Day: June 12, 2019

Police arrested more than 400 protesters in Russia’s capital on Wednesday during a march calling for the punishment of those responsible for the arrest of an investigative reporter on trumped-up drug charges. The march, which was not authorized by the authorities, had been planned to call for the release of Ivan Golunov, a Moscow-based investigative…

A senior Russian athletics official is facing a ban for a suspected anti-doping violation, the country’s suspended athletics federation said on Wednesday. The federation said first vice president Andrei Silnov, gold medalist in the high jump at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, had been suspended and would face a hearing on Friday for a “possible violation…

Russian President Vladimir Putin was personally involved in the decision to free investigative journalist Ivan Golunov, one of the men who reportedly negotiated Golunov’s release told the Bell business outlet on Tuesday.  Late last week, Golunov was detained and charged with drug trafficking in what critics said was a set-up punishing him for his anti-corruption investigations.…

Russia said on Tuesday it plans to deliver its S-400 missile defense systems to Turkey in July, setting the clock ticking on a U.S. threat to hit Ankara with sanctions if it goes ahead with a deal that has strained ties between the NATO allies. Turkey and the United States have sparred publicly for months…

Russian customs officials have seized 400 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a shipping container transporting canned fish from Ecuador, the Federal Customs Service (FTS) said in a statement Tuesday. The contraband was seized in coordination with federal anti-drug officials and local police on Monday, the FTS said. When the shipping container was opened, officers reportedly…