Day: November 7, 2019

Two Russian nuclear-powered submarines simulated a “duel” during recent tactical drills in the Arctic, the RBC news website reported Thursday. Two Northern Fleet Sierra-class submarines, the titanium-hulled Pskov and Nizhny Novgorod, sailed out from their homeports toward the Norwegian Sea for deep-sea diving and weapon testing two weeks ago.  The Pskov and the Nizhny Novgorod impersonated…

Mikhail Svetov, one of the main figures of Russia’s Libertarian Party and an organizer of this summer’s mass protests in Moscow, was interrogated overnight by the Investigative Committee and his apartment searched over allegations of sexual misconduct against a minor.  Initial reports said that Svetov, 34, had been charged with “indecent assault” against a minor…

Moscow’s city court has ruled to disband an indigenous people’s rights group almost 20 years after its founding, the latest in a series of NGO shutdowns that critics see as retaliation for their activities. Russian authorities blacklisted the Center for Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North/Russian Indigenous Training Center (CSIPN/RITC) as a “foreign agent”…

Thousands of troops, historical re-enactors and more marched across Red Square today to mark the 78th anniversary of one of the most famous Soviet military parades. On Nov. 7, 1941, the Soviet Union held the October Revolution Parade, its first military parade during World War II. It’s best known for taking place during the Battle…

Europe shouldn’t make the “huge mistake” of avoiding dialogue with Russia, French President Emmanuel Macron told The Economist, continuing his recent overtures to the country that the West has shunned over its annexation of Crimea. Macron previously attempted to bridge the European Union’s differences with Moscow this summer, warning against the “strategic error” of isolating…

Ice covers Russia’s Arctic waters once more, and in a few weeks the vast region will become inaccessible to everyone without a powerful icebreaker. The three oil rigs that have been operating in the area for most of the summer and fall are now either out of the region or closed down for the winter…

A senior Foreign Ministry official has denied Russia’s military presence in Libya following a New York Times report that about 200 Russian mercenaries have arrived in the oil-rich North African country in the past month and a half. The Kremlin-linked Wagner mercenaries’ reported arrival in Libya appears to be the second wave in as many…

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is unhappy with the West. Countries that consider themselves to be shining beacons of democracy are barring Russian foreign correspondents from working on their territories, he told a crowd of media professionals, lawmakers and diplomats at an upscale hotel in central Moscow Wednesday. “The West is scared of any competition…

Russia has drawn up retaliatory measures in case the United States leaves the Open Skies treaty, a pact which allows both countries to conduct surveillance flights over each other’s territory, the state-run RIA news agency reported late on Wednesday. The treaty, which entered into force in 2002, covers 34 countries and is designed to build…

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has proposed killing internet users who “insult someone’s honor” online, according to BBC Russia’s translation of the outspoken Russian regional chief’s remarks Wednesday. Kadyrov appeared to be referencing a Russian law enacted this year that punishes those who “disrespect” government institutions online. A majority of those fined or jailed under the…

Russia‘s FSB security service has identified 2,000 Russian nationals who are relatives of militants in the Middle East and could try to return to Russia, posing a terrorist threat, the FSB’s head said on Thursday, the state-run RIA news agency reported. FSB director Alexander Bortnikov’s comments come weeks after an estimated 50 Russian women disappeared after fleeing…

The number of Russians who support the death penalty’s return has climbed to almost 50%, according to the independent Levada Center pollster’s survey released Thursday. While the death penalty remains enshrined in Russian law, the Kremlin placed a moratorium on its use in 1996 as a condition of Council of Europe membership. Debates on restoring…

Cyprus said on Wednesday that it had started a process to strip 26 individuals of citizenship they received under a secretive passports-for-investment scheme, admitting it had flaws. The Mediterranean island has been rattled by disclosures of its investments scheme since Reuters exclusively reported last month a list of Cambodian beneficiaries, including its police chief and…

Russia’s natural population decline has continued for a fourth consecutive year in 2019, the Audit Chamber said Thursday as the country continues to struggle with a demographic crisis. Russia’s total population dropped for the first time in a decade in 2018, totaling 146.8 million at the end of last year as migration numbers hit record…

Turkish and Russian troops on Tuesday began their second joint patrol in northern Syria near Kobani, under a deal that has forced a Kurdish militia away from Turkey’s border, while local media released footage of angry crowds pelting a convoy with stones. Nearly a month ago, Turkey and Syrian rebel allies launched a cross-border incursion…