Day: August 21, 2019

  • Russia’s Street Art Festival Unveils Sky-High Spray-Painting

    Russia’s Street Art Festival Unveils Sky-High Spray-Painting

    As part of Russia’s Urban Morphogenesis Street Art Festival, spectacular displays of graffiti will be put on display in the Moscow region district of Odintsovo. The murals will be painted over 35,000 square meters in 30 days. Here are some of our favorites:

  • Trash Discovery Shows Turkey Eyes Putin’s Anti-Sanctions Network

    Trash Discovery Shows Turkey Eyes Putin’s Anti-Sanctions Network

    Russia and Turkey held urgent talks in July on connecting Turkish companies and lenders to the Russian central bank’s alternative to the SWIFT financial messaging system. The two sides met soon after Turkey risked the threat of U.S. sanctions by taking delivery of a Russian S-400 air-defense missile system, snubbing demands by the Trump administration to cancel…

  • Russian Officials Condemn Police Violence During Moscow Protests

    Russian Officials Condemn Police Violence During Moscow Protests

    A senior Russian official and an industrial magnate with close Kremlin ties have spoken out this week against police violence in Moscow’s largest protests in years. Critics have said the authorities used excessive force while detaining hundreds of people who rallied this summer in support of fair local elections. The Kremlin said individual cases of…

  • Gazprom Transgaz Moscow hosts Constellation Festival

    Gazprom Transgaz Moscow hosts Constellation Festival

    News from projects and regions August 21, 2019, 17:30 On August 11–16, the Constellation Festival, Gazprom Transgaz Moscow’s corporate event for creators and performers, took place in the Kursk Region. The festival participants included over 400 representatives of the company’s branches from 14 Russian regions. The jury, which consisted of famous Russian artists and trainers, selected winners in three age groups…

  • On This Day: Leon Trotsky Was Assassinated With an Ice Pick

    On This Day: Leon Trotsky Was Assassinated With an Ice Pick

    Born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein in 1879, Leon Trotsky was the fifth child in a Ukrainian-Jewish family. His family had a successful farm in what is now Bereslavka, Ukraine, which was home to a large Jewish community.  At home, Trotsky spoke a mix of Russian and Ukrainian, though he was also fluent in French, English and…

  • Tens of Thousands Flee Russian-Led Attack on Syrian Opposition Enclave

    Tens of Thousands Flee Russian-Led Attack on Syrian Opposition Enclave

    Ten of thousands of people have fled to Syria’s border with Turkey in the last few days as a Syrian army advance pushed further into the opposition’s last major stronghold, residents, rights groups and opposition sources said on Wednesday. They left Maarat al-Numan, a city in Idlib province that has been a sanctuary for families…

  • Trump Calls to Allow Russia to Join G7, Moscow Responds With Skepticism

    Trump Calls to Allow Russia to Join G7, Moscow Responds With Skepticism

    U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday it would be appropriate to let Russia join the G7 group of advanced industrialized countries. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump noted his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, had wanted Russia out of what used to be the G8 “because Putin outsmarted him.” “But I think it’s much more appropriate to have Russia in.…

  • Russian Police Face Prison Time for Refusing to Break Up Ingushetia Protests

    Russian Police Face Prison Time for Refusing to Break Up Ingushetia Protests

    Thirteen police officers in Russia’s republic of Ingushetia will stand trial for refusing to disperse protesters during clashes over a contentious land-swap deal, the MBKh Media news website has reported. Protests held this spring to demand a public vote on the border agreement with neighboring Chechnya turned violent when armed security forces tried to disperse them.…

  • Russia Reports New Case of African Swine Fever in Its Far East

    Russia Reports New Case of African Swine Fever in Its Far East

    Russia has detected new cases of African swine fever (AFS) in the Amur region near its border with China, local authorities said on Wednesday. ASF-infected pigs were found at two private farms in the village of Volkovo near Blagoveshchensk, the local administration said on its website. The ASF virus is a highly contagious fever among…

  • Russian Official Calls Siberian Flood Victims ‘Bums,’ Sparking Backlash – Reports

    Russian Official Calls Siberian Flood Victims ‘Bums,’ Sparking Backlash – Reports

    A Russian regional official has caused controversy for allegedly comparing victims of this summer’s historic Siberian floods to animals in a leaked audio file she claims was faked. The comments allegedly made by Irina Alashkevich, the Irkutsk regional administration’s spokeswoman, come a month after another regional official ignited backlash for insulting the victims of flood-hit areas. Over…

  • Russian Tycoons Forsake Western Sports Teams as Asians Step Up

    Russian Tycoons Forsake Western Sports Teams as Asians Step Up

    Another year, and another Russian billionaire relinquishes ownership of a professional sports club. The latest to do so is Mikhail Prokhorov, who’s selling his stake in the Brooklyn Nets and its arena for a record $3.5 billion to Joe Tsai, the Taiwan-born executive vice chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Last August, Alisher Usmanov sold his 30%…

  • Russian Oil Exports to U.S. Soar to 6-Year High

    Russian Oil Exports to U.S. Soar to 6-Year High

    Russia’s oil and petroleum sales to the United States have reached six-year highs, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data analyzed by the RBC news website. The U.S. imported 61.75 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products from Russia in January-May 2019, up from 56 million barrels in January-May 2018. Russia’s Federal Customs Service,…