Day: January 29, 2019

  • Former Russian Chess World Champion Vladimir Kramnik Retires

    Former Russian Chess World Champion Vladimir Kramnik Retires

    Russian chess grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik, regarded as one of the strongest players in the world, announced on Tuesday he was retiring from professional competition. Kramnik, 43, made waves in 2000 when he defeated defending champion Garry Kasparov at the World Championship. Currently ranked seventh by the World Chess Federation, he became the undisputed world champion…

  • Russia Ties Lebanon in 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index — Transparency International

    Russia Ties Lebanon in 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index — Transparency International

    Russia has dropped further in an annual corruption index compiled by the Transparency International watchdog for 2018, tying with countries like Lebanon, Mexico and Papua New Guinea. Russia had consistently ranked in the bottom half of the global civil society group’s annual corruption perceptions index. Federal prosecutors said they cracked down on $27 million worth…

  • PhosAgro Delegation Headed by CEO Andrey Guryev Takes Part in Opening Ceremony at UNESCO Headquarters to Launch International Year of the Periodic Table

    PhosAgro Delegation Headed by CEO Andrey Guryev Takes Part in Opening Ceremony at UNESCO Headquarters to Launch International Year of the Periodic Table

    Paris, France – Andrey Guryev, member of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO and CEO of PhosAgro, one of the world’s leading producers of phosphate-based fertilizers, took part in the official opening ceremony of the International Year of the Periodic Table held today at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, which took place with PhosAgro’s support.…

  • Russian Teacher Forces Late Students to Wear Gas Masks as Punishment, Sparking Probe

    Russian Teacher Forces Late Students to Wear Gas Masks as Punishment, Sparking Probe

    A school in Far East Russia is being investigated after a teacher reportedly punished students for being tardy by forcing them to sit through the rest of class in gas masks. Parents complained that a health and safety teacher made their seventh-graders wear gas masks for being late, a children’s rights official in the republic…

  • Alexander Suvorov

    Alexander Suvorov

    Alexander Vasilievich Suvorov was born on November 13 (24), 1729/30 in Moscow, in the family of the Ensign of the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment Vasily Ivanovich Suvorov. His grandfather, Ivan Grigorievich, was the general clerk of the Preobrazhensky order, who was in charge of political investigations. Suvorov’s father, Vasili Ivanovich Suvorov (1708-1775), started…

  • Russian Finance Ministry Says Venezuela Must Repay Its Debt to Moscow on Time

    Russian Finance Ministry Says Venezuela Must Repay Its Debt to Moscow on Time

    Russia expects Venezuela will probably have problems servicing its sovereign debt to Moscow, Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister said on Tuesday, after Washington imposed sweeping sanctions on Venezuela’s state oil firm in a move the Kremlin called illegal. The Trump administration on Monday imposed restrictions on the PDVSA oil company, aimed at curbing the OPEC member’s crude exports…

  • Russian Town Installs Giant Fans to Disperse Smog

    Russian Town Installs Giant Fans to Disperse Smog

    Local officials have installed giant fans to chase away air pollution in a Russian mining town that has been plagued by toxic air for months. Smog first engulfed the town of Sibai in November after suspected emissions from an abandoned copper mine, sparking protests. Local authorities began to issue medical masks and activated charcoal to…

  • Kremlin Considers U.S. Sanctions on Venezuela Illegal Interference

    Kremlin Considers U.S. Sanctions on Venezuela Illegal Interference

    The Kremlin said on Tuesday that U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s state oil company amounted to illegal and open interference in the Latin American country’s domestic affairs. Moscow is assessing the impact of the sanctions on Russia and intends to use all legal mechanisms at its disposable to protect Russia’s interests in Venezuela in light of…

  • Top Russian Executive Fired Over Sexually Explicit Gaming Stream – Reports

    Top Russian Executive Fired Over Sexually Explicit Gaming Stream – Reports

    A senior state corporation manager has been fired after boasting about his sexual relations with junior employees during a gaming stream leaked online, Russian media reported Tuesday. A Twitch livestreaming platform video appeared on Monday purporting to show Ruslan Gorring, the deputy head of a state mineral exploration corporation, cursing out other players. The nearly…

  • Enter the Curious World of Viktor Pivovarov

    Enter the Curious World of Viktor Pivovarov

    This is the last week to see Viktor Pivovarov’s exhibition “Moscow Album” at The Multimedia Art Museum. Pivovarov, alongside pioneering artists such as Ilya Kabakov and Erik Bulatov, was one of the leaders of the Moscow conceptualist movement in the 1970s and 1980s. A conceptualist is made Pivovarov, who turned 82 this month, was born…

  • Russia Expects Venezuela Will Struggle to Remunerate Moscow

    Russia Expects Venezuela Will Struggle to Remunerate Moscow

    Russia expects Venezuela will probably have problems servicing its sovereign debt to Moscow, Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister said on Tuesday, after Washington imposed sweeping sanctions on Venezuela’s state oil firm in a move the Kremlin called illegal. The Trump administration on Monday imposed restrictions on the PDVSA oil company, aimed at curbing the OPEC member’s crude exports…

  • Russian Art Thief Confesses to Stealing Painting to Settle Debts — Reports

    Russian Art Thief Confesses to Stealing Painting to Settle Debts — Reports

    The suspect in one of the most brazen art heists in recent history has confessed to having stolen prominent artist Arkhip Kuindzhi’s painting over the weekend to pay for his debts, Russian media have reported. Kuindzhi’s 1908 “Ai Petri, Crimea” was briefly stolen from Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery on Sunday before police recovered it in a…

  • Billionaires in Moscow Try Building Dynasties for Post-Putin Era 

    Billionaires in Moscow Try Building Dynasties for Post-Putin Era 

    Russia last saw major fortunes change hands via inheritance more than a century ago. Roman and Arkady Abramovich Nick Potts / FA Bobo / PIXSELL / PA Images With Vladimir Putin now in his last consecutive presidential term, post-communist Russia’s first generation of billionaires is starting to test his commitment to private property by giving…

  • Russia Moves to Decriminalize ‘Unavoidable’ Corruption, Following Putin’s Proposal

    Russia Moves to Decriminalize ‘Unavoidable’ Corruption, Following Putin’s Proposal

    Russia’s Justice Ministry has proposed exempting officials in “exceptional circumstances” from anti-corruption regulations in new draft legislation, following a plan set by Russian President Vladimir Putin last year. Russia ranks among the world’s most corrupt countries, with Transparency International’s annual corruption perceptions index ranking it in 138th place this year out of 180 countries. Read More Putin…

  • Russia’s Health Ministry Wants to Import Marijuana for Research

    Russia’s Health Ministry Wants to Import Marijuana for Research

    Russia’s health ministry has said that it wants to legalize the import of hashish and marijuana for research purposes, according to a recently published draft bill. Russia bans the circulation of drugs, including marijuana and other cannabinoids whose use is legalized in certain U.S. states and European countries. Hashish contains higher concentrations of the psychotropic…

  • Western Intelligence Accused of Preparing for Russia’s Breakup

    Western Intelligence Accused of Preparing for Russia’s Breakup

    A top Russian official has accused Western intelligence agencies of preparing for the possibility of civil war and the breakup of the country into separate regions. In 2017, U.S.-funded media reported on a movie about a Siberian secessionist movement spearheaded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros and the State Department. Soros and the U.S. are routinely…