rferl.org

Finland and Sweden have taken another major step toward joining the NATO military alliance in response to Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, as Moscow warned it would watch the developments and respond accordingly.

Finland's parliament on May 17 overwhelmingly endorsed a bid to join NATO, abandoning more than seven decades of neutrality.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- Aleksandra Skochilenko is an artist and musician. Viktoria Petrova is a business manager. Maria Ponomarenko is a journalist, and Olga Smirnova is a civil-society activist.

The Russian minister overseeing digital communications says the government has no plans to block the video sharing platform YouTube despite threats to do so over parent company Alphabet Inc's failure to delete content Moscow has deemed illegal.

Speaking at an education event in Moscow on May 17, minister of digital development, communications and mass media, Maksut Shadayev, said "Russia must remain part of the global network," though it must "learn to filter information" in the Internet.