Month: November 2019

Russia plans to ask Latvia to extradite Russian journalist Alexander Shvarev to face charges of slandering oligarch Alisher Usmanov, Interfax reported Friday. Authorities in April raided the Moscow offices of Russia’s Rosbalt news outlet, where Shvarev works, in connection with a defamation lawsuit brought by Usmanov. Shvarev is undergoing medical treatment in Riga, according to…

Fans of CSKA Moscow clashed with fans of Hungary’s Ferencváros TC ahead of the two teams’ UEFA Europa League match in Budapest, as seen in videos posted on social media. The first clash happened in the Budapest metro Thursday, when CSKA fans packed metro cars, then broke glass bottles and doused the police with water. Стачки…

More than a quarter of young Russians have never heard of the fall of the Berlin Wall three decades ago, the independent Levada Center pollster said ahead of its 30th anniversary. The Berlin Wall divided the German city’s Soviet-occupied eastern sector from American, British and French-occupied West Berlin when it was built in 1961. Communist…

Professor Alexei Kotov greets his colleagues as he navigates the poorly-lit corridors of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution in the south of Moscow, where he has been a leading researcher and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences since Soviet times. “This whole street was built during the Stalinist period, and I don’t think…

Around 56 million Russians across 143 cities are breathing bad air, the Russian state weather and environment service said in its annual atmospheric pollution report. Roshydromet assessed the concentration of pollutants across a total of 246 Russian cities and towns in 2018. It noted that 89% of all monitored cities exceeded pollution norms that year. …

The Russian financial sector is “more stable and more transparent than ever before,” according to the governor of Russia’s Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina. The country’s banks are finally becoming an attractive option for investors, and the sector is now a “partner for real companies and the real economy,” Nabiullina told an Association of European Businesses…

Russia on Friday began selling tickets for direct train journeys to Crimea, bypassing Ukraine and further cementing its 2014 annexation of the peninsula. Direct trains from Moscow and St. Petersburg will start to run in late December, replacing the route that ran through Ukraine before the annexation. Russia already opened a road section of its…

Bribe allegations leveled in court against a VTB Group executive may complicate the Russian state-owned bank’s attempts to recoup a $535 million loan that’s part of a major debt scandal in Mozambique. A New York court heard testimony last month that the VTB executive in charge of the deal, Makram Abboud, took $2 million in…

One year after the start of the yellow-vest protests in France, many locals are dismissing traditional French media as “fake news” and are tuning in to a new favorite channel — RT (formerly Russia Today). How did a channel that is financed by the Kremlin and accused of being an arm of Russian propaganda become…

Russia has deployed military helicopters to patrol an area near Syria’s border with Turkey in order to help protect Russia military police working on the ground, Interfax said on Friday. Turkish and Russian forces are holding joint patrols in northeastern Syria to monitor an agreement struck by Moscow and Ankara after Turkey launched an offensive…

Russia’s plans to cancel 20,000 Soviet-era laws and regulations may be hampered as officials cannot find the original documents and wording of the relevant decrees. The Justice Ministry wrote to the government yesterday requesting an extension to an original Nov. 15 deadline for the compilation of a list of laws still in force since Soviet…

French President Emmanuel Macron warned fellow European countries that NATO is dying, citing a lack of coordination and U.S. unpredictability under President Donald Trump, comments that were welcomed in Moscow. In an interview with The Economist published Thursday, Macron expressed doubt about U.S.-led NATO’s security maxim that an attack on one ally is an attack…

Key MH17 witness Vladimir Tsemakh is ready to provide testimony to Dutch and Ukrainian investigators about the plane tragedy, but only on pro-Russian separatist territory in eastern Ukraine, his lawyer has said. Tsemakh, who was captured by Ukrainian forces and later returned to Russia for fighting on the side of pro-Russian rebels in the Donbass,…

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…

President Vladimir Putin’s former wife owns shares in one of Russia’s top 10 microfinance providers, according to an investigation published by the Sobesednik news website Wednesday. Lyudmila Putina was said to have changed her name twice since divorcing Putin in 2014. A woman named Lyudmila Shkrebneva (Putina’s maiden name) allegedly bought a 7% stake in…

A Russian conscript who gunned down eight fellow soldiers in the country’s Far East last month acted in retaliation to hazing and a rape threat, according to his reported testimony and his father’s remarks published Wednesday. Private Ramil Shamsutdinov, 20, was detained Oct. 25 at the military base where he served and charged with murder.…

The Russian military has allegedly obtained Israel’s new interceptor missile that Syria captured on its soil last year, Israeli news outlets reported Wednesday. Israel launched two of its intermediate ballistic missile interceptors called David’s Sling into Syria on July 23, 2018, one of which landed intact, the Middle East intelligence website DEBKAfile wrote at the…

One of the suspects arrested in Vietnam as part of an investigation into migrant deaths in Britain is believed to have smuggled people into Europe via Russia, USA Today has reported. British police charged two men with manslaughter last week in connection with the discovery of 39 bodies believed to be Vietnamese in a refrigerated truck…

The share of Russians who say the country needs sweeping changes has grown to 59% this year, according to new research from the Carnegie Moscow Center and the independent Levada Center pollster cited by the Vedomosti newspaper Wednesday. “There’s increasing dissatisfaction with the work of the state,” Vedomosti quoted Levada sociologist and co-author Denis Volkov…

Under a soft winter sun in northern Norway, U.S. Marines train in the ice and snow as they learn how to fight in the freezing cold. “Which country is to the northeast?” Staff Sergeant Daniel Croak bellows at a group of 20 soldiers in camouflaged combat jackets and white trousers in a pine forest near…

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday he did not support banning foreign media outlets including Germany’s Deutsche Welle from working in Russia, something that had been proposed by parliament, Interfax news agency reported. Russia‘s parliament accused Deutsche Welle in September of breaking election legislation and asked the foreign ministry to consider revoking the German…

President Vladimir Putin convened a meeting of Russia’s language council Tuesday, where he warned that there is a war against the Russian language, recommended replacing Wikipedia and called for the introduction of uniform language norms.  Chaired by presidential adviser Vladimir Tolstoy, the 48-member council is charged with developing state policy on protecting and promoting the…

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…

Nine of 10 malnourished and neglected tigers shipped from Italy and bound for Russia are recovering in Poland after Belarus stopped them from crossing the border for lack of proper paperwork. A Polish zoo and wildlife sanctuary took in the “exhausted, starving, covered in their own feces” tigers Wednesday, days after Belarussian officials held up…

Turkish and Russian troops in armored vehicles on Tuesday began their second joint ground patrol in northern Syria near the town of Kobani, under a deal that has forced a Kurdish militia away from Turkey’s border. Nearly a month ago, Turkey and Syrian rebel allies launched a cross-border incursion against Kurdish YPG fighters, seizing control…

Russia has imprisoned a Jehovah’s Witness from Siberia to six years in prison on charges of “extremism,” the independent Tayga.info news website reported Tuesday. Sergei Klimov was detained in the city of Tomsk in June 2018 on suspicion of being an “de facto leader” of a local branch of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Russia outlawed the Jehovah’s…

Russia continues to sit near the bottom of the global internet freedom rating index, according to a new report released Tuesday. The Freedom House democracy watchdog’s 2019 World Internet Freedom Index said online freedom worldwide has deteriorated for nine straight years. It ranked China as the world’s worst abuser of the internet freedoms for the…

The British government was accused by opponents of sitting on a parliamentary report examining alleged Russian meddling in British politics because it might contain embarrassing revelations about Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his party. The report by parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) has been cleared by the security services but it has not yet been…

The Russian Arctic archipelagos of Franz Josef Land and Severnaya Zemlya experienced the warmest October on record, with average temperatures on the islands 8 degrees Celsius higher than normal, according to Russia’s meteorological service Roshydromet. Temperature maps from meteorologists show a belt of warm air stretching across large parts of the Arctic. The biggest abnormalities…

Almost one-third of Russians support police raids and criminal cases against prominent Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s allies, according to a survey from the independent Levada Center pollster published Tuesday. Police have carried out mass nationwide raids against Navalny’s associates and frozen a number of bank accounts in recent months as part of a criminal investigation…

An official in the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya has apologized for using a taser on women detained under suspicion of fraud, Chechen media reported Monday. Video showing Islam Kadyrov, the former mayor of Chechnya’s capital Grozny, using a stun gun against detainees to obtain evidence from them aired on the Grozny television channel late…

Most Russians have a day off Monday as the country marks National Unity Day, a national holiday aimed to promote patriotism and tolerance between ethnic and religious groups in Russia. National Unity Day commemorates Russia’s defeat of Polish invaders in 1612, and is one of the country’s youngest national holidays as it was established in…

Delivery of a second batch of Russian S-400 missile defense systems to Turkey may be delayed beyond a planned 2020 timeline by talks on technology sharing and joint production, the head of Turkey’s Defence Industry Directorate said on Monday. NATO allies Turkey and the United States have been at loggerheads over the purchase of the S-400…

Russian prosecutors on Saturday opened a criminal investigation into “sexual violence” after a YouTube video series published online showed children talking with members of the LGBT community. The move comes six years after the Russian government banned “homosexual propaganda” aimed at minors. Authorities in Russia have used the law to block pride parades and rights…

More than a year after African swine fever began ravaging hogs in China, the virus may be escaping along the same route it’s believed to have entered — via Russia. While the swine contagion has been present in Russia for 12 years, it’s only been spreading actively in the country’s Far East for the past…