MOSCOW, Aug 19 (Reuters/AFP): Former Kremlin economic adviser Andrei Illarionov was added to a registry of foreign agents, Russia's Justice Ministry said late on Friday, a designation the government applies to opponents.
People on the list may be closely monitored and are required to provide detailed information about their sources of income, expenses and a range of activities to the government or risk prosecution.
Illarionov, who resigned from the Kremlin in 2005 and moved to the United States, is critical of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has called Russian policies of recent years "a catastrophe".
The Russian Justice Ministry said that Illarionov "spread false information" about Russian authorities and their decisions.
Illarionov did not immediately comment on the designation.
Meanwhile, a Russian missile strike on Ukraine's northern city of Chernihiv killed at least five people and wounded dozens on Saturday, authorities said, hours after President Vladimir Putin met Moscow's top army commanders.
Chernihiv, some 150 kilometres (90 miles) north of Kyiv towards Belarus, has been largely spared from major attacks since the first months of Russia's invasion as fierce fighting rages in the east and south.
The Russian army marched through the city when it invaded Ukraine through Belarus in February 2022, before being repelled by Kyiv's forces.
The attack hit after Putin met top Russian generals in a rare trip to the operational hub Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia and as his Ukrainian nemesis, Volodymyr Zelensky, visited Sweden.
"Five people died," Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said about the Chernihiv attack on Telegram. "Thirty-seven people were wounded, including 11 children."
Zelensky said the attack hit "in the centre of the city" in a square that houses a "polytechnic university, a theatre".
"An ordinary Saturday, which Russia turned into a day of pain and loss," the Ukrainian leader said after he had arrived in Sweden.
He posted a video from the scene that showed debris around a large Soviet-era building, with parked cars around it that were partially destroyed, with smashed roofs and windows blown out.
AFP reporters saw fire trucks outside the Taras Shevchenko Drama Theatre and Music Academy, which suffered some damage. Some nearby buildings also suffered minor damaged.
Hours earlier, the Kremlin said Putin had travelled to the southern city of Rostov-on-Don to meet his top generals in a rare trip close to fighting zones.
Putin's meeting with Moscow's top military brass came after Kyiv claimed some success on the battlefield this week and a day after the US approved the transfer of Dutch and Danish F-16 warplanes to Kyiv.
Moscow gave no details of when the meeting took place, but footage released by state media indicated it was at night.
"Vladimir Putin held a meeting at the headquarters of the special military operation group in Rostov-on-Don," the Kremlin said in a statement.
"The head of state listened to briefings by the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov, commanders of directions and other senior officers of the group."
A video published by the RIA Novosti news agency showed Putin, wearing a suit, stepping out of a jeep in the dark and being greeted with a handshake by Gerasimov, in military attire.
Gerasimov is seen leading Putin down a corridor decorated with portraits of Russian military men and of the president chairing a meeting with army chiefs.
Rostov-on-Don was also the scene of a dramatic armed mutiny by Wagner mercenaries in June, which saw them briefly take over the army HQ in Rostov, before halting their rebellion.
Gerasimov, who Wagner wanted to unseat, has rarely been seen in public since.
