Welcome to EURACTIV's health Brief, your weekly update on health policy in the EU from EURACTIV's health news team: Gerardo Fortuna, Giedre Peseckyte and Clara Bauer.
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Every day we bring you the most important news and feature stories from hundreds of sources in Russia and across the former Soviet Union.
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NEW PODCASTS AT: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/world-footprints/id1444486965 World Footprints connects you to the world one story at a time. We bring deeper conversations in the travel space as we explore our cultural connections, common history and the ways we are similar. In addition to our website, https://WorldFootprints.com, our podcast can be heard on: Apple Podcast iHeart Radio Spreaker Spotify Stitcher Google Podcast Public Radio Exchange TuneIn Soundclous RadioPublic coming ...
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The United States has resumed deliveries of certain weapons to Ukraine, Reuters and the Associated Press reported, citing unnamed sources. According to the reports, the shipments include 155-millimeter artillery shells and precision-guided GMLRS rockets, which are used with HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems. Reuters noted that it remains unclea…
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Russian forces launched a drone and missile strike on Kyiv, killing two people, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city's military administration. Another 16 people were injured, 10 of whom were hospitalized, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. At the same time, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported that two people were killed and 13 othe…
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At U.S. request, France jails Russian basketball player Daniil Kasatkin on suspicion of ransomware conspiracy
A court in Paris has jailed Russian basketball player Daniil Kasatkin on suspicion of involvement in a hacker group’s extortion activities. The 26-year-old was arrested on June 21 at Charles de Gaulle airport at the request of the United States, which has charged him with conspiracy to commit computer fraud. According to American investigators, Kas…
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‘Politically motivated and contrary to common sense’. Journalists and activists across Russia face raids and interrogations after FSB charges ex-media manager Pavel Andreev with treason
Revolt Center founder Pavel Andreev On Tuesday, FSB agents in Russia’s northeastern Komi Republic announced the launch of a high treason case against Pavel Andreev. Andreev, the former CEO of 7x7, a media outlet focused on Russia’s regions, is also the founder of the Revolt Center, a cultural space in Komi’s capital city, Syktyvkar. In a press rele…
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‘They lost their minds’. In new video, alleged participant in Russia’s pipeline raid says fellow soldiers suffocated and took their own lives
In March, as part of an offensive to retake territory in the Kursk region, Russian troops crawled through a section of a decommissioned gas pipeline in an effort to slip behind Ukrainian lines. The mission quickly became a patriotic spectacle in Russia — complete with a scale-model pipe installed in a church courtyard and a song called “Truba” (“Pi…
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Moscow court issues arrest warrant in absentia for Meduza co-founder and publisher Galina Timchenko
A Moscow court has issued an arrest warrant in absentia for Meduza publisher Galina Timchenko on charges of managing the activities of an “undesirable organization.” Records indicate that the court granted the prosecutors’ request on July 9, the same day it was received. Criminal charges against Timchenko were first reported in May 2025. Russian of…
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Russian regional court invalidates contract for controversial Stalin monument as governor vows it will stay
A regional arbitration court in Vologda has ruled in favor of public prosecutors in a case involving a controversial monument to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. The verdict invalidates the contract between the Vologda Exile Museum and businesswoman Ekaterina Lozhenitsyna on the grounds that the contract price was inflated and the procurement violate…
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The death toll from Tuesday’s Ukrainian drone attack in Kursk has risen to four after a five-year-old child died from his injuries. Acting Governor Alexander Khinstein reported on Wednesday that the boy, who suffered burns over 30 percent of his body, died during medical transport to Moscow. According to Khinstein, five other victims (including the…
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Losing Golos. Russia’s last independent election watchdog is shutting down. Here’s what that means for democracy in the country.
Election officials empty a ballot box to tally votes in Novosibirsk after polling stations closed on the final day of Russia’s presidential vote. March 17, 2024. Golos, Russia’s only independent nationwide election-monitoring group, is shutting down after 25 years, following a court ruling that found its co-chair, Grigory Melkonyants, guilty of run…
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The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Russia was responsible for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Donbas in 2014, which killed all 298 people on board. According to the Associated Press, this is the first time an international court has held Russia accountable for the MH17 disaster. In a separate decision, the co…
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The White House is considering sending another Patriot air defense system to Kyiv following President Donald Trump’s pledge to strengthen Ukraine’s protection against Russian attacks, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing two officials. According to one official, the Trump administration has asked the Pentagon to present options for supplying Uk…
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At a pre-election fundraiser, Trump claimed he warned Putin he’d ‘bomb the shit out of Moscow’ if Russia invaded Ukraine — CNN
At a closed-door fundraiser in 2024, Donald Trump claimed he had threatened to “bomb the shit out of Moscow” if Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an attack on Ukraine, CNN reported. The outlet released audio recordings from several Trump campaign fundraising events. “With Putin I said, ‘If you go into Ukraine, I’m going to bomb the shit out…
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Overnight, Russia carried out what appears to be its largest drone and missile attack on Ukraine since the start of the full-scale war. According to Ukraine’s Air Force Command, Russia launched 728 drones of various types, along with seven cruise missiles and six Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles. Ukrainian forces said they destroyed 711 of t…
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Update: Agentstvo wrote that the target of the drone strike may have been a local branch of the Russian Defense Ministry’s Central Scientific Research Institute, located about 600 meters (650 yards) from the beach. Debris from a downed drone may have fallen onto the beach. Ukrainian drones struck a city beach in Russia’s Kursk late Tuesday, killing…
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‘The Rotenbergs invested heavily in him’ . Anti-corruption expert Ilya Shumanov unpacks the political rise and sudden demise of Russia’s ex-Transportation Minister Roman Starovoit
Roman Starovoit, Russia’s former transport minister, was officially dismissed from his post on July 7. That very evening, news broke that he had died by suicide. Investigators say his body was found with a gunshot wound inside his personal vehicle in the Moscow region. Before his appointment to the Transport Ministry, Starovoit served as governor o…
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Russia’s State Duma has passed legislation that officially restores the Federal Security Service’s authority to operate its own pretrial detention facilities. Deputy Vasily Piskarev, who cosponsored the bill, said the agency, known as the FSB, will jail defendants charged with “crimes against state security,” isolating “suspected spies and terroris…
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On Tuesday, Russia’s State Duma voted to pass legislation raising maternity and childbirth benefits for women studying at universities, continuing professional education organizations, and research institutions. If adopted by the Federation Council and signed by President Putin, the law would set payments at the subsistence minimum level for the re…
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NATO’s last chance. Director Ilya Naishuller sends U.S. and U.K. leaders on a wild road trip through Belarus and Poland in ‘Heads of State’
You’d be forgiven for having missed it, but Russian director Ilya Naishuller’s latest film, Heads of State, is out now on Amazon Prime. Starring John Cena, Idris Elba, and Priyanka Chopra, this road-trip action comedy tells the story of a fictional U.S. president and British prime minister who survive a plane crash before teaming up to save the wor…
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The Russian authorities have declared Yale University an “undesirable organization,” banning its activities on Russian territory In a statement, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office claimed that the university’s work is “aimed at undermining Russia’s territorial integrity, enforcing an international blockade of the country, weakening its economi…
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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that Vladimir Putin had been informed about the suicide of former Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit, who was found dead shortly after his dismissal from his post on Tuesday. The Kremlin declined to offer further comment on the matter, according to state media. “In this case, I wouldn’t want t…
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Russian FSB raids Syktyvkar cultural center in treason case amid wave of searches targeting journalists and activists
Agents from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) raided the independent cultural space Revolt Center in Syktyvkar, the capital of the Komi Republic, on Tuesday morning. According to the Telegram channel Novaya Respublika, officers also searched the homes of the center’s staff, “from managers to baristas.” The raids are reportedly linked to a cri…
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Moscow police detain hundreds of migrants and deport more than 30 after raiding hostels and prayer houses
Police in Moscow recently conducted raids targeting “illegal migration,” the city’s Investigative Committee reported on Tuesday, without specifying when the operations took place. According to the committee, officers searched hostels and prayer houses across the city in an effort to uncover “illegal migration channels.” More than 500 people were ta…
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U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States will send additional weapons to Ukraine, mostly defensive in nature, Reuters reports. “We're going to send some more weapons. We have to. They have to be able to defend themselves. They're getting hit very hard now,” Trump said during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netan…
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Independent Russian election-monitoring group Golos shuts down after co-chair is sentenced to prison
The Russia-wide independent election-monitoring group Golos has announced that it is ceasing operations. The decision, according to a statement released by the organization, follows the sentencing of its co-chair, Grigory Melkonyants, to five years in prison on charges of organizing the activities of an “undesirable” organization. “This court rulin…
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Colonel General Khalil Arslanov, former deputy chief of Russia’s General Staff, was sentenced to 17 years in prison on Monday after being convicted of bribery and embezzlement. He was also ordered to pay a fine equal to twice the amount of the bribes he accepted — more than 24 million rubles, or roughly $305,000. Arslanov was arrested in February 2…
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The European Union is preparing to impose its “toughest sanctions” against Russia since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to France’s top diplomat. Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Monday that E.U. sanctions would be introduced based on French proposals in coordination with U.S. congressmen. The new re…
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They don’t only fall out of windows. Meduza reviews the sudden deaths of 13 Russian energy and transportation executives since 2022
The full-scale invasion of Ukraine has been an unusually dangerous time for Russian officials and senior executives responsible for state and private oil and gas companies. Death has claimed top managers at corporations such as Gazprom, Lukoil, and Transneft. On July 7, Transportation Minister Roman Starovoit reportedly shot himself in his car hour…
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Mapping Russia’s Internet blackouts. The Russian authorities keep shutting down mobile Internet. Here’s where it happens most, and how the outages are spreading.
As of summer 2025, mobile Internet shutdowns have become a routine part of life in Russia. Users are also reporting more frequent disruptions to home Internet and even cell service. The number and scale of these shutdowns began to grow in the spring but escalated sharply in June, after Ukraine launched Operation Spiderweb — an attack in which remot…
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Russia’s transport minister found dead after dismissal by Putin, in apparent first suicide of a top official
On Monday morning, the Kremlin announced that Roman Starovoit had been dismissed from his post as Russia’s transport minister. Just hours later, news broke that he had been found dead from a gunshot wound — an apparent suicide. Starovoit, who previously served as governor of Russia’s Kursk Region, had reportedly been under investigation for embezzl…
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Russian transportation official drops dead in office on same day as transportation minister’s suicide
Andrey Korneichuk, deputy head of the Russian Federal Road Agency’s Property Management Department, died at the Transportation Ministry’s Moscow headquarters on Monday. According to Telegram channels with close ties to Russian law enforcement, the 42-year-old official died either in his office or during a meeting. Korneichuk reportedly stood up sud…
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Understanding vaccine hesitancy in Europe
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12:20This week EURACTIV's health reporter Marta Iraola talks to Dr. Emilie Karafillakis about vaccine confidence in Europe and what is behind people's lack of trust in vaccination and public health campaigns. In this episode, the health team reunites before the summer to say goodbye to this podcast as from September health topics will be covered under B…
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AI: at the Interface of computer science and Medicine
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32:33From YouTube-recommended videos to facial recognition used to unlock smartphones, AI is already being used on a daily basis. The healthcare sector is not an exception as its ability to process vast amounts of medical data helps in diagnostics and medical image analysis. To better understand where AI is already used and what potential it holds, EURA…
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European Health Data Space on the Parliament's Plate
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25:54As the European Parliament debates how European health data space should be shaped, EURACTIV talks with the co-rapporteur of the file, Croatian MEP Tomislav Sokol (EPP), touching on primary and secondary use of data, the reasons why parliament supports the opt-out option and what is left to discuss before the discussions can start with the Council.…
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Balancing patients' privacy and health data's potential
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20:29European Health Data Space (EHDS) focuses on the primary and secondary use of data. While the primary use of data is data used by citizens and healthcare professionals at the national and EU levels the secondary data is to be used by researchers, policy makers and pharma. The Commission's proposal does not include any say for patients regarding the…
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The challenge of guaranteeing access to healthcare to all Ukrainian refugees
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19:08On the occasion of the first Healthcare Forum, which took place in Wąsowo, Poland last week, Euractiv spoke with the Regional Director of WHO/Europe, Dr Hans Kluge. In this interview, Dr. Kluge looked back on his meeting with the Polish and Ukrainian Ministers of Health about the Healthy Reconstruction of Ukraine. He dug into the physical and menta…
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A closer look at Europe's fertility challenge
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10:39This week EURACTIV'S health team explores why fertility is decreasing across the globe, what challenges people face when they want children and the situation of fertility treatments in Europe. For that, Health Reporter Marta Iraola talks with Dr Carlos Calhaz-Jorge, a specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology and chair of the European Society for Hu…
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Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: a silent threat for children's development
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14:07This week, EURACTIV’s health team dives into how endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDC) can affect children, especially in their most important developmental years. They talk with Doctor Anders Juul, a paediatric endocrinologist at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen. He explains how children are exposed to these chemicals and the health issues this can cau…
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Psilocybin, MDMA or LSD might associate with party drugs but their therapeutic value is being discovered worldwide. Ian Roullier took part in two clinical trials that looked at the effects of psilocybin on depression. Through his personal experience, Roullier shares his insights on psychedelic-assisted therapy, its potential value to patients and w…
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Tobacco is responsible for 8 million deaths a year but despite that governments across the world spend millions supporting tobacco farms, according to WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus. As 31 May marks World No Tobacco Day, EURACTIV’s health team talks with Rudiger Krech, WHO Director of the Health Promotion Department, on the impact of toxic…
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From psychedelics and mental health literature to having pets in EU institutions - EURACTIV’s health reporter Giedrė Peseckytė is talking with three MEPs - Maria Walsh from Christian Democrats, Mikuláš Peksa from the Greens and Karen Melchior from Renew - about mental health.By Euractiv
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As this week is European Testing Week, a European campaign that aims to increase testing efforts and promote awareness of the benefits of earlier hepatitis and HIV testing, EURACTIV's health team is talking with Jens Lundgren, Professor of infectious diseases at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. He has been involved with clinical HIV researc…
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Discovering Monderna's new landscape for vaccines in Europe
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11:26This week, EURACTIV’s health team talks with Chantal Friebertshäuser, Senior Vice President at Moderna for Europe, the Middle East and Canada. They discuss the end of COVID and the new vaccine they are developing against cancer. They also talk about the new facility the biotechnology company recently opened in Madrid, Spain. This new laboratory, eq…
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Unwrapping the new pharmaceutical legislation
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13:51This week, EURACTIV’s health team dives into the proposal for a new pharmaceutical legislation and the complicated way ahead. For that, they talk with stakeholders working on health policy at the EU level about their priorities and main concerns.By Euractiv
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This week, EURACTIV’s health team dives into endocrine disruptors and the effect these chemicals can have on our hormonal system. They talk with Doctor Angel Nadal, professor of physiology at the University Miguel Hernandez in Spain, about the current framework and what else can be done at the EU level.…
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Fact checking The Whale’s obesity portrayal
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12:08This week, EURACTIV’s journalist Marta Iraola talks about the movie ‘The Whale’ with Jacqueline Bowman-Busato, head of policy at the European Association for the Study of Obesity. They focus on the controversies about its portrayal of obesity and the reception among the patient community.By Euractiv
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This week, EURACTIV’s journalist Giedrė Peseckytė is talking with a Polish pro-abortion activist Justyna Wydrzynska who got sentenced in mid-March to eight months of community service for sharing abortion pills with another woman back in 2020. *The interview was conducted on 23 March.By Euractiv
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Marking world Tuberculosis day (24 March) we are talking with two Ukrainians about how Ukrainians are fighting not only Russia's invasion but also one of the highest incidences of TB cases in the European region.By Euractiv
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This week, EURACTIV’s health team explores the outstanding revision of the EU framework on substances of human origins (SoHo) together with Annemette Arndal-Lauritzen, CEO of the European Sperm Bank, with a focus on the revision of the EU rules for sperm donation.By Euractiv
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This week, EURACTIV's health journalists Marta Iraola and Gerardo Fortuna dig into the troubled implementation of the new framework for medical devices in Europe which entered into force in 2021. When developers of medical devices started experiencing problems in meeting the deadlines for implementing the key rules of the new regulation, the EU law…
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This week, EURACTIV’s journalists Clara Bauer and Gerardo Fortuna sat with the EU’s health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides to talk about women’s health on the occasion of International Women’s Day. The EU health chief also gave some anticipations on what is coming up next in the EU’s health policy agenda.…
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