Russia returns bodies of 1,000 soldiers to Ukraine

Moscow has handed over the remains of 1,000 soldiers to Ukraine, a source in Russia's negotiating delegation told reporters, with Kyiv returning the bodies of 41 dead Russian troops.

The two sides regularly exchange the remains of troops killed in combat, one of the few areas of cooperation during the four-year war launched by Russia's full-scale offensive that has seen hundreds of thousands of soldiers killed.

Russia's state-owned Ruptly video agency posted footage of men in white overalls and blue gloves lifting white body bags from the back of a truck and carrying it onto a second vehicle.

The video also showed observers with the Red Cross signs emblazoned on the overalls.

Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War confirmed on social media that the bodies "of 1,000 deceased persons were returned to Ukraine".

"According to the Russian side, the returned bodies belong to Ukrainian service members," it said.

Kyiv has in the past accused Moscow of handing over bodies of killed Russian soldiers among those it claimed were of Ukrainian troops.

"Once the deceased have been identified, the bodies will be handed over to their families for a dignified burial," the Coordination Headquarters said.

Last month, the Red Cross said it was facilitating the exchange of around 1,000 bodies each month and that "thousands and thousands" of dead remain unidentified.

Separately, the European Union has demanded Hungary "explain itself as a matter of urgency", after fresh media reports that Budapest passed on EU information to Russia.

A consortium of Eastern European media outlets - The Insider, VSquare and Delfi - claimed last month that Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto had provided Moscow with "direct-line" access to "strategic information on crucial issues".

In a second part of their investigation published yesterday, they claimed Szijjarto offered to "immediately" send an EU document to Russia through the Hungarian embassy in Moscow about Ukraine's accession talks into the bloc.

The claims have sparked outrage in Europe, ahead of elections on Sunday in Hungary, where nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban is seeking a fifth term.

The EU said the reports based on leaked calls between the Hungarian and Russian foreign ministers raised the "alarming possibility" of a member state "actively working against the security and the interests of the EU and all its citizens".

"This is therefore extremely concerning, and it is for the member state government in question to explain itself as a matter of urgency," European Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho told a press conference.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has accused Hungary of "betrayal" when asked about the telephone conversations.

"This is a betrayal of the solidarity required between the countries of the European Union," Mr Barrot told broadcaster France Inter.

UK says it deployed military to deter Russian submarines from attack

Britain has deployed military vessels to prevent any attacks on cables and pipelines by Russian ⁠submarines which spent more than a month in and around British waters earlier this year, its defence minister John Healey has said.

Britain accused Russia of using the distraction of events in the Middle East to try to conduct the covert operation in the High North maritime region, home to key shipping routes and critical infrastructure such as undersea cables.

Mr Healey said British forces and allies including Norway tracked and deterred malign activity by the Russian vessels, adding that the submarines had now left the area and there were no signs of damage to underwater infrastructure.

Revealing the operation publicly at a press conference, Mr Healey said the intent was to show Russian President Vladimir Putin the activity had been ‌detected.

"To President Putin, I say 'We see you. ⁠We see your activity over our cables and our pipelines, and you should know that any attempt to damage them will not be tolerated and will have serious consequences'," he said.

"Our armed forces left them in no doubt that they were being monitored, that their movements were not covert, as President Putin planned, and that their attempted secret operation had been exposed."

Russia's embassy in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ‌Moscow has previously denied allegations of involvement in a serious of incidents in which European countries' cables were damaged.

Russian police raid independent Novaya Gazeta media outlet

Russian law enforcement agents are raiding the offices of the Novaya Gazeta independent media outlet, the paper said.

Novaya Gazeta was for years Russia's leading investigative independent outlet and was targeted heavily for its critical reporting and investigations into human rights abuses.

"At around 12pm, security officers in masks started carrying out investigative actions at the editorial office of Novaya Gazeta," the outlet said on social media.

"We don't know the reason. The outlet's lawyers are not being allowed into the office, where some staff members are also present."

An AFP reporter in Moscow saw two vans of Russia's Investigative Committee parked in a yard outside the offices and staff standing inside the foyer of the building.

The paper's then editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for his "efforts to safeguard freedom of expression" at the helm of the paper.

Several Novaya Gazeta reporters have been murdered in killings widely seen as retribution.

They include Anna Politkovskaya, who spent years investigating allegations of abuses by Russia's military during its campaigns in Chechnya.

She was found dead in her apartment block on President Vladimir Putin's birthday in October 2006.

The paper, which used to be published several times a week, cut down production from inside the country after Russia introduced military censorship at the start of its offensive on Ukraine in 2022.