Day: August 20, 2019

  • Russia Is ‘Deeply European,’ France’s Macron Says in Russian

    Russia Is ‘Deeply European,’ France’s Macron Says in Russian

    Russia is a European country, French President Emmanuel Macron has said following talks with President Vladimir Putin. Macron hosted Putin in France on Monday, where the French leader played up efforts “to tie Russia and Europe back together” and underscored his belief that “Europe stretches from Lisbon to Vladivostok.”  “Russia is a very deeply European…

  • Keeping the Khachaturyan Sisters’ Case Alive

    Keeping the Khachaturyan Sisters’ Case Alive

    On a dreary Sunday afternoon in northeast Moscow, over 800 people came out to support three young sisters who have been charged with the murder of their father.   Among an audience of varied genders and ages, some came to support the sisters, others for the bands scheduled to perform. The audience brought in 176,600 rubles…

  • Russia’s Recon Drone Takes Off as Military Touts 24-Hour Flight Time

    Russia’s Recon Drone Takes Off as Military Touts 24-Hour Flight Time

    The Russian military has unveiled footage of a reconnaissance drone, which it claims can fly for over 24 hours, performing its first flight. Previous reporting has suggested that Russia’s long-endurance armed drone project had been beset by cost overruns and delays. Russia’s Altius-U boasts an “entire spectrum of reconnaissance tasks using optical, radio and radar…

  • Most Russians Don’t Believe in a Better Future – State Poll

    Most Russians Don’t Believe in a Better Future – State Poll

    A majority of Russians believe that conditions in their country make it hard to plan for the long-term future, according to a state-funded survey published on Tuesday. Russians have been affected by five years of Western sanctions and dropping oil prices, with real incomes shrinking and almost 21 million people in the country living below the poverty line.…

  • Russia Fines CNN Broadcaster for Volume Violations

    Russia Fines CNN Broadcaster for Volume Violations

    Russia’s federal anti-monopoly service FAS said on Tuesday it fined a media group that broadcasts CNN International in Russia 200,000 rubles ($3,000) for breaking volume regulations in its programming. The fine was imposed on Monday, FAS said on its website.

  • Russia’s Last Cold War-Era Reactor Lifted Onshore in the Arctic

    Russia’s Last Cold War-Era Reactor Lifted Onshore in the Arctic

    On the night of Aug. 8, the last of 120 reactor compartments from Cold War-era submarines were docked and brought safely into the storage pad in Saida Bay on the Kola Peninsula. Bringing the last reactors onshore improves the environmental situation in the Barents Sea, said SevRAO, the northern branch of Russia’s state radioactive waste management company.…

  • Some Russian Radiation Sensors Back Online After Rocket Explosion, Monitor Says

    Some Russian Radiation Sensors Back Online After Rocket Explosion, Monitor Says

    The radioactive-particle sensors of at least one of the stations in Russia that went offline after a mysterious blast in the country’s far north are transmitting again, the operator of the global network to which they belong said on Tuesday. Four of the stations that scan for so-called radionuclide particles wafting through the air for…

  • Russia Says It Won’t Share Rocket Explosion Data as Suspicions Swirl

    Russia Says It Won’t Share Rocket Explosion Data as Suspicions Swirl

    Russia told an international organization set up to verify a ban on nuclear tests that a military testing accident in northern Russia earlier this month was none of its business and that handing it radiation data was entirely voluntary. Russia has acknowledged that five nuclear workers were killed in the explosion on Aug. 8, which…

  • 130K Troops to Hold Mass Military Drills at War Games, Russia Announces

    130K Troops to Hold Mass Military Drills at War Games, Russia Announces

    Russia and seven of its allies, including China and India, will send 128,000 soldiers to train in mass anti-terrorism drills next month, the country’s Defense Ministry has announced. The upcoming maneuvers will take place a year after Russia and China staged 300,000-strong anti-missile exercises near the Chinese border. Those exercises, which were Russia’s largest war…

  • Sailing Into the Past in Lipetsk

    Sailing Into the Past in Lipetsk

    Flags flutter above linen tents, musicians play ancient melodies on old musical instruments, craftsmen peddle their wares… This might look like the film set for the latest television series, but it’s actually a historical reenactment festival called Ladeinoye Pole that has been held every year since 2007 in the Lipetsk region, about 500 kilometers to…

  • Russia Accuses U.S. of Stoking Tensions With Post-INF Missile Test

    Russia Accuses U.S. of Stoking Tensions With Post-INF Missile Test

    Russia said on Tuesday that the U.S. test of a ground-launched cruise missile was regrettable and showed that Washington had long been preparing for the demise of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The Pentagon said Monday that it tested a ground-launched cruise missile with a range of more than 500 kilometers, the first such…

  • Russia’s Norilsk Tops Global List of SO2 Emissions Hot Spots – NASA

    Russia’s Norilsk Tops Global List of SO2 Emissions Hot Spots – NASA

    Russia’s Norilsk smelter complex and a town in South Africa’s eastern coal mining province have the highest sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions in the world, according to satellite data from U.S. space agency NASA. The NASA-compiled data published on Monday was commissioned by environmental group Greenpeace India and used the space authority’s satellites to track anthropogenic…