Day: February 15, 2019

  • We’re Ready to Unite With Russia, Belarus Leader Lukashenko Says

    We’re Ready to Unite With Russia, Belarus Leader Lukashenko Says

    Belarus is ready to merge with Russia, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko said on the third and last day of his bilateral talks with President Vladimir Putin on Friday. Rumors resurfaced this year that Russia could annex Belarus as Putin’s constitutional term limits bar him from running for the presidency in 2024. Read More A Brotherly…

  • Belarus Ready to ‘Unite’ With Russia, Lukashenko Says

    Belarus Ready to ‘Unite’ With Russia, Lukashenko Says

    Belarus is ready to merge with Russia, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko said on the third and last day of his bilateral talks with President Vladimir Putin on Friday. Rumors resurfaced this year that Russia could annex Belarus as Putin’s constitutional term limits bar him from running for the presidency in 2024. “The two of us…

  • Remembering the Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan, 30 Years Later (in Pictures)

    Remembering the Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan, 30 Years Later (in Pictures)

    Feb. 15, 2019 marks the 30th anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.  The nine-year Afghan War claimed the lives of over 1 million Afghani civilians and over 14,000 Soviet troops. In 1989, Gorbachev’s decision to withdraw the Soviet military from the country was hailed as a long overdue ending to a bloody conflict…

  • Gazprom Transgaz Ufa summarizes results of Breaking Barriers social project

    Gazprom Transgaz Ufa summarizes results of Breaking Barriers social project

    News from projects and regions February 15, 2019, 17:15 Gazprom Transgaz Ufa, the Ministry of Family Affairs, Labor and Social Welfare of the Republic of Bashkortostan, and the Breaking Barriers Social Technologies Center looked back at the results of the eponymous inter-regional social project in 2018. It was the sixth consecutive year that this noble endeavor gathered together thousands of children with disabilities,…

  • Russian Nuclear-Capable Bombers Fly Over Sea of Japan

    Russian Nuclear-Capable Bombers Fly Over Sea of Japan

    Nuclear-capable Russian bombers carried out a training flight over the Sea of Japan, prompting Tokyo to scramble air force planes to intercept them, the Interfax news agency cited the Russian defense ministry as saying on Friday. Read More 77% of Russians Oppose Ceding Kuril Islands to Japan, Poll Says Japanese fighter jets accompanied the Russian…

  • U.S. Founder of Major Private Equity Group Detained in Russia on Embezzlement Charges, Explained

    U.S. Founder of Major Private Equity Group Detained in Russia on Embezzlement Charges, Explained

    Russia has detained the U.S. founder of Baring Vostok, the biggest private independent equity fund in the country, in Moscow on suspicion of embezzling $37.5 million. Michael Calvey, 51, and three other partners in the fund who have also been detained face up to 10 years if convicted. Two more suspects, both bank executives, have also…

  • What’s Behind the Arrest of the U.S. Founder of a Major Private Equity Group in Russia?

    What’s Behind the Arrest of the U.S. Founder of a Major Private Equity Group in Russia?

    Russia has detained the U.S. founder of Baring Vostok, the biggest private independent equity fund in the country, in Moscow on suspicion of embezzling $37.5 million. Michael Calvey, 51, and three other partners in the fund who have also been detained face up to 10 years if convicted. Two more suspects, both bank executives, have also…

  • Belgian Intel Officer is a Suspected Russian Spy, Reports Say

    Belgian Intel Officer is a Suspected Russian Spy, Reports Say

    An officer in Belgium’s military intelligence service is reportedly under investigation for spying for Russia. The unnamed officer was accused of providing a Serbian national, who is suspected of being a Russian agent, access to classified information, Belgium’s De Morgen newspaper reported. Read More Two Estonians Convicted of Spying for Russia The case reportedly reflects internal…

  • Russian Priest Under Fire for Sultry Sermons

    Russian Priest Under Fire for Sultry Sermons

    A Russian Orthodox priest has been defrocked for his adult-themed sermons that shocked congregations, church authorities have said. The news comes a little over two months after another Russian priest was investigated for publicizing his love of luxury brands including Gucci on social media. Read More Russian Priest Investigated After Flaunting ‘Gucci’ Lifestyle on Instagram…

  • Deputy Director General of ROSATOM Nikolai Spasskiy held negotiations in the Kyrgyz Republic

    Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Kyrgyz Republic Andrei Krutko and Deputy Director General for International Relations of ROSATOM Nikolai Spasskiy February 13, 2019 held negotiations with Minister of Emergency Situations of the Kyrgyz Republic Nurbolot Mirzahmedov and met First Vice Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic Kubatbek Boronov. Director for…

  • Gazprom and CNPC discuss planned supplies of Russian gas to China

    Gazprom and CNPC discuss planned supplies of Russian gas to China

    Release February 15, 2019, 13:45 A Gazprom delegation headed by Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Company’s Management Committee, paid a working visit to China today. As part of the visit, a meeting between Alexey Miller and Wang Yilin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of CNPC, took place in Beijing. The parties reviewed a wide range of issues related to cooperation between the companies, focusing on the ongoing preparations for the…

  • U.S. Investor Calvey Detained in Moscow on Suspicion of Fraud

    U.S. Investor Calvey Detained in Moscow on Suspicion of Fraud

    Russia has detained the U.S. founder of the Baring Vostok private equity group in Moscow on suspicion of fraud, a spokeswoman for Moscow’s Basmanny court told Reuters on Friday. Yunona Tsaryova, the spokeswoman, said Michael Calvey was detained on Thursday. Read More U.S. Founder of Major Private Equity Group Detained in Russia on Embezzlement Charges, Explained…

  • We Won’t Allow a Color Revolution in Venezuela, Moscow Says

    We Won’t Allow a Color Revolution in Venezuela, Moscow Says

    Russia’s position on Venezuela is to prevent American-backed regime change, the country’s Foreign Ministry has announced, amid a jostle for power among rival political factions in the crisis-struck Latin American country. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has accused the United States of backing a coup in his country after Washington recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as…

  • No Offensive Planned in Syria’s Idlib, Kremlin Says

    No Offensive Planned in Syria’s Idlib, Kremlin Says

    Khalil Ashawi President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia, Turkey and Iran had agreed to take unspecified extra steps to clear Syria’s Idlib region of what he called “a hotbed of terrorists,” but the Kremlin said there would be no military operation there. Putin, one of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s closest allies, was speaking after…

  • Get Out of Town! Go to Tula

    Get Out of Town! Go to Tula

    The biggest change in Russia these days? Cool provincial cities. Wikicommons If you need a break from Moscow, hop on a high-speed train and find yourself in the newly cool-ified provincial city of Tula in just two hours.  Founded in late 14th century, Tula first belonged to the principality of Ryazan. But Tula’s famous kremlin…

  • Russia’s Military Vows to ‘Prevent Invasion’ of Polar Bears in Arctic Town

    Russia’s Military Vows to ‘Prevent Invasion’ of Polar Bears in Arctic Town

    Russia’s Defense Ministry has pledged to address the polar bear invasion that has struck panic in a remote Arctic settlement in recent weeks. Polar bears began to descend on Russia’s Novaya Zemlya archipelago, population 3,000, driven from their habitat by food scarcity fueled by climate change, according to WWF experts. The authorities in the Arkhangelsk…

  • Armed Men Attack Indian Pharmaceutical Executive in Moscow

    Armed Men Attack Indian Pharmaceutical Executive in Moscow

    An Indian national who heads a pharmaceutical company in Russia has been reportedly hospitalized after falling victim to an armed attack in Moscow. Four unknown assailants beat Jyoti Loomba and his driver with bats on the southeastern outskirts of Moscow Thursday evening, a police source told the RBC news website. They then shot Loomba several…

  • Russian Markets Waver at Prospect of Tough New U.S. Sanctions

    Russian Markets Waver at Prospect of Tough New U.S. Sanctions

    Andrei Lyubimov / Moskva News Agency The threat of new U.S. sanctions rocked Russian markets on Thursday, as investors were left wondering whether they had been getting too complacent about what had been a long-expected move. Russian stocks and government bonds fell and the country’s debt insurance costs rose alongside FX volatility gauges, after U.S.…

  • Gas Blast Rips Through Russian Apartment Building, Killing 2 Residents

    Gas Blast Rips Through Russian Apartment Building, Killing 2 Residents

    A gas explosion in a Russian apartment block has killed two people, authorities said Friday, two months after another blast killed dozens and exposed the dangers of gas-equipped households. More than 20 people were killed in 12 gas explosions throughout Russia in 2018, with another 39 killed in an explosion on Dec. 31, 2018 in…

  • Gas Blast Rips Through Russian Apartment Building, Killing Two

    Gas Blast Rips Through Russian Apartment Building, Killing Two

    A gas explosion in a Russian apartment block has killed two people, authorities said Friday, two months after another blast killed dozens and exposed the dangers of gas-equipped households. More than 20 people were killed in 12 gas explosions throughout Russia in 2018, with another 39 killed in an explosion on Dec. 31, 2018 in…