Russia

$20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 is the number a Moscow court wants the YouTube parent company to pay for blocking Russian media outlets. It is a sum “filled with symbolism,” the Kremlin told NBC News on Thursday.

A Russian court ordered Google to pay 20 decillion for removing Russian TV channels from YouTube after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Former Marine Paul Whelan said he was devastated when he learned Brittney Griner would be released from Russian detention and he would not be, NBC News reports.

The FBI said that the websites were part of a spear phishing campaign.

U.S. officials on Friday accused RT of carrying out covert information warfare operations around the world as an arm of Russia’s spy agencies.

Long before she allegedly aided a Russian propaganda operation, Chen built an audience posting right-wing videos under the name “Roaming Millennial.”

The administration will announce a series of actions on Wednesday, two senior officials told NBC News.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has announced 92 additions to its list of Americans banned from entering the country.

Ksenia Karelina was visiting family in Russia when investigators searched her phone and found she had donated to a Ukrainian charity.

Amina Abakarova faces a possible lifetime ban and potential criminal proceedings, Russian authorities said, after the incident during a tournament last week.

Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva arrived in San Antonio, Texas, early Friday morning after being freed from Russian prisons in a mass prisoner swap.

The U.S. and Russia completed on Thursday their largest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history, a deal involving 24 people.

Thursday’s swap of 24 prisoners surpassed a deal involving 14 people that was struck in 2010.

President Joe Biden struck a deal with Russia that secured the release of American citizens imprisoned in the county. NBC Bay Area’s Raj Mathai spoke with Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, to get a better understanding on the president’s deal.

The United States and Russia have completed their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history, with Moscow releasing journalist Evan Gershkovich and fellow American Paul Whelan in a multinational deal that set some two dozen people free.

WNBA star Brittney Griner was freed from Russian custody as part of a prisoner swap, but many, including Griner’s family, were quick to point out another American name was not listed as part of the deal.

A prisoner swap is underway between the United States, Russia, and other countries on Thursday, according to a senior Biden administration official.

While high-profile prisoner exchanges have occurred in the past, the prospects of further swaps are unclear, and so is the overall number of those in Russian custody.

A ferry flight carrying Air India passengers from a diverted San Francisco-bound flight landed in the Bay Area Friday night. Pete Surtos reports.

Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum security prison by a Russian court after he was found guilty of espionage in a case the U.S. government has denounced as a sham.