Day: July 24, 2019
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Putin’s Eldest Daughter Steps In as Shareholder of $634M Medical Center’s Developer
President Vladimir Putin’s eldest daughter Maria Vorontsova has taken her first steps into the business world as a shareholder of a new firm developing a $634 million medical center near St. Petersburg, BBC Russia has reported. Nomeko, a contraction of the Russian phrase for ‘new medical company,’ was founded in January 2019 and is closely…
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Tourists Spent Record $13.5Bln in Moscow Last Year – City Hall
Foreign tourists have spent a record 864 billion rubles ($13.6 billion) in 2018 in Moscow, City Hall said Wednesday. Some 5.5 million foreign tourists visited the Russian capital last year, according to the mayor’s office. The influx placed Moscow in the top-20 list of the most visited European capitals last year, City Hall said. Thanks…
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Russian Defense Contractor Developing Smartphone Spyware, U.S. Firm Says
A Russian defense contractor accused by the United States of supporting cyberattacks has developed sophisticated software used to spy on smartphones, an American security company said on Wednesday. St. Petersburg-based Special Technology Center (STC) developed code that has been aimed at a small number of targets, including those interested in a rebel militia in Russian-allied…
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80 Years Strong: The VDNKh Experience
The VDNKh park has had a long history as one of Moscow’s main exhibition spaces. Constructed in the 1930s, it was first known as the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition before it was renamed in 1959 as the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy, or Vystavka Dostizheniy Narodnogo Khozyaystva. Today, VDNKh is home to a number…
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‘She Was Not Afraid to Tell The Truth’: Russia Reacts to LGBT Activist’s Gruesome Killing
The fatal stabbing of Russian LGBT activist Yelena Grigoriyeva in St. Petersburg has drawn strong reactions worldwide, with fellow activists lamenting a system that failed to protect her and anti-LGBT figures saying her killing was justified. Activists noted that a website that encourages visitors to “hunt down” people believed to be sexual minorities had added Grigoriyeva…
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Assailants Attack Stalin Sculpture and Communist Party Office in Russia
Vandals have defaced a Stalin bust and attacked a Communist Party office south of Moscow, highlighting the deep divisions in modern Russian society over the Soviet leader’s legacy. The Soviet Union repudiated Stalin after his death in 1953. Though blamed millions of deaths stemming from a series of purges and collectivized farm policies, many Russians…
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Russia Denies It Apologized to S.Korea over Alleged Airspace Breach
Russia’s embassy in Seoul on Wednesday denied that Moscow had formally apologized to South Korea over an alleged airspace violation during a joint air patrol with China the previous day, Interfax reported. South Korea on Tuesday accused a Russian military aircraft of entering its airspace over a disputed island during a long-range joint air patrol…
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Russian Boxer Dadashev Dies After Suffering Head Injuries in Fight
Russian boxer Maxim Dadashev has died after suffering head injuries during a fight last week, the state-run TASS news agency reported Tuesday. The 28-year-old sustained the injuries in a fight in the United States against Subriel Matias. “It’s very sad. There are no words,” Russian Boxing Federation President Umar Kremlev told Sport Express media outlet,…
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Russia Intent on Interfering With U.S. Elections, FBI Director Says
Russia is determined to interfere in U.S. elections despite sanctions and other efforts to deter such actions before the next presidential election in 2020, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday. “The Russians are absolutely intent on trying to interfere with our elections,” Wray said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Wray appeared at an oversight…
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Russia Says Venezuela’s Opposition Is in Contact with Moscow
Venezuela’s opposition, including representatives of its leader Juan Guaido, has been in contact with Moscow, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on its website on Tuesday. “We’ve been actively talking to representatives of Venezuela’s political landscape — government, opposition figures, including J. Guaido’s people, who are reaching out to us,” the ministry said, citing interviews given by…
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Bashneft Starts Commercial Production of RON-100 Gasoline
The Bashneft Oil Refining Complex (a subsidiary of Rosneft Oil Company) has launched the commercial production of high-octane gasoline, RON-100, under its own technology. The start-up of the new product was achieved due to the implementation of the upgrading programme at the Ufa Oil Refining Complex as part of the Rosneft-2022 Strategy. RON-100 gasoline is…
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Two Expeditions Start as Part of Rosneft’s Programme for Polar Bear Research on the Arctic Shelf
Two expeditions have started on the Arctic license areas of Rosneft Oil Company as part of the Company’s polar bear research programme. The use of Russian ultra-light amphibian aircraft will provide for surveying the previously unexplored remote areas. The total length of the air survey routes will exceed 4,000 km. Specialists from the Severtsov Institute…
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Russians Name ‘Game of Thrones’ as Favorite Foreign TV Show
HBO’s hit series “Game of Thrones” is the most popular foreign television show among Russian viewers, the independent Levada Center polling agency said Wednesday. Recent Levada polling has said that Russians are increasingly spending their free time watching television and view it as a growing source of their happiness. The medieval fantasy “Game of Thrones”…
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North Korea Detains Crew of Russian Fishing Vessel
North Korea is holding 15 Russian and two South Korean crew of a fishing vessel for violating entry regulations, the Russian Embassy in North Korea said Wednesday. The crew were detained on July 17 by North Korean border guards, and are currently being held in a hotel in the city of Wonsan, the Russian embassy…
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Russia Moves to Ban Keeping Businessmen in Detention for No Reason
Russian lawmakers have approved legislation banning law enforcement authorities from extending pre-trial detentions for businesspeople without reason amid criticism over the criminalization of business disputes. Officials are seeking to lure investment to boost Russia’s struggling economy and President Vladimir Putin has called for an end to unfounded probes into so-called economic crimes. However, government polling…