according to him, the company could remotely disable a device at any moment.
“Of course, I consider it reckless to pay huge amounts of money for a gadget that Apple could turn into a brick at any moment. It’s simply risky, and you could lose your money. We see how many Western services, and American ones first and foremost, constantly pull some kind of dirty tricks and do nasty things to our citizens,” he said.
Svintsov advised Russians to gradually switch from Apple products to “universal” devices. “It seems to me that it is time for our citizens to switch to some more universal means. And, little by little, probably give up Apple products,” the lawmaker concluded.
Apple halted official sales of its products in Russia shortly after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, while also restricting the operation of Apple Pay and other services. Despite the company’s official withdrawal from the Russian market, new iPhone models continue to enter the country through parallel imports and private suppliers.
On September 1, 2025, a law came into force in Russia requiring manufacturers and suppliers of gadgets sold in the country to install the domestic RuStore app store and the government messaging app Max, but Apple refused to do so. In connection with this, in early August the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) opened a case against the U.S. corporation. According to the FAS website, the agency had previously warned Apple that it needed to eliminate “discriminatory conditions” for Russian search engines and comply with requirements to pre-install the Russian app store along with the Max messenger on devices sold in the country.
ON THAT NOTE, WE END TODAY’S NEWS BROADCAST.
STAY TUNED FOR DAILY UPDATES ON WHAT’S HAPPENING IN RUSSIA.
K
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