Day: January 16, 2020

The Russian capital experienced a total of eight hours of sunlight in December, the head of Russia’s meteorological center said Thursday. While less than 4% of the city’s possible sunlight hours without cloud coverage, the eight hours still surpassed the six minutes of clear skies that Moscow saw in December 2017.  “Muscovites saw only eight…

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s new prime minister appears to own elite real estate in a prestigious suburb outside Moscow, the Proekt investigative news website reported Thursday. Russia’s parliament voted to approve Mikhail Mishustin, head of the country’s tax service, into office Thursday. Putin’s surprise choice is part of the president’s shake-up of the political system,…

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a decree appointing Mikhail Mishustin as prime minister, shortly after the former head of the tax service won the backing of parliament. Mishustin received 383 votes of 424 cast by Russia’s lower house of parliament, with no votes against and 41 abstentions — a victory that had been…

Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced his and his cabinet’s resignation on Wednesday just hours after President Vladimir Putin delivered his state of the nation speech. The resignation of longtime Putin ally Medvedev, 54, came as an unexpected move to many. It is widely seen as a move that will give Putin room to reshape…

Russia‘s top economic officials have canceled keynote speeches they were due to make at the country’s first economic forum of 2020, an updated schedule showed on Thursday, a day after the government quit amid plans for a constitutional shakeup. President Vladimir Putin proposed changes on Wednesday that would give him scope to extend his grip…

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An unnamed shooter has opened fire inside a courthouse in the Siberian mining city of Novokuznetsk, killing a bailiff and injuring a witness, authorities said Thursday. The 45-year-old shooter armed with a rifle critically wounded a 45-year-old bailiff and a 43-year-old female witness inside a Novokuznetsk magistrates’ court, regional investigators said in a statement. The…

Russia‘s ruling party on Thursday unanimously backed President Vladimir Putin’s surprise choice for prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, a man with almost no political profile. Mishustin’s elevation is part of a sweeping shake-up of the political system announced by Putin on Wednesday, which led to the resignation of Dmitry Medvedev as prime minister along with his…

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has ceded power as head of the southern Russian region due to a “temporary disability,” according to a decree on the regional government’s website dated Monday. Kadyrov, 43, announced a similar brief transfer of power in February 2019, later explaining that he was recovering from a common cold.  “I entrust the…