Budapest Memo redux, a military base shooting, and Nord Stream shmord shtream Meduza breaks down today’s biggest Russia-related news stories, October 17, 2025

Below, you’ll find a digest of news reports from October 17, 2025, in Russian and English on events related to Russia’s men in uniform, Russia’s prisoners in uniform, a man of the cloth, Europe’s ruminations on reparations for Ukraine, and, of course, the looming, blooming, all-consuming preparations for Donald Trump’s next face-to-face with Vladimir Putin “of Russia.”

Do you enjoy daily news briefs? Are you starved for direct, hand-crafted, microbrewed stories and commentary about Russia? If you shouted “Yes!” to any of these questions, check this out:

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• An explosion rocked a workshop at a Rostec subsidiary in Bashkortostan, injuring at least eight people, according to the region’s governor. The incident occurred at a facility operated by Avangard, which manufactures weapons and ammunition, as well as chemical products, industrial explosives, and packaging materials. Local officials reportedly suspect safety code violations, not a Ukrainian drone attack. — Meduza
• Lawmakers introduced three major amendments to Russia’s legislation on year-round conscription. The first two changes would improve the legal position of potential draftees. One amendment would restrict draft boards’ discretion to summon men, and another would strengthen the predictability and timeframe for appealing draft boards’ decisions. However, a third amendment would close a loophole that allowed some men to evade the draft by relocating within Russia. — Meduza
• A conscript soldier opened fire on his fellow soldiers at a military base outside Moscow on October 17, killing one serviceman and injuring at least five people before reportedly turning his weapon on himself. — Izvestia
• A court in Yekaterinburg has jailed a clergy member from a splinter group of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia on charges of justifying terrorism for referring online to neo-Nazi Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) paramilitary leader Denis Kapustin as “a cool guy” worthy of “respect.” RDK currently fights against Russian troops in Ukraine. The same man, Hieromonk Nikandr, was fined in 2022 for “discrediting” the Russian army, having called its actions in Ukraine a “land grab.” — Mediazona
• Today, a Russian military court sentenced 15 captured soldiers from Ukraine’s “Aidar” battalion to prison terms ranging from 15 to 21 years. None of them were charged with specific war crimes. Instead, they were convicted of participating in a terrorist organization, attempting to seize power, and training others for terrorism simply by virtue of serving in the unit. The trial was closed to the press after October 2024, and allegations of torture emerged during proceedings. — Mediazona
• Street musician Diana “Naoko” Loginova has been charged with two administrative misdemeanor counts of “discrediting” Russia’s military, putting her at risk of felony liability if officials decide to prosecute her after the two administrative rulings have taken effect. Police arrested Loginova and her two bandmates on October 15 for attracting unpermitted crowds with street performances. Loginova’s new charges are based on her performing songs by the blacklisted “foreign agents” Monetochka and Noize MC. — Rotonda

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• “Polish court denied extradition to Germany of a Ukrainian national suspected of blowing up Nord Stream 2 and released him from custody. And rightly so. The case is closed.” — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, X
• “The Dutch Supreme Court on Friday rejected a final appeal by Russia against a $50-billion arbitration award to former shareholders of Russian oil giant Yukos, who claimed Moscow deliberately bankrupted the company more than 20 years ago.” — The Associated Press
• “Montenegro wants the E.U.’s help in fighting Russian disinformation as the Balkan nation moves toward membership of the bloc. […] Another potential sticking point is the country’s reliance on Russian tourists and investors.” — Politico
• “Gas flows will resume to Moldova’s separatist Transdniestria region, the head of the country’s largest energy company said on Thursday, averting a repeat of the crisis that left the area with severe shortages of heat and power last January. […] The region secured supplies with purchases by the Swiss-based MET group and payment provided by a company in Dubai acting on behalf of Russia.” — Reuters
• “The European Commission has suggested Ukraine use part of an envisaged 140 billion euro ($163 billion) reparations loan funded from frozen Russian assets to buy weapons outside the E.U.” — Reuters
• “The Attempted Assassination of a Russian Dissident Is Foiled in France: The alleged plot targeted Vladimir Osechkin, a human-rights activist in exile and a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin” — The Wall Street Journal

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• “How Would Putin, Who Faces an International Arrest Warrant, Get to Hungary to See Trump? […] the United States could ask an ally like Poland to allow Mr. Putin’s flight path in service of diplomacy” — The New York Times
• “Hungary will ensure that Russian President Vladimir Putin can enter the country for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump planned in Budapest and return home afterward […] Putin would still need to navigate an EU flight ban on Russian aircraft put in place by Brussels after the 2022 invasion” — Reuters
• “For Ukraine, Budapest brings back painful memories of security promises broken. […] In Budapest in 1994, a newly independent Ukraine signed a memorandum under which it agreed to return Soviet nuclear weapons based in its territory to Russia in exchange for ‘security assurances’ from Russia, the United States, and Britain.” — The New York Times
• “Russia Won’t Stop Until NATO Acts […] the world should know that there are no safe options with Mr. Putin. Ignoring or downplaying his aggressions encourages more of them.” — The New York Times editorial board
• “Meet the Designer Who Got Zelensky Into a Suit: Viktor Anisimov, one of Ukraine’s top fashion designers, first met Volodymyr Zelensky about 20 years ago, when the future president was a comedian. He didn’t want to wear a suit then either.” — The New York Times
• “The Trump administration had asked Ukraine to avoid striking Russia’s oil, gas, and energy infrastructure ahead of the summit as officials pursued a peace deal with Moscow. But the US gave Ukraine the green light to resume attacks against those targets after both leaders left Alaska without an agreement in hand” — CNN
• “I think there’s a fundamental misalignment of expectations, where the Russians tend to think that they’re doing better on the battlefield than they actually are […] With the Russian case in particular, of course, a main driver of their economy is the oil that they sell to India and China” — U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Newsmax