Day: March 28, 2019
-
Ex-Russian Minister’s Shock Arrest. And Ukraine Heads to the Polls.
This week on From Russia With News, we discuss the dramatic arrest of former Russian minister Mikhail Abyzov who is suspected of embezzling 4 billion rubles ($62 million). We’ll speak with Nikolai Petrov, a political science professor at the Higher School of Economics about the broader implications of the arrest. Voters across Ukraine will go…
-
Siberian Region Bans Migrant Workers Amid Tensions Over Rape Case
A Siberian region rocked by allegations that Central Asian migrants raped a local woman has banned foreign workers from being employed in 33 fields. Earlier this month, three suspects believed to be from Kyrgyzstan were detained on charges of kidnapping and raping a resident of Yakutsk, sparking rallies and raids against migrants. Sakha Governor Aysen…
-
Bears in Russian Zoo Predict Ukrainian Election
“Anyone but Poroshenko!” cried the crowd in a Russian zoo on Thursday as a brown bear made its way toward a butternut squash bearing a picture of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Buyan, resident of a zoo on the outskirts of Russia’s Krasnoyarask city, was choosing among three squashes, each adorned with a flag depicting the…
-
Russian Tycoon in Divorce Battle Wins Back $400M Yacht in Dubai
A $436 million superyacht belonging to a Russian billionaire at the center of one of the world’s costliest divorce battles has been released by a Dubai court after being impounded last year. Oil and gas tycoon Farkhad Akhmedov was ordered to pay about 40 percent of his fortune to his former wife Tatiana Akhmedova by…
-
Roadmap signed on Gazprom’s participation in acquisition of Kyrgyzneftegaz property and assets
Release March 28, 2019, 17:40 Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Company’s Management Committee, and Kubatbek Boronov, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic, signed today in Bishkek the Roadmap on the participation of Gazprom in the acquisition of the property and assets of Kyrgyzneftegaz. The signing ceremony was attended by Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and Sooronbay Jeenbekov, President of the Kyrgyz Republic.…
-
Russia to Allocate Funds in 2021-2022 for an LNG Terminal
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an allocation of budget funds in 2021-2022 for the construction of the Utrenny liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the Russian port of Sabetta on the Northern Sea route, the Kremlin said on its website. LNG is a fuel that has been cooled to liquid form so it takes up less volume…
-
Russian Advisers Will Stay in Venezuela ‘as Long as Necessary,’ Moscow Vows
Russian military advisers will stay in Venezuela as long as needed, the Russian Foreign Ministry has said, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump called on Moscow to “get out” of the South American country. Moscow sent military advisers to Venezuela over the weekend amid the escalating political crisis in Venezuela. Trump on Wednesday called…
-
ATOMEXPO 2019 to Feature Discussion on the Possibilities of Nuclear Medicine around the World
This year’s ATOMEXPO International Forum in Sochi will feature a roundtable discussion on “Nuclear Medicine: Trends, Innovations and Best Practices” organized by Rusatom Healthcare (a medical integrator that is part of the ROSATOM) in conjunction with the official supplier of isotope products to Rosatom, JSC Isotope. The roundtable will bring together experts from Russia and…
-
On This Day: Maxim Gorky
On March 28 in 1868, the writer Maxim Gorky was born as Alexei Peshkov in Nizhny Novgorod. Later he took the penname of “Gorky” as he told the “bitter truth” of life in Russia. During the Soviet period he was celebrated as an anti-tsarist, working-class supporter of the Soviet regime, and his books, short stories…
-
Ford Will Pay Out $200M to Laid-Off Russian Workers
Ford will pay around $200 million in cash to workers and suppliers who lose their jobs when the company closes some of its plants in Russia in June, the company said in a statement. The U.S. automaker is closing two assembly plants and one engine factory because it says the passenger vehicle market in Russia…
-
Russia Invents Flying, Shooting Kalashnikov Rifle Drone
Russia’s largest defense contractor has invented an assault rifle drone capable of flying and shooting at the same time. The state-owned Almaz-Antey company filed a patent for the armed drone with the Federal Service for Intellectual Property in 2018. Described as “a fully functioning [gun] inside a set of wings,” the 23-kilogram drone is capable of…
-
Treacherous Urban Avalanche as Snow Cascades Off Rooftop in Russia
At that time of the year when the mercury starts to rise, Russia’s winter snowscape starts to melt away and citizens face the potentially deadly threat of the odd rooftop avalanche. For the most part, municipal workers take care of cleaning the snow off rooftops in order to avoid these scenarios. Last Friday in the…
-
Russia Accuses Lithuania of ‘Provocative’ Act After Former Soviet Official Convicted
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday accused Lithuania of an unfriendly and provocative act, a day after a Lithuanian court found a former Soviet Defense Minister guilty of war crimes for his role in a 1991 crackdown in Lithuania. A Vilnius court sentenced Dmitry Yazov, 94, in absentia to 10 years in prison. He was the…
-
Kremlin Rejects Trump’s Call for Russia to Pull out of Venezuela
The Kremlin on Thursday rejected a call from U.S. President Donald Trump for Russia to pull out of Venezuela and said its actions there were lawful and agreed with the Latin American country’s legitimate government, the RIA news agency reported. Trump on Wednesday called on Russia to pull its troops out of Venezuela and said “all options” were open…
-
Rosatom Reaches a Significant Milestone in Bolivian CNTRD Construction
The Bolivian Nuclear Energy Agency (ABEN) has signed detailed design documentation approval and acceptance acts for the construction of administrative and residential area facilities within the contract to build the Center for Nuclear Technology Research and Development on the territory of Bolivia, including the administrative building, training center, utility infrastructure and other facilities. Earlier, in…
-
Ex-Putin Aide Detained in Rosneft Fraud Case
The longtime head of Russia’s Far East region of Khabarovsk has been detained in Moscow on suspicion of embezzling money from the Rosneft oil giant, Russian investigators said Thursday. Viktor Ishayev, 70, led the Khabarovsk region from 1991 to 2009, and oversaw development in the Far East as a presidential envoy and minister between 2009…
-
Ex-Putin Aide Detained in $15.5M Russian Timber Fraud Case, Reports Say
The first and longtime head of Russia’s Far East region of Khabarovsk has been detained in Moscow for suspected timber-industry fraud, Russian media reported. Viktor Ishayev, 70, led the Khabarovsk region from 1991 to 2009, and oversaw development in the Far East as a presidential envoy and minister between 2009 and 2013. Observers have said that…
-
Russia Gives Kyrgyzstan $30M Grant as Putin Visits Key Regional Ally
Russia has announced a $30 million gift to Kyrgyzstan ahead of President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the Central Asian country, one of Moscow’s key military and economic allies in the region. As a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, Kyrgyzstan enjoys close relations with Moscow. Russia, which has maintained a military airbase near Kyrgyzstan’s capital of…
-
Russia Stages Large-Scale Military Drills in Annexed Crimea
Russia staged large-scale land, air and sea drills in the annexed Crimean peninsula on Wednesday. The drills which lasted three days involved around 1,500 paratroopers and around 300 military hardware units including large naval ships and aircraft. The drills happened less than a week before the presidential election in Ukraine. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.…
-
Russia to Keep Former Minister Abyzov in Jail on Fraud Charges
A court in Russia on Wednesday ruled that former government minister Mikhail Abyzov, an ally of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, be held in pre-trial detention for two months ahead of his trial for fraud and organizing a criminal group. Abyzov, 46, who was minister for open government affairs in Medvedev’s cabinet until last year, was detained at…