Day: February 18, 2019

  • PhosAgro-Region increases sales volumes by 7% in 2018 to 2.93 mln t.

    PhosAgro-Region increases sales volumes by 7% in 2018 to 2.93 mln t.

    Moscow — PhosAgro-Region* (PhosAgro Group), Russia’s largest mineral fertilizer distribution network, increased its total supply of mineral fertilisers to the Russian market by 7% in 2018, to 2.93 million tonnes. According to the Russian Association of Fertilizer Producers, PhosAgro Group is the largest distributor of mineral fertilizers for Russian farmers. The Russian market remains a priority for PhosAgro Group, accounting for 30% of sales, more than any of the…

  • Facebook Blocks RT’s Viral ‘In the Now’ Video Page

    Facebook Blocks RT’s Viral ‘In the Now’ Video Page

    Facebook has taken down the Kremlin-funded RT network’s In the Now viral video page days after it was accused of hiding its ownership structure. RT’s American branch was ordered to register as a “foreign agent” in the United States after accusations that it had interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. RT ceased broadcasting in…

  • Russian Journalist Attacked After Investigation into Local Official — Reports

    Russian Journalist Attacked After Investigation into Local Official — Reports

    An independent news outlet in southern Russia has reported that its journalist was attacked over the weekend in an incident it linked to a corruption investigation into a local official. An increasing number of civil activists, politicians and journalists have been assaulted in Russia since 2015, the Agora human rights group said in a report…

  • Kremlin Says Investor Arrest Won’t Hurt Business Climate

    Kremlin Says Investor Arrest Won’t Hurt Business Climate

    The Kremlin said the arrest of Michael Calvey, founder of the private equity firm Baring Vostok Capital Partners, shouldn’t hurt the confidence of foreign investors in Russia and it’s “very closely watching” developments in the case. But investors and analysts said they were disturbed by the arrest of one of the country’s longest-standing American investors…

  • Russia’s Pobeda Airline (Finally) Relaxes Hand Luggage Rules

    Russia’s Pobeda Airline (Finally) Relaxes Hand Luggage Rules

    Russia’s Pobeda budget airline eased up its hand luggage policy on Monday to allow passengers to carry backpacks and other items free of charge, following numerous complaints and lawsuits from passengers. Earlier this month, Russia’s Supreme Court ordered Pobeda to change its hand luggage allowance to reflect the Transport Ministry’s 2017 ruling that gave all…

  • Over Half of Russian Military Police Have Syrian War Experience — Official

    Over Half of Russian Military Police Have Syrian War Experience — Official

    Around 60 percent of Russian military police officers have received wartime experience in Syria in fewer than three years of deployment, a Russian Defense Ministry official said Monday. Officers began patrolling the Golan Heights frontier between Syria and Israel in 2016 and installed observation posts in the area. “Currently around 60 percent of the military…

  • See Death and Life in Dzerzhinsk

    See Death and Life in Dzerzhinsk

    In a famous essay written shortly after the Second World War, Martin Heidegger draws a distinction between ancient and modern technology. Ancient technology is “gentle” insofar as it exemplifies a certain harmony with the environment. Modern technology is “violent” to the extent that it exhibits little regard for life-sustaining ecosystems. And in his “Industrial Zone”…

  • Kremlin Says It Is Following Situation with Calvey’s Detention Very Closely

    Kremlin Says It Is Following Situation with Calvey’s Detention Very Closely

    The Kremlin is following the situation around the detention of Baring Vostok’s head Michael Calvey very closely and hopes it will not affect the Russian investment climate, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday. He said President Vladimir Putin had met Calvey many times in the past but that his detention was beyond Putin’s…

  • Scammed Nigerian Footballers Stranded in Russia After World Cup, NGO Says

    Scammed Nigerian Footballers Stranded in Russia After World Cup, NGO Says

    A group of budding football players from Nigeria has been stranded in Russia since arriving on a visa-waiver system for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, a Russian anti-slavery NGO has said. Russian police have said that an estimated 5,500 foreigners who traveled to Russia visa-free for the football tournament have remained in the country since…

  • Russian Journalist and Activist Briefly Detained in Amsterdam

    Russian Journalist and Activist Briefly Detained in Amsterdam

    Dutch police briefly detained a Russian journalist and a Russian human rights activist at Amsterdam airport on unknown charges, Novaya Gazeta reported Monday. Yelena Milashina, a journalist with the investigative Novaya Gazeta newspaper, and Milana Bakhayeva, an activist with the Memorial human rights NGO, reportedly arrived in Amsterdam to meet with activists investigating the plight…

  • ATOMEXPO-2019 to Feature Discussion on the Contribution of Nuclear Technologies to Sustainable Development

    On April 15–16, 2019, Russia’s southern city of Sochi will host the 11th International Forum ATOMEXPO, dedicated to the advanced nuclear technologies’ contribution to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Within a decade, the forum has transformed itself from a Russian nuclear industry event with occasional participation of foreign partners into a global…