Day: May 20, 2019
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Gazprom’s Power Generation Strategy Press Conference held
Listen to audio For Gazprom’s Press Conferences audio broadcast please dial: +7 495 719-35-77 (Russian) +7 495 719-30-00 (English) Materials May 20, 2019, 02:30 pm (Moscow time) [embedded content] Participant: Denis Fyodorov, Head of Directorate, Gazprom; Director General, Gazprom Energoholding. 222
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Leningrad Phase II/2 under construction has started flooding process systems with the unsealed reactor
On May 18, 2019, Leningrad NPP II Unit 2 under construction has started one of the key operations of the year, i.e. flooding of process systems with the unsealed reactor. The first (passive) stage was carried out using pressurizer and four accumulators of the emergency core cooling system (ECCS) which had been previously filled with…
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Russian History Enthusiasts Re-Enact Battle of Borodino
On Sunday, May 19, Russia’s Patriotic Education Center in Moscow organized a historical re-enactment of the final part of the Battle of Borodino, which was fought in 1812 during the French invasion of Russia. With at least 70,000 casualties, Borodino marked the deadliest day of the Napoleonic Wars. This historic battle has appeared in many…
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Russian GRU Officer Charged With Running Apple ‘Ponzi Scheme’ – RBC
A Russian military intelligence officer whose unit was accused of hacking the U.S. presidential election has been charged in Russia for running a Ponzi scheme involving Apple products, the RBC news website reported. The U.S. Justice Department indicted 12 GRU officers in mid-2018 on charges of hacking the computer networks of 2016 Democratic presidential candidate…
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Russia Has Most Protected Natural Areas in the World, WWF Says
Russia now ranks first in the world for its amount of protected natural areas, according to World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Russia data. Official statistics state that Russia has 63.3 million hectares of specially protected natural areas, WWF had previously reported. These figures do not take into account natural territories including cultural heritage sites and territories of traditional use,…
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Record $185M in Cash Seized From Russian Official in Sting Operation
Russian authorities have seized 12 billion rubles ($185.5 million) from former FSB official Colonel Kirill Cherkalin, making him the country’s richest ex-law enforcement official under investigation for corruption. Cherkalin, former head of the FSB economic security department’s financial counterintelligence support unit, was charged with bribery of $850,000 last week. Videos posted online show bags stuffed…
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Spring Bike Festival Races Through Moscow
You know it’s spring when Moscow closes its busiest streets and lets outdoor activities take over. Last weekend saw a rare trio: a half marathon, a cross-country race and an epic bike festival that gathered cyclists in the tens of thousands. Here’s a look at central Moscow during the festival:
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318K HIV-Positive Russians Have Died Since 1987 – Watchdog
The HIV epidemic has led to the deaths of an estimated 318,000 Russians since the first case was registered in 1987, or 10,000 every year, the country’s national consumer watchdog has said. The World Health Organization warned last year that Russia risked developing an out-of-control HIV epidemic after data showed a record number of new…
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Russian Journalists Quit En Masse as Censorship Scandal Hits Kommersant
The entire political department of Russia’s Kommersant business publication resigned Monday in solidarity with two veteran journalists at the newspaper who said they had been forced to step down. In April, Kommersant reported that Federation Council leader Valentina Matviyenko would be replaced “in the coming months,” citing several government sources. The Kremlin said it was…
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Putin Has No Plans to Congratulate Zelenskiy on Inauguration — Kremlin
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, asked if Vladimir Putin will congratulate incoming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on his inauguration, says the Russian president had no such plans. He said that Putin would congratulate his newly elected counterpart if Zelenskiy makes progress in settling the conflict with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine and mending relations with Russia.
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Russia Says It Repelled an Attack on Its Main Syrian Air Base – Reports
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Monday that it had repelled a drone and missile attack on its main air base in Syria over the weekend and accused former Nusra Front militants of being behind the assault, the state-run RIA news agency reported. RIA cited the ministry as saying it had shot down six missiles fired…
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Russia’s CSKA Wins Eighth Euroleague Basketball Title
CSKA Moscow clinched their eighth Euroleague title with a 91-83 win over Anadolu Efes Istanbul after 20 points each from American forwards Will Clyburn and Cory Higgins in a rip-roaring title showdown on Sunday. Anadolu, who trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half, nosed ahead 45-44 shortly after the break but…
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Russian Church Leader Calls to End Abortions to Boost Population
The head of Russia’s Orthodox Church has proposed a national ban on abortion to boost the country’s lagging population numbers. Russia legalized abortion in 1955 and has the second-highest abortion rate in the world after China. While Russia’s anti-abortion movement has largely failed to change the law, it has gained momentum in recent years, spurred…
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New Ukrainian President Zelenskiy Takes Office, Calls to End War in East
Ukraine’s new President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was inaugurated on Monday morning, saying that his first task in office will be to achieve a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, where a five-year-old conflict with Russian-backed separatists has killed 13,000 people. “Our first task is to end the conflict in the Donbass,” Zelenskiy said in translated comments as he took…