Day: May 29, 2019

  • Russians Stand Side by Side at LGBT Festival

    Russians Stand Side by Side at LGBT Festival

    Last week, the annual Side by Side (Bok o Bok in Russian) LGBT International Film Festival was held in Moscow. Amid screenings of films, gatherings within the community and providing a safe space for the LGBT community, the presence of anti-LGBT protestors and bomb threats tainted an otherwise peaceful event in the capital. “The first festival…

  • Russians Stand Side by Side at LGBT Film Festival

    Russians Stand Side by Side at LGBT Film Festival

    Last week, the annual Side by Side (Bok o Bok in Russian) LGBT International Film Festival was held in Moscow. Amid screenings of films, gatherings within the community and providing a safe space for the LGBT community, the presence of anti-LGBT protestors and bomb threats tainted an otherwise peaceful event in the capital. “The first festival…

  • Happy Birthday, St. Petersburg

    Happy Birthday, St. Petersburg

    Despite an unrelenting downpour and cool temperatures, St. Petersburg marked its 316th birthday last weekend with plenty of pomp and splendor, as befitting the Venice of the North. Celebrations kicked off on Saturday with an ice cream festival and retro transport parade consisting of more than 200 buses, trams and trucks from private collections, museums…

  • Moscow Blames EU and NATO for Latest Balkan Tensions

    Moscow Blames EU and NATO for Latest Balkan Tensions

    Rising tensions between the Balkan countries of Serbia and Kosovo are the result of the European Union and NATO “appeasing” Kosovo, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday. The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday accused Kosovo of provocation after its police detained more than two dozen people, including one Russian national, during an armed raid…

  • ‘Disappointed’ Russian Communists Demand Apology and Reshoot of ‘Game of Thrones’ Finale

    ‘Disappointed’ Russian Communists Demand Apology and Reshoot of ‘Game of Thrones’ Finale

    Now that the final episode of HBO’s hit series “Game of Thrones” has aired, a spectre may be haunting Westeros: The spectre of communism. Unsatisfied with the fate of the show’s heroes and villains, a branch of the Communists of Russia Party has penned an open letter to HBO and the show’s producers demanding a…

  • U.S. Accusations of Russian Nuclear Tests ‘Irresponsible,’ Official Says

    U.S. Accusations of Russian Nuclear Tests ‘Irresponsible,’ Official Says

    The United States believes Russia may be conducting low-level nuclear tests, a U.S. intelligence official on Wednesday, while the head of a body monitoring a global nuclear treaty said there was no sign of such violations by Moscow. Negotiated in the 1990s, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) enjoys wide global support but must be ratified…

  • U.S. Believes Russia Is Conducting Low-Level Nuclear Tests, Official Says

    U.S. Believes Russia Is Conducting Low-Level Nuclear Tests, Official Says

    The United States believes Russia may be conducting low-level nuclear testing in violation of a moratorium on such tests, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency said on Wednesday. “The United States believes that Russia probably is not adhering to its nuclear testing moratorium in a manner consistent with the ‘zero-yield’ standard,” Lieutenant General Robert P. Ashley said at…

  • Economists Forecast 6th Year of Falling Incomes for Russians

    Economists Forecast 6th Year of Falling Incomes for Russians

    Russians’ incomes will fall for a sixth consecutive year in 2019, experts from Moscow’s Higher School of Economics (HSE) and Russia’s Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) said. Russia’s Economic Development Ministry has projected real incomes to reverse the five-year slump and grow by 1 percent in 2019, based on a methodology…

  • Former UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova Elected Chair of PhosAgro’s Sustainable Development Committee

    Former UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova Elected Chair of PhosAgro’s Sustainable Development Committee

    Moscow – The Board of Directors of PhosAgro PJSC (“the Company”; Moscow Exchange, LSE ticker: PHOR) approved the leadership and composition of its committees at a meeting held on 24 May.  The Strategy Committee and Risk Management Committee will be chaired by Independent Director Sven Ombudstvedt. Independent Director Marcus Rhodes was once again elected Chairman…

  • Less Than Half of Russians Would Vote for Putin Today – State Poll

    Less Than Half of Russians Would Vote for Putin Today – State Poll

    Less than half of Russians would vote for President Vladimir Putin in a new presidential election, according to a closed state-run survey obtained by the RBC news website. Putin won reelection with nearly 77 percent of the vote in March 2018, extending his presidency for another six-year term. If the elections were held this Sunday,…

  • Russian Media Ordered to Delete Protest Videos Over ‘Extremist’ YouTube Comments

    Russian Media Ordered to Delete Protest Videos Over ‘Extremist’ YouTube Comments

    A news website in Russia’s fourth-largest city of Yekaterinburg has been ordered to remove videos of protests against plans to build a church due to “extremist” comments. Mass protests against a controversial plan to build a new cathedral in a popular riverside park gained national attention this month as protesters clashed with vigilantes and riot…

  • Moscow Summons Spanish Envoy Over ‘Old Enemy’ Comment

    Moscow Summons Spanish Envoy Over ‘Old Enemy’ Comment

    Russia summoned Spain’s ambassador to Moscow on Tuesday after acting Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell referred to the country as an “old enemy,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. Borrell told Spanish newspaper El Periodico last week: “Russia, our old enemy, is once again saying, ‘here I am,’ and has returned as a threat,…

  • Global Automakers Accuse Russian Courts of Graft

    Global Automakers Accuse Russian Courts of Graft

    Major automakers are accusing courts in southern Russia of using consumer protection claims to scam them out of 200 million rubles ($3 million) in 2016-2018, the RBC news website reported Tuesday. Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes and Jaguar Land Rover filed a complaint with Russian authorities alleging that Krasnodar judges abuse the consumer protection system to seek…

  • Russia’s Gran Fondo Shows Growing Popularity of Cycling

    Russia’s Gran Fondo Shows Growing Popularity of Cycling

    Think of road bike racing and your mind turns to French Alps and Italian lakes rather than onion domes and birch forests. But the Gran Fondo Russia event, now in its fourth year, is establishing cycling in the country as a sport for both elite athletes and enthusiastic amateurs. The format was born in 1970…