USSR

Reports say Russia will increase its military spending by roughly a third in 2027, taking defense expenditure to its highest level since the Soviet era. The plan signals continued prioritisation of the war effort and defense industry, and is drawing attention amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and debate over Western support for Kyiv.

Anatoly Kashpirovsky, the Soviet-era 'televised psychic' famed for his 1989 mass hypnosis broadcasts across USSR television, has died, according to Meduza. News of his death is spreading rapidly across Russian-language media and social networks, with many recalling his late-Soviet séances and decades of controversy over his claims of distant healing.

Russian TV presenter Andrei Malakhov has announced the death of Anatoly Kashpirovsky, the Soviet-era psychic and faith healer famed for his 1989 televised séances that gripped millions of viewers across the USSR. The claim was relayed by Ukrainian news outlet UNIAN, which circulated the report widely. Details about the cause of death or confirmation from his family were not immediately available.

Anatoly Kashpirovsky, the Soviet-era television psychic who became famous across the USSR in the late 1980s for his televised mass hypnosis sessions, has died at home at the age of 87. According to the SHOT news outlet, the cause of death was acute heart failure; relatives called an ambulance but doctors could not save him.