Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff could “pave the way for a meeting at leaders’ level” during talks with Vladimir Putin, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said at a news conference in Oslo.
“Steve Witkoff will fly tomorrow to St. Petersburg where he will be meeting with Russian leadership and exchange ideas from this meeting and the proposals that have been worked on by European and American colleagues, and possibly pave the way for a meeting at leaders’ level,” Støre said.
Politico reported, without quoting Støre directly, that Witkoff would offer Putin direct talks with Trump and Zelensky.
Zelensky said after meeting Witkoff in Oslo that “one of the important ideas is to move to a potential trilateral meeting of the leaders to address the issues that only the leaders can do.” “Steve is going to Russia tomorrow, and let’s see what Putin has to say,” Zelensky added.
When reporters asked Trump whether Putin and Zelensky needed to “be in the same room” to reach a peace agreement, he said: “I mean, [it] depends. They don’t have to be in the same room. I guess I can do it another way. It’s hard for them to be in the same room. I don’t care how it’s done.”
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Polish Border Guard officers detained 15 Russian and Belarusian citizens who apparently intended to compete in the world karate championships for youth, junior, and under-21 athletes in Bielsko-Biała.
The detainees — 11 Belarusians and four Russians — entered Poland on tourist visas, which, according to Border Guard spokesperson Szymon Mościcki, “did not match the stated purpose of their stay.” All were ordered to leave the country within eight days.
The karate championships took place from September 14 to 18. Polish authorities had barred Russian athletes from the outset. The Russian Karate Federation said it “had anticipated this situation and therefore had not recommended that anyone take part in this tournament,” but also “could not stand in the way of the athletes’ own wishes” to compete in the event.
The organizers said no Russian athletes had registered by the deadline. As early as October 8, the Polish Karate Union said the Russians would not be coming. Piotr Borys, Poland’s deputy minister of sport and tourism, said Poland had a firm policy of barring Russian athletes from competitions in the country.
The organizers nevertheless expected Russians to try to take part in the tournament. “That’s why we warned them in advance through our contacts in the sport not to come,” said Polish Karate Union President Paweł Połtorzecki.
The Russian Karate Federation said it knew about the ban and that the athletes had been expelled because they “entered on visas that did not cover the purpose of their visit.” “We knew this was how it would turn out. That’s why no one from the federation went,” it said.
The Russians being expelled from Poland have not been named. The news outlet Vot Tak reported that students at the Oryol-Karat school were among those who wanted to attend the competition. The school’s administrators send aid to Russian troops and organize meetings between children and people who have taken part in the war.
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Moscow’s Presnensky District Court sentenced Andrei Melnikov, the former head of Russia’s Deposit Insurance Agency, to 4.5 years in prison and fined him 900,000 rubles.
Melnikov was convicted of large-scale fraud. The court found that he stole 4 billion rubles through schemes involving the assets of Aquamir, a Novosibirsk water park in receivership administered by the agency.
The court also ruled in favor of Aquamir’s former owners in a civil claim against Melnikov, ordering him to pay about 4.2 billion rubles.
Melnikov pleaded guilty during the proceedings, and his case was heard under an expedited procedure. With credit for time spent in custody, he will be eligible to apply for parole as early as July 2027.
Melnikov was arrested in October 2025. His former deputy, Alexander Popelyukh, who was also under investigation at the time, testified against him. On the day Melnikov was sentenced, Popelyukh received a four-year sentence in a penal colony in a related case involving the theft of 200 million rubles.
Melnikov became head of the Deposit Insurance Agency in 2022 and was still leading it when he was arrested.
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President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner plan to meet with Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on October 21, The New York Times reported.
Witkoff and Kushner are expected to take the next step in their efforts to “show the benefits of deal-making with Mr. Putin” by securing the release of “a long-held American.”
The report does not identify the American. The Times reported that the only American the U.S. State Department categorizes as “wrongfully detained” in Russia is Stephen Hubbard, who fought for the Ukrainian armed forces and was sentenced to six years and 10 months in a penal colony.
On October 20, Trump’s negotiators met with Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo. No details of the meeting were available at the time of writing. Witkoff attended in person, while Kushner participated remotely because he had the flu. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb also joined the meeting.
Stephen Hubbard is 72. In October 2024, a Russian court sentenced him to six years and 10 months in a standard-security penal colony on mercenary charges. Investigators alleged that Hubbard joined the territorial defense forces in Izium, in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, in February 2022 (he had lived there since 2014), but was captured by Russian forces in April and later put on trial.
In April 2025, while the previous U.S. presidential administration was still in office, the State Department called on Russia to release Hubbard.
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Federal Air Transport Agency head Dmitry Yadrov, Transport Minister Andrey Nikitin, First Deputy Finance Minister Irina Okladnikova, and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov in the State Duma on October 20, 2026
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced a cabinet reshuffle on October 19. The government will have four new deputy prime ministers and a new transport minister. The State Duma is expected to approve the appointments shortly, after which the Russian president will sign decrees formalizing them. Meduza has compiled the key takeaways from Russian journalists and news outlets covering the reshuffle.
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov will become one of the new deputy prime ministers while retaining his current post. Siluanov, who has led the Finance Ministry since 2011, has served as a deputy prime minister before: From 2018 to 2020, he was first deputy prime minister in Dmitry Medvedev’s cabinet.
Mishustin’s government previously had no deputy prime minister overseeing finance. Experts unanimously see the appointment as strengthening Siluanov’s position. Yet according to Faridaily, Mishustin has long wanted to replace Siluanov as finance minister with someone from his own team, such as Federal Tax Service head Daniil Yegorov.
Commenting on Siluanov’s appointment as deputy prime minister, Mishustin’s spokesman Boris Belyakov said that “as external pressure intensifies, ensuring financial stability, a balanced budget, and efficient spending takes on particular importance.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov linked Siluanov’s new post to the need to “continue ensuring macroeconomic stability.”
The Bell reported that it remains unclear which agencies will fall under Siluanov’s authority as deputy prime minister. But as one source wryly told Vedomosti, Deputy Prime Minister Siluanov will now certainly be issuing instructions to the Finance Ministry — which will make his job easier.
Alexandra Prokopenko, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin, wrote that making Siluanov a deputy prime minister represents “a return to a familiar arrangement, not preparation for a move” toward replacing the prime minister. She wrote that Alexey Kudrin also served as deputy prime minister and finance minister simultaneously. “The more interesting question is how responsibilities will be divided,” she wrote. If Siluanov oversees the economy as a whole — currently Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak’s responsibility — “that’s a real power gain. If not, it’s a title on top of the authority he already has.”
Other appointments are also being linked to Siluanov’s growing influence. His first deputy at the Finance Ministry, 41-year-old Irina Okladnikova, will become the government’s chief of staff, also with the rank of deputy prime minister. At the Finance Ministry, Okladnikova was responsible for drafting and implementing the federal budget. According to Kommersant, she will now oversee how efficiently budget funds are spent, manage the national debt, and build up the National Wealth Fund. The Bell reported that these were previously all tools “that Mishustin’s team could use to keep an eye on the Finance Ministry.”
The Bell linked these personnel decisions to the fact that Russia’s war against Ukraine is costing far more than budgeted. Kommersant noted that recent federal budgets looked relatively balanced on paper, but spending rose in practice. The outlet suggested that expanded powers might allow Siluanov to rein in spending.
Anton Siluanov and Irina Okladnikova
As government chief of staff, Okladnikova will replace Dmitry Grigorenko, who is considered one of the officials closest to Mishustin. At the time of publication, there had been no official announcement about Grigorenko’s next job. Sources who spoke to Vedomosti and RBC said he could be headed to Sber. Experts see Grigorenko’s departure as weakening Mishustin’s position. The chief of staff decides which proposals reach the prime minister. Previously, business representatives had a chance to secure changes to Finance Ministry proposals before they reached the prime minister’s desk for signature, The Bell reported. Now the post will go to someone “who personally drafted the current budget and argued in the Duma for the right to spend and borrow beyond what the law allows.”
Faridaily wrote, however, that Grigorenko’s departure and the appointment of new deputy prime ministers do not make Mishustin a “lame duck.” The Russian president has long tried to keep Mishustin from becoming too powerful, the outlet wrote, but “the prime minister will certainly have somewhat fewer opportunities to push through his decisions, including on funding and personnel.”
Prokopenko wrote that Grigorenko “had strained relations with virtually every cabinet member.” In her view, his departure from the government “may be part of a deal Mishustin agreed to.”
Another new deputy prime minister is Primorsky Krai Governor Oleg Kozhemyako. He will replace Yuri Trutnev, who has served as deputy prime minister and presidential envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District for 13 years. Kozhemyako is not considered close to Mishustin, Faridaily reported. According to RBC, Trutnev, 70, decided to leave the government on his own. The outlet’s sources said the envoy’s job requires frequent flights to the Far East, and Trutnev now “needs to recover.” RBC’s sources expect him to take a job in the presidential administration as an aide to the president.
The fourth new deputy prime minister is Andrey Nikitin, who has led the Transport Ministry since July 2025. Nikitin replaced Vitaly Savelyev as deputy prime minister. Savelyev became a deputy speaker of the newly elected State Duma. Nikitin will continue to oversee transport in his new post. Dmitry Yadrov, who has headed the Federal Air Transport Agency since September 2023, has been nominated as transport minister. Yadrov’s replacement has not yet been announced. Sources reported as early as September that Nikitin would be named deputy prime minister for transport.
State Duma committees have already endorsed the nominees for deputy prime minister. Commenting on Siluanov’s new post, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said, in part: “The Finance Ministry is doing a fairly effective job handling the issues before it.”
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Scientists and university faculty in Russia are increasingly facing prosecution for financing “extremism” through donations to the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), Mediazona reported.
More than 10 such cases have reached Moscow courts in the past six months, the outlet found. The 4th Department of Directorate P within the Fourth Service of the Federal Security Service (FSB) initiated at least three cases against scientists.
The Fourth Service is also known as the Economic Security Service. The Dossier Center previously reported that officers in Directorate P provide “counterintelligence support for industry” and oversee state technology corporations including Rostec, Rusnano, and Roscosmos. One scientist who spoke to Mediazona said the FSB’s Fourth Service also oversees Skoltech and HSE University.
Among the scientists sentenced to prison is Sofya Rozenfeld, who holds a Doctor of Sciences degree in biology, Russia’s highest academic degree, and specializes in Arctic birds. Mediazona reported that her case file includes testimony from an officer with the Center E anti-extremism unit. The officer said he had received “preliminary inquiry materials” concerning Rozenfeld from the 4th Department of Directorate P within the FSB’s Fourth Service. The materials said the scientist “may be involved in financing the FBK.” This FSB unit is also mentioned in other cases against scientists over donations to the FBK.
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European Parliament Vice President Pina Picierno announced a hunger strike to “draw international attention” to the situation in Oleshky, a city in the occupied part of Ukraine’s Kherson region.
Picierno called on humanitarian organizations and governments to take notice of her protest.
“We must demand an immediate humanitarian truce, the entry of food and medicines, and the possibility of safely evacuating civilians who wish to leave the city,” she said.
Oleshky is under Russian control. For months, its residents have been without electricity, food, and adequate medical care amid relentless shelling from both sides. Leaving the city is nearly impossible because most roads out are mined.
Several days ago, Pope Leo XIV called Russian President Vladimir Putin to ask him to ensure that humanitarian aid could reach the city and residents could be evacuated. Soon afterward, Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament’s human rights commissioner, confirmed that Kyiv and Moscow were working to resolve the situation. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov later confirmed this as well.
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The building where Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko owns an apartment is exempt from the scheduled power outages that affect most city residents, the news outlet Slidstvo.Info reported.
Klitschko’s apartment is in central Kyiv, in a building constructed in 1901 at 30/10 Bohdan Khmelnytsky Street.
In response to an inquiry from Slidstvo.Info, DTEK Kyiv Grids said the building and 10 other residential buildings are connected to a critical infrastructure facility. The company receives its list of critical infrastructure facilities from the Kyiv City Military Administration.
“Under this connection arrangement, the residential buildings are an additional load on the facility and therefore cannot be disconnected separately from it during scheduled power outages,” DTEK said in its response.
In 2013, Klitschko said he had decided to buy the 225-square-meter (2,420-square-foot) apartment in the building after winning a fight in 1999.
Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities have introduced scheduled power outages due to constant Russian strikes on energy infrastructure. These attacks have intensified as colder weather approaches — Russian forces strike Kyiv almost every night.
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Lawmakers have submitted a bill to Russia’s State Duma that would increase criminal penalties for calls to mass riots, one of its authors, Vasily Piskarev, said.
Under current Russian law, inciting riots carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison. The bill would raise that to four years.
Calls to riot made online would become a separate criminal offense carrying a sentence of up to six years in prison.
“Our adversaries — the collective West and the fugitive criminals, relocants, and foreign agents under its control — are not giving up their attempts to provoke our citizens into taking part in various provocations and dragging them into committing crimes,” Piskarev said, explaining the need for the legislative changes.
The bill has already received favorable reviews from the government and Russia’s Supreme Court.
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